Back on the Road, Well Almost!

With the Southwest Regional Heat approaching fast (23rd June, be there!) the car is almost back together after the major overhaul that's been going on since we got back from Silverstone. The most striking new feature is the new slimline look,

This has been done to save both weight and rolling resistance and with a track of over 600mm should have a minimal practical effect on stability. Other weight/resistance savings have been made in the drive train. We have switched from two cantilevered axles to a single transaxle at the rear which has let us get rid of two bearings and their supports. We have also simplified our drive train by removing the CVT gearbox, replacing it with just a regular cassette hub to act as a lay shaft. This has saved us loads of weight and resistance but we do lose out on flexibility on the the track with only a single gear.

The brakes are now mounted on the front wheels. The regulations demand two wheels be independently braked so we have had to mount them up front. This means we take a bit of an aerodynamic hit but this is more than made up for by the weight savings at the back.

The car has also had an aesthetic spruce up with a new coat of paint and brand new decals, just to finish her off properly. There are still a few more tweaks and nudges left to do this afternoon but she should be ready for a pre-race shake down at the end of the day.

More Modifications

With the experience of the Season Opener under our belts and now knowing how we will be affected by the battery change, the team have been making some modifications to the car to improve the performance ahead of our local qualifying race in June.

One of the major changes, due to the overall reduction in speed is that aerodynamics has become slightly less important but weight has become more important. With this in mind we have put the car on a crash diet. We have removed as much material as possable from the rear sub frame without compromising its strength. This includes the replacement of the cantilevered drive shafts with a single through axle.

This allows us to remove two bearing blocks and theirssupports from the frame but it does mean moving the braking system to the front wheels. One of our kind sponsors, Teagle, have offered to make our new steering assemblies which will now include the necessary mounting points for the brake calipers and also give us much more control over the precise geometry of the steering system.

While the car has been stripped down the team have also been working on the surface finish. We are trying to get a perfectly smooth finish to reduce turbulence as the air flows over the surface. With only a few weeks left until our next race we will have to get cracking to get all these mods completed but we will be working every lunchtime until the car is back on its wheels once more.

Reassembly

Today the boys continued the reassembly of the car, getting the subframe bolted in, the steering linkages and the rear drive shafts installed. Quite a lot of progress for one day, although it was a bit disappointing when one of the rear shafts had to be removed again after it turned out that the brake disk was on backwards. You would have thought we would have learnt, the same thing happened when it was assembled the first time! Work has also continued with the wheel cowlings, they are looking AMAZING in red, as in the pictures below:

The Subframe Arrives

The newly modified sub-frame arrived yesterday and the boys got to work on polishing it, ready to be installed soon. The roll hoop height was deemed to be marginal at the Southwest regional heat and a note was made in our logbook to change it before our next race, an extra 6" has been added so there is plenty of room under there now, even if our drivers grow some in the near future.  The fabrication work was done by the engineers at Callestick Farm through the Rotary Club, completely free of charge, thanks guys!

At the same time today some of us were working on wheel coverings. To improve aerodynamics we have decided to cover the wheels in Solartex, a heat shrinking film normally used on model aeroplanes. This is still a bit of a work in progress but when it is complete the wheels will not only look great dished out in red, but also improve performance.

Back to Work

With the summer break over, it was back to work this week. The rebuilt wheels arrived today and the modified subframe should be getting here before the week is out, so the car should be back together in no time. Then it's testing and practice until the final in October.

Our Sponsors

With the car progessing so well, we are soon going to be thinking about decals and sponsor logos so I thought it would be a great time to reaffirm our thanks to all the companies and individuals who have helped us to get this far.
Ladds Concrete have supplied us with epic amounts of funding, without which we would certainly be struggling to complete this project, especially to the high standard we have set for ourselves.
Woodstock have donated, free of charge, all the ply and cedar used in the chassis construction as well as providing thier expert advice on some construction techniques.
Teagles, especially Callum Evans, have machined the drive shafts and bearings as well as some smaller machining jobs, not only providing labour for free but also sourcing materials at thier own cost.
Our aluminium subframe was constructed by Mr McReady's contact at the Rotary Club, again supplying materials and labour free of charge.
Bike Chain in Redruth have also been helpful in supplying wheels and brakes at reduced cost.
We are extremely grateful to all these companies for their help and support and now that the regional heat is approaching we hope to repay them with a great result.

Looks Like Progress

Well today's progress was monumental, the rear of the car was drilled and the subframe and shafts were mounted into the main chassis. It is definitely looking like a car now, well the back end is anyway.

It's Got Wheels!

This week has seen the arrival of the wheels and brakes from Bike Chain, allowing the rear subsection to be aligned and assembled, just needs a bracket for the callipers and it is pretty much there.

 The last few days has also seen work on the bonnet section with the main assembly yesterday and release from the jig today. Now it's free a hole for the driver can be cut and the silk/bioresin composite process can get under way. Then we can start to think about the finish we will give the whole body, most likely a hot coat of resin to get a nice glassy sheen, another technique lifted from the surfboard builders in the workshop nextdoor!

 It's the second team Friday tomorrow, so all the lads will be wearing their team hoodies instead of their regular uniform. Hopefully we can get organised enough for some pictures this time!