Curious if anyone has experience with the OTK front nose lead that I think comet makes? looks very slick and interested to hear any feedback on it. I notice it doesn’t have any mounting holes and I don’t think that just relying on the floorpan to hold it there would be acceptable, is there a bracket that comes with it or do you just drill it?
Here’s the original that came out before Comet. $10 cheaper, comes with hardware to attach…
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Most karting organizations require very specific mounting bolts and washers for all ballast.
Pretty easy to install. Drop the floor pan. Hold it in place and mark your mounting holes. Drill and use 8mm bolt with large washer.
Tiffen’s comes with all the hardware and drilling instruction so that when mounted it has a through bolt that can be double nutted and pinned. You hard mount the foot rest to the frame with nuts instead of the factory bar that usually slides in there. The nuts sit in the holes of the weight when it’s mounted.
All of that said I swear no most tech guys don’t even realize it’s there nor check it.
Still need to bolt it. Can be a pain to drop the floor pan or remove altogether to get it in and out, but it’s one of the best ways to move weight bias forward on an OTK. Be aware that it will move your weight bias forward. How much of a shift depends on how heavy the driver and where other weight is.
If you know your current CG, the new CG (in terms of rear weight percent) is pretty easy:
new_CG = 100 x (old_CG x old_mass + ballast_CG x ballast_mass) / (new_mass)
So if you were at 360 lbs and 64% rear weight, putting 5lbs on the front axle line (ballast_CG = 0) will bump you to
100 x (0.64 x 360 + 0.0 x 5) / (360 + 5) = 63.1 %
If the ballast is anywhere other than the front axle line, the ballast CG is the distance to the front axle divided by the wheelbase. So putting 5lbs halfway between the front and rear axles (ballast_CG = 0.5) will give you:
100 x (0.64 x 360 + 0.5 x 5) / (360 + 5) = 63.8%
Even if you don’t know the exact numbers, it is useful for gauging how much of a change you’re making