My son is new to karting, just got into it last year and raced twice in Jr 1 (Green plate Clone) but not at Newton. Bumped up to Jr 2 (purple/blue plate) Clone this year, raced twice at Newton Kart Klub with the purple plate but getting beat down the straights...
Few things to note. Kart has been professionally scaled. He has to weigh 300 for his class, scaled to 297 - hit 303 on the scale at the track. Prepping Maxxis tires during the week prior to event and use prep at the track to get bite into the tires.
Started off in hot laps with a 4 wheel drift - track was pretty slick. Had 6 lbs in rights / 5 lbs in lefts and started with a 16/65. Left gearing alone for 1st heat but reduced right side to 5 lbs to eliminate 4 wheel drift. Track tightened up but he was only hitting 6100 RPMs - should be closer to 6400, but lap times were around 10.6. Seemed to be about .2 tenths off from the lead group. RPM drops in corners were 500-600 as to be expected at the track and he was in the gas the whole time. Since we were not hitting RPM range, dropped to a 15 tooth driver and a 63 rear gear for Heat 2. Lost .2 tenths and RPMs only hit 6100 again...
For Feature, went back to 16 tooth driver and a 66 rear gear. Lost another tenth per lap but saw a jump in RPM to 6200. Seemed I was probably going the wrong direction with the gearing and potentially what drove the slower lap times? RPM drops remained the same each time out and he was in the gas the whole way round, kart was hooked up just not fast.
With NKK potentially only racing 2 more times, not going to get the practice to attempt other gears. Curious on anyone's thoughts that has raced NKK before or has some general advice for this rookie Crew Chief. NKK is a 1/5 mile semi-banked dirt oval - momentum track for sure.
Thank you!
Few things to note. Kart has been professionally scaled. He has to weigh 300 for his class, scaled to 297 - hit 303 on the scale at the track. Prepping Maxxis tires during the week prior to event and use prep at the track to get bite into the tires.
Started off in hot laps with a 4 wheel drift - track was pretty slick. Had 6 lbs in rights / 5 lbs in lefts and started with a 16/65. Left gearing alone for 1st heat but reduced right side to 5 lbs to eliminate 4 wheel drift. Track tightened up but he was only hitting 6100 RPMs - should be closer to 6400, but lap times were around 10.6. Seemed to be about .2 tenths off from the lead group. RPM drops in corners were 500-600 as to be expected at the track and he was in the gas the whole time. Since we were not hitting RPM range, dropped to a 15 tooth driver and a 63 rear gear for Heat 2. Lost .2 tenths and RPMs only hit 6100 again...
For Feature, went back to 16 tooth driver and a 66 rear gear. Lost another tenth per lap but saw a jump in RPM to 6200. Seemed I was probably going the wrong direction with the gearing and potentially what drove the slower lap times? RPM drops remained the same each time out and he was in the gas the whole way round, kart was hooked up just not fast.
With NKK potentially only racing 2 more times, not going to get the practice to attempt other gears. Curious on anyone's thoughts that has raced NKK before or has some general advice for this rookie Crew Chief. NKK is a 1/5 mile semi-banked dirt oval - momentum track for sure.
Thank you!