Real implications of weight in a kart race??

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

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I'm hoping that someone might be able to advise regarding the real impact of weight upon karting lap times.
Within say F1, we're all told that extra fuel (weight), adds to a lap time. I'm assuming that being a bit lardy will make a difference in karting, particularly so as total weight of myself and kart would probably be around 170kg.

Do you have any thoughts on the implications of 10kg weight difference on a 900m course lap time?


The background to this is that I was in an endurance race on Sunday in pro-karts at Lakeside. Whilst my laptime was a good 2.5 seconds off the race winners best time (my best was a 43.4 second lap), I was somewhat relieved to find out that (a) he was a good 15 years younger and lighter, and (b) he was apparently a 2005 class A world champion, so clearly not rubbish. I was curious as to whether my weight disadvantage maybe made up say half a second of that laptime, and therefore how much time was lost by simply being far less skillful.
 
Well look at the BTCC, they used to add weights and they'd make a fair difference to lap times and cornering speeds etc. So I'd say 10kg in something so light would make a difference yes. Maybe that 0.5sec a lap!
 
Weight is a killer in karting, where the majority of the karts weight is the squidgy bit sitting in the seat.

However, it's an awesome feeling being a big bloke (14 stone) and winning a race by an entire lap :)
 
Without knowing anything about your driving background I'd say "Class A World Champion" could be worth at least 2.5s a lap regardless of weight. I've been karting with guys 50% heavier than me who were consistently faster because, as much as it hurts my ego, they were better drivers :( ;)
 
Unless every driver is a pro at karting it won't make much difference, the heavier guy can win just by knowing how to drive that little bit better. I know this because I'm leading my uni championship and I'm probably a good stone heavier than most people on the track.
 
It depends on the course, less weight is a huge advantage in a Kart, but if it's a very twisty circuit being lighter will make them far more prone to spin out on corners so you should be able to push it harder there, as a rule though small skinny guys will always be faster in Karts due to their lighter weight. I bet you'll find you can pull them right in through the twisties but they'll always pull away on the straights this will happen lap after lap so keep the pressure on and hope they make a mistake but don't take you with them :D
 
Huge difference. I am 6'7" and about 17 stone and went with a load of mates last year. This 5'1" girl won (no driving genius) despite me apexing every corner, hitting every braking point dead on etc. The other lads who are probabaly about 4-5 stone lighter than me were also just arsing around and I could only just keep up with them.
 
MTA99 said:
Without knowing anything about your driving background I'd say "Class A World Champion" could be worth at least 2.5s a lap regardless of weight. I've been karting with guys 50% heavier than me who were consistently faster because, as much as it hurts my ego, they were better drivers :( ;)
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I couldn't agree more. Whilst I know a lot of lardier drivers will blame their performance on weight, that it's really only going to matter if you're right at the top of the game, and I can't believe that I'm anything like close to that.
I was hoping to get an idea how much time I'd need to make up if I weighed say 10kg less.
BTW, I'm also aware that this would still ignore the difference of ability in overtaking, which I'm sure the top drivers on Sunday were also much better at.
 
I went karting a couple of years ago with a load of friends. Now, at the time, I was a hefty 16 stone, and one of my best friends was the next heaviest at about 13 stone. We both found that we were being outstripped in the straights by some of the lighter fellas and the girls. Surprisingly though, the extra weight also seemed to give us better traction, and we found ourselves going into corners with more speed and more confidence :D
 
2.5sec on a 40-odd second lap is a huge difference really. It does come into play but driver skill is obviously a lot more important.
 
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damnit i'd have no chance against my gf then...she is 7.5 stone and i'm just shy of 10 stone heavier than that! :(
 
Hmm this is an interesting question as when I went karting last year, the lightest guy won, so we asked the bloke who worked there if this was always the case. He said that at our level ( ie complete amateur) then weight makes a difference ie lightest wins, but as you get to the higher levels, weight isnt as much of an issue and even can be an advantage being bigger, something about carrying momentum

Could be wrong but thats what we were told
 
Driver weight is much more influential in karts because the driver makes up such a huge proportion of the overall weight.
 
I went karting with some friends, I weigh just over 15st - they weigh between 10-12st. On a car or bike track I'm faster as the bhp/tonne differences are less significant - on the kart they caned me :(
 
i've won most of the karting races i've been in and i weigh over 13stone. you really notice it on the straights.... as i have to run high corner speed to keep the kart revving when coming out of the corner so i late apex most corners to get the drive out. coming up behind a lighter driver i lost speed initially and make it all up on the brakes/corner so i have to make sure i get out of the corner quicker so i don't lose initially.
 
The world champion in 2005 was British driver Oliver oakes, but cant see what he would be doing in pro-karts. He joined Red Bull in 2006 for Formula BMW after Karting in 2005 and won his first race/qualifying on pole.
Considering Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna couldnt win the world title (Senna's biggest regret) you were doing OK :)

If you went into proper race Karts you would be in a heavy class with different gearing, because it makes a big difference.
Were these twin engine pro karts or the big single type?
 
SC04 said:
The world champion in 2005 was British driver Oliver oakes, but cant see what he would be doing in pro-karts. He joined Red Bull in 2006 for Formula BMW after Karting in 2005 and won his first race/qualifying on pole.
Considering Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna couldnt win the world title (Senna's biggest regret) you were doing OK :)

If you went into proper race Karts you would be in a heavy class with different gearing, because it makes a big difference.
Were these twin engine pro karts or the big single type?
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Yep, Oakes was the chap there, complete with his green jumpsuit. It was a company event and I assume he also works for the same place as myself.
I guess he was doing it for a laugh, but there were 3 teams compromised solely of people using their own racewear and I got the impression that they all competed at a serious level.

The karts were twin engined pro-karts. I think my average speed was around 46mph around the 900m circuit.
 
I went recently and at 15stone I beat all my mates, I was 2 seconds a lap faster than the guy in second.

I think it depends on the track, more weight does mean more grip on the corners
 
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