Overview
Supercars & Karts – same thing
Look at a go kart next to, say, a V8 Supercar or Formula One car and it’s pretty basic. Yet the principles are much the same. On track, they perform a certain way. Change something, and it will change the way they perform. And there are a surprising number of adjustments that can be made to a kart to change its performance and handling.
Apart from a couple of differences
Let’s look at an obvious difference. A kart doesn’t have suspension like regular cars. No springs or dampers to give you more direct steering or better grip. No differential to give you good drive out of corners. Stuff like that. So one way of controlling handling with karts is via flex.
Many karts will have torsion bars in different places that can be tightened, loosened or removed to make the chassis stiffer, or allow it to flex more easily. Sidepods can be tightened or loosened for the same reason.
Flex is also adjusted via different types of rear axles, and the way in which they are secured to the chassis. Then there’s alignment.
At the front end, straight is not always better. The front wheels can be made to point in or out, to “lean” in or out, and they can be “stood up” or laid back.
Gearing can be made long or short to focus on top end speed or “punch” out of corners.
Even the position of the driver’s seat will affect performance. We’ll look at all of that.
Check out the articles on Chassis, Front End, Rear End, Gearing and Engine Tuning.
Working on it. In the meantime, listen to this: