I couldnt run like i wanted to, i was basically there to just feel it out at a reduced pace because of my ribs. On the left turns i was able to go wide open and it wasnt sliding or hopping, felt good. In the right turns i didnt even attempt to take them at race pace. Its going to be faster, ill let you know this Saturday
Im buying a rib vest before the next time i go to the track. ive never used one and ive found out why you need one, the hard way! Lol
As someone who has had rib injuries for the past 7 years, be sure to stay on top of that and don’t let yourself actually really injure yourself. Soreness and bruising is fairly normal, but if you end up breaking ribs or tearing your rib muscles, the recovery time is long and re-injury is super easy.
I tore my intercostal muscles in 2012 and even with 6 months of rest I still re-injured them immediately when I got back in the seat, and then continued to re-injure them over and over for 3 years before I got my fitness right and got the right combination of padding/rib vest/seat to eliminate injury. Even now, twisting motions in every day life can make my ribs sore because it’s all scar tissue down there.
There’s no way to heal ribs, other than sitting still, so glad to hear you’re getting a proper rib vest.
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What kind of ribvest do you use Tj? I dont wanna go too cheap and have this injury continue on into the future. I work in a factory doing manual labor, constantly bending and twisting, popping advil like candy these last two weeks lol
The undisputed heavyweights are the freeM and the Bengio. They are pricey and sometimes hard to find.
Plenty of other options like the alpine stars one.
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I tried several brands and the Bengio Bumper is the only one that immediately made it comfortable to sit in my seat again. Without it I wouldn’t be racing.
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Found this one for $137, not a bad price!
There are listings for bumper’s on facebook recently that appear to be replicas produced in India and not the real deal. Be certain to verify the source of that unit.
Thanks andy i will do that!
I’m not familiar with that kart so I don’t understand what you mean when you say that you took all the Castor out. Maybe our understanding of what Castor means is different.
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I’ve been in and around karting since 1966, I have never understood what the term “bound up.” refers to.
Also, there is no “ideal” weight balance, front to rear, that fits everything and everybody. Side to side, maybe, in Sprint racing. Tire pressures, there is no absolute ideal. Tread width, same thing.
Your handling problem is weird, but with no experience with that kart, or the conditions of the track, or your driving technique, I’m at a loss. I’ve had karts do both of what you’re talking about, but not on alternate laps.
When I was driving, I would spend at least one day a month at the track just practicing and testing different setups. I’ve spent weekends, just practicing and testing. Time every lap, with multiple sections. Write it all down. Know what the air density is, it can affect your lap times. You could make an adjustment that would help your times, but if the air density drops, you might go slower and figure it was the adjustment that hurt the lap time.
Tuning is tough (Al Nunley)
If the data does not support the theory, get a new theory! (Al Nunley)
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Did this happen? Very curious.
No I haven’t seen him in two races, I missed one in early July. Hes no longer the points leader lol. Btw it was the front hubs, they were too long. I put the dsm wheels on and narrowed the rear to 53 1/2 and it’s very very close. 9 tenths off the leader in the last race. Gonna narrow the rear up just a little more and I should be good. The kart is actually drivable since I took the hubs off, before it was a guessing game of how it was going to react in the corner. I was also over driving the kart
It was the long hubs making the kart act weird. I’ve never thought about air density affecting lap times! That’s interesting! I definitely need to test more, work seems to always get in my way, trying to go next weekend. Thank you for the input Al!
Disregard. Wrong thread.