Trying to figure out the gearing on your kart can be a daunting task. It’s important though and having a good understanding of how the sprockets on your kart works, and which size sprocket to use when, can mean the difference between winning and losing.

When it comes to sprockets, it’s usually set and forget once you find the optimal sprocket. Most of the drivers will be using the same sprocket setup on a specific track. It might be one tooth up or down, but generally everyone will be in the same range, depending on whether you want to maximise your performance on the straight or out of the corners.

It's always easy to go and ask your fellow racers what size sprocket they’re using, and oftentimes you’ll get the right sprocket, but are they telling you the truth if you’re a competitor to them? What happens when you need to race on a brand-new track? Or if the weather takes a turn for the worse and you need a new setup?

The other thing you need to consider is that if you’re just going with what everyone else is using, then your kart won’t have any advantage over the rest of the field. Instead, you can tune your kart to be faster in qualifying, or to help make it easier to overtake out on track, let’s see how.

Which Size?

Each track is unique and has different requirements when it comes to sprockets and gearing. It’s always a good idea to base it off a track you’re familiar with and start close to the sprocket you use there. If you can easily identify a circuit has more straights than hairpins, start lower and alternatively if the track is tight and twisty go higher on the rear sprocket. All you need to do is get a ballpark range of what the gearing should be for the track, for example 10 tooth at the front, and 80 tooth at the back, then after a session check your RPM to see where the engine is peaking on the straights (if you have a data logger) and what your minimum RPM is to know if you’re in the right torque range.

That’s your starting point. Now you need to do some testing, so make sure to grab yourself a 79 tooth and an 81-tooth sprocket to see on what parts of the track you can have an advantage over your competition. In general, it’s best to change the rear sprocket because it’s much easier but altering the front can get you a slightly different ratio which might be better than changing one full sprocket on the rear. Just remember that if you change the front sprocket, you will need to change the rear to get a similar ratio.

Better Acceleration

If you feel like your kart needs more acceleration and more grunt out of the corners, then use a higher sprocket. The sprocket with more teeth (the 81-tooth sprocket in our example above) will give you faster acceleration out of the corners.

Having better acceleration will help you on tighter racetracks. But you might find yourself lacking in the last part of the straight, so understanding how much you’re gaining on the exit of each corner compared to what you’re losing on the straight needs to be determined. It’s also ideal for wet weather because you’ll be much quicker out of corners, and you often don’t need higher top speeds. Where drivers can come unstuck is by going too high on the rear sprocket in the wet, and this causes more wheelspin. If drivers don’t have good throttle control, they can spin out, or just spin the wheels too much and not actually achieve a gain on the exit.

Better Top Speed

Going with a smaller sprocket will give your kart better top end performance and lower RPM. Your kart will be able to reach a higher top speed when you use the sprocket with less teeth (the 79-tooth sprocket in our example).

If you ever notice that your kart doesn’t seem to have the legs on the straight, it’s a clear sign that you need to use a smaller sprocket. You might notice that your kart hits the rev limiter too early, which is when other karts tend to steam past you as they just keep on picking up speed down the rest of the straight. If you use the data logger, check the lowest RPM on the tightest corner to make sure you aren’t going too low in the RPM as this will severely cost your initial acceleration.

Finding Your Balance

As with everything in kart setups, you must find the right balance. Therefore, testing is so crucial, because you need to see what works for you and your driving style. When it comes to setting up your kart, you must give something to get something. In other words, you can get better acceleration out of the corner with a larger sprocket, but that does mean you will have a slower top speed.

Another thing to remember is that going up just one tooth will only make a small difference. So, if you want to be much faster out of corners, you can use a couple of different sprockets to find the one that you’re happy with. The same goes for smaller sprockets and hitting your best possible top end speed.

So, how do you know that you’ve found the “right” sprocket? There’s a lot of different factors to consider when it comes to answering this question, and that’s why you need to do a lot of testing and answer these questions:

Which sprocket is everyone else using?
Which sprocket gave me the fastest lap times?
Which sprocket felt the most comfortable in the kart?
Did the kart hit the rev limiter on the longest straight?
What is my minimum and maximum RPM?
Where are my best overtaking opportunities on the track? (Straights or hairpins and adjust accordingly)

The last question is one of the most important ones, and it’s the main thing that you’ll be looking at when choosing a sprocket for a new track. Ideally, you want your karts engine to be hitting the rev limiter for about a second at the end of the longest straight before you hit the brakes going into the corner. What does this mean? If your kart hits the rev limiter it means that you’ve hit your maximum top speed - in other words, the kart won’t go any faster if there’s more straight left. *Not all engines require the rev limiter to be reached*

If your kart hits the rev limiter at the end of the longest straight, then you’ve got a decent setup going. If you use a larger sprocket, chances are your kart will hit the rev limiter earlier, and you’re not maximizing your speed on the straight. If you use a smaller sprocket, you’ll be slower when accelerating out of the corners, and you won’t be able to hit the kart’s top speed anyway, so you’re leaving a lot of performance on the table.

Final Thoughts

Gearing is an essential setup tool that you need to get right if you want to be successful in karting. It might sound very complex at first, but it’s incredibly easy once you get the hang of it. It takes some patience and testing to find the right gearing setup, but once you do, you’ll have an advantage over the rest of the field. Understanding how your gearing works will allow you to make changes on the fly during your race weekend depending on the weather and the session that you’re taking part in.

Remember that not always the sprocket that’s fastest in practice can be used in racing, it does depend on the drivers you are competing against and where their strengths and weaknesses are too.

Sprocket Size