FOLD UP THE TUBE BETWEEN THE FILTER AND CARBURETOR TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

TKART Staff

27 December 2017

Rather than “must have,” this time the column should be called “must do.” In the following slides, in fact, you won’t find objects to add to your karting toolkit, but tricks we’ve seen professional mechanics and drivers employ to optimize certain features of the kart to increase performance and safety. These tricks are easy to apply and require no particular expertise, so they’re valid for all karters. Clearly, however, they’re operations that make the most sense if you’re racing competitively, when gaining even a hundredth of a second can make the difference.

FOLDING THE CONNECTOR TUBE TO THE CARBURETOR

The air filter is linked to the carburetor via a rubber connector: by folding it up, you reduce the distance between the two components, which improves performance at high speeds.
The pressure wave system, fundamental in two-stroke engines, works prevalently within the exhaust tube, but, to a small degree, in aspiration as well. By shortening the tube you reduce the distance the waves have to travel, which is beneficial when the engine is running at high speeds. While clearly not a modification that will make a huge difference, it is an added adjustment of the power curve that can be useful especially on fast tracks

Approximate price

This is an operation to be carried out on a part present in all karts. At no extra cost

We’ve seen it done on a Team Energy kart at the English PF International circuit.

ELIMINATE FLOOR TRAY BOLTS

If they’ve given you bolts, fasten them! This reasoning, in and of itself, is flawless; but in a kart, some bolts can be decisive even when “unscrewed.” Those attaching the floor tray to the frame are of this sort.
Keep in mind that chassis rigidity also depends, however minimally, on the connection to the floor tray, which has its own rigidity and torsion: partially detaching the floor tray from the chassis, by removing some of the bolts, reduces the kart’s overall rigidity. This is clearly an intervention of optimization and refinement, but when you’re aiming for a perfect set-up, you eventually take an interest in secondary components like the floor tray, which is conceived for an entirely different purpose but can also influence kart set-up. Increasing or reducing the kart’s overall rigidity affects both performance and tyre wear.

Approximate price

Until proven otherwise, unscrewing bolts ... is free!

Seen at the track on an official Birel Art chassis