dp Racing Team http://www.dpracingteam.com/
THE END OF THE CLUTCH (cheating) ERA
It seems that after CIK’s latest decision of Dec 18th 2008 (see note 1) regarding clutches of KF2 & KF3, we will finally have equality, as far as the clutch is concerned. Those who so far managed to gain advantage (cheating) with the use of ‘tuned’ clutches will be forced to race on equal terms with the rest of us, until, of course, they find other ways to cheat!
HISTORY:
Before the KF engines were introduced, tuners lived in heaven with tuning possibilities in the areas of ports, metals, conrod, transfers, exhausts and more. To their dismay, the KF homologations blocked the possibility on working in these traditional tuning areas and they had to find other things to offer.
Their new invention of tuning was the ‘CENTRIFUGAL CLUTCH’ that after some exploitation offers to the drivers a gain of 5 tenths per lap, even one second, depending on the track.
The tuners had very few and basic things to obey with such as the diameter, established by regulations minimum 80mm; weight given on each technical form for each engine; ability to move kart at not more than 5000 engine revs.
The thing is that also on testing, the commissioners were checking with digital rev counter while pressing down on gas pedal to make sure that the kart starts moving forward before 5000 revs. However, starting to move doesn’t necessarily mean, that the centrifugal clutch has “geared up” 100%, on the contrary.
Besides, that drive torque speed is really not enough, and above all, it increases to its highest peak at around 11000 revs even at the sharpest turns, making automatic clutch skid as easy as possible. By machining the angle, springs and centrifuged masses you can let the clutch go on skidding over the 5000-rev mark.
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