Tell me what you feel is the fast setup.

Andrew. james

I any of you are comforatable sharing your setup I'd like to ready how others set their karts up for national style courses on asphalt.

Motor: Right now my cr125 motor is pretty much stock minus a vforce reed cage. So I'd really like some info on motor setup especially.

Chassis Arrow AX8: So far I've been running a 3/4 in. toe out on the front I don't have any fancy tools to do alignment, I do it the old fashion way with some string, and 0 camber I have removed the rear torsen bar and 4th bar from the chassis. I left the front torsen bar in full tight. I also run the pod bars at full loose. Ride height I have set right in the middle. I run one seat bar on each side with a medium (T1) CRG axle. The kart feels really neutral although from my limited experience it might not be as fast as it should.

Tires: I'm using MG greens 9 psi front 10 back.

Gearing I've been running 16 motor sprocket 26 axle.

Anyway, there is a ton of info for making a kart fast on a sprint course and it almost transitions over but because most parking lots suck I feel the a kart for auto-x must be much softer.

Rain setup is similar except I push the front wheels all the way out and bring the rears all the way in.

So if any of you more experience guys have any tips I'd love to try them out and see if I can make the kart faster.

Brian Kay · Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:09 pm Post subject:

Try this

Go 55" in the rear. Set the front width as wide as you can without creating excessive over steer.

Get some alignment plates and set toe at ZERO. 1/16" toe out for really tight regional sized courses.

Front bar IN, rear bar OUT. Maximum ride height to increase grip. Make sure the chassis is "square" not just toed.

Short rear hubs - increase axle flex length. Soft axle would be a plus.

16:26 is a little "tall" especially on a stock motor. 15:25 might be closer, or 17:28 would split the dif. Mod motors make quite a bit more torque, contrary to what some people think. You can't lean on the motor and expect it to pull tall gears with any authority, so gear down and get it revving a little more.

Start out a little higher in tire PSI. Maybe 11psi F&R.

Tip your seat (and C.O.G) up a few degrees. Add auxillary seat struts. (Use your weight to make the chassis "bite")

Cheap tricks to get more grunt from your stock engine: RCE T3 pipe works best in this case. No generic silencers - RCE/M4/RS are all worth HP on the dyno. V-force (good call) Up your compression or lower your ports. A thinner base gasket will accomplish both. Thinner head gasket will boost compression but not effect port timing. Crank your static Ign timing full advance on the stator. If your power valves are intact, use them and keep them clean! Try a exhaust flange spacer to effectively lengthen the header section of the pipe. Use ultra thin gear oil. Keep a fresh chain on it.

Don't forget JETTING! Proper jetting for the conditions is worth more than 75% of the above items. Learn to "read" your piston top and inner pipe color.

Walk the course 20 times and drive it in your mind over and over. Have a plan, attack the course with no 2nd guessing.

Good luck!
_________________
Brian K - www.T2RaceKarts.com

Steve Elzinga · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:22 am Post subject:

All great advice Brian. I was wondering about the soft axle though? People I have talked to in the class have suggested the exact opposite and I am trying to understand the reasoning behind both. Can you explain why you feel the soft axle is better for autocross than a stiffer axle? Thanks.

Andrew. james · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 6:24 pm Post subject:

I'd like a softer Axle it's so bumpy on most parking lots that I feel like I was in a bar fight after 4 runs.

Is there any how to or a pictures of how to advance the timing? I'd like to try that since it's free. Also I've switched to 16 27 sprocket for this weekend to see how that goes. I plan on getting Mark at Atlanta super parts to build my motor for next season until then I'm not going to mess with it much because I'd probably blow it up.

Ryan and I are the only ones driving karts in Atlanta so it's really not a great barometer of how we'd stack up nationally although I'm sure it would be fairly poor. I just try to beat FM by as much as I can since its the closest thing to karts we have. Hopefully some shifter guys in GA will come out to a couple of our events and give us some competition. I know next season there will be a couple more hopefully we can grow the class in the SE because right now it's pretty dead.

Brian Kay · Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:46 am Post subject:

Hi Steve, all.

Autocross is a low grip situation. Cold tires, no rubber laid down. And..it's bumpy. Going soft allows the kart to "work" despite the lack of grip. Running full stiff is trying to force your tires to grip when they're just not going to. What really happens is you force the tires to "let go" and slide around. Think of how you'd play soccer on a skating rink...you'd run around very "limber" to try to maintain grip and not fall on your _ss right?

As available traction increases, respond accordingly by stiffening up and biting in. That is, until there's so much grip (tons of rubber) that you have to soften it back up to avoid hopping! The "right" set up exists in a small window in time. Kind of like jetting.

If for no other reason, a soft chassis will go faster on a bumpy course as it remains settled and working instead jarring and shock loading the whole time.
_________________
Brian K - www.T2RaceKarts.com

Steve Elzinga · Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:23 pm Post subject:

Makes sense Brian, thanks. I'll ask the same question to the person(s) that recommended a stiff axle and see what their reasoning was. As a follow up question to Brian as well as others, what is the opinion on the amount of Ackerman to run? Looking at setup information that I have found on the web, it would seem like more Ackerman would help in an autocross setting. My own kart was setup for basically parallel steering when I got it and I am expirementing with the middle of the three positions I have available now. What is everyone else running?

Brian Kay · Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:13 pm Post subject:

Sprint / Autocross: Ackerman GOOD
Road race: Ackerman BAD

Ackerman allows your chassis to turn 180 degrees on a dime, but only creates scrub (drag) in high speed, steady state turns.
_________________
Brian K - www.T2RaceKarts.com

Mark McCrary · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:59 pm Post subject:

I bought Larry Andrews old kart so I will be hopefully running some next year. There is about 3 guys that run all the time in Nashville and since you guy in Atlanta are running we all should try to go to events that we all could be at and have a good competition and compare setups and ect. Its a 4 hour drive for me either way.
_________________
Mark McCrary

Tom Jensen · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:05 pm Post subject:

Why would you want to be as fast as me? Laughing

My sought after set-up secrets are held close to my vest.
_________________
Sex is like pizza. When it's good it's great and when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

Tom Jensen · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:07 pm Post subject:

Ryan D Thompson · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:12 pm Post subject:

Mark McCrary · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:56 pm Post subject:

Tom Jensen · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:09 pm Post subject:

Larry Andrews · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks Teej, I know that I can always count on you... Rolling Eyes

Mark's getting there pretty quickly for a guy with little support and no background with 2-stroke engines. There isn't a track nearby, but there is a great kart shop which makes zero sense to me but, welcome to karting - the sport where nothing makes sense.

Actually, that Energy chassis is in the best shape it's been in since I first saw it. A little tired, but WAY better than it was. Once I replaced all the front end hardware, it finally stopped jumping all over the course. Shocked

(Ask Tom Kotzian about that sometime!) The worn out tie-rod ends were about to get me killed. Shockwave's got a LOT of parts on that chassis now...prolly oughta try to get Doug to pop for a sticker kit!

Now we just gotta get the carb jetted for that altitude, get the oil mixture right and all will be well. Mark will *finally* get to have some fun!

-la

Tom Jensen · Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:38 am Post subject:

Sorry Larry. I couldn't resist. Sometimes it's just bigger than me. Here, I'll hold the knife and you can just back into it.

No, Larry's kart was not run over by a semi. Or was it? Laughing

_________________
Sex is like pizza. When it's good it's great and when it's bad, it's still pretty good.