Lead up to Castle Combe

With a race at Merryfield recently under the tires of M6 the reliability issues from the start of the season seem to be sorted, and with the gearing now altered hopefully this will see the batteries last a little better!
Thankfully at Castle Combe were entering an F24+ race where we only need to run for 90minutes with 2 sets of batteries allowing for a margin of over gearing. If set correctly so the amps pulled on the hill aren't to high M6 should be in for a good race!

An interesting factor about this weekend is all 26 cars are racing, so its going to be a very good indicator of how the final is going to pan out. Hopefully we can be somewhere in the thick of it and as mentioned in a previous blog gain some vital points!

Also for the first time we will be racing other Cornish F24+ teams. Since the start its only been us representing the region so Sunday will see us aim  to claim the spot of number 1 Cornish team.

For those of you that want to follow the race you use the link HERE. Alternatively you can follow Greenpowers Cover it Live feed. The timetable for the day is as follows -

• 0730hrs – Teams Arrive and Sign On
• 0815hrs – Scrutineering Opens
• 0900hrs – Team Briefing 1
• 0930hrs – 1030hrs – Practice
• 1040hrs – Team Briefing 2
• 1100hrs – 1230hrs – Formula 24+
• 1300hrs – 1700hrs – Formula 24
• 1730hrs – Prize Giving

Finally, we want to send a good luck message to RLR who are representing Cornwall in the F24 race later in the afternoon. They have been doing superb this season and its great seeing them race with the same sense of pride for the County as we do! Good Luck!

Gear Change

After the over shot on gearing at last weekends event, the ratio has now been dropped by a few teeth. Hopefully this will allow M6 to preform well at Castle Combe and gain us some vital points in order to get us off the bottom of the championship table. With a menacing hill that killed my very first car I'm hoping not to recreate this 4 years later!

Change in the Championship

Its all changed at the top of the F24+ leader board with Jaguar Landrovers Driven Motion now in 1st with the maximum 20 points available at this stage.
With just 1 qualifier left before round 8 its still all to play for within the top 7 teams.
M6 is unfortunately still laying equal bottom with 0 points, hopefully we can gain some at Castle Combe on October 2nd.
For full listings click HERE.

Merryfield - The Results

Merryfield was the home of yet another thrilling race!

Superb racing all round with major weather changes and exciting battles for position set the day as a very good lead up to the final. Unfortunately however the team from Camborne didn’t fair too well.

Starting the day at 5 we reached the track a little over 3 hours later giving us plenty of time for our planned motor change. This went in hassle free so we then awaited scrutineering. With no major issues here the day was starting pretty good rising moral for the team.

We then hit the track for practice. With some higher than expected amps showing up on the dials worry started to creep in but the gearing speed was chosen specifically to achieve mileage qualification, so we had to go for it or there was no point racing.

The start of the race then loomed. We were placed at the front of the grid so had clear track ahead which was exactly what we needed. With the worry of the belt slipping a large delay was set on the controller acceleration, so we needed room to get up to speed. The flag was then dropped signalling the start.

As expected we started slow but as the car hit the downhill and out of sight back of the track we were sitting in 4^th. However by the time the car had returned to view and after hitting over 30mph we were sitting in second, only behind the eventual winner Rotary Racer.

This didn’t not however last. With the large amount of amps pulled to achieve this speed the batteries just did not have the power to see out the 80 minutes they should last. With a worrying pit stop and driver change the second set lasted just as little seeing us install our final set before the hour mark.

Disaster then struck when the car was pulled in with the motor smelling of the unforgettable fried brushes.

Despite this the team pulled together and made the choice to put in the old iffy motor. With the new use of belt drive we had to keep the ratio as moving the motor to retention the belt was not an option the team wanted to carry out, so with no heat sink, the old motor when back out.

The job of picking the highest power batteries was then a job that was carried out numerous times for the remainder of the race, but the important thing is the car finished!

Ending 22 of 24 was not the result we were hoping for considering the start and having the 5^th fastest lap but if the batteries can’t take the pull then there’s nothing to be done.

Through everything though, the fact the team pulls through no matter what the problem shows greater means far more than anything else.

With Castle Combe and the Final still to be raced in F24+ some light rebuilding will need to be sorted but next season will see a new sleeker M6. Designs are being drawn up for the rebuilding and will deem it almost unrecognisable, but hopefully help us get through our ever prominent race issues.

For the full race results see - http://www.bbk-online.net/gpt/race50.htm

Greenpowers New Website!!!

Very exciting news!
The new Greenpower website is finally up and running.
Take a look at http://www.greenpower.co.uk/

Lead up to Merryfield

After a long work filled holiday, M6, the car built by my current team GDS Racing, is almost ready to run once again in the hands of Camborne School. The change from a chain driven gear hub to a single gear belt drive is finally setup but hasn’t been without its issues.

After repositioning the motor to sufficiently tension the belt, we then encountered the problem of it twisting on its mount. It however gets worse! On inspection of the motor we then discovered the shaft was moving in and out, something that should not happen. This will require a motor replacement on the morning of the race, not great, but with easy access to its mount it won’t take long to install.

If this wasn’t enough to think about, our first test run brought to light the issue of the belt slipping when under the tension of pulling away. On close inspection this was due to driving before full reassembly so easily fixed. This highlights the issue with a bolt together frame. To further help I also increasing the acceleration time on the controller, a more gradual force is now applied helping the car to pull away without the slipping.

All in all I’m quite happy with the prospects of the weekend, obviously not too happy about the morning motor replacement, but needs must. Also thinking levelled headedly, a win is not really on the cards with the teams that will be racing on Saturday, but I feel the aim of 80 miles is more than achievable, as long as we don’t encounter any issues…

If you want to follow the race see http://www.bbk-online.net/gpt/race50.htm

Wheels

It seems we’ve been going around and around trying to sort the wheels for the new car. The rears have been sorted for some time now but didn’t come without their issues. We’re using a cantilevered set up for the rear drive so thick axles were needed, however trying to find a brake disk hub with a 14mm axle was none existent so modifications where needed. With this done we now have the perfect rear wheels, it’s been the fronts that are causing the issue now! Firstly it was the choice to go with smaller at the front. This meant a new set would need to be purchased which at the time didn’t seem a big issue and the finding of the perfect bike, two wheels for £5, what a bargain. If only it were that simple. Fully aware of the difference between the front and rear hubs on a bike we thought we could get both wheels from the one bike with minimal adaption, what wasn’t realised was how different hubs are on a child’s bike. With this in mind the search was on for another but the price compared to a new set that had spring up on ebay meant brand new wheels where the better option. It’s meant we have lost the “green” credentials from the reuse of the second hand bike, but the new wheels are much more suited for their purpose. Now that the wheels have finally arrived work can now begin on setting up the steering, we can only hope we don’t stumble into anymore problems…

2012 Regulations

The 2012 Regulations are now out! So with these now read the final design touches can be added to the car. Some interesting changes this year, the 6 second exit has been scraped and photovoltaics are now aloud. This has had some mixed reviews on the forum but it think it is taking Greenpower in the right direction. I will also take this time to give new teams a word of warning, dont get to far into a design until the new regs are writtien. There is a few things I now have to change, thankfully nothing major, but its still an inconvenience. Anyway, take a read from the link above and good luck with your builds.