nwk00

Hey I was wondering for those of you who do go-carts and those that actually races their cars, are the handling techniques for both types of vehicles the same? What about the racing techniques involved for both?(eg racing lines around a course, braking, weight transfer)

Thanks

S2000 Owner

Most of the things stay the same, the things that you need to do to make you fast in a kart apply to a car.

It's just the adjustments that differ. Let's say that your loose in the rear with a car. You want to shift the weight to the rear, or add push to the front. This you can do with wings, and/or suspension adjustments.

Well, there aren't any suspension adjustments (as such, springs/shocks etc.) but there is CG (center of gravity) adjustments. Now this is a hard one to understand, but if you've got a loose kart (oversteer); to get better grip in the rear, you move the wheels toward the center of the kart (i.e. make a narrower wheelbase in the rear) or wider in the front.

It's really fun to figure out how to get better control with a kart, because it is so simple that you really have to think fresh.

Utah S2K

Karts come in a wide range of models and displacements. There are sit up karts (aka Sprint Karts) lay down karts (aka Enduro Karts) and shifter karts (aka touch the face of God Karts). I have found that sprint karts are the easiest to adjust which makes the class highly competitive, this sounds like the class S2K Owner is referencing. But there is nothing, I mean nothing, that goes like a 250cc 6 speed shifter kart! Basic driving skills are easily carried over to your car which is why so many race car drivers start with Karts.I personally built and "tweeked" karts for two people in the late '80's that now race CART and F1 respectively. I should note that the lack of suspension noted by S2K Owner can get quite interesting, if say, you go off turn 8 or 9 at Willow Springs at 120+ MPH.

If you'ld like to take a stab at Karting, there is an excellent school in Las Vegas with one the the best race facilities in the world. They can be reached at http://www.lasvegaskarting.com. Email Hollis Brown (Owner)or Bryan Herta (Owner-CART Driver McDonald's/Forsythe Racing-Karting Instructor). Tell them that I sent you.

Bob Radcliffe
Former Mechanic of the Year
Southern California Karters