[Kartbuilding] Cart steering specs

[Stephen Burke]

Hi Chip,

Apologies for the slow reply. Thanks for your email. Im not sure if you 
got anymore done with the mini nascar race cart.

I setup a single rear wheel drive on one of my karts and I found some 
strange behaviour. I found that depending on which of the rear wheels was 
driven/powered (right or left), then the kart turned much quicker to the 
left/right.

As you were saying, the larger angles for camber and castor are to cause a 
jacking effect which is required on karts with a solid live rear axle.

To be honest, I think it will take a number of tries to determine the best 
fit. I ended up grinding off the weld on the King Pin and reattaching it 
at a different angle to try and obtain more efficient cornering. I found 
that the less severe the figures the better performance I obtained. A 10 
degree castor and 5 degree camber would be an excellent start. It may take 
some trial and error however.

Best of Luck,
-steve

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008, Chip wrote:

> I am trying to set up a cart for a mini nascar race. The front end of the cart is some of the worst workmanship I have ever seen. There are no two angles alike anywhere. So, I am left with the task of fixing the problem. The race course requires that the cart be equally able to turn left and right, the track surface is asphalt, the tires are slick, and the cart is a slow, underpowered, one-wheel drive model. There is no need to lift the rear inside through corners, and the objective for the driver will be to carry as much speed through the corner as possible, because acceleration is dismal at best and we are not allowed to improve on it. I understand camber, caster, and toe, and I can modify the steering gear as needed to correct for faultly workmanship. What I need is some degree values and toe measurements. My research so far has found values from 7 to 25 degrees positive caster and 7 to 20 degrees of negative camber. It looks to me like the more extreme values are meant for live
> rear axle carts to increase jacking in corners. Since I don't need that, what I am asking for is a good starting place.
>
>                                                                                                          Thanks for your help,
>                                                                                                           Chip Wilkerson