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Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Posts: 3813 Reg: 04-2006
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Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - 06:31 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
Andrew,
After reading a Formula SAE judges paper on common design faults with Formula SAE cars, one of his gripes is that a lot of cars only used a single bearing or mount to support the column. This causes the bearing to act as a pivot and allow the column to swing around.
I used some 19mm (1.2mm wall thickness) that I had lying around. I filled it with sand and bent it into a U shape. The design is shamelessly stolen from the Kelly V8 Supercars, as seen on the TV coverage.
This I welded to the dash bar on the roll cage, just near where the front bearing is mounted. It is only tacked with he arc welder to test the strength at the moment. (Seems to be quite strong laterally, but needs some gussets to support it in the vertical plane - using larger OD tube would have helped). The bearing is supported between the tube by some 2mm steel cut and bent to fit.
The tube is not quite symmetrical, which annoys me. I considered going out and buying more steel to do it again, but seeing as I am trying to get it all done out of work hours (ie at night) that would have meant work stopping for a few days. At least this way people will know it is home built, LOL.
