Track Tac

Banked Trac k Stagger

phantomkartracer said:
Have you ever let go of your steering wheel (just for a sec on a caution lap) on a flat turn vs. a banked turn? Isn't the banked turn helping you turn so you can go faster? Doesn't a banked track warrant a change in your front end geometry vs. a flat track? And, isn't it dependent on how tight the turn is? I think it is a lot more than just thinking about stagger. We got to apply some physics to these theories.

Brian #89
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Both flat or banked the kart steers to the left, they are designed to do so for one, the other is camber, caster, and stagger.
No a banked track isnt helping you turn, in fact the opposite, its how g forces are applied and heightened up until a certain degree of banking, when the forces applied are trying to roll under, rather than over
only front change would be a small camber adjustment, if even that.
again it about forces on the kart and driver, its harder to uncouple the LR from the track because of the banking, thus a smaller LR is required
 
Banking allows a fraction of the inertial force to be applied downward, enhancing grip at both ends of the kart. Assuming that greater grip results in more traction (as it normally would), the front requires less effort to steer in the proper direction (less slip occurs) and so less stagger is needed because the front is more complaint to the drivers' requests. But Al is geometrically correct in that a banked track will cause the radius of the turn for the outside tire to be less than a flat track's radius would be. The rear wheel track doesn't change, the EFFECTIVE RADIUS of the turn does, and that's why less stagger is geometrically needed. Since a kart doesn't travel in a circle, stagger calcs are always a compromise between responsiveness and scrub.
 
Ted Hamilton said:
But Al is geometrically correct in that a banked track will cause the radius of the turn for the outside tire to be less than a flat track's radius would be. The rear wheel track doesn't change, the EFFECTIVE RADIUS of the turn does, and that's why less stagger is geometrically needed. Since a kart doesn't travel in a circle, stagger calcs are always a compromise between responsiveness and scrub.
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Essentially, I agree with most of what you say, but the qualifiers are little much. "Effectively correct", there's nothing "effectively" about it! It's a fact!
 
Dirt karts since '85 here. I guess that's about 35 years if I count'em correctly.

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Brian #89
 
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