Unless your driver is small enough to fit a majority of their body behind the panel, to me, all the aero affects of that panel are diminished.
In reality, it’s a way to sell more stuff. Keeping up with the joneses if you must.
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Useless… Have you seen the results from testing ?
We did… And it is not useless
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I remember hearing recently that the KG 508 has better cornering than the M10
I’d like to know more about the testing. Is this on track? Wind tunnel? If it’s wind tunnel, was there a driver in the seat? How big was the driver? Are they tucking are sitting in driving position?
One thing I noticed with the M7 fairing was it seemed like others found more benefit from it depending on their height and driver position. If you were too short, it didn’t benefit as much because there already was minimal air passing over you. If you were too tall, it didn’t eject the air over your head enough.
so anyway
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I have no problem with this since a nice karting suit will run you that price anyway. How this possibly provide abrasion resistance, I have no idea.
Also the poses the models are doing in the shop page makes me feel like I need to call an adult…
https://www.kartskins.com/shop/
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I really like to see the level 2 FIA approval on these suites/things.
They are heavely overpriced, you Can g’et a good OMP/Sparco for Way less then this….
I’ve got somewhat of a running theory here, curious to hear everyone’s thoughts @Alan_Dove @tjkoyen and others.
While to a certain degree, I’m sure the initial runs of bodywork pre-OTK M6 were concerned more with less drag / general airflow…
…I think the current era of bodywork evolution we’re seeing is partially due to the kinds of tires we’ve been running post 2017ish.
For a while, it was more grip, more grip, more grip, true rubber, less synthetic rubber, and at least for me growing up, I never once could remember experiencing any ‘aero wash’.
But now, there’s a fair amount of high grip, the chassis are built well enough to handle the higher minimum corner speeds, but the tires don’t have that gummy characteristic that they used to. It’s rare you see someone overstuck or biking like what was all too common in the early 2010s.
So now, every nassau panel is concerned with trying to fight the aero-wash effect of struggling to follow someone else. And then the front bumpers also to a lesser degree, although they’re also seeming to try and direct air flow to the tires to keep them cool, since again, it’s a more synthetic rubber blend than true rubber, so you’re concerned with temperature more than wear and degradation.
These appear to be custom design only and obviously fitted though, which aligns in price compared to a custom suit from OMP or Sparco or Freem.
You can definitely buy a nice off-the-shelf suit for half that.
The only place I really have ever felt aero wash was heading into the 90 after the long straight at New Castle in X30/Leopard when following close. You can distinctly feel understeer in that situation, so I believe that aero does play a part when you are going at those speeds (60-75mph).
Tire temp on the last couple generations, and especially on the SH2/SM2 is waaaaay more important than it was on the previous generation of MGs. So much so that I am debating buying/making a tire temp rig for this season. Airflow to the tires is what most of the manufacturers are touting as a big reason for the new bodywork designs. I would need to see some concrete data to believe that. The tires are as open as you can get in terms of airflow so I’d be curious to see how directing more air simply through channels in the bodywork actually affects tire temp. Difficult to test that consistently though.
I’ve felt it at Trackhouse at Turn 3 and 6 before also. But more so in recent years and less so in that super grippy MG Yellow era through 2016/17.
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I would assume the front bumpers would be generating the high speed airflow underneath generating low-pressure. That’s where I’d be looking for dirty air effects. Experimenting with heights of the bumper etc… might uncover something. But I haven’t looked into it all that much though as it’s not something I’ve experienced myself given the fact I get in a kart about once every 5 years atm and my neck fails before I am fast enough to notice any aero effects.
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Can’t share any insight for the moment but the system is the most complex you’ve seen on a go kart and it is not just advertising.
I can say that karting is evolving and aerodynamics will take a part of r&d consistently.
But is that the right path for Karting to go, it is facinating. But is it right thing or should FIA start regulating it a bit more.
Well, it maybe gives gains at a certain part of the track.
But it won’t make a difference if tire pressures or setup is wrong at a given time. To me those 2 factors are the most crucial ones
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At club level in the UK there aren’t many getting tire pressures and set up wrong.
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Its a bunch of years ago now, but there was noticeable front grip difference in a KZ 5th gear corner with the old CRG New Age bodywork.
I can’t imagine this bodywork adds downforce, it looks targeted at moving air around the driver in a smarter way then the solutions (both over and around the driver). I don’t think they are aiming to generate downforce but they could if the attachments to the frame are solid enough.
Sure but we are talking KZ2 or even KZ national events where 20 drivers are within 0.2 seconds in qualifying.
Gaining a tiny but consistent advantage cause you have a sort of aero in your set-up is something to take into consideration.
Tracks are not going to get shorter and/or slower - see Portimao, Franciacorta , Cremona , Le Mans, Sarno, etc…
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