In this episode we look at how you can best read your karting tyres.
Now we know that one of the biggest expenses when it comes to kart racing is tyres. The softer compounds generally are built for performance over longevity, so identifying when they are past their use by date or when they are overheating can help your on track performance.
Also for newcomers, you can distinguish when your driver is driving off the racing line with the pick up they are generating.
I hope this helps drivers and mechanics out with knowing what to look for the next time they are out at the race track.
OK, I’m way confused. Back awhile, under Chassis Setup, Tires & Handling Forum, there was a robust 246 post discussion on “Learning how to diagnose tires”. Within the discussion you can find Col Fink (K-Racing from Australia) giving an excellent whiteboard talk: Are your tyres talking to you – and, if you do a bit of a Youtube search, he follows with Sliding, skidding, and twisting. He seems to make the point that a SMALL wavy grain pattern means that your tires are not being over-stretched and over heated from lateral gripping forces and that this means your kart tire is probably in a sweet spot. TJ (aka Yoda) seems to make a similar point in one of the 246 posts when he responds to someones photo of a (used) kart tire by noting “SLIGHT (my emphasis) grain meaning lack of grip.” So question: For MG Yellows, does a small wavy grain pattern across the tire show good grip on a clean green track? For reference I am constantly comparing my tread patterns with hot pressures right at pit-in. Current kart is a CRG KT2 with VLR 100 at 370 lbs minimum on a momentum track in Tucson.
