EXACTLY How To Prepare a RACE WINNING Kart! | Pro Maintenance Guide

Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
If you want to win in kart racing, it's crucial to properly maintain your equipment between races.
In this guide we learn how to:
Properly clean your kart.
Maintain your rear axle.
Change your sprocket.
Clean your chain.
Change oil in your engine.
Fit new tyres.
And much more!
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#Kart #Maintenance #Guide

[@kartaroundtheworld]

Sharing my testemonial about "A clean kart is a fast kart". When I started karting, I was always lazy to clean the kart between races, because my thought was: "It isn't too bad" , or "it will get dirty again" . However, an experienced mechanic said something that stick to my mind: "Cleaning the kart is not only to get it clean, it is a mental process where you connect with the kart and all its parts, it is the best oportunity you have to see a losen bolt or a crack in some parts". I carry this with me and now, even if I'm super tired, I dedicate some time to clean the kart and make a detailed visual inspection.

[@BradPhilpot]

@@kartaroundtheworld That’s all exactly right. I agree completely.

[@CallumRaces]

This kind of information is normally a victim of gatekeeping, love to see that this is being shared! Top video Brad!

[@BradPhilpot]

The gates are open Callum ❤

[@Harley.-Smith]

Just in time! The perfect video as I'm building my first kart for the O plate. Thanks alot.

[@BradPhilpot]

@@Harley.-Smith thanks for watching Harley!

[@mikensam]

Appreciate how in depth you go, really helpful, thanks. would love to see a setup video. adjusting ride height, camber, caster, how each change affects handling, what circumstances you’d make a change etc, I’ve also never used a set of lasers and would love to see go how that all works too. Congrats on the championship 👏

[@BradPhilpot]

I’ll make that next. Good shout

[@peterbradbury1592]

WOW Brad, no wonder why you win races, you look after your machines with so much Care & Love, and you also have a fantastic workshop and a brilliant layout with all tools required. Just loved your video, it gives others how to look after their Karts. Thanks for sharing. Good luck for the future.

[@BradPhilpot]

That’s really kind - thanks Peter

[@dannywhite132]

Great video! Something you may like is ACF50. Specifically designed by the navy to protect aircraft at sea from rusting with sea water, we now use it lots of motorbikes to stop corrosion, and it works wonders on kart parts. You spray it on and let it cure, and it actually creeps along surfaces and forms a very fine layer on the parts that prevent oxidation and rusting/corrosion. Helps keep a lot of parts looking fresh and from corroding solid. Tend to give most stuff a quick spray over winter when they're not in use to stop then rusting in storage or before a rainy event to give that layer of protection. Although it's very slick so keep away from brakes!

[@BradPhilpot]

@@dannywhite132 That’s a great tip - thanks Danny!

[@jusarusakko294]

Thanks. Keeping rim end pointing away from your head while poping tyre to rim is one safety tip. Just in case rim is braking and you get hit by rim pieces. Thats what I do. Do you keep front wheel spacers a bit loose? I keep them tight in OTK.

[@BradPhilpot]

Yeah I’ve always been told to keep them slightly loose on all karts.

[@karlchapman-l3j]

Great content as always. 👍

[@BradPhilpot]

Thanks Karl!

[@ReactorFour]

Great video. Impressively clean and maintained karts too! When I prep karts I also throw on the lasers and check for bent king pins (kerbs are fast!) and ensure toe, camber, caster, and sweep are even and where we want to start for the next race weekend. The lasers also can determine if the chassis is tweaked a bit in the front and may need a visit to the frame table, as you know. We also clean and inspect the clutch and clutch sprockets and lube the needle bearings on our 4 cycle clutches. I don’t know the Honda well, the clutches may be better than the LO206 clutches we run in the US. Lastly, when I grub in grub screws, I twist like 1/4 turn in, 1/8 turn out, 1/4 in, and so on grubbing out some of the axle material. I never tighten too much at the end because it will dent the axle. I use tape on the axle key at the sprocket carrier on 2 cycles usually but I like your method of using tape on the grubs. If they come loose, at least you won’t lose them!

[@BradPhilpot]

@@ReactorFour the lasers are a good point - but the reason they’re not part of this video is we usually do that at the circuit instead, to account for any knocks etc. during loading onto the van. We also like to do that on the floor if possible to account for the toe-in produced by the weight of the driver. Our clutches don’t need a lot of work aside from an occasional blast out with brake cleaner - but it is something I check relatively regularly.

[@louiephillips-hs8zc]

Thanks this will really help me in my karting journey as I want to join the gx uk soon

[@BradPhilpot]

@@louiephillips-hs8zc that’s great to hear Louie! Thanks for watching

[@AFFMotorsport]

Good to see some proper kart prep. So many dont do it.

[@BradPhilpot]

Cheers AFF! More videos to come!

[@Rokynutz]

Loving this. I know, there is only so much a karter can make content on. Maybe, just maybe...look into and obtaining small sponsorships and the process to keep them happy? I.E. How to dress. How to conduct yourself. where to look. How to approach..... etc. Tours with various Chassis manufacturers. Tire manufacturers. Race suits. Shoes. Gloves. Helmets. ....worlds your oyster buddy. Love your content. Gald I was fortunate to have your video come across my dashboard. Cheers man!

[@BradPhilpot]

@@Rokynutz great ideas - I’ll try to do some of this over the winter

[@Tejas.vm19]

Now that’s a lot to grab at once so going to watching it again n again this week ❤

[@BradPhilpot]

Awesome!

[@tempest3161]

hey mate im actually in the process of changing my tyres for the first time so the tyre section was really helpful. I never thought I could inflate them past 50psi as the tyre said do not inflate over that. So just double checking, to pop the tyres on the bead, its safe to pump them to 90-100 without them bursting?

[@BradPhilpot]

Hello! I wouldn’t be able to confirm it’s safe - but in my experience there’s no other way to get them onto the bead. You could heat them up - that would help. But really, they’re very stiff and refuse to pop on with less pressure.

[@tempest3161]

@@BradPhilpot thats all good, thanks again for the vid the whole thing was very helpful

[@BradPhilpot]

@@tempest3161 thank you for watching

[@ricardoardiano1550]

Great video thanks Brad, really helpful and very much appreciated from someone new to all this and trying to understand the basics of things like what products to use and how to do things like the sprocket, engine mount etc … thank you

[@BradPhilpot]

I’m really glad it’s useful!

[@Angus_Langley_Racing]

Us juniors will have to try and keep up with you guys !

[@BradPhilpot]

@@Angus_Langley_Racing don’t try too hard Angus!

[@jamesmackey7424]

Great video Brad, learning so much from your content 👏

[@BradPhilpot]

Thanks James!

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Hey Brad, watched it all the way. Those tires look like a bit of a pain and damn near impossible without all the proper tools. Adding a kick seemed to be the trick!

[@BradPhilpot]

Yeah they have very stiff sidewalls!

[@kylehawkpig]

I am looking to try start owner karting in gx uk but I was wondering how much it is per race

[@kylehawkpig]

Also what do you think the overall cost of a season is?

[@BradPhilpot]

In this series it’s £125 per weekend including the practice day. There’s around a £270 championship entry fee at the start of the year which also includes your tyres. Then it’s about £10 for fuel and £15 for transponder hire if you don’t own one. Aside from that costs are travel, accommodation and damage.

[@Tejas.vm19]

If you got any time off season, try making content on your tips and tricks🤜🤛cause I feel you got a lot more to give on your side ❤

[@BradPhilpot]

I will for sure!

[@FamilyMotorsports87]

what do you have taped to the motor mount rails? and why

[@BradPhilpot]

Oh that’s sandpaper and it’s just to stop the engine scraping the paint and sliding backwards when in use / under load.

[@FamilyMotorsports87]

@@BradPhilpot my paint is all scraped off lol guess I should have done that sooner

[@helmetculture]

Hi Brad we race in Canada and love your videos! Can you post your baseline setup? Is it the standard 2 cycle setup from Tony Kart?

[@BradPhilpot]

@@helmetculture Wow! I can’t believe people so far afield are watching these! So, no, because our tyres are a little harder and we don’t have a lot of power, we struggle to get energy in particular into the fronts. So I run a particularly aggressive front end setup to get energy into the fronts, and a very soft rear setup as we have a little too much grip at the rear. So I’m on maximum caster, maximum front ride height, 0.5mm toe out, and at the rear a soft 1030Q axle, and all bodywork loose.

[@helmetculture]

@@BradPhilpot ahhh okay thank you!! We run the Briggs and Stratton 4 cycle class. But Canada is weird. We have a maximum 50 inch rear width rule (1270MM) So our karts end up being way narrower. We also use a 6 inch rear tyre as opposed to the full size rear I think you guys use. We end up having to cut all axles. Side pod bars and switch to a narrower cadet rear bumper to race 4 cycle. Always wondered how much of our setups can cross with yours! You should come over next summer to do a race with us!

[@BradPhilpot]

@@helmetculture that sounds awesome

[@codeREDsim]

Try Muc-Off HCB1 to eliminate and prevent rust. Not on the disk face though.

[@BradPhilpot]

I’ll take a look - thank you!

[@Rob_Turner_UK]

Never used BT85 is it safe to use on rubber? Pledge is my go to tyre lubrication.

[@BradPhilpot]

I’ve never had a problem with it. Here’s what their website says: Being safe on rubber means that GT85 is also suitable for cleaning and lubricating O-rings, gaskets, links and chains

[@Rob_Turner_UK]

@@BradPhilpot will have to get some 👍

[@ReactorFour]

We don’t have GT85 in the US. My team uses simple green usually because it dries and we know the wheel won’t slip in the tire in higher horsepower classes. What is GT85 and is there something similar in the US? Tri-flow maybe? We don’t use WD40 because we hear it’s a solvent and will set off the tire sniffer. I am unsure if that is true, but just what I’ve heard.

[@BradPhilpot]

@@ReactorFour ​​⁠ah it’s basically an equivalent to WD40 - and we don’t have tyre sniffers in our series (I assume that’s a tyre softer checker?) Since our tyres have to last a full season, we probably don’t want them too soft as they won’t make it to the end of the year!

[@ReactorFour]

@@BradPhilpot that’s awesome you can go a whole season! That is one hard tire! We get 1 race day in 2 cycle and about 4 in LO206 if you don’t run more than 1 class on them. We use MG yellow in KZ and X30, MG red in KA and LO206 and swift. Maxxis tires aren’t big in sprint kart racing here, but big with the dirt oval guys, seems they all run maxxis.

[@omg_atom]

What do you reckon the total time you spend maintaining your kart is between rounds?

[@BradPhilpot]

Several hours for sure.

[@Rob_Turner_UK]

First 😂🎉

[@Whr-racing]

👏👌 Nice vid Brad

[@BradPhilpot]

@@Whr-racing thanks for watching WHR!