Soap box derby's ( billy carts, go-carts etc )
Discussion
Redbull sponsor an event at Knebworth House
http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/read_this/2004/...
Great fun.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/read_this/2004/...
Great fun.
- bump*
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
Location wont be relevent but some of the info or pictures might.
http://www.perthsoapboxclub.org/index.htm
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!Location wont be relevent but some of the info or pictures might.
http://www.perthsoapboxclub.org/index.htm
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
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
) We fabbed up a simple cable based braking system which was lifted straight from a pushbike (mainly because it was a temporary loan 
) 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
) and clocked an average speed of 25 mph!
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
) We fabbed up a simple cable based braking system which was lifted straight from a pushbike (mainly because it was a temporary loan ) 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
) and clocked an average speed of 25 mph!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!Location wont be relevent but some of the info or pictures might.
http://www.perthsoapboxclub.org/index.htm
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
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.
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