Optimum weight for karting?
Discussion
When I go karting I find I am only ever beaten by people a bit lighter/ smaller than myself. Generally I say well they are a lot smaller than me so I can understand them being faster.
This is often countered with comments like. Well your weight does help you corner better.
My question is. Is that last statement true? Will a heavier person go faster round bends than a lighter person. I certainly see no fat people racing karts seriously (I'm 14stone). I have a friend (approx8 stone) who used to race propery and on tighter more technical tracks I could just beat her and on open ones she would leave me for dead. Surely this is like the equivalent of a Merc SL out handling an Elise?
is there an optimal weight for something like downward force to inertia for cornering braking etc. or just simply the lighter the better?
This is often countered with comments like. Well your weight does help you corner better.
My question is. Is that last statement true? Will a heavier person go faster round bends than a lighter person. I certainly see no fat people racing karts seriously (I'm 14stone). I have a friend (approx8 stone) who used to race propery and on tighter more technical tracks I could just beat her and on open ones she would leave me for dead. Surely this is like the equivalent of a Merc SL out handling an Elise?
is there an optimal weight for something like downward force to inertia for cornering braking etc. or just simply the lighter the better?
RB Will said:
When I go karting I find I am only ever beaten by people a bit lighter/ smaller than myself.
This is often countered with comments like. Well your weight does help you corner better.
A heavier driver/kart needs to brake earlier. This will be detrimental to lap times.This is often countered with comments like. Well your weight does help you corner better.
A heavier driver/kart is placing more lateral force on the tyres when cornering...reducing traction. This will be detrimental to lap times.
A heavier driver/kart will take longer to accelerate out of corners. This will be detrimental to lap times.
You are driving out your skin to keep much lighter driver/kart combinations in sight!
Generally a lighter person will be quicker for all the already mentioned reasons. Being heavy is generally not too much of a disadvantage in proper msa karting because unless your very heavy you will generally always have to add weight onto a kart to reach the minimum weight limits. Also a lot of proper msa meetings run heavyweight classes.
Thats besides the point really but being heavy can be an advantage sometimes in the wet! Obviously the slower speeds mean excess weight isn't such an advantage in terms of acceleration etc but sometimes the traction advantage of extra weight can outweigh the negative aspects in certain conditions and at certain tracks. You could try and use your weight slightly to your advantage in all conditions by leaning to the outside of the kart to increase traction on the outside wheel! Sometimes it makes a difference sometimes it doesn't. 90 percent of the time though being lighter is better!
Thats besides the point really but being heavy can be an advantage sometimes in the wet! Obviously the slower speeds mean excess weight isn't such an advantage in terms of acceleration etc but sometimes the traction advantage of extra weight can outweigh the negative aspects in certain conditions and at certain tracks. You could try and use your weight slightly to your advantage in all conditions by leaning to the outside of the kart to increase traction on the outside wheel! Sometimes it makes a difference sometimes it doesn't. 90 percent of the time though being lighter is better!
Get Karter said:
A heavier driver/kart needs to brake earlier. This will be detrimental to lap times.
A heavier driver/kart is placing more lateral force on the tyres when cornering...reducing traction. This will be detrimental to lap times.
A heavier driver/kart will take longer to accelerate out of corners. This will be detrimental to lap times.
A heavier driver/kart will thump a lighter driver /kart combo harder into the tyres. This will be detrimental to lap times, but will have gained track position. A heavier driver/kart is placing more lateral force on the tyres when cornering...reducing traction. This will be detrimental to lap times.
A heavier driver/kart will take longer to accelerate out of corners. This will be detrimental to lap times.
More weight creates more grip, but that's more-or-less exactly countered by the increased lateral/longitudinal forces imposed my more mass. Braking distances and cornering speeds shouldn't be too disimilar, but acceleration certainly suffers.
I'm 6'7" and ~17 stone. Driving karts with adjustable seats highlights another issue; centre of gravity. I'm faster and more consistent over a few laps with the seat as far forward as I can bear than with the seat back in a more comfortable position. It seems weight over the front is beneficial. I also have to contend with twice the frontal area of other drivers...
I also have to contend with being s
t.
I'm 6'7" and ~17 stone. Driving karts with adjustable seats highlights another issue; centre of gravity. I'm faster and more consistent over a few laps with the seat as far forward as I can bear than with the seat back in a more comfortable position. It seems weight over the front is beneficial. I also have to contend with twice the frontal area of other drivers...
I also have to contend with being s
t.Generally most karts handle better with the cg and seat further back, a forwards position improving times suggests you must be struggling with understeer/ turning in, just try leaning forward out of the seat turning into corners, then back to a normal further back position out of corners. Of course if you can adjust set up thats a better way of doing it. Guessing your on about corporate karts rather than proper racing karts well?
Being heavy also makes overtaking a hell of a challenge as its nigh on impossible to get a run on a lighter karter into any corners. Thanks for the input guys. I guess if I want to be better I should start throwing up after every meal, or just race on wet tracks. You think most karting places would mind me throwing a few buckets down on trategic corner exits?
Im extremely light, and find im quicker on the straights than a friend thats slightly heavier, however as soon as we hit a bend, he can come past, I either take the corner fast, slide and loose speed, or slow down enough to not slide, which is where the extra weight comes as an advantage, however if he were much heavier than myself, he'd fall back too much on the straights, as to not catch up in the bends.
So in reality, its about a good mix between light enough for straights, but heavy enough for the twisties.
So in reality, its about a good mix between light enough for straights, but heavy enough for the twisties.
I believe that's called bad driver syndrome. Why not try adding 10kg of ballast and see what happens to your lap times. BTW the only advantage to being heavey is in the wet, due to the reduced grip it is importnant to shift the weight around i.e. whilst entering a corner you would move to the front outside corner, this is to help lift the inside rear wheel, by making it tilt (very importnant due to solid axle or face drastic understeer), then on the exit you quickly shift your weight back over the rear axle, this is so that you can now apply the throttle better. But that is it. And in owner driver racing none of this is relevant 'cos all classes have a min weight, unless your so fat you can't meet it, in which case their is sometimes a heavey class.
Is Donkey Kong the fastest in Mario Kart?
Donkey Kong has the second-highest speed of all characters, and combined with the B Dasher kart, the Triforce tires, and the Super Glider, he can reach exceptionally high speeds. The tires also help with his traction, which is extremely helpful for heavy characters.
Donkey Kong has the second-highest speed of all characters, and combined with the B Dasher kart, the Triforce tires, and the Super Glider, he can reach exceptionally high speeds. The tires also help with his traction, which is extremely helpful for heavy characters.
911r said:
Is Donkey Kong the fastest in Mario Kart?
Donkey Kong has the second-highest speed of all characters, and combined with the B Dasher kart, the Triforce tires, and the Super Glider, he can reach exceptionally high speeds. The tires also help with his traction, which is extremely helpful for heavy characters.
Do you know, I had not considered that.Donkey Kong has the second-highest speed of all characters, and combined with the B Dasher kart, the Triforce tires, and the Super Glider, he can reach exceptionally high speeds. The tires also help with his traction, which is extremely helpful for heavy characters.
NoBrakesWC said:
Is there not a minimum weight?
Can you explain further what you're asking?If there was nobody in the seat of the kart, and the thing had automated servos to turn the steering wheel and push the brake and gas pedals, and those servos were "driving" as well as a good human, it'd be faster than any human.
It would accelerate faster than a similar kart with the mass of a human to accelerate and decelerate, it would have less inertia than the kart with more mass, it would have less aerodynamic and tyre drag than the kart with more mass in it.
CraigyMc said:
It's literally just faster to be lighter all the time.
Anyone disagreeing with this should be adding as much ballast to their kart as they want.
Is this thread really still going? Anyone disagreeing with this should be adding as much ballast to their kart as they want.
Unless you’re relying extensively on gravity for your mechanical sport - soap box races, various alpine sports, competitive gliding in unpowered aircraft etc. - lighter is always better.
Yes, there might be a very weird circumstance, where a combination of track surface, weather conditions, suspension geometry, tyre performance and engine power/torque curves, all combine to occasionally result in the tiniest uptick on an otherwise downward-sloping curve - but there’s a good reason that all powered motorsports on closed circuits have minimum rather than maximum weight limits.
The F1 boys and girls are currently moaning that their 900kg prototype car (at the start of the race) is 4 or 5kg overweight, and are spending millions to try and lose those extra kilos, because it makes several seconds difference over the course of their race. They prefer to be a few kilos underweight with the car, so they can use ballast to trim weight distribution for the conditions to optimise performance, and will often underfuel the car and hope they get a safety car SC so they don’t need to ‘lift and coast’. All programmed with hundreds of big human brains and a lot of computers on each team. I’ll take their word for it, that lighter is always better.
Edited by Sandpit Steve on Thursday 21st April 18:44
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