With most brands making large changes and new homologations for '22. Does anyone know if there are going to be any big changes for 2023 season? Not that much changes from year to year, but you know what I’m getting after.
Since the new homologations were in 22 we likely won’t see any huge changes this year. With that said, even within a homologation there is some leeway to move some geometry around as most of the geometry on a homologation comes with a plus or minus 10mm which is quite a lot of room in a game of millimeters.
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While there are the regulations in the homologation documents, there is still a lot of room for change from year to year that fits these restraints that you may not see as a consumer.
Ricky already mentioned the ±10mm tolerances for tube placement on the chassis, but there is also no wall thickness measurement, nor is there a specification for steering yoke geometry.
This doesn’t mean much in terms of what we know teams will do, but we can still see a lot of change in chassis from year to year in non-homologation cycle years. I remember I think in 2018 OTK made some significant changes that a lot of drivers weren’t fans of coming from the previous design, even though the frames were still the same homologation. Realistically, the dealers will know for sure, whether they disclose for sure what happens is up to them.
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I think the biggest change, without changing frame geometry, can be had with frame material/alloy/heat treat. Also, I’ve seen changes in caster and bearing hangers.
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I don’t know why I didn’t even think about the yokes and that geometry. KPI, caster, camber can all be changed. Kind of amazing how much can be changed and still stay within a homologation. I used to think the homologations we’re very strict and tight tolerances, but that’s certainly not the case.
We should also remind ourselves that homologation only affects CIK classes and series which choose to abide by them. Someone half decent with a welder and a tube bender can design and build a new frame whenever they wish.
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Anyone tried a chassis were the rear cassettes can be flipped to change wheel base? Is the change noticeable? To me it seems like a simple thing that all chassis could implement.
My ART GP chassis had adjustable wheelbase.
Shorter wheelbase = twitchier overall kart and faster rotation and lift
Longer wheelbase = more progressive overall kart and slower rotation and lift
I wish all karts incorporated some kind of adjustable wheelbase. Like ride height, it really changes the feel of the kart.
Was it a small, medium, or large change? I think small is like camber change or large like an axle change.
On that kart it was a fairly large change. Like ride height, it changes the fundamental baseline feeling of the kart.
I’ve mentioned this before, but on this specific ART chassis, we were running the factory supplied “special material”, so the kart was pretty much used up three weekends into the season, and the spring of the chassis had noticeably degraded since the first event. But shortening the wheelbase made the kart start to react again. Obviously it can’t bring back the spring of the metal, but the kart actually could rotate again. The factory had advised we needed to re-frame after two events, but shipping delays meant we didn’t get our chassis in time for this particular national race.
Totally depends on the kart though.
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The Kart Republic’s can do it, I’ve never felt like we needed to do it though so I’m not sure how much of a change it is on those frames. They come as the short wheelbase already, but I may try it out at some point if I get a chance.
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And this is why everyone on r/karting seems to think any kart more than a season old is not useable.
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I would think something so basic & proven as WB adjustment would become a mainstay once adopted, but I’ve noticed the feature come & go on some brands.
Wheelbase would be huge. Makes you wonder why it’s not there already.
My guess is some manufacturers just probably don’t think it’s necessary. While it would be a cool and fun adjustment to play with, I can’t think of many instances where I actually needed it and couldn’t tune the rest of the kart to achieve what I wanted.
But still if I were designing a kart I would include it.
Parking lot Vegas races = short wheelbase.
Everywhere else = long wheelbase 
I kid, but I could see where where you could find a couple tracks that favor one or the other depending on layout. Longer wheelbase for somewhere like NewCastle and AMP. Shorter for GoPro or Homestead.
For sure, but in practice, I’ve never felt disadvantaged racing the same wheelbase at Springfield (tight) vs New Castle (flowing) on OTK stuff.
So in that regard it might be beneficial on a different chassis with different design characteristics.
The ART GP kart worked opposite to the OTK. No front bar, lots of mid-corner flex and release on exit. Maybe with that concept it was a more useful adjustment.
I never changed mine on my 4R. I never felt like it helped anything.
Would increasing ackermann have the same effect as shortening the wheelbase to have more rotation in the kart?