karting and weight

[harrytool]

we go karting now and again
with some of us being 17 stone, and some being 8 stone, i was just looking for views on an argument,
we are trying to prove to the light wieghts that they are at a big advantage pulling away and coming out of corners
i even think the cornering grip is worse as the karts slide out and drift due to the extra weight going around the corners
even the breaking is better for lighter weight people aswell

[PSPDan]

u ride horses lolz gay.

[MrHouston]

Obviously it's going to be faster for a 8 stone mofo to go round than an 18 stone mofo

[Lacey_106]

It is.
I went with my mate who is a lot heavier than me and he races properly, but on the straights particularly I could catch up and over take. :y:

[matt_vtr_15a]

i would disagree about the sliding as the weight should be an advantage with grip.. if not i wont lose sleep..

but my god weight is massive in terms of acceleration...

when we pulled off, a lad weighing about 10 stone flew down the straight, i followed lagging a bit but my 19.5 stone mate was miles behind the front of the pack..

[holdawayt]

i work at a karting track. We have a 18st bloke who works with us who's just as fast as me and the others (12-13st) The main problem people have with karting is that they drift easily with the slippery floor and rear wheel drive. If you can control that and keep on the racing line you'll do just as well as the others. Bumping people, although it's fun also slows you down huge amounts.

Tom

[craig180]

I often go karting with large friends and there's not a massive difference in terms of speed or handling. Not enough that you'd be bothered

[KamRacing]

Skill probably matters more than weight. Now usually I race with ballast but when my teammate and I went to a normal karting event we were only about a tenth of a second difference despite him being a stone lighter than me, but then when comparing our times with everyone elses we were much faster. We had never raced the track and we set the top times.
The difference between 10 and 19 stone though is a lot so expect the lighter person to be faster as a rule of thumb. The main trick is to be fast before everyone starts to get used to the karts so you can build an early advantage..

[Robin91]

17 stone? Damn son, time to lose some weight.

[NFS]

17 stone? Damn son, time to lose some weight.

haha do you not know that you can be 17st and more and not be fat at all?

just because someone weighs alot doesnt mean they are fat. :wall:

[Robin91]

haha do you not know that you can be 17st and more and not be fat at all?

just because someone weighs alot doesnt mean they are fat. :wall:

Ofcourse you can, but you'd have to be carrying some serious mass (pro bodybuilder), pretty sure harrytool isn't...

[LWS_71]

The weight will be a disadvantage apart from in the breaking zones. You have more weight over the rear axle so breaking in theory should be more stable and therefore you should be able to brake harder and later. It will greatly effect acceleration from slow speeds. Most heavy karters who are good can negotiate this extra weight with better braking and higher mid corner speeds.

There are many factors that affect the performance of a kart apart from weight. A tall heavy person will have a higher center of gravity than a small person weighing the same. The taller person will naturally learn towads the outside wheels while cornering therefore putting more weight into the outside tyres which helps increase grip.

In summary heavy guys can still be as fast as thin guys, but being skinny helps lol.

I've been doing MSA racing for a fair few years now so im pretty clued up when it comes to karting :)

[stinkycheese]

Weight is a huge deal in those shitty 4-stroke pieces of shit you can hire.

Skill will play a much bigger role in a two-stroke.