Re-Engineering of a Shifter Kart for Improved Performance

This paper describes a new senior design project offered at Louisiana State University's Mechanical Engineering Department. The project was aimed at improving the performance of a 125 cc racing shifter kart in order to give the kart a competitive edge at three different types of racing events (autocross, sprint races, and road races) and good reliability during pre-race testing. Although similar design projects exist in the Mechanical Engineering Department, most racing-related projects primarily use off-the-shelf components. While these are worthwhile, they do not give students the satisfaction of being involved with the end-to-end life cycle of a complex engineering project, from conceptual design, fabrication, integration and testing to actual operation of the system. This project fulfills that need. Two approaches were taken in this project to accomplish a better performance for the racing shifter kart: one was to create a new exhaust for more power at low and medium engine speeds, while the other was to create a new front fairing to reduce the kart's coefficient of drag. This paper describes the design strategies, the fabrication processes, the final test results, and lessons learned from this project.