Scaffolding poles + old VW bits + Rotary engine....
Discussion
Waiting on brake pads, proper clutch hydraulic line, a valve block for the front dampers and we've just found a weep on one of the crimped fuel line fittings that needs taking back off and sorting, but slowly working through the engine mapping/compensations/sensor calibration refinement, etc, in between.
Throttle response is a bit slow from idle so may end up fitting a bypass valve too, although trying to map as much out as I can atm, see how it goes.
Sat watching the latest BCCC coverage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRR5DejRmzE for those bored) and getting excited at last
Throttle response is a bit slow from idle so may end up fitting a bypass valve too, although trying to map as much out as I can atm, see how it goes.
Sat watching the latest BCCC coverage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRR5DejRmzE for those bored) and getting excited at last
Edited by PhillipM on Thursday 9th June 22:24
Well, that's one (still needs it fibreglass skin, has a thin* balsa layer at the minute to form the cloth over and it's allowed me to foam fill the leading and trailing edges for dent resistance)....
On to the always growing list of 'additional s
t we shouldn't touch until it's finished but we're probably going to do anyway' - the front mudguard mountings tubes are going, they were originally left separate to the damper mounts so no damage occurred to the suspension if a mudguard got ripped off, but we've worked out a smaller, neater way to do it which gets that curved tube out of the equation. Should be lighter, look a lot neater and gets the tube out of the way of the wing endplates.
*So thin you can see the ribs through it, saves at least 10 vital grams of weight!
On to the always growing list of 'additional s
t we shouldn't touch until it's finished but we're probably going to do anyway' - the front mudguard mountings tubes are going, they were originally left separate to the damper mounts so no damage occurred to the suspension if a mudguard got ripped off, but we've worked out a smaller, neater way to do it which gets that curved tube out of the equation. Should be lighter, look a lot neater and gets the tube out of the way of the wing endplates.*So thin you can see the ribs through it, saves at least 10 vital grams of weight!
leglessAlex said:
That's faster than I thought!
I expect you will get podiums, you've added another what, 100bhp? This thing will be mental.
Probably better than that at the wheels as the driveline losses don't scale much. However, you have to bear in mind that there's a lot of the 4wd's we're racing against now that are 500+bhp, and there's more than a couple at 550 and 600+bhp...I expect you will get podiums, you've added another what, 100bhp? This thing will be mental.
PhillipM said:
Probably better than that at the wheels as the driveline losses don't scale much. However, you have to bear in mind that there's a lot of the 4wd's we're racing against now that are 500+bhp, and there's more than a couple at 550 and 600+bhp...
Madness. I imagine they have quite the weight penalty though? I'm going on the fact that the Dakar 2WD cars are allowed to be a fair bit lighter than the 4WD cars, are the rules similar?
I have no weight limit, what stops me going lighter is time, money and skill 
Well, that and Ed being a farmer so he builds half the brackets out of half inch plate...
If we built a 2wd from scratch I don't think a 650/700kg car is out of the realms of possibility without going nuts with carbon fibre everything. Most of the bigger power cars are between 1240 and 1650kg.
Well, that and Ed being a farmer so he builds half the brackets out of half inch plate...
If we built a 2wd from scratch I don't think a 650/700kg car is out of the realms of possibility without going nuts with carbon fibre everything. Most of the bigger power cars are between 1240 and 1650kg.
Edited by PhillipM on Thursday 23 June 23:34
There is actually a Hillrally (similar thing, lots of safari cars will be there) running there on the 16th and 17th of June, won't be there in ours but I might be spannering on a mates as he's running as the course car.
Bit like a multi-stage rally (Albeit rougher) with linking stages, but there's bikes and cars running (Think the Bowler challenge is running there too), no reconnaissance on the stages and no pace notes, so you drive it all blind...
Bit like a multi-stage rally (Albeit rougher) with linking stages, but there's bikes and cars running (Think the Bowler challenge is running there too), no reconnaissance on the stages and no pace notes, so you drive it all blind...
Edited by PhillipM on Thursday 30th June 14:20
The AWDC race calender is here (Safari events):
http://awdc.co.uk/index.php/calendar
Round 1 - 20th March - Walters Arena nr Glyn Neath
Round 2 - 17th April - Cwm, Ebbw Vale
Round 3 - 19th June - Minehead
Hill Rally - 15th, 16th, 17th July (AWDC Hill Rally) - Walters Arena area/Glyn Neath
Round 4 - 7th August Ilfracombe
Round 5 - 21st August - Sweet Lamb
Round 6 - 11th September - Spring Farm, Norwich
Round 7 - 2nd October - Walters Arena
Round 8 - 23rd October - Cwm, Ebbw Vale
The NORC race calender is here:
http://www.norc.org.uk/
Round 1 – Wickenby – April 9th and 10th
Round 2 – Tong – May 7th and 8th
Round 3 – Forrest Estate – June 11th and 12th SCCC running
Round 4 – Hunsworth Bradford – July 16th and 17th
Round 5 – Sweet Lamb - 21st August Joint event with AWDC
Round 6 – Loversall – September 24th and 25th
Round 7 – Newstead Abbey – October 29th and 30th
And the British Championship calender is here (smoother events, A/T tyres):
http://www.marches4x4.com/bccc.html
9 - 10 April - Round 1, Pikes Peak, Myherin
7 - 8 May - Round 2, Bovington North
4 - 5 June - Round 3, Forrest Estate, Scotland
23 - 24 July - Round 4, Ceri
10 - 11 September - Round 5, Bovington South
5 - 6 November - Round 6, Walters Arena
http://awdc.co.uk/index.php/calendar
Round 1 - 20th March - Walters Arena nr Glyn Neath
Round 2 - 17th April - Cwm, Ebbw Vale
Round 3 - 19th June - Minehead
Hill Rally - 15th, 16th, 17th July (AWDC Hill Rally) - Walters Arena area/Glyn Neath
Round 4 - 7th August Ilfracombe
Round 5 - 21st August - Sweet Lamb
Round 6 - 11th September - Spring Farm, Norwich
Round 7 - 2nd October - Walters Arena
Round 8 - 23rd October - Cwm, Ebbw Vale
The NORC race calender is here:
http://www.norc.org.uk/
Round 1 – Wickenby – April 9th and 10th
Round 2 – Tong – May 7th and 8th
Round 3 – Forrest Estate – June 11th and 12th SCCC running
Round 4 – Hunsworth Bradford – July 16th and 17th
Round 5 – Sweet Lamb - 21st August Joint event with AWDC
Round 6 – Loversall – September 24th and 25th
Round 7 – Newstead Abbey – October 29th and 30th
And the British Championship calender is here (smoother events, A/T tyres):
http://www.marches4x4.com/bccc.html
9 - 10 April - Round 1, Pikes Peak, Myherin
7 - 8 May - Round 2, Bovington North
4 - 5 June - Round 3, Forrest Estate, Scotland
23 - 24 July - Round 4, Ceri
10 - 11 September - Round 5, Bovington South
5 - 6 November - Round 6, Walters Arena
Edited by PhillipM on Friday 1st July 01:55
Front wing pictures again - tidied up a bit and then I've overshrunk the covering past the ribs slightly - as the final foam fill should re-expand both it and the balsa slightly as it cures - hopefully it should go back almost perfectly flat...but knowing my luck it'll look like a whale in a g-string instead.
More upgrades today after some testing - and a few teething issues (you know, the normal sheared bolts, oil all over the floor, nearly breaking wrists trying to hold steering wheel against the P/S going nuts) - but I forgot to take pictures, sorry.
The venerable old 106/Saxo pump unit for the power steering system is finally retiring from service, in favour of a more powerful new unit with a solid-state electronic controller.
We now have more fluid flow at full power - which is welcome as with a very short ratio steering rack (a single turn lock-to-lock) the old pump could sometimes lag behind the wheel input in tight corners.
In addition to that it can vary it's speed to hold a target pressure vs loading - so we use a lot less electrical power the rest of the time, including a low speed/low power automatic idle mode when the steering isn't in use such as queueing for a stage start. Might not sound like a big benefit but it's a little more horsepower from the engine due to the lower electrical load, and it eases the strain on the alternator as although we run a large 160amp unit to keep up with the various heavy loads, it still doesn't have much spare when everything is running.
We also have other niceties such as built in fluid filters/air removal chambers and baffled pump inlets to prevent any dirt or air getting sucked into the system whilst bouncing around over the rough.
Anyway, testing today showed everything worked well....eventually anyway...so now we just need to make a new tank for the PAS fluid to suit and perhaps some upgrades to allow a control knob to enable quick switches between various assistance settings (not so much for our car but might be fitting a few to other racers which require more/less pressure).
TL:DR - New P/S pump. Works better than old pump. Is shinier.
Also not mega happy with the throttle response off idle with the amount of charge piping to fill and the charger, despite making a few mapping changes to improve it, got a few more tricks to try but I might look at a bypass valve just to help things at low loadings - any suggestions from those running one?
The venerable old 106/Saxo pump unit for the power steering system is finally retiring from service, in favour of a more powerful new unit with a solid-state electronic controller.
We now have more fluid flow at full power - which is welcome as with a very short ratio steering rack (a single turn lock-to-lock) the old pump could sometimes lag behind the wheel input in tight corners.
In addition to that it can vary it's speed to hold a target pressure vs loading - so we use a lot less electrical power the rest of the time, including a low speed/low power automatic idle mode when the steering isn't in use such as queueing for a stage start. Might not sound like a big benefit but it's a little more horsepower from the engine due to the lower electrical load, and it eases the strain on the alternator as although we run a large 160amp unit to keep up with the various heavy loads, it still doesn't have much spare when everything is running.
We also have other niceties such as built in fluid filters/air removal chambers and baffled pump inlets to prevent any dirt or air getting sucked into the system whilst bouncing around over the rough.
Anyway, testing today showed everything worked well....eventually anyway...so now we just need to make a new tank for the PAS fluid to suit and perhaps some upgrades to allow a control knob to enable quick switches between various assistance settings (not so much for our car but might be fitting a few to other racers which require more/less pressure).
TL:DR - New P/S pump. Works better than old pump. Is shinier.
Also not mega happy with the throttle response off idle with the amount of charge piping to fill and the charger, despite making a few mapping changes to improve it, got a few more tricks to try but I might look at a bypass valve just to help things at low loadings - any suggestions from those running one?
Edited by PhillipM on Sunday 10th July 00:17
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