RTO Sprint Kart

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On a track with mostly right hand turns I'm curious if it might help to tune the kart for "RTO" - right turn only. To do this would I try running the front left a bit wider? Is there anything else that is simple and quickly reversible that might help?
 
When I first got into sprint kart racing, I figured I'm turning in both directions, so I need to keep both sides of the kart set up the same. Then one day I overheard one of the hot shoes at our track talking about setting the stagger on his kart. My first thought was that doesn't make any sense - we're turning both left and right so how does that work? Then I started playing around with wheel spacing. I found what spacing worked best for left turns and what worked best for right turns, and they weren't the same. Surprise surprise - my lap times dropped. Ever since then I think in terms of setting up the right side for left hand turns, and the left side for right hand turns, and they're rarely exactly the same. At least that's the way it works out on our local track.
 
The Europeans who came over for the NAKC (North American Karting Championships) at Charlotte, circa late 90's, early 2000's brought special chassis that favored RH turns (IIRC), and discarded them after that race... So yes, there's some benefit to setting up for the track you're trying to win at. Of course they also use a new frame every race too, so.....YMMV.
 
Ted, that might happened for that particular race at Charlotte, but in general most European chassis are set 50/50 and rarely touched. They more play with other elements like tyre pressure. I have tested for several manufacturers there and they rarely play with cross, and on those years they didn't even use scales. Once the seat was set the tuning tool other than the front end would be torsion bars, seat struts, axles and hubs, etc. A reason why they would leave the chassis at tracks after big races was that those frames were very fast but especially built for those top drivers and flexed a lot after a single race, so useless for their purpose after that, and besides it was very expensive to fly back with all those frames back to their shops in tdifferent countries, especially when coming to the US or even when they travelled from other countries to race for example in Italy, where most sprint big kart racing took place.
 
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Our local track runs clockwise and counter clockwise depending on the week. My personal set up is very different. Some top guys change a lot less. I think it depends on what you are trying to accomplish and what you need to get there.

If you are looking for somewhere to start, play with cross. Whichever side of 50% you are on can make a big difference in how the kart feels left vs right.
 
Well that's a brain teaser . In my head I'm thinking one thing realizing it's probably opposite . Not going too hazard a answer .
 
At the Riverside track in California they have 2 banked Right hand turns at the end of long straights. I offset the wheelbase to the left about an inch. Can't say that it really help a lot, but I don't think it hurt either.
 
If you generally race with more left turns.. Your setup numbers with cross nose and left side %'s. Those numbers do not work for all or tracks with mostly right hand turns.

Example: You have mostly left hand turns and set your cross at 49% and left side 50.2 for arguments sake. Now you go to a track with mostly right hand turns, re-scale the kart so now left is 49.8 and right side is 50.2. Your LF to RR will change and that reverse cross will allow the right rear to unload. Scale and balance the kart for the track.

We have never gone to a track and haver a perfectly square kart when the weekend if over. Fronts are different and rears are spaced different.
Give the kart what it needs. Just because you widen the left front does not mean you have to wide the right front, Same for rears...
 
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