Track Tac

ratchet hub or free roller hub

E

el tee eff

New member
Has any one tried-or use the free roller or the ratchet hub that mike clements racing has for sale on their web site?
Curious for some input on these 2 hubs-
 
Free roller on stock. Just starting to see tinkering. I think it can blow everything away if you think outside the box. Where does your weight go....Put it there to start with...Tell your driver to not make it look to bad....JMO....

P.S. I think a left side motor would be killer but would draw to much attention. It's right there..as long as you don't bicycle..
 
el tee eff said:
Has any one tried-or use the free roller or the ratchet hub that mike clements racing has for sale on their web site?
Curious for some input on these 2 hubs-
Click to expand...
I built a Sprint kart and an enduro kart in the mid-seventies with one-way bearings in both rear wheels. There were several problems with it, not related to the mechanics, and I dropped it. It was funny, I could let off the gas going down the straightaway and the engine would drop to an idle. The first thing most people thought was I lost the chain. Imagine their surprise as I continued on around the track.

The amazing thing about it was, I could push it through the pits with little or no effort. I left a lot of people scratching their head as I push the kart by exerting almost no effort.
 
Vintagequest said:
Folks have tried that for years. If it drew that much attention (worked), everyone would be doing it.
Click to expand...

This is what I thought about these hubs-if they worked everyone would be usingbthem....but perhaps folks aren't using them due to not being legal.
I don't see anything in my rules that says live axle only or anything at all about such things as something like these hubs. Now I'm really not willing to spend this kind of money to guinea pig or take a chance of it being illegal.
I am curious if what they advertise is true-I mean eliminates the need for stagger?
 
el tee eff said:
I am curious if what they advertise is true-I mean eliminates the need for stagger?
Click to expand...
Let's say you have a kart with this type of rear axle setup, and you have the same size tire on both sides. When you go around the left-hand corner, if you're getting any bite in the LR tire, then the outside tire is going to overrun the speed of the axle. If the LR tire is off the ground, or not getting a whole lot of bite, than the RR tire is going to do the driving, the LR is going to be sliding. No change from what you've got right now.

Now if you could design a kart that could keep the LR tire firmly on the ground, you might have something. You could start with no caster, but you would have to keep the kingpin inclination. The kingpin inclination would keep the tires pointed straight. That was its original purpose.

But here's the thing, if it works, they'll make it illegal right away, otherwise everybody in karting would have to go out and buy a new kart. Even if they didn't make it illegal, if the new kart was that good, it would only be an advantage until everybody else had the same thing. It is, after all, not something other people couldn't do. I'm pretty sure the kart builders would love it. But, then again, there's always the possibility that it would kill karting altogether.

I just thought of something, we could have classes with, and without, the differential rear end. That's what we need, more classes
 
If you had no caster and still had KPI then you would get positive camber when you turn both ways.

Inside rear lift would not be needed. I would think with no inside rear lift you would push pretty bad with both rear wheels getting traction. Might need bigger fronts and a 50-50 front/rear weight balance. I'm thinking zero KPI and just enough caster to help center the steering.

Sundog
 
Pitch the caster and kpi. Camber to suit. Load the right rear as you hope it is loaded with normal kart and cog. Free roller on the left rear. No stagger concerns. Can't push with one wheel pull. It's about setting the weight as it would be normally in a turn(ahead of time).
No scrub of rears down the straight. Only limit is hp. All your stagger woes and handling issues that are brought about by a live axle..gone. With a stock or restricted...it would be fast. IMHO.

P.S. this for the free roller..not the ratchet.
 
el tee eff said:
This is what I thought about these hubs-if they worked everyone would be usingbthem....but perhaps folks aren't using them due to not being legal.
I don't see anything in my rules that says live axle only or anything at all about such things as something like these hubs. Now I'm really not willing to spend this kind of money to guinea pig or take a chance of it being illegal.
I am curious if what they advertise is true-I mean eliminates the need for stagger?
Click to expand...

What rules are you running under?
 
M.D.racing said:
Pitch the caster and kpi. Camber to suit. Load the right rear as you hope it is loaded with normal kart and cog. Free roller on the left rear. No stagger concerns. Can't push with one wheel pull. It's about setting the weight as it would be normally in a turn(ahead of time).
No scrub of rears down the straight. Only limit is hp. All your stagger woes and handling issues that are brought about by a live axle..gone. With a stock or restricted...it would be fast. IMHO.

P.S. this for the free roller..not the ratchet.
Click to expand...

So do you think a gear change would help also?
 
I think the only innovative class, with rules based on bringing all together to race where it would be legal, is the UAS.
 
One thing's for sure, if you all can use it, everyone does use it, figures it out and all get fast with it, you guys will kick the butt's of any invader to your track without one. ... :)

... and if the word spreads making less costly stuff faster and funner, it's use will spread too. ... :)

It would be interesting if a track would make them ok to use on... maybe the predator class. ... :)
 
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