WET WEATHER KARTING

PIC OF THE DAY- KARTING IN THE WET

Critics have laid upon this blog no small amount of animadversion, citing the amateur hobbist slant at which this blog has taken. Well, here'a another bo liao photograph to confirm with the critics that this is indeed a bo liao site for all budding go kart racers.

Plentong Go-Kart Karting Track Layout formerly Permas Jaya

It was a short but fun ride. Me and the team went down for a test run of the new track at Plentong last week and drew a brief track layout. Louis said the design is made to accommodate 8 different track layouts, but as of now, this was the layout that we first set tracks on.

Directions to get to Plentong or other tracks can be found on the site itself www.obracing.sg or
this Plentong link: http://obracing.sg/KARTING_tracks_Plentong.html

Plentong, Johor Bahru Go Karting Track

Plentong is where the former track at Permas Jaya moved to.
Louis has designed a new track in the pristine surroundings of a remote oil palm plantation.

The journey there is an arduous 25 minutes over 4km of gravel track, where one will be treated to a safari of monkeys, grazing cows and 1 derelict car.

After undertaking this voyage into the verdant greenery of the Southern State, a beautifully designed go-kart track awaits the intrepid explorer who doesn;t shy away from pot holes, and rain eroded roads.

Don't know your Ackerman from your spindles?

A significant barrier to taking up any new hobby is jargon.
Some profess that it creates specific terms to make communication easier but i confess that i am throughly lost at times.

Fortunately, the internet plays host to a wealth of information; some bereft of any utility but here is one that will get you up to speed on most of what you need to know.

http://www.brendel.com/racing/karting_glossary.shtml

Adieu, Permas. Tu me manquerai.

It was a sunny afternoon in June when we bid adieu to the Permas Jaya Karting Track.
In appropriate style, our farewell was to take part in a 390 cc kart race against others in the Singaporean karting community. Here are some pictures for prosterity, GOODBYE PERMAS JAYA!


In the flesh, Joshua Ng, Jeremy Goh, Steph Lee



Joshua in racing attire.



Goh Guo-Hua in racing suit



The beginning & the end.

Stall speed of your clutch - WHY WON'T THAT DAMN THING IDLE?

Question: do you know the stall speed of your clutch? At what RPM will your go kart stall?







What to know in a nutshell: The adjustment screws of the clutch can be turned in a certain direction for a certain amount to tweak the stall speed of your clutch.







More questions: What is the optimal setting?

Trial and error where u aim not for a specific RPM but the setting that allows a kart to accelerate out of corners the quickest.

How do i do this??

Well, if you are a beginner hobbist like me, i would suggest to just follow online advice (read:me) and set up your kart first and later build up a feeling for how u want your kart to operate.

Instructions

1) Finding your kart's clutch speed.

- Place your kart flat on the ground with space infront to move. (i.e. driveway, track, etc)

- Start the kart and switch on the RPM gauge.

- Set the Carburator needles so that the engine can be started.

- Keep your foot on the brake to prevent the kart from surging forward and do not release!

- Start the engine and keep it at idling, with the accelerator if needed.

- Take the reading of the tachometer and keep a close watch on it.

- Now release the brake and floor the accelerator.

- You will notice that as the engine revs up and begins to accelerate, there will be a space of time where the RPM does not move before it begins to increase again. That RPM value is your clutch's stall speed.

GO KART BITS And PIECES

Progressing from the immediate rush of the wind in your hair and the sensations of centrifugal and coriolis forces shoving you around in your seat, one is piqued by how the machine on which you are seated can subject you to such sensations.

The thought train pulls into the next stop and you ask, HOW is it that this flimsy frame, onto which a assemblage of metal components are attached can serve up such an experience. In short, what makes it run and what is it made of. For all you inquisitive minds, i have found a simple diagram which will enlighten you.

Tyre alignment

After a week back breaking office exertion, it was time for another well deserved break with my go kart. This week, we finished off setting up the go karts and fired them up. We now know that it's track worthy. The next big step is where to store our karts; in Singapore or Malaysia?

That question aside, here's the details on how you too, can get started setting up your karts. In this post, specifically, how to align your tyres.

These nuts on the stub axle will adjust the caster angle of your front tyres. What positive/ negative caster angle means that the axis of your wheel will be moved forwards or backwards around a central point. This is adjusted when you align the notches on the nut in different positions. A neutral camber is when both notches are lined up.
The importance is that camber affects the straight line stability of yoru vehicle.




Next, to adjust your front tyres so that they are neither aligned toe in or out, you have to adjust the length of the tie rods. Tie rods come in various lengths, from 9 inches to slightly over 11 inches, so purchasing the correct length is important as the amount of leeway you have to adjust the length is limited.



For want of more sophisticated tools, we opted to perform this task in a more primative fashion.
using a marker, we drew a line at the center of the tyre by rotating it while holding a marker on the surface. This was done on both tyres. From these points of reference on both wheels, we took measurements from the front and back of the wheels. Using these measurements, we could determine if the wheels were aligned in a forwards V or backwards V configuration. In other words, "toe", is the angle that the wheels make with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle drawn in the center of the vehicle. Adjusting the tie rods pivoted the wheels inwards or outwards. What we aimed to achieve was a neutral toe. To arrive at this desired outcome, we adjusted the tyres so that the measurements from both wheels at the front and back of the tyres were equal.

Adjusting camber is done in a similar fashion, except that the measurements that you want to match up are the distances from the top and bottom of both tyres.




IT MOVES!!! IT LIVES!!! IT LIVES!!!
Unfortunately at this time after driving our karts up and down the driveway, the tell tale plastic/ rubber acrid smell led us to discover that one of the karts had a jammed clutch and was rubbing against the clutch drum. Back to the workshop for that one and another future post.

KARTING USA

"Surf'in USA" was a song by the Beach Boys in the 60s, bet they never saw the coming of go karting. Anyway here's a document for those who wanna go Karting USA. Interesting to note that less than half the states have go karting facilities. yee haw!

*** PLS EMAIL ME FOR THE LIST, AS IT WAS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE SITE***

Karting as a nursery for F1 greatness.

Many have spoken of how karting is the testing/ breeding ground for the inchoate dreams of motorsports greatness. However, less have given anything more than throwing names around.
So, just how did one of the current racing names make it into the more serious and established arena of F1 racing? Here is the story of Michael Schumacher; a German name that needs no introduction.

Michael was born on the 3rd of January, 1969, to Rolf Schumacher and Elisabeth in a town called Hurth Hermulheim. At four years old, Michael took his first steps towards motorsports when his father attached a small motorcycle engine to his pedal kart. His first accident resulted soon after when he crashed it into a lamp post at Kerpen.

Venturing on to the local karting track at Kerpen- Horrem, he joined the club and was then the youngest member there.

His father sensed that his son was to have a future in motor racing and supported his son's interest. He built for his son a proper kart from discarded parts and at the tender age of 6, Michael won his first club championship.

Though the cheapest form of motor racing, pursuing even go karting is by no means cheap, and Rolf together with his wife had to take on second jobs; Rolf at t the karting circuit renting and repairing karts and Elisabeth aat the track's canteen stand.

When even this effort was insufficient to fund his passion and to provide spare parts, several local businessmen stepped in to provide a new engine which cost 800DM.

Karting regulations in Germany stpulate the minimum driving age to be 14 years. Michael, below this age, got around this by obtaining a license in Luxumbourd in 1981, when he was 12.

In 1983, he received his German license and the next year, emerged champion at the German Junior Kart Championships. From 1984 on, Schumacher won several German and European kart championships. Then in 1985, he joined Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert and by 1987 he was the German and European kart champion. Then, in 1988, Michael made his first step into single-seat car racing by racing in the German Formula Ford and Formula Konig series, winning the latter. From there, he proceeded to garner successive wins and the fame he currently enjoys.

CIK-FIA Championships in Macau

CIK-FIA has named Macau as the venue of the CIK-FIA 2009 Karting World Championships. The event will be held at the Kartodromo de Coloane circuit from the 8 - 11 of October 2009.

Info from CIK-FIA site

Great news for us as this is the first time the world championship is being held in Asia. I guess its time to plan for a karting trip up to Macau in 2009.

For more info on Kartodromo de Coloane circuit in Macau can be found here.