Track Tac

Discussion on rotating weight and its benefits

Reviving a dead thread...

Rotational mass affects acceleration and deceleration.
So on a momentum track, where a mistake is costly. Isn't the benefit to a lower rotational mass that these mistakes are less costly due to the karts inherent ability to regain momentum again quickly?
 
viice said:
Reviving a dead thread...

Rotational mass affects acceleration and deceleration.
So on a momentum track, where a mistake is costly. Isn't the benefit to a lower rotational mass that these mistakes are less costly due to the karts inherent ability to regain momentum again quickly?
Click to expand...

I'll quickly answer I think the answer is no.

I'm thinking of two different on track types of rotational mass. The first is the whole kart rotating through corners and the second are mechanical stuff on the kart which are rotating. less rotating mass stuff on the kart and you have less mass being hit at the whole kart via engine power to get it going. ... heck just off the top of my head on this and I really have no clue bout it. ... :) was a lot of fun to thunk about, thanks

edit: you have a ton of things which can reduce momentum of mass whole kart or parts on the kart, but only one thing which is set and limited to get them going again. ... so it's gota be better to keep stuff going then to try to get it back up to speed. and ?????
 
paulkish said:
I'll quickly answer I think the answer is no.

I'm thinking of two different on track types of rotational mass. The first is the whole kart rotating through corners and the second are mechanical stuff on the kart which are rotating. less rotating mass stuff on the kart and you have less mass being hit at the whole kart via engine power to get it going. ... heck just off the top of my head on this and I really have no clue bout it. ... :) was a lot of fun to thunk about, thanks

edit: you have a ton of things which can reduce momentum of mass whole kart or parts on the kart, but only one thing which is set and limited to get them going again. ... so it's gota be better to keep stuff going then to try to get it back up to speed. and ?????
Click to expand...

Maybe I can define this a little better with an unrealistic example...

Lets give rotating mass a number for an imaginary kart traveling in a straight line. Your driver is a robot...
Rotational mass for the engine/chain/driver/sprocket is 20lbs for Kart A, and 5lbs for Kart B.
They're both subjected to the same test... The robot is told to drive at 100% throttle (we can just assume 45mph on the dot) in both karts. Then it is told to lift immediately, for half a second and then get back 100% in the throttle (up to 45mph).
Assuming they cross the line at 100% and cross a line 100yds away at 100%... Which kart will cross the line first?

I think the one that is able to recover quickly from a "brief" lift, assuming roll resistance is at a reasonable value.

The idea here is that if I accidentally carry .5mph less through a corner. And I'm now... 2mph or whatever down at the end of the straight before the next corner. It's easier to recover "some" speed.
 
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All fun to thunk about and write about:


Kart B will win the straight line drag race if they both never exceed 45 mph.

Kart A will win the straight line drag race if either after lifting is allowed to exceed 45 mph.

The whole point of carrying speed or momentum through a corner is 'so' you can have a higher speed at the end of the next straight. The whole point of how you negotiate a corner is to be able to extend the length of the straight and gain further speed.

You never accidentally carry .5 mph less through a corner. If you carry .5 mph less through a corner then your potential, you have an on track problem to fix. ... :)
 
paulkish said:
All fun to thunk about and write about:


Kart B will win the straight line drag race if they both never exceed 45 mph.

Kart A will win the straight line drag race if either after lifting is allowed to exceed 45 mph.

The whole point of carrying speed or momentum through a corner is 'so' you can have a higher speed at the end of the next straight. The whole point of how you negotiate a corner is to be able to extend the length of the straight and gain further speed.

You never accidentally carry .5 mph less through a corner. If you carry .5 mph less through a corner then your potential, you have an on track problem to fix. ... :)
Click to expand...

That on track problem could be getting bumped by another driver! ;)
 
I'm pretty sure, when they talk about rotating weight, and the power needed to accelerate it, there's also a time function. How much time will it take to accelerate something from 0 to whatever, in a given amount of time. The faster you accelerate something, the more power it takes. A kart, and its rotating components, all accelerate relatively slowly. Now I'm pretty sure that lightning all the rotating components would be beneficial to acceleration, but, by how much, I'm not that good at that kind of math, but for any given component, I'm sure it's very very small. Still, lightning all the components, would probably be noticeable, I just don't know how much, or if you would notice it at all? Think about this; all these lighter weight components might accelerate very slowly, but they would stop very quickly, so under braking I think is where you'd see the most benefit.
 
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