Track Tac

Mini gear issues / questions

I agree it would take a few weeks to to find where we need to be especially the track we run we might get 15 laps of practice and the track is changing rapidly!! But normally by the last race of the night it’s close to the fastest time of the day or faster .. I was told to stay in the range of 48-52 rear and adjust clutch gear to find what works .. if I try again I’m pull as much gear off the rear as I can .. like u say who wants take 3 weeks of fiddling when it’s showtime lol
 
I fought it for the better part of the past 4 months, but switched my junior driver over to minis and probably won't go back. 1st night out and it proved to be very effective! Hitting on things mentioned already but found chain does need to be a bit tighter than I had been running on the big gears, helps to shorten chain (basically putting the motor in the spot i tend to have it and adjusting chain from there), ratios are ratios but on minis I found us to be on a smaller ratio and its not about peak/max RPM any more...so it does take some adjustment to understand how to use them. Only 1 race in but liking what I've seen and half his class has switched to minis, when we weren't on them they were beating us... on them and we were right there with them and nothing else tire or setup wise has changed.
 
Yea we try and pull 62/6300 off the corner .. so I’m thinking would driving styles be the difference.. my son bends gas peddles .. it’s been a head scratcher for sure .. I’m eager to figure it out .. that’s y this caught my attention
 
Phantomforever said:
I couldn’t get them to work for us went as far as putting together another axel with the mini set up .. as soon as we take that axel out and go back to our standard set up automatically picks up 3-4 tenths..and can see the difference in roll speed maybe bc the way we work our tires and takes more momentum to free the kart up ? been a real head scratcher .. I can run 53/54 on the standard axel ( I don’t bc that’s as low as I can go
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Only thing that makes any sense is when switching the entire axle SOMETHING is rubbing or binding up, or shifting, same for the OP just frustrating I know been there done that to many times .
 
jscholt said:
I fought it for the better part of the past 4 months, but switched my junior driver over to minis and probably won't go back. 1st night out and it proved to be very effective! Hitting on things mentioned already but found chain does need to be a bit tighter than I had been running on the big gears, helps to shorten chain (basically putting the motor in the spot i tend to have it and adjusting chain from there), ratios are ratios but on minis I found us to be on a smaller ratio and its not about peak/max RPM any more...so it does take some adjustment to understand how to use them. Only 1 race in but liking what I've seen and half his class has switched to minis, when we weren't on them they were beating us... on them and we were right there with them and nothing else tire or setup wise has changed.
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Ratios are a little different for sure for us here I've found provided how confident I am with the Regular gears, and how many front drivers I wish to drop when change to mini, If I feel last time out Regular were spot on and were only going to go 2 front driver sizes smaller, I don't even look at the ratios, I go 2 smaller on driver and remove 8 teeth from rear , and provided track condition is comparable that day to the day using regular gears it works out great, and yes usually a tenth faster on the mini's, especially to time trial with, then If I'm going 3 sizes smaller on front driver , I'll pull only 3 from rear for total of 11 less on rear than regular gears . I think for Jr 3 you only switch to Mini's on a track that making grip on a grip scale 1 to 10 at least a 6 for grip , and when you do figure a 48 rear gear and use whichever front driver keeps you with in 1 of the 48, meaning a 47 or a 49 If you Find yourself having to vary rear more than that adjust front driver by 1 more, and for sure it makes more of a difference to time trial, then on the flip side for Jr 3 with regular gears put a 58 on the rear and whichever size front driver keeps you on the 58, or again within 1 either way 57 or 59 and don't even worry about ratios.
 
Phantomforever said:
I agree it would take a few weeks to to find where we need to be especially the track we run we might get 15 laps of practice and the track is changing rapidly!! But normally by the last race of the night it’s close to the fastest time of the day or faster .. I was told to stay in the range of 48-52 rear and adjust clutch gear to find what works .. if I try again I’m pull as much gear off the rear as I can .. like u say who wants take 3 weeks of fiddling when it’s showtime lol
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Ya that was my only point , I'm by FAR not the Authority on the mini's, but have been around it enough to know 100 % as you pointed Out there different , however just not that much difference , I just hate to waste time at the track testing, gotta GO DOGS DON"T CHASE PARKED CARS !!
Now I have seen where dropping as many as you suggested was the ticket, however in every case they were way gear bound on the regulars gears.
 
Phantomforever said:
I couldn’t get them to work for us went as far as putting together another axel with the mini set up .. as soon as we take that axel out and go back to our standard set up automatically picks up 3-4 tenths..and can see the difference in roll speed maybe bc the way we work our tires and takes more momentum to free the kart up ? been a real head scratcher .. I can run 53/54 on the standard axel ( I don’t bc that’s as low as I can go
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This is exactly the results I’m getting! Makes no sense to me!
 
racing promotor said:
Ratios are a little different for sure for us here I've found provided how confident I am with the Regular gears, and how many front drivers I wish to drop when change to mini, If I feel last time out Regular were spot on and were only going to go 2 front driver sizes smaller, I don't even look at the ratios, I go 2 smaller on driver and remove 8 teeth from rear , and provided track condition is comparable that day to the day using regular gears it works out great, and yes usually a tenth faster on the mini's, especially to time trial with, then If I'm going 3 sizes smaller on front driver , I'll pull only 3 from rear for total of 11 less on rear than regular gears . I think for Jr 3 you only switch to Mini's on a track that making grip on a grip scale 1 to 10 at least a 6 for grip , and when you do figure a 48 rear gear and use whichever front driver keeps you with in 1 of the 48, meaning a 47 or a 49 If you Find yourself having to vary rear more than that adjust front driver by 1 more, and for sure it makes more of a difference to time trial, then on the flip side for Jr 3 with regular gears put a 58 on the rear and whichever size front driver keeps you on the 58, or again within 1 either way 57 or 59 and don't even worry about ratios.
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@racing promotor - When you say, only switch to mini's on a track that making grip on a grip scale of 1 to 10 at least a 6 for grip, why do you say that? So if the track is b/t 6-10 on a grip scale, mini's should work but if its not making grip... stick with regular? Just trying to make sure I understand your philosophy. Appreciate it!
 
Predator and youre trying to pull those kind of RPMs off the corner? Full blown clone we are getting 6400 off corner. Is that a built Predator? What is the dyno saying for RPM numbers? I believe you are probably gearbound because im thinking thats too many RPM off the corner for that motor.
 
you said it was a fresh 2023 kart . did you run it with success with big gears? or has it only been on mini gears?
 
jscholt said:
@racing promotor - When you say, only switch to mini's on a track that making grip on a grip scale of 1 to 10 at least a 6 for grip, why do you say that? So if the track is b/t 6-10 on a grip scale, mini's should work but if its not making grip... stick with regular? Just trying to make sure I understand your philosophy. Appreciate it!
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Heck I'm trying to understand why it reads the way it does, and I wrote it lol !!
I'm thinking some info I had typed in there around that statement somehow is missing,
Confused myself but anyway NO I did not mean only use mini gears when grip is available, If I figure it out I'll clear it up
Thanks for questioning me.
 
racing promotor said:
Heck I'm trying to understand why it reads the way it does, and I wrote it lol !!
I'm thinking some info I had typed in there around that statement somehow is missing,
Confused myself but anyway NO I did not mean only use mini gears when grip is available, If I figure it out I'll clear it up
Thanks for questioning me.
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Your brain was working faster than your fingers lol
 
Colt sr said:
Your brain was working faster than your fingers lol
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Ya I guess, I think it's when I use my phone to do a longer response before I send it some of what I typed get's deleted and I don't notice it and think it's still there . Looking at it now I think what I was getting at is the conversion I use for Mini's without looking at a gear chart of If only removing 1 from front remove 4 from rear, If removing 2 from front remove additional 4 total of 8, however If removing the 3rd from front then only remove additional 3 for total of 11, and I was pointing out that theory only works when comparing track conditions at a certain track apples to apples, not just because it's the same track, So as an example if you felt grip was close especially a 6 or better on a scale of 1 to 10 the conversion would hold pretty true . " MAYBE "
 
So we were headed to a track last weekend we haven’t ran before .. we reached out to the track owner about a good starting point .. he said 17-62 also said clones were hitting close 70mph that’s hauling the mail .. what’s the mini gear that would work there without floating the valves before the flag stand ?
 
Phantomforever said:
So we were headed to a track last weekend we haven’t ran before .. we reached out to the track owner about a good starting point .. he said 17-62 also said clones were hitting close 70mph that’s hauling the mail .. what’s the mini gear that would work there without floating the valves before the flag stand ?
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I'm not trying to come off as a smart A** but the only answer is the proper one , and there's not near enough details here for anyone to say right now unless they know where you were and have experience there, What Track was it ? How big ? What class was that advise for ?
 
racing promotor said:
I'm not trying to come off as a smart A** but the only answer is the proper one , and there's not near enough details here for anyone to say right now unless they know where you were and have experience there, What Track was it ? How big ? What class was that advise for ?
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No offense.. red red clay 1/4 mile banked like I’ve never seen before on the scale from 1-10 I’d say 10 + LOL a typhoon came through 5 minutes after setting the tent up we didn’t get a chance to get one it .. maybe a good thing
 
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