HOW TO: Go Kart Weight Distribution for Optimum Performance - POWER REPUBLIC 

It is called weight distribution according to the kid's weight. Is not to make him slower, is actually to make him sharper in the turns, he might lose a bit of acceleration but it worth it.

If you really want to go into the details on this one, always add your ballast as close to your center of gravity as possible. It makes the kart more responsive to direction change than having weight too far out, due to inertia effects. Think of it as holding a weight to your chest and then trying to turn your upper body vs. holding that same weight out with stretched arms and turning your upper body. The latter will take much more effort, due to the increased arm. Those weights you are bolting onto the chassis under the steering column will probably hurt your handling. I always work with seat position first to get the correct ratio and then add any required ballast to the sides of the seat, as close to CoG as possible.

Great work. You all go into more detail than can be found on any subject. Thanks. I like and subscribe.

Hi Derek, great videos! A suggestion before buying the scales, I would recommend weighing yourself on all 4 in the shop to see if they are the same. When I went to buy $20 scale, all 4 were gave me slightly different weights by up to 2kg between the 4

Absolutely love your videos. I have learnt so much in a short period, thank you and keep up the great work!

Your videos are simply amazing, keep up with the hard work. All the Best from Paris, France :)

Derek is working hard on these videos, thanks buddy! 👍

Good to know. Great information. Thank you 👍👍👍

Super informative Dezzy, something I have always wanted to do but never done.

Don’t forget that it’s critical to have your front end setup as you will be running and to have the steering centred when measuring the corner weights, they can change massively due to jacking forces. Also, are there any F/R% balance recommendations for rookie and cadet karts with narrower rear tyres?

Great video, did it on mine one yesterday, thanks a lot

Hey Des, what about the height of the weight on the back of the seat. Better to be higher or lower?

Great video but more or less for light drivers if you do a video with the seat position to get optimal weight distribution using the seat position.. and using no weights. For example for heavy classes.. would be great..

Thanks super helpful

Derek, great video! Is the chassis bent? There is a 5kg difference between the front right>left. Just curious. Thanks man

Interesting...little tech 👍

We race in the low-power lo206 class, and we are constantly having problems with the rear binding up because the tires have too much grip for the motor. The more weight we can get forward the better. Our alien who is walking away from the championship is a smaller guy who has 18kgs of sheet lead bolted to his floor pan under the seat. He's got almost a 50/50 front-rear split and is .3" clear of the field most days.

Thanks

nice video !

Hi. I tried this with bathroom digital scales. I tested the scales using a control weight and they were good. But when I put the kart on them I get a different reading every time I lifted and placed it back down. Just couldn’t get an accurate reading. Any thoughts? Each one always have a different reading, but with the control weight everything was fine.

@PowerRepublic Question my friend. When I go thru this exercise I note that a small input on the steering wheel can quickly effect front left and right weigh distribution. ( which is a good think for a go kart of course) The question is should I tweak the steering wheel to balanced the front? No impacted?

Hope this isn't a silly question but I presume if you measure the weight like this and then added all the 4 measurements up (all 4 scales) then it should add up to the total weight of kart plus driver as if you had weighed it on a large roll on weighing device (like what we all use at a track). Is that correct?

I got a problem with my rotax 125 getting the fuel out of the gas tank to the engine idk it’s my time have a go kart

Id probably need 20kg to make my kart race legal with me on board. Im about 54kg. I wonder if adding weight would improve the grip on corners, and if that extra speed in corners would improve lap times even with slower acceleration out of corners.

May know what will be the default weight distribution for a start. 50/50? do we make 25% weight distribution to all 4 tires?

Did I miss something, does the left and right need to be even weight the same weight then you have the 57/43front and rear. It looks like your left and right is slightly off even does that matter

don't forget to add the water in the cooler.

what's the best way to add weight to the left or right at the front ? mostly left to balance engine weight

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Hey Derek. What weight % do you recommend for KZ? Thank you.

Do you guys sell these tyre covers? I can’t see them on your web shop? Cheers

shoulda preset scales with a lead weight i mean probably wont make much of a difference

How mportant is it to have both fronts equal and both rears equal?

what if you are over the weight limit how would you balance the kart?

Whats the purpose for the Tyre covers on there??

What about the weight ratio between left and right. since the motor is quite heavy on one side?

Any dirt cart information.

hello where can i find the tire covers you show in this video?

Why do you put weight on when you are already to heavy?

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How is the rear left possibly heaver than the engine side? Makes no sense how that happened, that must be one heavy radiator

Nobody does that. Only fron axle snipers and chassis straightening bench

Tryton carburator users: hahahahaha is it that hard to set a carburation?

Wait, (get it?) so you guys don't concern yourself with cross weight like we do on cars? Seems pretty crucial considering the lack of suspension. I guess there's not much you can do to adjust it like on a car with coilovers, assuming the chassis is true. I might even argue that if the chassis measures true, but if your corner balancing shows the crossweight is jacked up, it might be worth tweaking the chassis to get that crossweight more towards 50%. After all, all that matters is how the tires press into the ground at the end of the day.