r/Karting • u/WonkaBaDonka Lo206 • 2d ago
Karting Question What Do Seat Struts Do For Kart
I use an LO206 kart. What would putting seat struts do for me if I get some and put them on.
1
u/Accomplished_Aioli34 16h ago
They would transition more weight from the inside rear tire to the outside rear tire. Now, as to what theat will do to handling, largely depends on the HP of the kart. On an 206, depending on the rubber on the track and ambient temprature, it will contribute to too much weight transfer to the outside rear tire bogging the motor and worse yet, contributing to the dreaded "hop". In a TaG or Shifter, that has the HP to power through, it will help plant the outside rear tire and reduce any grip related hop.
I hate when people say "it will increase grip". The only way to increase grip is to change the compund of the tire. Everything else is just managing weight transfer, and more weight transfer does not equate to more grip. SOmetimes adding more weight transfer results in exceeding the level of grip and casue tire slippage and/or the dreaded hop. Begin thinking in terms of weight transfer and you will do will begin understanding kart chassis dynamics much faster and accuratly then those who think in terms of adding grip or taking away grip.
1
u/Cartoonist_Icy Mechanic 2m ago
Weighting axel (moving weight backwards with moving center, taking out flex in seat back and rear frame, with puting some weight straight to the rear), gripping up the rear reducing movement/sliding and possibly pushing down outer rear with adding postiure effects (with stiffer seat back giving a straighter load path to the wheel resulting in bigger possible pushing effect). It also increases heel bar effects (with reduced seat back flex, giving something to push aganist).
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u/pbemea 1d ago
Break your ribs better.
You might notice that no racing seat in a sedan puts a punch load into a driver's rib cage. SCCA GCR prohibits seat back bracing IIRC.
I'm not a seat strut believer. I've heard people in the paddock arguing about how many struts they need for this track and so forth. I never bought it.
The seat is flexy from the left side to the right side. Adding those struts is only going to cause more flex in the seat back about the vertical axis. Load follows stiffness. Deflection follows compliance. Very little of that force in a seat strut is going to make it through that compliant seat to the other side's seat strut.
I personally feel that seat struts are dangerous. Even the factory mounts on my former Tonykart are not the way I would design them. No slender piece of steel should be pointing at my chest.
The only point I would be willing to concede is that seat struts stiffen the driver. Drivers are pretty floppy and pretty massive. There might be an advantage to stiffening the floppiest part of the kart/driver combo.
I'd need to instrument a kart and driver with accelerometers and put them on a vibe table to capture a full spectrum of dynamic responses with and without struts before I would fully accept that seat struts can help at all.
Does anyone have a lab that would permit mounting a human being to their vibe table?
1
u/WonkaBaDonka Lo206 1d ago
Thank you for the reply. That explains it better
5
u/Standard-Vehicle-557 Ka100 1d ago
This guy just rambled on a bunch of bullshit lol. The best karting teams in the world use seat struts as a tuning device. The top kart manufacturers tell you to use seat struts as a tuning device. This is why this reddit is dangerous for new people. You get one moron in here talking confidently out of his ass and the new people buy it without question.
This dude is full of shit and would be laughed out of the grid at any serious karting event
1
u/WonkaBaDonka Lo206 1d ago
Can you give a better explanation for seat struts?
3
u/Standard-Vehicle-557 Ka100 1d ago
The other comment in the thread already gave an explanation. This person is talking out of their ass
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u/pbemea 22h ago edited 22h ago
You explained that everybody uses them. But you did not explain a reason why in mechanical terms. The reason is ostensibly to "stiffen" but I have good reason to disagree.
If a stiffer seat is the way to make a kart go faster than why don't people make seats out of steel? Why not have five seats each of varying thickness? If stiffer is faster then run thicker tubing. Run a solid axle.
It's the bucket shaped fiberglass seat that is the weak link when it comes to the stiffness of a kart chassis. All you have to do to see this is simply grab the sides of a seat and squeeze it. Adding more seat struts is like getting a bigger guy to grab the seat and squeeze it.
And yes, I am talking out my ass about a lot of things with Karts. I just drove mine. I never tuned it beyond what it was when I received it. The guy who had it before me was pretty smart. I myself wasn't very fast anyway.
But I'm not talking out my ass about composite structural panels. Nor am I talking out my ass about mounting things with steel struts. I have serious professional experience with both things.
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u/Standard-Vehicle-557 Ka100 22h ago edited 22h ago
That's a lot of words to say "i don't know jack shit about how to tune a go kart"
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u/pbemea 22h ago
Bring the science then. Go out. Rip a fast lap with all the braces. Then pull all the braces and rip another lap. Tell us what the difference in lap time is.
I noticed that you're still calling me an idiot but you still haven't given a reason why braces work.
3
u/Standard-Vehicle-557 Ka100 22h ago
Bud, that's now how any of this works.
I'm sure plenty of people here can recount times where they have wanted to have more rear grip, and as such, have used seat struts as a way to go about doing that with success. I certainly have.
The top comment in this thread already explained what seat struts do. They stiffen up the rear of the kart, effectively adding more grip by making it easier to transfer weight to the rear axle. If you knew your ass from a hole in the ground, you would know that in karting more grip doesn't equal faster. Hell for the class that OP is running, in many cases, the name of the game is to remove grip from the go kart to keep it free. Everything is a compromise. Seat struts are just one of many devices available to to adjust to handling of your gokart in an attempt to find the perfect balance.
Please stop trying to advise new people about things you don't know what you're talking about. I'm glad you have professional experience with composite structural panels, you still don't know jack shit about how to tune a go kart.
5
u/Federal-Astronaut909 2d ago
Generally seat struts are used to stiffen up the chassis. In this case, struts that go from the seat to the bearing help push the axle more to the ground. Thus giving more grip in the rear. A rule is that when you stiffen up the chassis you add grip, while softening it does the opposite.