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Transportation Science Fair Project

Tire Hardness and Go-Kart Lap Speed

Hard
Tire Hardness and Go-Kart Lap Speed | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Do softer tires make a go-kart faster? You fit the same kart with three sets of tires: soft, medium, and hard. An experienced driver runs three laps on each set while you time every run. To confirm the results, you repeat the test on three different race circuits with similar lap distances. The driver stays the same throughout. Soft tires produce the fastest lap times. Medium tires come in second. Hard tires are the slowest across all three tracks.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that softer tires provide better traction and therefore enable a go-kart to complete laps around a go-kart circuit in a shorter time than hard tires.

Method & Materials

You will be testing 3 different types of tires (soft, medium, and hard) on a go-kart. You will measure the time it takes to complete 3 laps on each type of tire.
You will need a go-kart car (80cc, approximately 9HP), 3 different race circuits with almost equal lap distance (1.0 km to 1.3 km), 3 different sets of tires (soft tires, medium tires and hard tires), racing attire for the driver, a stop watch to measure the time taken to complete the 3 laps, and an experienced go-kart race driver.

Results

The results of the experiment show that the go-kart equipped with the soft tires will finish the 3 laps in the fastest time followed by the medium tires. The hard tires will produce the slowest time. This is possibly because of better traction produced by soft tires.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it shows how the type of tire you use can affect your speed. It also shows how important it is to choose the right type of tire for the right conditions.

Also Consider

Variations to consider include testing the experiment on wet tracks, testing different tire widths with the same hardness, and testing how the temperature of the track affects the results.

Full project details

Additional information and source material for this project are available below.
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