Round 4 Marsden Park

[Terry]

 

 

There you go Charles,16.5 metres flat enamel surface,the critical points here are the 2 hairpins the one being just before the start line the other just after,good brakes are important especially in the corner before the start as you are coming downhill after the top sweeper and can be carrying a fair turn of speed,but the other corners are sweeping type of bends so if your car is gripping well and handling okay you can crank up a fair speed in these turns.

 

In our little F1 cars a lap speed of 4.9 - 5.1 is good,but like all racing you need to be able to turn those times lap in and lap out.

 

Hope this helps

Edited June 1, 2014 by terry

[Terry]

Thanks for running this event Terry,big effort. I knew your car would be hard to beat on it home track, well done. I thought Stubbo may have been faster, his car is very quick.

I am not looking forward to the kids coming over today, looks like I get more crap thrown at me today! LOL.

But it is keeping them very interested.

Looks like lane 3 was the down fall for both Old 23 and myself?

You are right about building early, I have one VRAA completed and Ready to test once motors arrive.

Also looking at hat to build fir next years Tasman. Looks like at least one or two more Tassie cars next year.

 

Phil, the 3rd heat was run on white,i actually ran white as the 2nd heat,during this heat some cars were becoming a little skatey and I put this down to my track cleaning efforts prior to raceday,there was evidence of a greyish colour appearing on the tyres,Stewarts #7 car suffered as much as anyones although i cannot recall your car being unduly affected,anyway I then made the decision to give all cars a light sanding during heats 2 and 3,I don't think your car "suffered" in this heat,my white lane is the more difficult of the 3 and the downhill hairpin before the start line is the tightest corner on the track and as white is the inside lane at that point it is the tightest point of the track,for me this was the hardest corner of the race as the cars with less brakes than others were found wanting.

 

Interestingly the #17, car which I would imagine has the same setup as your #47 car,was very good in this area,the #1 and #3 cars were a little difficult here,I put that down to the motor and the well known fact regarding lack of brakes in the solarbotics,

 

I suppose it comes down to swings and roundabouts,you lose some and you gain some,I know that on some tracks my #14 car will be at a disadvantage,at my place it wasn't the case.

 

Your chassis in the #47 car has got me building,be interesting to compare it to my more conventional designs,especially against my VRAA BRM,whenever I get it back again!

 

 

Terry

Edited June 1, 2014 by terry

[charlesx]

Thanks for the report Terry. None of your corners look particularly tight. How were the brakes on my car? I had changed gearing to try and improve this aspect. Going on last year did not do it any harm although clearly there are some other issues I need to address.

 

Like you I live in hope of getting my VRAA car back.

 

Regards

 

Chas Le Breton

[Terry]

Thanks for the report Terry. None of your corners look particularly tight. How were the brakes on my car? I had changed gearing to try and improve this aspect. Going on last year did not do it any harm although clearly there are some other issues I need to address.

 

Like you I live in hope of getting my VRAA car back.

 

Regards

 

Chas Le Breton

 

From memory your car was no better or worse than most of the field,pretty much all the solarbotic cars were lacking brakes,certainly the BWA cars had an advantage there,I think with your car it may not be 1 reason for the way it behaved but possibly a number of factors

[Terry]

Great feedback. It takes a lot of time to do this and hosting it solo too! Appreciate all the effort you've put in to this round Terry and getting it done so prompt!

Its good to see so many showing some pace this year. I think it makes for a more interesting proxy to follow and more interesting for the entrants even if one might be further off the pace back through the field, its still interesting to see some shuffling going on through the order. When I drove the cars I felt that none of them were not nice to drive, some were just faster than others. Its interesting to see how the different tracks are bringing out the positive and negative traits that cars have.

 

The chassis on the #1 and 3 cars has, IMO, lots flex. In building these chassis I did not intend for this to be a flexi chassis so much but more of a bit of a rattle pod rear end. I looked to try to stiffen up the flex with the addition of a center pivot in the base plates but wasnt confident in drilling it or cutting and adding brass tube, so that piano wire could be inserted, without stuffing it up given the chassis was all put together. I'd be interested to know if the outer edges of the tyres are showing signs of scrubbing out or feathering up or not given they corner, like a dog cocking its leg. or any thoughts you might have regarding this?

 

I have had a look at both Brabhams and no feathering of tyres,but the tyres are stating to "square off", probably most cars will have that problem,it appears that the #1 car is not as loose in its set up compared to yours and in running the #1 car was probably just a bit easier for me to drive,could that be because of the set up?

 

I like the way you can set up the rear end of the car, it would be interesting to have a test day where you could experiment with different settings to see which suits best,your tyres,on both cars,seemed a little "hard" during the race.If that helps.

 

Terry

Edited June 1, 2014 by terry

[kalbfellp]

The some of the guys down here had trouble with the lack of brakes on some of the Solarbotics cars. My car and Johns Ferguson seems to have a bit more brakes than the other Solarbotics cars.

[lenny broke]

Hi Terry,

Thanks for running the round, that's a big effort flying solo!

I haven't caught up with the happenings on this round yet with my Grandkids on a flying visit this weekend but I see my car is still waddling along.

Well done to yourself on the round win, and the Phil'sGrandkids and Stubbo on the other major positions.

 

My round is next due to take place on the 14 of June with the preliminaries in the days leading up to then.

 

Cheers Alan

Terry, I've e-mailed my postal details to Stubbo.

Edited June 2, 2014 by lenny broke

[Slo]

Hi Terry, my car has 1mm of play longitudnally in the pod. I set it at that because, for me, it was just a bit easier and faster to drive on the Cape track. This longitudinal adjustment alters the amount flex in the rails. If it the gibs are screwed firm against the pod the chassis is quite a bit stiffer, my car was consistantly a couple tenths slower on Stubbos' Cape track with this setting, After various adjustments I decided to set it at 1mm gap. I dont recall what Stubbo set his at, It was the same initially but he may have adjusted it when he tweaked his car, I know he went for more weight.

My build was just one of those Monday morning/Friday afernoon builds. Stubbos' chassis is just one of those sweet ones.

From the outset of building the #3 chassis, I was fighting with bits not cut square. So at the expense of loading up the chassis I opted to go with the irregulaties. Bring out the ruler and you'll soon see where my 'stuff ups' are. Among other things, with racing so close a car has to be right if its going to have more chance at being competitive. Still pretty happy with the way its going considering. I think these chassis are still a good basis to work from and from 2 chassis a possible 4 different chassis combinations can be tweaked and tested without changing any of the running gear .

[charlesx]

Hi Terry.

 

Appreciate explanation re chassis adjustment. I expect you would need to be careful to ensure wheelbase stayed legal in all configurations. Also for likes of Tasman Cup you would still need to set before start and hope that suited all tracks.

 

It does seem to encourage people to build to rules however rather than to scale. A practice not unusual with yachting. The allowance from my point of view is to accommodate builder error so I am dubious whether such adjustments should be allowed. I note some of VRAA people still fall well outside.

 

If you think my interpretation too tight rules should be altered to specifically allow. Otherwise sounds like quite a good adjustment to build in for local racing where you can tune to track.

 

Regards

Chas Le Breton

Edited June 2, 2014 by charlesx

[alexis in greece]

Thanks Terry and team for running this round and congratulations to the winners.I pay for the wrong choice of tires .

[Terry]

just uploaded a small selection from the weekend,

 

Terry

[Slo]

Nice! The first 4 pics certainly share some resemblance....

[Terry]

Sorry 'bout that,I should realise my limitations and accept that I really don't know what I'm doing with the computer,I was just trying to tidy up my photo bucket album and something,I don't know what,had gone amiss.

 

Terry

[charlesx]

Hi Terry. Just had some more thoughts on my No.48 car. Sounds like it might have sustained some damage as somebody else commented on chassis mount system at front. Will be interesting to see when it gets back. Pity as it performed consistently last year.

 

It was the first one I made though so it is far from perfect.

 

I know my second build Lotus 18/21 last year had a badly sticking guide so performed poorly. Builder's error in this case.

 

We live and learn. There is always 2015.

 

Regard

 

Chas Le Breton