Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

3xpendable · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 222 Location: USA

…it handles like a go-kart!

I have been doing some research on suspension setups for my V8 project lately and I’m getting annoyed with people who stiffen or slam their car and proclaim it to ‘handle like a go kart’. While it may be stiff and stuck to the road it DOES NOT handle like a go-kart! If you have ever driven a professional kart (like I have) then you would realise this.

After any racing event any roadcar I drive shortly afterwards feels totally sloppy. This is due to a number of dynamics being completely different in the way a kart and car handle (which I can vouch for having raced since I was 8, and done my two university dissertations on the handling characteristics of a kart). Firstly, a car is a lot lot heavier than a kart, secondly a car has suspension whereas a kart does not, only the flex in the chassis frame. For a car to have anywhere near the equivalent handling the suspension would have to be solidly mounted to the shell with no form of bushes whatsoever and this my friends, would shake your eyes out. I've driven my kart on some public roads (legally) and let me tell you, even at pedestrian speeds it was a nightmare. Every single ripple and bump really destabalises the thing. Thirdly a kart has very little mass overhanging the front or rear wheels.

Finally, a car uses the body roll during cornering to generate weight transfer (hence grip) to the outside wheels and to enable this, the roll centre is usually fairly high in comparison with a racing car (in fact its possible to set a modern F1 car up to have a negative roll centre meaning its below ground level and can make the car lean in to a corner!). With a kart the roll centre is much lower and as there is no ‘roll’ as such the weight transfer has to be generated by the geometry of the front wheels and their relationship to the rear axle (which is solid) which is why karts run a very high caster angle and KPI (as much as 10º). This is to force the inside rear wheel to lift into a corner, and also lowering the outside front of the kart thereby giving you your weight transfer. The datalogger on my kart shows it can corner at 3-4G...far more than a roadcar.

So in summary, if anyone ever tries to tell you their car handles like that, please correct them Smile

_________________
2013 Dodge Durango R/T Hemi
1965 Ford Anglia 106e Estate (LHD)
1964 Ford Anglia 105E 1500 GT (Dad)
1980 Porsche 911 SC Targa (Uncle)
1971 MGB GT (V8 project) -SOLD 2016
2005 MINI Cooper S JCW - SOLD 2016

Riley Blue · Joined: 18 Jun 2008 Posts: 1751 Location: Derbyshire

I always reckoned my GTI cornered like a heat-seeking ferret - am I allowed to use that....?

Peter_L · Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:41 pm Post subject:

Riley Blue · Joined: 18 Jun 2008 Posts: 1751 Location: Derbyshire

Richard H · Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Posts: 2150 Location: Lincolnshire, UK

I can't stand 'slammed' cars, it's not too bad when it's been done well, but mostly it looks utterly naff. There was someone on a certain forum for modifed classic cars who let all the gas out of the hydrogas suspension on his Metro, he reckoned it looked great, he did not seem to understand what was pointed out to him, that all the suspension stresses are now being transferred straight into the bodyshell via the bumpstops. Rolling Eyes

buzzy bee · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 3382 Location: South Cheshire

Karts are still all to easy to tip over, if you have raced them, I am sure you will agree. I have expericinced it. Wink

3xpendable · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 222 Location: USA

Uncle Alec · Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 734 Location: Manchester

Must be a good medical centre if it can unseize engines! Or do you mean that's where it landed?

buzzy bee · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 3382 Location: South Cheshire

3xpendable · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 222 Location: USA

Naah I 'landed' pretty deeply into a tyre wall Wink

Riley Blue · Joined: 18 Jun 2008 Posts: 1751 Location: Derbyshire

Er... "corners on rails" - can I use that?

3xpendable · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 222 Location: USA

Rick · Site Admin Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22779 Location: UK

buzzy bee · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 3382 Location: South Cheshire

3xpendable · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 222 Location: USA

Yup I started in TKM and still have my kart, great class!

Here ya go, any questions just fire away (apart from stupid ones like "Do you use it at the local indoor karting centre?")

_________________
2013 Dodge Durango R/T Hemi
1965 Ford Anglia 106e Estate (LHD)
1964 Ford Anglia 105E 1500 GT (Dad)
1980 Porsche 911 SC Targa (Uncle)
1971 MGB GT (V8 project) -SOLD 2016
2005 MINI Cooper S JCW - SOLD 2016