UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra

Notice Board (General Karting)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra
Posted by 'davidmc' on 14 Jun 2011 @ 21:18

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davidmcJoined: April 2003
Total Posts: 2
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Reading these posts makes me think people don't understand why having the steering column centred is desirable.

Centring the steering column has little to do with tracking (tracking being the relative toe of the front wheels). Tracking is self centring anyway. We centre the steering because it has quite a noticable effect on steering rates. If the steering is not centred, steering in one direction will be on a different "rate curve" to steering in the other direction. This makes handling inconsistent and the kart less predictable and therefore ultimately slower.

What do I mean by "rate curve"? With the column perfectly centred, that very initial turn of the wheel will give the highest rate of change of angle of the stub axle. As you continue to steer this rate decreases until such point as the angle of the stub does not change at all. Continue even further and the stub starts to turn back the other way. Essentially, with a perfectly centred column steering left or right will both go from high sensitivity to low sensitivity at an equal rate.

When the column is not centred, when steered in one direction you will already be more toward the low sensitivity area of the curve, when steered in the other direction you will have initial lower sensitivity, then a period of highest sensitivity, followed by the decreasing sensitivity discussed earlier.

The only way of accurately centring the column in the way that matters is using the method I described.

Message Thread:

lasers, precision, getting the steering central by 'rich84' (13 Jun 2011 @ 22:01)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'fatboynobby' (13 Jun 2011 @ 22:30)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'Bucky' (13 Jun 2011 @ 22:34)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'davidmc' (14 Jun 2011 @ 0:23)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'Bennie' (14 Jun 2011 @ 14:43)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'davidmc' (14 Jun 2011 @ 14:47)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'Inter61' (14 Jun 2011 @ 15:22)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'huxley' (14 Jun 2011 @ 17:19)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'dave56' (14 Jun 2011 @ 18:50)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'davidmc' << You are here!

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'QuickOldTimer' (14 Jun 2011 @ 22:41)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'davidmc' (14 Jun 2011 @ 23:25)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'JimG' (16 Jun 2011 @ 12:12)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'dave56' (17 Jun 2011 @ 19:48)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'davidmc' (20 Jun 2011 @ 18:49)

Re: lasers, precision, getting the steering centra by 'rich84' (22 Jun 2011 @ 20:22)

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