This seems like it would be a no-brainer to have, yet I’ve seen it get dropped in later generation iterations. Does it introduce more problems than it solves, or what?
Wheelbase is listed in homologation document. Tolerance +/- 10mm though. So make of that what you will.
Seems like a good set up change to have. I think the reality is customers want a certain level of setup options, but not too much.
I think Alan is on to something. The vast majority of drivers cant even feel the difference in such a small wheelbase change. Keeping the cost down starts to make sense if the masses don’t understand or benefit from it.
Agree with above, I think some adjustments are very rarely used by the general public so some karts don’t bother putting them on the kart to save a couple bucks.
I’ve adjusted wheelbase on the CRG Road Rebel KZ - probably the biggest single adjustment I’ve made on a kart in terms of being able to immediately feel how it impacts the balance and ability of the kart to rotate.
While that can be a good thing to have in your tuning pocket, I have to say I’d prefer a kart where I don’t feel like I have to make such a drastic change to get the feel I want from one track to the next.
People constantly talk about the ease of tuning an OTK - never having to go too far from baseline because it works pretty good in almost all conditions. My guess is that more and more of the manufacturers are trying to get to that point - wheelbase changes are just “too big” a change for what most want.
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This is very nice. You always read this i reccomend this.
Just a funny side note… I read mfgers as something else…
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I also misread it each time. You are not alone.
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Yeah, okay. I guess my choice of abbreviation is too old school. Edited.
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This is sound reasoning.
It’s called the Paradox of Choice, I forgot to add. It’s amusing how much behavioral psychology could affect the pursuit of performance.
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@Alan_Dove I noticed something while observing some of the quick teenagers who are being coached at my local track. They tend to want to focus on setup, and their coaches want them to focus on driving the kart as fast as they can with the setup it has.
I think psychologically it must be better for a driver to go out believing he has a “hotrod” every time instead of always falling back on the notion that the kart setup wasn’t perfect as a way to dismiss a poor performance.
That’s why sometimes I like to tell my drivers that I made a chassis adjustment when I didn’t, or not make the change they requested but tell them I did. I think a lot of drivers young and old need to realize their own ability and learn how to drive around setup issues or alter the kart with their driving rather than solely relying on setup.
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Agree 100%.
Oddly my experience was way different though.
When I first got a shifter, it was a skm with a stock yz125 in 1999. It was my first asphalt racing experience. For the first year or so I drove it with 52% rear weight. I raced the amatuer nationals and the supernats in S2, lead both races and podiumed with what I would later find was a horrible setup that made the kart insanely difficult to drive… but I didn’t notice at the time.
The only way I figured it out was by chance (proper setup info was not as widely accessible back then), some guy asked me to drive his kart at jacksonville one day while I was there practicing. It was a tony with a swedetech honda and I immediately went almost a second faster than i had ever gone. The thing felt like a racecar. I moved my seat back about 2 inches in my kart and I won my first pro race (S1) at Ocala a few months later.
I had to learn to be finicky and find speed with data analysis and setup instead of just dealing with it. The sweet spot is attaining the ability to separate the tuner from the driver in your own head.
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Reminds me a friend who hasn’t managed to get the set up right so many times he has learned to drive with everything against him.
Also I know some coaches who put HH OTK axles to see if their students can handle it