[Kartbuilding] steering geometry

[Stephen Burke]

Hi Alexei,

Sorry I didnt reply to your email sooner.
Yes - there are some differences between the camber angles on the racing 
kart and off-road kart plans on the kartbuilding website.
It is 5 degrees on the off-road and 12 on the racing kart ( 
http://www.kartbuilding.net/racingkart/Old_Racing_Kart/kingpins.htm  and 
http://www.kartbuilding.net/racingkart/Free_Racing_Kart_Plans_PDF/Main_Kart_Complete_03_Chassis.pdf 
)
The exact angle depends on the type of wheel/tyre been used. On the 
off-road kart which had wheelbarrow wheels, a 5 degree angle sufficed. On 
the racing kart, the wheels were substantially wider. There is no 
definitive camber angle, or any equation to calculate this angle (as far 
as I am aware). I wrote a blog post on steering in karts and it can be 
found at: 
http://blog.kartbuilding.net/2007/07/12/steering-geometry-and-setup-for-go-karts/

To summarize, as the wheelbarrow wheels on the off-road kart were round 
(as opposed to flat), a 5 degree angle sufficed (a larger angle would not 
make any difference to tire wear etc.). I suggest you use 10 
degrees for the camber angle on your kart. It would be possible to adjust 
the camber angle afterwards, although it would require some work.

Best of Luck,
-steve

On Fri, 8 Feb 2008, Alexei Semine wrote:

> Hello, I'm in the process of making a go kart and I read everything on your
> web site many times and I understand caster and camber from racing remote
> control cars. On your offroad kart you use 5 degrees camber while the onroad
> kart has 20. I'm just wondering why there is more camber on the onroad kart,
> shouldn't the offroad one have more camber so the wheels dont get caught on
> the bumps with the edges. Which angle would be better for a kart which will
> be used both onroad and offroad or will the difference be minor because
> there is no suspension.
>