I got beat on my own track HELP PLEASE!

[Yank]

Hello Everyone,
I am new the the group. Hoping to get some help. Me and some buddies have all bought old crusty yard carts to screw off on a small oval track I put at the house. Over the weekend we had our first get together to scoot around it and see what it was like. I got smoked all day long and I was going into the day thinking I had the upper hand with the larger motor. Here is what I have.....and raced against. Tell me what I need to do to get the edge here. I cant be losing haha. Over all though hell of a time. We are all near 40 living our best life.

My set up.....Manco Dingo, stock cage, 20 series torque converter, stock sprockets, 212 predator motor, air filter up grade, stock knobby 18x9.5 145/75-6 tires and I weight 220ish

Competitor that was smoking me......180-200 pounds, stock yard cart no cage, all small tires probably 13-14" tall, 5hp honda motor, direct drive no TC. On a 10 lap race he almost lapped me.

My thoughts to try first are lose the knobbys and go with something more slick like a A021 SUNF tire front and back, lose the cage and maybe put these tires on aluminum wheels to shave some weight. I really dont want to take the torque converter off and go with small wheels but i will if that is what needs to be done. Also let me add my front tires were out of air but rolled just fine. I am sure that made me drag some but not a ton.

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

What are your sprocket sizes?

 

[Yank]

What are your sprocket sizes?

I am not near it and have never counted them but If i go off of what I see online in the manual I am running a 9 tooth and 54 tooth.

 

[MWKarter]

My vote would go to smaller diameter tires In the rear.

 

[Denny]

Do not go to a smaller diameter tire in the rear! It won’t work and will make the kart slower! Your buddy with the direct drive has a massive advantage over you gear ratio wise. His ratio is 1:1 yours is more like 5:1 if you throw in a massive hill to climb you will decimate him.
As far as flat ground circle track racing goes that kart is just not the correct design. Add in some jumps and and whoop de do’s and you gain the upper hand.

 

[panchothedog]

On a level track a kart with a centrifugal clutch will outrun a kart with a torque converter. That's why ALL racing karts use them. They are no good for hill climbing, stop and start driving, or slow speed poking along. That is where the torque converter shines. Figure out what you want the kart to do. If all you are going to do is race around your little track with the throttle pegged 100% of the time then put a centrifugal clutch on it and blow your buddies doors off.