The Cars

Making any race car as quick and efficient as possible over a race distance is absolutely critical in order to win or at least perform as well as possible in the given circumstances.

The chassis, suspension and aero devices on a USF2000 machine calls upon well-developed techniques for a single seater machine equipped with relatively simple aerodynamic devices such as nose wings, side pods and a larger rear wing, all with some limited breath of adjustment. 

As Thomas indicated on his first day at the wheel, all changes in settings make a real difference in car behaviour and quickness. Cape Motorsport uses up-to-date data collection and analysis to work with each driver on his on-track efficiency as well as analyze the data collected every time the car is on the track. Their skill and experience in these activities have been demonstrated over the 13 championships they have won in this class over the years. 

Karts appear simple at first glance with their lack of conventional suspension, but they are surprisingly complex to set up at the professional level. To obtain the ideal behaviour on a given track, the team must work to achieve the best possible compromise between flexibility and stiffness of the whole package.

On the X30 S class machine, the team must change or adjust different components: the chassis support crossbar at the front, how tight or loose the chassis bolts are, the thickness and width of the rear axle, the stiffness of the bucket seat and its brackets, the variable wheelbase, the tire compounds and pressures, the ground clearance, the rigidity of the hubs, the carburetor settings (A bit of a black art) and ignition, the ratio of the final chain drive, to name a few.

The set-up of a "Shifter" kart adds to the complexity of the exercise. The added areas include the selection of the individual ratios of first through sixth gear in the gearbox based on the detailed feedback from the driver who must always keep the engine rpm in the narrow, most powerful range (12,000 to 13,700 rpm).