Kart Feeling and Progression Throughout A Race

Chassis Setup, Tires & Handling Forum
1

Make and model of chassis

  • Margay Ignite K3 with Mg Yellow tires
  • Lo206

Hello All, I wanted to see if anyone has any knowledge about how a kart progress and changes throughout a race.

I had a race this past weekend and was just wondering about some of the things I saw. So during my races I always tended to come out quite quickly and be right on pace. (During my final race my fastest lap time came on lap 5 of a 15 lap race) Although towards the second half of the race I tended to start going consistently 2 or 3 tenths slower per lap and the kart sorta just became a handful to drive. I just never felt like I had as good of a handle through the corners.
Whenever I look at my competitors lap times though they took a few laps longer to come up to speed and match my pace but when they did they never fell back and in most cases got faster at the end. ( The fastest lap of the race came on the very last lap of the race, where as I was lapping slighted slower than I had been at the beginning of the race )

Could this possibly be my driving style? Am I going to aggressive right at the beginning? I did try putting the tire pressures almost 2 full pounds lower but they again started to fall off at around the same point.

Just to add more information it was also a very hot day with the air temp being just around 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The track is a whitish concrete so it doesn’t get as hot as asphalt but I can assume the track temp was quite a bit warmer than the air.

2

It’s a little hard to say without looking at your driving style. It could be simply something like you being physically tired in the last few laps, or driving different between the beginning and the end of the race.

3

From what you describe, could you be really overdoing it on your tires in the beginning? You talk about the kart becoming a handful in later laps. That sounds like your tires come off, but you keep driving the same?

1 Like
4

What cold pressure are you starting the tires at?

5

Between 14psi - 16psi

6

That’s pretty high for MG Yellows, though it could be different on that track surface and with such low power. That seems like a high-grip tire for that class, but I imagine the track is really green so that’s why they run it.

If you’re struggling on the second half of the race, start by dropping tire pressures. If that doesn’t help, it’s probably you driving too hard in the beginning.

For reference, our working range on Yellows is usually 8-10 psi on a standard regional-level weekend, even on a low-grip track.

The Yellow will start to “grease” over when you overheat it. That causes the kart to feel either like it’s sitting flat in the corners, or slide the rear usually.

If you’ve got pics of the wear pattern, you can learn a lot from that.

1 Like