test CAMBER

With a negative camber and a medium grip on the track, the kart should suffer a slight delay when entering bends due to the reduced footprint. After the first half of the bend, the front-end should gain sufficient grip, while on exit it should be possible to accelerate quite early. It is clear that it is vital not to lose too much entry speed to be able to make the most of the advantages of the negative camber out of the bends.

As expected, it is necessary to go into bends slightly early, since the front-end doesn’t “get a hold” for a few moments. Progress then becomes good and exiting the bend seems easy, in the sense that the kart is settled and the rear-end doesn’t easily lose grip. Clearly, the delay when entering bends makes it difficult to take the apex of the bend perfectly and pass near to the inside curb, which is critical when trying to record the best lap times.

With a negative camber (the blue curve on the engine rev graph) going into bends is not as good. The tendency is to brake more before the kart starts cornering or arriving so fast that it’s impossible to go into the bend at the correct moment, with the front-end sliding sideways and the loss of the ideal racing line around the bend. In fast left-hand bends (point 1), after braking there is an attempt to regain speed, but the front-end loses the racing line and the kart tends to go towards the outside. It is necessary to stop accelerating and the loss of time is evident.
The bend at point 2, on the other hand, is suited to a set-up with a light front-end, because it allows the front wheels to slip slightly and prevents a loss of rear-end grip. It is still necessary to corner early so that the kart goes in straight in the slight chicane that follows.
The next bend (point 3) highlights all the shortcomings of an imprecise front-end due to an overly negative camber. Although throttle-off occurs at exactly the same point as the neutral camber set-up, it is necessary to continue braking until after mid-bend to stay on the right racing line. At that point, the speed is slow and even if acceleration occurs quite quickly and sharply, about a tenth of a second is lost.
At the big right-hand bend (point 4), the racing line is partly lost when going into the corner, the driver tries to accelerate, but the kart moves too far towards the outside and the driver is forced to stop accelerating for a moment.
There is an excessive loss of revs during the bend at point 5 due to the impossibility of cornering at an ideal speed.
It is clear that, with more rubber on the track, having a smaller footprint may actually constitute an advantage.

It is obvious and logical that reducing the camber (i.e. making it even more negative) results in greater wear of the inner part of the tread. This aspect can also generate long-term difficulties in races by reducing the duration of the tyre itself.
Low wear on the outer part of the tread, which looks almost new, is evident in the picture. The front tyres only use part of the tread and there is more slippage, an effect that does not actually increase internal pressure, but merely overheats the tread surface at the point of contact.