·The rear tyres are substantially wider than the front tyres (more rubber on the

road).

·The rear track is usually significantly wider than the front track (increasing the
directional stability of the rear end).

·The kart will have a substantial rearward weight bias (more heavily loading the
rear tyres).

·The short wheelbase lessens the leverage the font tyres have over the rear tyres.

Toe is the degree to which the front wheels point toward or away from each other in
the forward direction. Toe-in is present
when the front wheels point toward each other, toe-out is present when they point
away from each other. Toe-in tends to make
the kart more directionally stable, but because of this can contribute to poor
turn-in. Toe-out can cause the kart to be
directionally unstable (not necessarily a bad thing!), and can assist the kart to
turn-in to corners well. With toe-out, the
inside front wheel moves down in relation to the chassis more than it will with
zero toe or toe-in. This is because the toe
setting has a slight influence on the Ackerman geometry, toe-out effectively
increasing Ackerman and toe-in effectively
reducing it (changing the angle of the steering arms; see below).

Toe (either in or out) creates friction at the contact patch of the tyre. This
friction generates heat in the tyres
(contributing to overheating in some conditions) and can contribute to excessive
wear. This heat energy comes from engine power
that is being wasted (i.e. not being used to accelerate the kart). Toe is adjusted
by lengthening or shortening the tie-rods.

CAMBER
Camber is the degree to which the front wheels lean toward or away from each other.
If the tyre treads are closer together at
the top than at the bottom then camber is negative, and positive camber is of
course the opposite. To maximise grip when
cornering (particularly around mid corner), it’s highly desirable to have as much
of the rubber of the two outside tyres as
possible on the track. Camber is the setting mostly responsible for maintaining the
maximum outside front tyre rubber on the
road in corners.
Camber can also introduce a rolling resistance, which is caused by a phenomenon
called ‘camber thrust’. This is the tendency
of a cambered wheel to roll in the direction of the camber lean (like a bicycle
wheel). E.g. assuming two equally cambered
wheels, each ‘wanting’ to roll in the direction of it’s camber thrust (but
prevented from doing so by the steering linkage),
then each wheel is forced to roll in a straight line, causing friction at the
contact patches. Camber thrust doesn’t really
increase grip in corners, but camber can and does effectively decrease the size of
the contact patch of the tyre by loading
one side more heavily than the other. This can and does lessen grip, increase
temperature, increase wear, and shorten the
competitive and outright life of the tyre.
On most karts camber angle is adjusted by rotating the eccentric cam ‘camber /
caster adjusters’ at the stub axle (spindle) mounting.
If the king-pin bearings are housed in the stub axle itself, caster and king-pin
inclination (see below) can also change when you
adjust camber settings (karts with the king-pin bearings housed in the chassis have
no adjustment for caster or king-pin inclination).
Not all karts have adjustable camber, caster or king-pin inclination, but it’s not
usually difficult to fit adjusters if you need
them (and you almost certainly do!).

PRIORITIES

A ‘well aligned’ kart will handle better, accelerate better, have a higher top
speed, and wear it’s tyres less. In a loaded state
(i.e. with the driver sitting in the kart), a well aligned kart will have the toe
and camber settings at, or very close to zero
(i.e. the front wheels longitudinally and vertically parallel with the rear
wheels). This will ensure that the tyres are being used as they
were designed, not slowing the kart on the straights and also maintaining a wide
patch of rubber on the track in corners.