UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: Static v. dynamic weight is the question.

Notice Board (General Karting)

Re: Static v. dynamic weight is the question.
Posted by 'RoadRat' on 14 Nov 2009 @ 14:15

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RoadRatJoined: July 2007
Total Posts: 1
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I don't know. My testing was done over two days in summer 2008 with an 8 year old and 10 year old in two different karts, both with a years race experience and moving the fixed weight between them in various ways.

The conclusions I came to at the time were that a younger smaller child was at a disadvantage to begin with for several reasons, but not including experience. Overall strength is a big factor, a 10 year old can take a kart beyond the limit and still 'save it' some of the time. But an 8 year old can't do that, even if they are quick they have to be cautious about how close to the limit they get. Add the extra static mass in the kart and they have no chance.

Centre of gravity has perhaps the biggest effect. Sitting tall in the seat enables the chassis to work better and more consistently. We found, to a point, putting all their weight on the seat rim helped the smaller child, but raising the seat to any great degree lost too much feel.

It exagerates the effect, but imagine a running race where everyone had to meet the weight by carrying a rucksack of lead, who would always win? The lightest or heaviest?

All in all I think for adults and larger children the differences are less and I'm sure somebody will give plenty of reasons why choice of position for lead can bring a big advantage in itself.

Finally concerning Honda Cadets, I think I'm right in saying that the pre 2009 season S1 favorite was already 8 or 9 KG overweight and it didn't stop him winning races. In fact sometimes in the wet he could have been in a different class, mentioning no names.

Message Thread:

kinetic energy = (1/2 ) * mass * (velocity ^ 2) by 'IamSparticus' (14 Nov 2009 @ 8:39)

Re: kinetic energy = (1/2 ) * mass * (velocity by 'IamSparticus' (14 Nov 2009 @ 8:40)

Static v. dynamic weight is the question. by 'RoadRat' (14 Nov 2009 @ 12:23)

Re: Static v. dynamic weight is the question. by 'ross' (14 Nov 2009 @ 13:05)

Re: Static v. dynamic weight is the question. by 'RoadRat' << You are here!

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