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The kart set-up does have a few drawback, which we have tried to address. The solid axle does scrub when turning, but we have thinner tires at a higher PSI to help reduce it as much as possible. It's very noticeable when turning tightly, but the steering geometry is designed to pick-up the inside rear tire to let it scrub less, and we've moved the rear wheels in as far as we can as well. Fortunately the turns are huge and it shouldn't be too big of a handicap. We fitted the motor with a custom clutch so it will coast freely, and it seems to coast very well. There were only 2 cars that carried any amount of cornering speed - the overall winner and the fastest car. Most were very slow in the corners, but with spoked bicycle front wheels you couldn't push too hard. I did see a car in the pits with one of its front wheels folded over. Our theory is to keep corner speeds way up in order to help conserve energy - that's the theory...
The other plan is to P&G on the straights. Bringing it up to max speed (45 MPH @3000 RPMs) and coast down from there. Not sure how far would be the best to coast down to though before full power back up to 45 - maybe 35 MPH?
He really just wants it to be one of the faster cars and not compete for overall honors. Overall honors includes the quality of your monthly and final reports and also requires we add 60 pounds of ballast to compete in class. We will most likely just run Exhibition Class and not worry about some of the overbearing rules.
They have 2 other events besides the RA one. Pretty sure they are both at stockcar tracks. Some of the Electrathon cars have suspension, which would be nice at at least one of the tracks because of the bumpy surface.
I just picked up the roll cage tubing today, and we will continue to work on getting the car completed for the first event after school starts later this year.
Thanks for the compliments and tips.
Jay
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