[megane2]

Hi,

Has any pro karter setup the fron steering for different circuit, eg. toe-in/out angle, camber angle and caster? Besides add or removing the wheel hub washer. How should change to suit different circuit and driving style? Please help.

Thanks.

[RocK]

i play mostly with caster. never toe-in, only use toe-out if on harder tries. softer tries im very much on zero toe. oh on new tracks, i do test difference ride heights for the front. u might have to tweak your rear to make your front setup to work. the key is have a balance setup.

ah i cant put all i know in texts.

[Mikko Nassi]

For different tracks there are some general "rules"...
On long fast tracks you usually run very little or zero toe, not much ackerman, and low on the caster side. This is all to work towards minimum resistance to get maximum speed down the straights.

On more twisty slow tracks you place more emphasis on turn-in ability and don't worry too much about added resistance - toe-out is ok and usually more caster and ackerman,

In general though track conditions (grippy or green) determine your setup more than track type.

For different driving style... well that depends on your driving style . I prefer a very responsive kart on turn-in and I really like to feel the steering which usually calls for a fair bit of caster.. I also usually find it annoying to drive a low-ackerman setup.

[megane2]

Thanks bro Rock and Mikko.

So, for better response, I should add more caster and anklerman. Lowering the front ride height will make steering more resonsive right?

[RocK]

Lowering the front ride height will be less grip.

[megane2]

Mind if you can explain the theory behind? My friend has got faster lap times by lowering ride height.

[RocK]

only when the front have so much grip, i drop the front. but only 2 tracks i driven before needed that. so rest is std height.

best stick with caster if you're looking for more steering responsive.

[David Goldman]

When you lower the front end, you are essentially, lowering the front center of gravity, and now since the front has a lower center of gravity than the back, the back gets more grip than the front, and so the back pushes the front slightly. The only real time you would use this is if the track is very very sticky, or if you can't take grip away from the front, and is too "tight". Obviously raising the front ride height will do the opposite and give you more grip, and will take grip away from the rear. Although, if you are going to change the ride height, i suggest not raising the front to the point where the front is higher than the back. Karts are designed to have the back slightly higher than the front. Although having oversteer feels fast, its actually not. If you look at the world champions, they are never sliding. Ever. You know your kart is set up well when it is balanced, and is easy to drive around the corners. Caster is what you really have to mess around with though, as it has a very big effect on lap times. I was running the wrong amount of caster at my local track, and as soon as i put more caster in, i became a second faster. So worry about that before ride heights.

Hope that helps,
David

[megane2]

Thanks for all the info. This is useful, good for sticky. Anymore ways to improve front grip or steering response?

[David Goldman]

If you want to add grip to the front, there are many things you can do. The most basic and drastic setup change you can make to the front, is increasing the front width. Although this adds grip, sometimes there is no middle point, and i would suggest adding caster instead. This makes a bigger change in lap times, but remember not to use a lot of caster on straight tracks, and you should only use a lot of caster on twisty tracks. You can make the front slightly more grippy and responsive by adding toe out (front of the tires pointing away from eachother) but doing this takes away your top speed, so if you are going to use a lot of this, you should only use it on a twisty track, with not a lot of long straights. There are a few good setup guides, but be careful as some can be confusing, i'll try to find ones that aren't too confusing. By the way, to adjust toe, you turn the tie rods, you first have to loosen 2 nuts, at each end of the tie rod. I strongly suggest not doing this if you don't have an alignment tool, because if they are not perfectly even on both sides, then your lap times will drop significantly. I would say that they are both very good, but the second is slightly less confusing.

http://f200.org/SetupHelp.htm

http://www.ssceast.com/techtips2.asp

[megane2]

Thanks David.

I have a long wheel hub on the rear axle. I believe that is the cause for my understeering problem. I am changing it to short hub soon.

[gp8]

You can always download the Arrows Kart owners manual which has lots of setup information. Whilst it is written as Arrows specific, much of the information is actually generic and can be applied to most karts.

You can download it from here:

http://www.kartracing.com.au/features/t ... 525801.htm

You can also view generic front end alignment information published for numerous kart chassis by the Sniper here:

http://www.sniper.com.au/techinfo.htm

[megane2]

Thanks GP8, the sniper is useful.