rearenginekarts.com

this is not meant to mean much of anything just some observations i have about my kart.
it's also about how my kart handled before and after i did some changes.
this kart isn't even a rear engine but it's a direct decendent of the king kart with basically the same specs.

i have a margay Cheetah left about 1973, it was the last straight axle sprint they produced.
it has the same basic built as all the early margays .
they were basically built using the original late model king kart specs.

i know the new breed had the suspension and removable seats ect ect
also the cheetahs had fiberglass seats and side mounts.
also the later cheetahs went to rear steer and wider tires.
i have a few margays so i know a little about them.

but if you sit in them, drive them or line them up they are pretty much the same frame layout.
look at the king kart, margay new breed and all the cheetah series karts,all the layout is basically the same.
so to me it makes sense to lump them all together as far as basic set up for handling goes.

don't worry i will eventually come to the point!!!!!

i was having all sorts of problems at b-ville running the cheetah with 11x6x5 rear and 11x4.5x5 fronts.
i'd set it up pretty much the way i was told they were run in that time frame.
i spent alot of quality time watching everyone else pull away and spining out on the corners!!!

i tried everything to control the kart.
i even sent out a lighter driver and he had troubles too.
it was very possible the tires were too old but it seemed more like the frame was loading up on the corners.

after b-ville on Dick Teals advise i switched the 11x4.5x5 blue streaks i had in the front to the rear and added 11x3.5 x5 carlise fronts .
He was of the opinion my kart had to much drag from the tires and would run better with the older narrow style.
the kart is new to me so i didn't change anything else on the kart , i'm logging each change good or bad as i go.

avon was the first track i got the kart back on with the narrow tires and the kart came alive.
suddenly i had nice aggressive cornering with decent rear steer when i wanted it .
it came right back in line when i let up no more loading or running backwards!!!.
even without changing the three wts. i was running in the clutch i turned better lap times.
probably owing to less friction and drag from the tires.

after that pulled two of the wts each side from the oil clutch and made the last practice on friday.
I HAD A BLAST!!!
the modified engine i am running is not a dog at all.
the kart was seriously agressive and i could break up the corners into tiny straights .

i was having too much fun and ran the entire 1/2 hour out.
the only bummer was there wasn't anyone who stayed on the track long so i never got to really compare the kart against anyone else.
i did overtake anyone that was out there no matter what their position but i assume they were just putting around.

anyway there's nobody out there that'll be able to tell me the wide sticky tonka toy tires will improve the performance of that kart.
Told ya i eventually get to the point!!!

dave

Amen to that Dave.
What a difference!!!

David,
What kind of 11x6.00x5 rear tire did you try ... sounds like it was too hard, or you had too much tire pressure, or the rear end was too wide. The Cheetah originally came with 4.50 wide Goodyears on the rear ... I raced mine that way for a year back in 1974 ... then everyone switched to the 6.00 wide Goodyear tires. If you have a 4.50 wide tire with enough grip ... it should get you around the track very well.

(BTW, this is a sidewinder kart, yikes!!! ..but it was possible to mount the engine in the rear with a Margay gearbox, we've seen several at TBO, so maybe you are safe posting it here).

Jeff