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Forum Index : EV's : Aussie Electric khanacross special
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| galderdi Regular Member  Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
I had a khanacross yesterday. I didn’t quite get the results I was hoping for yesterday. The car was fairly good but not quite the fastest on the day. I obviously still need to find a little more performance. I have a few ideas. I wasn’t far off the pace but I was aiming to be top three so being slightly down the leader board is a bit disappointing. I have a few ideas for some improvements to bridge the gap. Aero is one big consideration. Currently the car has a very flat nose so effectively I am pushing a lot of air in front of the car at speed. I think I will change the design to get the air flowing around the nose better. On this particular occasion the driver was an issue too. I had three significant issues that impacted my results. The first was as a result of running late for my turn I thought I was changing a setting to increase my power, but I was changing the wrong setting (reflection from the sun also didn’t help). So when I took off the power was woeful. The second was not noticing that my she was damp, which caused my foot to slip off the brake twice. That gave a few people a heart attack including me. Lastly I was just launching when I heard the time keeper say “Wait for it” I thought she was talking to me so I stopped. It turned out she was talking to someone else. That cost me about 2 seconds on that run. All in all though I am fairly happy as the car was solid and predictable, I just need to find about 5% to start winning. The next one is a motorkhana on June 18 and then another khanacross July 19. Here are a few of the videos from the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb_TR1vTK9M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QKFux4Py90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K4EeR4FK_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSW2TtCgI1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mITwJPNXGI8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ7h19VpIfA |
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| Warpspeed Guru  Joined: 09/08/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4406 |
One dodge that might save you a few dollars, would be to shorten the pitman arms on the front spindles. That can reduce the turns lock to lock by any amount, but will also increase the maximum steering lock. The max steering lock can then be brought back to something sane, by fitting rack end stops. Cheers, Tony. |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
Thanks for the suggestion. For lower speed that would work but for higher speed it would alter the ackerman angle. I actually had to increase the length to get the ackerman angle correct. So I think I will be forced to either get a new rack or a quickener.....Unless there is another way to correct the ackerman angle. I suppose I could make the chassis longer to match the resulting ackerman angle. |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
My next event is a motorkhana and is coming up soon. It will be held at Willowbank on June 18. IF anyone is local feel free to come and take a look. Spectators are free. I'll post another update after the event. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
not sure if its still on or not? http://www.willowbankraceway.com.au/news/detail.aspx?ArticleID=601 says the Winternationals racing is off, is the motorkhana still on or not though? |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
Sorry I only just saw this post. Yes our motorkhana went ahead. My car was solid but a little behind in the times. I finished mid field. I have a list of things to consider to bridge the gap. |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
I am making a few modifications in order to be more competitive. Including: Stiffening the rear end to keep more weight on the front wheels. Scoring the front discs to get slightly better braking ability Adding 1 turn worth of negative camber on the rear. My next event is a Khanacross on July 9th. Based on my last event I think I am better off starting in second gear. |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
I am still on for Sunday. Really looking forward to an improved result (Can't get too much worse than last time). I made all the planned improvements. But I added an extra set of springs to the rear to stiffen it up. But there isn't quite enough clearance between the springs. So on Saturaday I plan to take one pair back out and modify the setup to increase the clearance, I only need a mm or 2. The upshot should be better front traction as the rear won't sag as much pulling the inside front wheel away from the ground. In addition to all the changes I will also be running my best front tyres. This alone should be an improvement on last time. Also I am now convinced starting in 2nd gear at 1000amps will provide the best results. |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
I had a ball at the Lotus Khanacross at lakeside. The track is quite tricky with a couple of blind corners. It really would help to have track time on this one. My first few runs were average at best but I did improve on my last few runs. I really struggled due to rear end grip. You know it’s bad when you are over steering in a front wheel drive car. I managed to come 34th from 66 competitors. That’s not bad considering the quality of the field. I beat 6 out of 13 Lotuses and 9 out of 16 Porsches. If I wasn’t retiring the car I could put better tyres on the rear and improve the rear geometry and I would be confident of picking up quite a few places. Overall I am quite happy. I had a problem with my camera and only got 1 video with telemetry. It’s not the fastest run and watch for the plover at about 1:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXhOVGg55hI |
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| joebog1 Senior Member  Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 114 |
I think it was fairly impressive !!! I know your funds are limited, but rear traction in front wheel drive cars has always been a big problem, JUST a suggestion though, maybe steal a centre diff from a subaru?? with associated shafts/drives? and congratulations on leaving the porches behind. Not a typo!! most people that own them call them porches. Joe |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
Thanks. I am impressed when I think of what I have achieved on my own, in limited time, on such a small budget against these expensive cars. But I am not satisfied with the results. There is no reason why I shouldn't be getting podium positions if I make the right changes. This car has proven the concept has potential. It has also highlighted the design flaws and areas for improvement. Unfortunately All wheel drive is against the rules in our sport unless it was an option on a production car. Otherwise I would be jumping all over it. I walk away from most events happy but not satisfied. Happy that I have not disgraced myself but not satisfied because I know I can do better. I think this is a healthy balance as it encourages me to still aim higher. I do need to hurry though as I know my days as the only electric competitor will be numbered. I need to get the results before someone else takes the same concept one step further by throwing heaps of money at it. I won't be able to compete on that level. The new car will be a vast improvement on the old one. I aim to be dicing with the leaders once I get used to driving it. so maybe in 12 -18 months I hope to be getting regular podium positions. I had a great motorkhana event on Sunday. For a while the results were up in the air.....quite literally. We had a mini tornado which flattened our timing tents and associated equipment. The timing tents were thrown about despite being weighed down with concrete blocks. Our volunteers conducting the timing were shaken but unhurt. When I first looked over to understand the cause of the commotion I first thought a wayward car had somehow bowled over the time keepers. I am so glad that was not the case. A handful of timing result sheets were sucked up into the vortex and continued to rise almost straight up until they eventually reached sufficient height to become too distant to view. But now the results are up in the cloud. So I can confirm I managed 6th place outright. That isn’t too bad, as usual one particular test cost me quite dearly but overall I think that only cost me one place realistically. Looking at the times I am confident all the improvements going into the new car will have me competitive against the guys at the top. I don’t expect to be consistently quicker than them as they will still have a significant size advantage. But I will be closing that gap to some degree and I will have other advantages that will somewhat compensate for the rest of the gap. Here are a handful of videos from the day: https://youtu.be/0WW2Wu9H7eA https://youtu.be/lU-Li3Wa-Mo https://youtu.be/U6m5F40kJJU https://youtu.be/_Sh8p1PlSPs https://youtu.be/LZOc9XA-aSQ https://youtu.be/PXTGIv1CNE8 My next event is a dirt khanacross on Sept 23. I'll provide another update then. |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
    Here are the latest pics of my latest project. It is much the same as my last one but with some improvements from my learnings. This time it will be around 440KG, rear wheel drive, mid engined, improved aero, improved suspension. I can't wait to drive it but I still have some work to do before it is ready to compete on Feb 11. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
Cant wait to see it finished and racing |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
   These are a couple of the latest pics from my new project. I have struck some delays with my steering components. We'll see how it progresses over the coming weeks. |
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| joebog1 Senior Member Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 114 |
Looks superb !!!! Wonderful work Joe |
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| dwyer Guru Joined: 19/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 573 |
Hi I have a couple of questions out of curiosity, Did you build the frame yourself and did you have to follow the CAM rules Also the other usual questions are about AWD and is these are against the rules same as anti lock brakes and traction control too. What happens if I had built one with AWD also what would this be classified under in motorsport one final question is where abouts are you located? I used to drive many motorkhana car clubs in Victoria in early 1970 and thinking taking my turbo territory into motorsport including drag racing as now l am back to single dad so now l am free man . cheers Dwyer the bushman |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
Thanks guys, Yes I built the frame myself. The only exception is the bends for the cage. Yes I have had to follow the CAMS rules. It follows the general safey rules plus the specific rules motorkhana specials. The rules for the frame are fairly basic, minimum length, must be solid, must have sides of a certain height. CAMS have a list of pre-approved designs. If you build a cage from one of those designs there is no need for them to approve the design. But if you design something outside those standard designs you would need to get them to approve it before you construct it. My cage is a little overkill as the motorkhana cars only require a single hoop as a minimum. But I use the car for khanacross and hillclimbs so I would rather take the safer option. Plus I use the cage as a structural part of the chassis to increase ridgity. AWD, antilock brakes, stability control and traction control are against the rules for motorkhana cars. These restriction don't apply if the features were delivered from the factory. I haven't looked at other categories but I am sure you could target another category where driver aids are allowed even in specially built cars. I am located just north of Brisbane and mostly compete out at Willowbank. But I do try and attend a few remote events when I can. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
You'll have to post before you race, I'm only a bit down the road from Willowbank, love to watch it in action  |
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| galderdi Regular Member Joined: 12/08/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 99 |
OK, will do. I will have a fair idea if I will compete by the end of this weekend. But this will be it's first outing so I am sure it will need a lot of adjustment before it is truely competitive. (Just setting your expectations). The first event is only a test and tune day but I really need that opertunity. Otherwise I will be attending the next/real event without understanding the car and with no opertunity to adjust it. I will also be displaying it at the CAMS expo at Norwell Feb 25. Then the first real event is a Khanacross at Willowbank on March 4th. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
sweet |
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