During the off season here in northern VA, I'm planning on putting something together to go racing in the spring. Zero experience in karts so it has been a bit overwhelming. I've made my way through all of the posts and certainly appreciate all of the comments and questions that have been left.
When it comes to initial setup, it looks like I should start with the chassis manufactures baseline and go from there but where is, there? It looks like tire selection/prep provides the 80% solution based on comments in this thread but what next? Is there a cascading order of adjustments that have a more profound effect than the next in line (i.e. camber before, caster, before cross etc.)?
Are there basic characteristics to certain tire manufacturers that make them better suited to certain surfaces? Is Maxxis better in XX conditions where Vegas or Burris are better suited for XX?
I understand toe, camber, caster but what exactly is cross?
I saw VCG mentioned in an earlier post and it was a new term; is this different than roll center? If so, what differentiates the two?
First off, welcome to the forum. This place is a great resource
Your "There" setup will typically have set of numbers for weights, cambers, casters, toe, etc. Don't let these numbers overwhelm you. You can, and you will, understand them with great understanding. You're doing a good thing by doing a lot of reading. At some point, it will all click and you will understand it. Even if you don't understand all of it, you have this forum as a resource.
Your weights will typically be recommended by your overall weight. You will have a left side weight percentage, a nose weight percentage, and a cross weight percentage. Cross weight is the measurement for the percentage of weight on the left rear and the right front divided by the total.
Example: Left rear 160lbs, Right front 100lbs, total weight 400.
160+100=260
260/400=.065
.065=65% cross
As I am sure you have read, cross is more of a fine tuning adjustment, but in many cases might be the fastest band-aid for quick adjustments. For me, while at the track, cross is my go to adjustment simply because it is easy to measure what my change is doing without needing my scales. Also remember that the scales dont win races. The scale is just an indicator of what your kart is doing, if you make a change and it works, but the scale numbers seem confusing, don't worry about it. Tune for what you need the kart to do and let the scales be a tool to repeat what you felt.
Tires are a HUGE deal. Bad tires on a good kart will get beat by good tires on a bad kart almost every time. Find someone at your local track,
who runs up front, and see if they will help you get onto a good tire prepping program. With that said, there are several tire gurus on here that can get you going in the right direction. Again, these guys are really good, but it may not do quite what you are looking for, and that is ok, and they will continue to help even if you struggle a little bit.