Track Tac

Stagger?

J

jscholt

Member
Going to be racing at a new tack this weekend, its a 1/10th mile banked dirt oval...so pretty small. Never raced on something that small so trying to determine what stagger I'll need to have. Any thoughts from this smart group on where I should start? This is Jr3/blue plate - 320 lbs.

Thank you!
 
Most I could ever get is 1.5 rear on a 8.5" wheel. You could try an 8.75" to get 1.75" but if someone else could chime in and tell me how using a wider left rear affects handling other than the stagger please do
 
I know this is not in keeping with both right sides at 34 inches,
But you could grow a rr to 34.25 if you cannot shrink your lr enough to get to 1.75 stagger.

Just a thought.
 
hotelcalifornia said:
Most I could ever get is 1.5 rear on a 8.5" wheel. You could try an 8.75" to get 1.75" but if someone else could chime in and tell me how using a wider left rear affects handling other than the stagger please do
Click to expand...
A wider LR wheel will not bite as hard during rotation, but will have better roll. Now having said that, there are not very many drivers who could even feel the difference.
With the older model karts 8.75" were very common. Didnt need much bite in the LR to make kart work, lots of times the tire itself was harder or even mostly bald. Todays karts are asking for LR bite, hence narrower wheel.
 
Use an 8 3/4" LR and you'll still find yourself needing to shrink the tire to get the stagger you want. You likely want 1 3/4 - 2" rear stagger.
It's easy enough to do this with a small 4.50 or 5.00 tire on the left rear like the pavement guys do, but if you want the drive up off the corner on dirt, you're better off shrinking a 6.00 LR.
Seems like I've done tires for there @ 2", but I don't remember off the top of my head -- might have even been treads for the winged karts.

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ToddJohn said:
I do not agree having more rear stagger than the front.
Wouldn't that affect the RAKE.?.
Click to expand...
Rake at the front is important for getting and keeping camber. Front stagger plays a part in this.

The rear axle sees a camber change as well with the change in rear stagger. As this is non adjustable, we will have to live with it. More important will be getting stagger as close as possible to what is needed for the rears to help the front rotate the kart in the corners.

The tire contact patches have no clue how circuitous a route it took to get the loads on each tire, only the load itself.
 
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We run JR3 at a 1/8 mi. track frequently. I was running 1-1/2 front and rear for a long time, but found out I could get away with 1-1/4 rear and it provides more straight-line speed. Just enough to make the kart turn and no more in the rear. A lot of thing come into play including driver preference. If the driver likes the kart free err toward more stagger and vice versa.
Adding more negative camber if you have it could be a good solution as well to make that RF bite up when you cut the wheel.
 
I think he meant 6" wide, Ken. They're all 6" diameter anymore.
I wouldn't bother trying to get a 6.00 down to 32" on an 8 1/2" wheel, that's why I said to use an 8 3/4" wheel. You can get it there.
Heat, chill, repeat. :) Burris is actually easier than Maxxis to do this. Now, sizing treads is even a bigger chore!

FWIW, I keep all of our right sides @ 34" to maintain a consistent ride height (no matter of brand of tire.)
 
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