David..... we agree on some of that ..... but some of the other stuff..........!
No! A stiff kart would NOT do what you said..... because we have weird Caster settings! With ANY (backward) caster angle, it'll lift a wheel. It's the flexibility of the chassis which PREVENTS the wheel lifting!
In an infinitely stiff kart with ANY caster angle, the ONLY lock setting where all 4 wheels WOULD touch the floor would be 'dead-ahead'! It would be a 3 wheeler with ANY lock applied (ooooooohh..... except at 0 and 180 degrees of lock..... for precision....)
The rear wheels are NOT unloaded mid-corner (unless your chassis is APPALLINGLY set-up or you are a feeble driver)..... that's because we run a 'slip-angle' by mid-corner which actually returns the steering to 'dead-ahead'.
You CAN lower the CoF G easily in most karter's karts. Firstly, by ROTATING the seat BACKWARD! Secondly, we all move our CofG when it rains ...... don't we....?
Yes.... the axle COULD work as a 'damper' or you COULD you tune the oscillations so that it B*GG*R*D the grip..... and we are back where we started on losing grip.....
Our CofG is STAGGERINGLY LOW! Try it for yourself.
Get in the kart. Get a friend to LIFT the (let's say) left hand side of the kart and CONTINUE to lift it until you are the angle where the kart neither falls 'back' or 'over'. Note the place where the tyres are now touching the ground and draw an imaginary line (plane) VERTICALLY from that/those point/s. Where that vertical line (plane) passes through 'you'.... that's your CofG. It's RIGHT DOWN at your navel.... and that's SERIOUSLY low when seated in a kart....
Tall fatties like me have a MUCH higher CofG. That's another reason why the classic 'kart- champion-shaped' driver (aka.... midget RUNT) will be quicker than us tall fatties..... but...... the CofG is STUNNINGLY low.... even on us fatties!
Try it...... you'll be AMAZED..... you need to get WELL into 80 degrees of lift to topple over.... It's scarecely believable.... even after you've tried that test!
Ian
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