General Advice...

jscholt

Member
As a crew chief I often find myself 2nd guessing an approach to a track and really looking for general advice from the experts on this forum to point me in a good starting point. Found a new track to race at and struggled this past weekend in our heats, found some speed in the feature but were still a bit off from the lead pack. Finished 6th out of 17, so not a terrible result but certainly wish we were a few spots better.

We run in Jr2/3 - Blue Plate clone. Current Chassis is a Triton Jr and it has been scaled properly.

Track = Golden Spike in Blue Earth, MN. Here is a good pic of the track for reference:

Blue Earth.jpg


As you can see, the corners are fairly flat in nature... It's listed as a 1/8 mile but I want to say its probably a little bit bigger than that.

What we run and where I started from:

  • Maxxis Pinks/Blues - 6lb Right 5.5 Left
  • Front Stagger - 1 3/4
  • Rear Stagger - 1 1/4
The track itself is very smooth, hard and single groove for the most part. Where my son struggled was in 1 and 2, we were consistently having an issue with either a 4 wheel drift coming out or a loose condition. He had a hard time staying in the throttle vs those in front of him were pretty much in the throttle through the turn completely. In corners 3 and 4 - no issue and would gain speed coming out, but then lose all that momentum going through 1 and 2 again. Best lap was 12.55 but probably need to be closer to 12 or in the 11's to be fully competitive.

If anyone has any recommendations for me or need more info (have question), all ears. Going back on 7.2 for a double show and hope to see some improvement.

Thank you!
 
My first inclination is that air was a tick too high. However, a few questions:
  • Did you change tires from the heats to the features?
  • What date codes, roll date & amount?
  • What were you wiping?
 
First we'd need to know, how confident are you with your tire program being close, then
is your left over 59 %, scaled properly doesn't tell us much.
 
@Fast 34 I did not change tires for the heats or features. Tires are new as of April this year, rolled once in March and then rolled again a week ago with 50% using Pink Magic inside prep. I was wiping 2-3 coats between with a mixture of Pink Magic outside and Tracktac Black Sand (50/50).

@racing promotor sorry about that, here is the current scale setup for the kart:

  • Left = 57%
  • Rear = 52.5%
  • Cross = 65%
As far as confident in tire program, still learning and trying to understand based on track conditions what to use and how much to wipe. Hope that helps.

Thank you!
 
@Fast 34 I did not change tires for the heats or features. Tires are new as of April this year, rolled once in March and then rolled again a week ago with 50% using Pink Magic inside prep. I was wiping 2-3 coats between with a mixture of Pink Magic outside and Tracktac Black Sand (50/50).

@racing promotor sorry about that, here is the current scale setup for the kart:

  • Left = 57%
  • Rear = 52.5%
  • Cross = 65%
As far as confident in tire program, still learning and trying to understand based on track conditions what to use and how much to wipe. Hope that helps.

Thank you!
Cambers and casters ?
 
@Fast 34 I did not change tires for the heats or features. Tires are new as of April this year, rolled once in March and then rolled again a week ago with 50% using Pink Magic inside prep. I was wiping 2-3 coats between with a mixture of Pink Magic outside and Tracktac Black Sand (50/50).

@racing promotor sorry about that, here is the current scale setup for the kart:

  • Left = 57%
  • Rear = 52.5%
  • Cross = 65%
As far as confident in tire program, still learning and trying to understand based on track conditions what to use and how much to wipe. Hope that helps.

Thank you!
Confirm amount of internal originally rolled ? Then reroll amount 50 cc ?
 
My initial thought is not enough bite in the tires early on (before the track cleaned up.) Usually you'll need different tires as the night goes on and the track gets faster. You'll want more bite earlier in the night before the track gets much bite.
It sounds like "the track came to your tires" instead of the other way around.

You'll get some good help here - let's get some more numbers and learn more about what you are doing with preps and we'll get you going.


-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
33 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
We bought a 2017 TritonJr in 2020 to cut our teeth on. We went through many of the same things you describe. I’ve got all my old notes. If there’s anything I can do help, shoot me direct message.

From what I see I would do the following.
#1) change my stagger to 1.5” Front and 1.5” rear. Then I’d rescale.

#2) Drop the tire pressure down to 4.0Left and 5.0Right.
If the 4 wheel drift continues I’d keep dropping psi all the way around.
Here attached are my setup numbers. We found the TritonJr was happiest when the RF had 28% of the total weight
 

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