Soap box derby's ( billy carts, go-carts etc )

Soap box derby's ( billy carts, go-carts etc )

Author
Discussion

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Sunday 22nd March 2009
quotequote all
Does anyone on here build and race them?

are there any races held in the uk?

anyone got any decent pics of some? ( specifically steering smech's and suspension if fitted )

Peter_1980

206 posts

212 months

Sunday 22nd March 2009
quotequote all
Dont they have one of these every year down the hill at Goodwood?

Usually some pretty impressive engineering.

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Sunday 22nd March 2009
quotequote all
yeah, got it into my head to build one.

i know ill end up killing myself, but should be good for a laugh i guess smile

EINSIGN

5,493 posts

245 months

Sunday 22nd March 2009
quotequote all
Redbull sponsor an event at Knebworth House

http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/read_this/2004/...

Great fun.

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Sunday 22nd March 2009
quotequote all


excellent!

Edited by SystemParanoia on Monday 23 March 08:20

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
  • bump*
just wondering if anyone has any advice for building.

Metal or wood?

should i go out a buy a mig welder and learn how to weld ( could be a usefull skill for fixing cars come MOT time )

or just knock up something rickety out of wood and pray it hold together?

anyone found any build blogs of metal carts?

still stuck on steering, although i have seen mention of using co kart stub axles


McSwerve II

311 posts

198 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
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We did the Red Bull event at Knebworth. The Shark thing on Gallery 1 on the BBC Link above.

Ours was a Timber and Ply chassis with a hardboard body. In hindsight it was very over engineered, far too heavy. But would probably achieve Euro Ncap 4 Star rating in event of a crash.

One chap (in a fibreglass egg) broke his arm on the practice day. As the start ramp was Massive!

The winners had a very light weight timber thing with no crash protection whatsoever (surposedly part of the risk assessment they made you do).

Points were supposed to be awarded via a combination of the race heat position, the judges score (Mudley Walker on ours) and a crowd reaction. But it’s all a bit vague. So if your doing the Redbull thing, don’t get too hung up thinking a fast one will win the day.

McSwerve II

311 posts

198 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Also having just seen your picture, your wheels are the same as ours:

Narrow at the back. Wide at the front.

At 30’odd on the ramp (ply finish) the back was fishtailing like a GT2, in 1st, on full chat. If I were you I’d test with the same rubber on the road front / back.

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Thanks for the fishtailing info.. VERY useful!

although, the pic is not mine, its just a pic of one using the same chassis as i was thinking of using.. a sack truck.

i was thinking to go with x4 truck tyres all round.

im not too eagar on having tyres tooooo wide, as i think that might slow the cart down too much ( rolling resistance etc? )

the red bull thing would be great to enter, and i just might, but test runs will be done on the street. near me there are some brilliantly fantastic hills to do.

straight ones, steeps ones and technical ones.
hopfully might be able to get a mini race series going with some suicidal mates.

and its a perfect excuse to brush up those ( non-existant ) fabbing skills to use on other future projects


i like the wheels, and all round drum brakes on this one...






im guessing these are go-kart tyres?



and this looks.. umm complicated?


my intended chassis



Edited by SystemParanoia on Monday 23 March 15:02

Maxf

8,402 posts

240 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
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This has got PH event written all over it!

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Maxf said:
This has got PH event written all over it!
lol, would be quite a sight seeing a convoy of TVR's with these things strapped to their roof's hehe

308mate

13,757 posts

221 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
This used to be my local track/club.

Location wont be relevent but some of the info or pictures might.


http://www.perthsoapboxclub.org/index.htm

308mate

13,757 posts

221 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
SystemParanoia said:
Maxf said:
This has got PH event written all over it!
lol, would be quite a sight seeing a convoy of TVR's with these things strapped to their roof's hehe
Steel frame, fiberglass body and no engine. Hmmm....TVRs could make up most of the field couldnt they..?

hehe

CoolC

4,213 posts

213 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
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SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
308mate said:
This used to be my local track/club.

Location wont be relevent but some of the info or pictures might.


http://www.perthsoapboxclub.org/index.htm
ooo they look FAST!

gonna fire off an email to em, see if i can get em to part with the build plans for em!

edit: 308.. you don't happen to still have those build plans do you? maybe in PDF?

Edited by SystemParanoia on Monday 23 March 15:17

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Don't they do one of these down the hill at Goodwood?

Sounds great fun - I think I'd be up for a PH event. Plus I probably have a bit more pie storage gravitational potential energy than most, might even be in with a shot.

215cu

2,956 posts

209 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Had a go at this for a Uni soapbox derby years ago.

However, some of this might break the rules.

We fabbed ours from shopping trolleys liberated from local streams and fauna, they certainly weren't shiny new ones, the steel was usable. We cut the arse out of one and the wheeled frame off both, to create a C shape and D shape as the cab and cage, the wheeled frames became 'subframes' then formed a cut and shut chassis with box section providing some 'sills'.

The rear wheels were fixed on a very rudimentary live axle with leaf springs from bent strips of metal.

Steering was provided on a separate sliding frame, clipped in place by a bar across the front subframe on a central pivot and operated by a rod and lever on each side (like a tank thumbup ) We fabbed up a simple cable based braking system which was lifted straight from a pushbike (mainly because it was a temporary loan hehe) for the front wheels only and was no more than a disc with the push-bike callipers mounting the hand-grips on the steering levers.

The wheels came from a garden centre, they were 8'' pneumatic wheelbarrow wheels, about £5 each with bearing hubs and they seemed fine.

Of course, this was all before elfandsafety.

It was pretty nimble, and well, I'm still here. On the 1 in 7 1/2 mile hill used for the event (complete with chicanes, narrow sections and a see-saw!) we secured a reasonable 3rd place (the prize was three slabs of Carling and three 12'' frozen pizzas biggrin ) and clocked an average speed of 25 mph!

308mate

13,757 posts

221 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
SystemParanoia said:
308mate said:
This used to be my local track/club.

Location wont be relevent but some of the info or pictures might.


http://www.perthsoapboxclub.org/index.htm
ooo they look FAST!

gonna fire off an email to em, see if i can get em to part with the build plans for em!

edit: 308.. you don't happen to still have those build plans do you? maybe in PDF?

Edited by SystemParanoia on Monday 23 March 15:17
Never took part myself, but the track they run is attached to Perth's racetrack where the Australian Superbikes and V8 supercars ran, so we spectated a couple of times.

Im pretty sure they would happily send you then plans if you email them. If not, Tim the Pool Man may have a contact. They are fast though.

SystemParanoia

Original Poster:

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
thats a good price for wheels... i forgot about barrow wheels lol.. better than tiny sack truck wheels smile

spikeyplanet

185 posts

259 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
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search for lotus soap box in google - the type 119b is ace! [the yellow one]