Sometime ago a friend of mine was racing karts competitively. Taking cues from the flat bottom trend in automobile racing I came up with a way to create a flat bottom pan for his kart.
Made of carbon fiber, kevlar and fiberglass matt it was tested in secrecy during a race practice session.
The image below shows the melamine mould from the first version of the floor pan.
The 'wings' under the front a-arms (as seen in the original mould) were eventually cut away and the flat front section was added.
The section under the side pods was made of abs sheet. You can see the difference in the reflectivity of the two materials in the shot below.
Throughout the practice session he would pull in to the pits and we would raise and lower different parts of the pan to see if any type of downforce could be gained. By lowering the front and raising the rear the pan would create a dead air space under the kart forcing the air over the top of the chassis. This would produce pronounced downforce that allowed the driver to enter the corners at a higher speed.
In order to free the rear of the kart we cut lifts in the area between the rear wheels and the back end of the tube frame.
All in all the experiment was considered a success even though the legality of the whole idea was a bit questionable.
A shot of the foot pedal area and pan from above. This area was typically closed in by an aluminum pan that ended under the seat about mid chassis.
A top down shot of the front wheel and brake cutout.
The best part is nobody really noticed the giant pan and the pictures of the bottom were snapped quickly in the pits so it's top secret-ness would be preserved.
In addition to the flat bottomed floor pan I also created a carbon fiber and kevlar chain guard to prevent a broken chain from being spit into the back and shoulder of the driver. Typically the chain is unprotected and is thrown free when it snaps. The guard was designed to be a replacement item yet during testing it proved to be nearly bulletproof.
It is the yellow item in the image below.
