Build Diary – Week 13

With two weeks to go before christmas holidays, the team set to work putting some finishing touches to the front end of the racer before developing significant components to maximise the performance. Fresh from talks with banbury powdercoaters who have agreed to powder coat the entire racer, we ditched the Nyloc nuts on the front wishbones in favour of dual lock nuts, to withstand the high temperature of the powder coating ovens. Using a mixture of CAD and some Research and development time we have redesigned the front wheel hoops and changed the caster angles to increase steering efficiency. I am in the process of building a new welding jig for these new components and drawing them up into CAD ready for the workshop next week.

Next, we are researching into ways to set the suspension and steering geomtry (caster, camber and toe) to give us the maximum performance benefit. I am in the process of designing and manufacturing, with the help of Carbon Art 45, to produce wheel discs that will allow for measurements to be taken to help neutralise and adjust the toe and camber (with the addition of a spirit level and possibly lasers).

The racer is coming along well, the speed it is progressing is allowing us to spend further time refining components e.g. the steering arms and the wheel hoops etc to give our team the advantage over the others.

For more photos, information and contact details visit our:

twitter: @ALR_Racing

facebook: facebook.com/alrracing

email: alrracing1@gmail.com

Build Diary – Week 12

This was a mixed week for the team. We pushed forward on monday during the workshop session to complete the front and rear assemblies and get the racer on the floor by the end of the day. This involved final welding, trimming and cleaning aswell as overall geometry checks. By 4:00pm we had the racer on the floor, all wheels on and our driver sat in it. This showed up some problems.

We have noticed weaknesses in the racer in certain parts of both the front and rear assemblies, these are faults that would only be noticed by testing the racer. Steps have been made to solve these problems and we have designed new components that will fix it. This development is key to the design and manufacturing process of the racer and we much rather these problems now then later on.

We also met with Darren from Banbury powder coaters that has agreed to sponsor the team and powder coat the entire racer and components in a series of colours. We look forward to this happeneing and are in the process of setting a deadline for this to happen.

The team is continually working hard to achieve its targets, all thats left before a test run is finalising the breaking system and geomtry tweeks, before we are ready to test run the racer on the road for the first time.

Build Diary – Week 11

Another key aspect of the gravity racer was completed this week. The steering was fully assembled and working by the end of the day. Using lengths of steel tubing, bolts and nuts, and a range of rose joints the steering was joined to the steering column, then the steering arms complete with complete ackerman steering where welded and tacked onto the uprights. The parts where then assembled and it was tested. The steering arms do foul a little so some fettling and grinding, as well as correct spacers need to be added next week.

Continually, on the rear of the racer the mounts for adjustable ride height where continued and good progress was made. Parts where machined, the bike frame was ground down and the drilled plates where attached to the chassis. By next week the rear will be on and the front completely finished.

It is then time to look at the braking system that the machinist is at the moment machining mounts for. Once this is complete we can test drive it.

We have also looked into the possibility of powdercoating the racer at a later stage, details on this to come in the near future.

For more information and regualr updates on the build check our twitter at @ALR_Racing or for details on how to sponsor us email us at Alrracing1@gmail.com

Build Diary – Week 10

With 6 weeks to go before the deadline the team has set for the main part of the build to complete, we moved forwards and made starts on steering. The rear wheel design has been developed further with adjustable ride height to aid handling and set up, and the steering was continued. The steering wheel was almost complete, ending the day attached to the steering colum and we are half way through fabricating and welding the steering arms complete with ackerman steering to help efficiency.

Build Diary- Week 9

This week the team got the racer on the ground. The front was completed including welding all the parts together and was then assembled complete with our wheels, maxxis tyres and wd40 lubrication. We also machined the bracket for the rear wheel to bolt onto the frame, and also added the wheel. By the end of the day the wheels where on and we test fitted it on the floor. From here we have started working on braking, and are looking at ways to modify the design to make it better.

As a team we have laid down good foundations to a solid future, and have made large gains over other teams. 

Build Diary – Week eight

This week was the last week before the half term, so critical we made good progress into the racer. We started of welding all the components of the front, completing one side. We also assembled most of the front end together to get a feel for the look. One half of the team welded and assembled whilst the other started work on the rear swing arm of the racer. All-together the build has made extremely good progress towards a early finish time as intended. Next term we will look at the steering and braking systems before we focus on driver safety and seating.

We also made good use of the Maxxis tyres combining them into the build, and are looking forward to the new products that our newest sponsor WD40 are giving us.

Sponsorship Update

ALR Racing have a new sponsorship agreement with WD40 for the gravity racer build, they will be supplyig us with top spec lubrication for the build and race day

Keep up to date with the build on our twitter @ALR_Racing

For sponsorship enquiries contact Matt Watson at alrracing1@gmail.com we really welcome any sponsorship you wish to offer

Build Diary – Week 7

The team made excellent progression into the sub assembly of the gravity racer today. All the front end components where fabricated, and tacked ready for sub fitting of everything. Includes Uprights with trail angle added, Wheel Hoops, Wishbones ready for the wheels. Also the steering wheel was fabricated, ready to be added to the steering when its needed.

The team also worked together to start designing the rear end swing arm, looking at adjustable ride heights and adjustment whilst driving. More information to follow.

Build Diary – Week six

This week was a hard start for the team. We encountered problems with the steering system and wheels however we worked as a team to problem solve and in the end made good progress. The adjustable ride height system was started, wheel hoops where trimmed ready for the wheels to be joined, we also took the opportunity to develop the design of the ride height system to make it more effective. The driver in the team started to fabricate a steering wheel for himself to join onto the steering columb.

We researched into recumbent bikes and studied bike steering geometry and discovered trail angles that will help our steering efficiency, that when linked with ackermans principles will make our steering easy to use and precise.

Photos of the build to follow

ALR Racings Sponsors – Update

We would like to say thanks to the Bikeshed in Northampton who helped us out with sourcing some new bike wheels and brake cables to use in our project, there will be pictures to follow of the build and how this input will help push forward the process of the build.