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How to make your engine faster - Part 3

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How to make your engine faster - Part 3 Empty How to make your engine faster - Part 3

Post  Neil Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:12 pm

Part 3 How to make your engine faster - The Race Line

Go Karts handle turns better, that anything else that I have raced. I feel that in my experience, AFM road racing comes closest to Kart racing. Although the speeds are different they are both raced on asphalt closed courses, and the developments of the lines that they take are similar. I am not going to get into the particular lines to take for each particular type of turn. There are many great books on the technical aspects of taking corners. I am, going to let you in on an un-publicized fact that will give you the edge over the rest of the field. The concept is somewhat simple really; the fastest race line around a particular track for your kart class is approximately 12 inches wide. The faster the kart is, the narrower the race line becomes. Your saying to yourself, my kart is at least 50 inches wide, so how is it going to fit a race line 12 inches wide? The race line that I am writing about is your kart, plus 6 inches left or right of the fastest race line. Anything outside of that means that you will need to slow down accordingly, in order to exit the corner without running a tire off the track by the amount that you went outside the line. Each corner that you miss “the line” will cost you a hundredth or a tenth of a second onto your lap time. Multiply that, by the number of turns that you missed! That is why lap times vary, sometimes as much as a half a second or more. Same thing goes for your braking points and acceleration points. These go hand in hand in order to turning fast laps. It is not all about racing from corner to corner. You have to race going into the corners, as well as coming out of the corners.
Phrases and words to live by on a road or sprint course are; do not race harder race smarter, be smooth, consistent, accurate or precise, and controlled. The fastest person on the track often looks smooth and controlled. Ever hear the phrase, “sometimes you have to go slower to go faster”?
Many of you can relate to seeing a really fast go-kart and thought that it has to be that one of a kind highly sought after “select” “national” high dollar motor. Then we see that motor used by another driver and suddenly it is not special anymore. The point that I am trying to make with these series of “Tech tips” is you cannot simply buy your way to the front. It has to be a well-orchestrated combination of all the things that you have read in those “how to” race books, my tech tips, meticulous go kart preparation and countless number of laps practicing. That will get you to the center podium.

Neil
Racer

Posts : 64
Join date : 2008-06-17

http://hometown.aol.com/user1c158/myhomepage/autoracing.html

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