alloy and steel

[axles]

hi
iam just starting on speedway karting but was woundering what the difference is between alloy axle's and steel axle's.
from what ive seen steel works better in wet to tacky condition's with alloy coming in when it's tacky but gets faster the slicker the track gets.
is this correct?
thanks
mark

[tom]

I reckon you'll get a lot of different answers on this one, mainly because the way the axle interacts with the chassis and centre of gravity means that one kart will perform better with a stiffer axle, and another will perform better with a soft axle, even under the same conditions.

Fortunately axles are relatively inexpensive, so it's worth giving a few different axles a go to see how they work with your kart.

I race AIDKA karts, and have found that the grippier the track, the stiffer i make my axle. Interestingly when i was racing bitumen, the opposite was true!

I put this down to the fact that with bitumen you are looking to lift the inside wheel in a controlled way to help the kart turn without binding, wheras with AIDKA you generally corner on opposite lock, and are looking to lock the axle to the track as much as possible. (the dirt under the two tyres is really not well connected)

In any case, i'd start by running whatever axle you have, and either use axle tuners or long hubs to see what effect on your performance having a stiffer axle has. (i've found that the axle tuners make more difference than going up to the next stiffer axle)

If your kart goes worse with the stiffer axle, and you already have a soft steel axle, then you should go to aluminium... (and if the track grips up you can use the axle tuners and/or long hubs to get back to where you were)

I hope this makes sense.. And don't be surprised if in your application you need to go softer with the axle as the grip goes up. The speedway track where you drive may make the kart behave more like it's on bitumen. In my experience you really need to try it to see?

The yanks are right into their speedway karting, it's by far the most popular form of the sport over there, they race on everything from dirt to concrete to bitumen ovals, and have developed pretty specialised karts for every application.. If i was serious about speedway karting i'd hook up with some of the guys over there and get the inside info!

Check out this website for more info: karting.4cycle.com/

(don't worry, there's plenty of 2-stroke info on there too)

Good luck!