Quick Question?

[therealdeal]

Just to clear something up im not sure about....

Chasis up and axel down means more grip right?

if anyone can answer my question i would really apreciate it!

have to more grip looking to lose some...

[#15 tkm 4/]

yea i think that is right, thats what we do most of the time to gain grip... but if you want to lose grip thats not such a good idea becuase u would have the chassi too low and it will bottom out on all the bumps and kerbs and ultimatly slow you down??

[Tom Horley]

Yeah you are right. Lift the axle up therefore lowering the chassis will lose you grip. I dont think you need to worry about the chassis bottoming out.

[ukkartace]

yeah down is more grip cuz kart is higher off the ground. and as tom said lifting axle up gives u more grip.

[speedy king]

So having the kart higher off the ground means more grip?! I always presumed that lower down would generate more grip?

Also, if i raised the front of my kart but kept the back how it is would that give me more turn in grip at the front end?

[Superliner II]

Originally posted by ukkartace
yeah down is more grip cuz kart is higher off the ground. and as tom said lifting axle up gives u more grip.

Oli thats not what Tom said. Re-read you post you are contradicting yourself.

Chassis close to track equals less grip. Chassis up high off track equals more grip. This is because the kart has a higher center of gravity therefore there is more weight concentrated on the outside wheel in a turn. This is why it is a good idea to raise the seat or sit on the Tillett Rainmeister when racing in the wet.

Imagine sitting in a seat mounted 10 feet high up in the kart. Easy to turn over right? Well thats because there is more weight on one side of the kart. Same principle applies to either lifting the seat, sitting on something in the seat or lowering the axle thereby raising the kart chassis.

tkm4/: If the kart bottoming out on bumps, it must be all the kerbs you're driving over. Either that or you need to get back on some licenced tracks.

[speedy king]

Strange. At my last race a competitor actually lowered his chassis and claimed it was turning in much better to and through the corners. I thoyght this was weird and explained what i'd heard and couldn't gather how he was finding he was actually getting more grip. He had lowered it so much he was having trouble grounding the kart as his style is rather agressive over the curbs!

[speedy king]

He may have ment to say he lowered to axle, not the chassis, that would make more sense anyway..

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Not necessarily, because lowering a vehicles centre of gravity will make it more nimble, but with less grip.

It's because the lower the centre of gravity is the less the tyres have to work to overcome the forward motion of the mass, but when you actually in the turn the tyres won't have the bight that sitting high up in a kart gives you.

So it's all about balancing those two factors.

[speedy king]

That would make sense actually as he did mention about the air and wind underneath the chassis while travelling at speed so he would have been talking about lowering the chassis like i first thought, not the axle.

Makes sense now