To all those 3 people who may come to this blog, I am sorry I have not made any updates lately. I've been extremely busy at work, and coming home to do a blog has not been my highest priority. But to give you the low down.
I have been working on a new front splitter design for the Sentra for next year's season of Autocross. I'll be posting some pics in the near future of the mould I am working on so I can then just have vac forms created out of ABS.
Building a mould for vac forming will allow me to create a new splitter easily if one happens to get damaged or destroyed.
In the new year I will start on a scale model of the E-CROSSER. So hopefully by the end of Spring I will have a cool mocked up model to show you.
Everyone have a great Christmas, and I'll be back soon...hopefully.
The New Header
Friday 16 December 2011
Monday 5 September 2011
My buddy who is helping me out with this should be getting a welder soon so we can perfect our welding skillz.
Oh and as for the French trip...
Paris was amazing! I wish we stayed there for at least 3 more days to make it an even 5 days. The driving wasn't so bad, but the round-a-bout around the Arc de Triomphe was something else. 6 lanes of cars, with no lanes all trying to get to their exit road. That was fun in a sort of chaotic fear for my life kind of fun.
We went to the Peugeot Showroom on the Champs-Elysées and I actually got to touch one of their 908's.
Anyways, until next post. I might even talk more about the E-Crosser.
Sunday 26 June 2011
France or Bust!
So again, it's been some time since I have posted only because this season has been so busy with trying to develop the Sentra further. This alignment issue is still driving me nuts! After each race my alignment shifts. I've looked at every bolt only to find nothing. I've added Torrington bearings to the spring perches for nothing.
I did learn that my front struts were bumping off the bump stops though which possibly could have caused the alignment issues when it bottomed out. I simply just put a couple of zip ties on the shock shaft at the base where it enters the strut body. As I hit a bump it would move the zip tie up the shaft and stay there. After my first run, low and behold the zip ties were shoved so far into the bump stops that you could tell that they were psychologically damaged. Poor bump stops and struts. Now that I lifted the car 1/2" road irregularities feel so much softer. It'll get some getting used to because I'm so used to a rock solid suspension, but it should help with absorbing bumps during the autocross runs that I should stick a bit better. I think my wife may also enjoy the ride a little better since now small divets in the road don't feel like gaping deep pot holes. It is so much less jarring.
Also, I found that my main nut that keeps the whole halfshaft assembly on was super loose. That was probably the issue I was having with vibrations at high speed. Finally I solved that issue.
Anyways, to keep up to date with the Autocross series here is the location of the results. PITL Race Series 2011 Results
I had to miss 2 races but race #4 was fairly decent. The competition is great in my class. There are some really good drivers there and it pushes me that much harder.
I realize this is supposed to be a blog about the E-Crosser, but since not much is going on with that, I might as well write about the going ons in my world of racing.
Speaking of going ons, my wife and I are going to France in 2 days. What I am looking forward to most is the drive through France from Nice to Paris. Cutting through tunnels and carving up the roads overlooking cliffs, on the D2 going up to the Napoleonic Route. I'll write about that when I get back, but unfortunately to cut some costs we had to rent a VW Golf (definitely not a GTI), but at least over there, rental cars are manual! That's sweet.
I did learn that my front struts were bumping off the bump stops though which possibly could have caused the alignment issues when it bottomed out. I simply just put a couple of zip ties on the shock shaft at the base where it enters the strut body. As I hit a bump it would move the zip tie up the shaft and stay there. After my first run, low and behold the zip ties were shoved so far into the bump stops that you could tell that they were psychologically damaged. Poor bump stops and struts. Now that I lifted the car 1/2" road irregularities feel so much softer. It'll get some getting used to because I'm so used to a rock solid suspension, but it should help with absorbing bumps during the autocross runs that I should stick a bit better. I think my wife may also enjoy the ride a little better since now small divets in the road don't feel like gaping deep pot holes. It is so much less jarring.
Also, I found that my main nut that keeps the whole halfshaft assembly on was super loose. That was probably the issue I was having with vibrations at high speed. Finally I solved that issue.
Anyways, to keep up to date with the Autocross series here is the location of the results. PITL Race Series 2011 Results
I had to miss 2 races but race #4 was fairly decent. The competition is great in my class. There are some really good drivers there and it pushes me that much harder.
I realize this is supposed to be a blog about the E-Crosser, but since not much is going on with that, I might as well write about the going ons in my world of racing.
Speaking of going ons, my wife and I are going to France in 2 days. What I am looking forward to most is the drive through France from Nice to Paris. Cutting through tunnels and carving up the roads overlooking cliffs, on the D2 going up to the Napoleonic Route. I'll write about that when I get back, but unfortunately to cut some costs we had to rent a VW Golf (definitely not a GTI), but at least over there, rental cars are manual! That's sweet.
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Tis the Season
Getting my Sentra Se-R Spec-V ready for this year's PITL (Push it to the Limit) Autoslalom Series http://www.wiredmotorsports.com/pitl/, has taken much of my spare time and not much has been done in regards to the E-Crosser.
The suspension has been completely redone from my old K-Sport setup which has been a nightmare. The Spring rates were ok but not enough in the rear and too much in the front. The damping was way off and it was extremly harsh (American's call it Sporty) and I kept blowing upper strut bearings from rough roads and parking lots. Thanks to Wayne Yeates at Way's Performance Services. His expertise with race cars has made him an invaluable source of information and labour that I could not do myself in my small 1 car condo garage. http://www.waysperformance.com/
Now I'm going with Koni Yellows with Ground Control coilovers. The spring rates are approximately 375lbs front, and 550 lbs rear, which is actually more than the K-Sports. The Koni's damping is so much better suited to these higher spring rates, and they absorb inperfections much more efficiently. The jarrings bouncy ride gone. The front towers have been slotted to get the maximum amount of camber that I can get without major surgery on the tower's. The car feels so much better, and I feel that this setup should help with the acceleration out of corners. We'll see.
I do need to do a bit of work on determining whether I should add some helper springs and a Torrington Bearing. I am still having the odd "POP" when the front springs bind a bit with a hard crank of the steering wheel. The helper springs will add some preload to the spring when the car is jacked up to switch to race tires. Dropping the car is a tetious job making sure the main spring slips into the perch on centre.
As for the E-Crosser, I talked to my best friend about it who is extremely knowledgeable about electonics and electric systems and he suggested not having a controller at all at first. Just having a rheostat to control the acceleration may be enough. For those who don't know this, a rheostat is an adjustable resistor that increases or decreases resistance to effectively increase or decrease current. It would just need to be incorporated into the accelerator pedal. It's simple and effective.
I think I will start off with this system as it is cost effective, and easy to maintain. The only challenge may be to find a reostat that can handle the power I need. I am confident though that we will find one.
Well, only one and a half weeks until the first race this season. Should be a good one as rumour has it there will be over 10 cars in B-Mod.
The suspension has been completely redone from my old K-Sport setup which has been a nightmare. The Spring rates were ok but not enough in the rear and too much in the front. The damping was way off and it was extremly harsh (American's call it Sporty) and I kept blowing upper strut bearings from rough roads and parking lots. Thanks to Wayne Yeates at Way's Performance Services. His expertise with race cars has made him an invaluable source of information and labour that I could not do myself in my small 1 car condo garage. http://www.waysperformance.com/
Now I'm going with Koni Yellows with Ground Control coilovers. The spring rates are approximately 375lbs front, and 550 lbs rear, which is actually more than the K-Sports. The Koni's damping is so much better suited to these higher spring rates, and they absorb inperfections much more efficiently. The jarrings bouncy ride gone. The front towers have been slotted to get the maximum amount of camber that I can get without major surgery on the tower's. The car feels so much better, and I feel that this setup should help with the acceleration out of corners. We'll see.
I do need to do a bit of work on determining whether I should add some helper springs and a Torrington Bearing. I am still having the odd "POP" when the front springs bind a bit with a hard crank of the steering wheel. The helper springs will add some preload to the spring when the car is jacked up to switch to race tires. Dropping the car is a tetious job making sure the main spring slips into the perch on centre.
As for the E-Crosser, I talked to my best friend about it who is extremely knowledgeable about electonics and electric systems and he suggested not having a controller at all at first. Just having a rheostat to control the acceleration may be enough. For those who don't know this, a rheostat is an adjustable resistor that increases or decreases resistance to effectively increase or decrease current. It would just need to be incorporated into the accelerator pedal. It's simple and effective.
I think I will start off with this system as it is cost effective, and easy to maintain. The only challenge may be to find a reostat that can handle the power I need. I am confident though that we will find one.
Well, only one and a half weeks until the first race this season. Should be a good one as rumour has it there will be over 10 cars in B-Mod.
Monday 11 April 2011
Gears and Brushes
I talked extensively with a friend in Montreal who is an expert on electric motored vehicles. He then talked to a friend who is also an expert at building electric vehicles and here are the main points I got from them.
1) My racer should have gears to maximize the torque to the wheels to the ground in an efficient manner. The friend of the friend who built the electric T-Rex used a Harley Davidson gearset. The amount of weight added by the transmission will be more than offset by the way the power will be applied to the ground.
2) Using a DC brushed motor is the most simple setup to use. It's almost plug and play. Plus the wear on the brushes on the cummutator plates will be minimal since the runs for an autocross is so short. This will lessen the costs I think.
3) I can probably get away with using cheap standard lead acid batteries.(ie. car batteries) That should cut the costs somewhat as well.
So far so good. I just wanted to put some notes down to show my progess.
Thanks to some of the guys on the Casc-OR forums who directed me to the locust forums, http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1409 for all the stuff I needed to get the dimensions for a Miata's suspension. It's awesome how well documented the Miata Suspension is.
1) My racer should have gears to maximize the torque to the wheels to the ground in an efficient manner. The friend of the friend who built the electric T-Rex used a Harley Davidson gearset. The amount of weight added by the transmission will be more than offset by the way the power will be applied to the ground.
2) Using a DC brushed motor is the most simple setup to use. It's almost plug and play. Plus the wear on the brushes on the cummutator plates will be minimal since the runs for an autocross is so short. This will lessen the costs I think.
3) I can probably get away with using cheap standard lead acid batteries.(ie. car batteries) That should cut the costs somewhat as well.
So far so good. I just wanted to put some notes down to show my progess.
Thanks to some of the guys on the Casc-OR forums who directed me to the locust forums, http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1409 for all the stuff I needed to get the dimensions for a Miata's suspension. It's awesome how well documented the Miata Suspension is.
Thursday 31 March 2011
Concept 3-We're getting closer!
As the design is refined, the E-Crosser is starting to look more like a conventional setup. That's the thing with design, it's always cool to start with something that is unique but when time, costs, and reality are present, things that have already been made for your specific purpose look more and more appealing. Why re-invent the wheel?
So here are the new renderings for the newly revised concept. I have used the basic geometry of a Mazda Miata since it's a sorted and an easily accessible product. Getting one at a junk yard should be pretty simple to do. I will be using both upper and lower control arms, knuckles, hubs, brakes, and hopefully even the steering column. For the steering column there will be some chopping involved so it fits properly.
I didn't have any sort of technical drawings with exact dimensions so I had to model these parts from just looking at service manual pictures and internet photos of the Miata's suspension. The concept will not change though with the addition of dimensionally accurate parts though.
The frame will be constructed of square tubing since it's much simpler to work with and it's easier to weld. Plus if I decide to create body panels it will be easier to attach them to the square tube frame using rivots.
The E-Crosser should now be completely legal for the CASC-OR series. (Well the frame at least is) I have lengthened the wheelbase, and I have lowered the driver so the frame is higher than the waist.
Also, I have adjusted the tires/wheels to a 14" size to limit costs on tires. I am still using a 225 width.
Enjoy the newly revised E-Crosser.
So here are the new renderings for the newly revised concept. I have used the basic geometry of a Mazda Miata since it's a sorted and an easily accessible product. Getting one at a junk yard should be pretty simple to do. I will be using both upper and lower control arms, knuckles, hubs, brakes, and hopefully even the steering column. For the steering column there will be some chopping involved so it fits properly.
I didn't have any sort of technical drawings with exact dimensions so I had to model these parts from just looking at service manual pictures and internet photos of the Miata's suspension. The concept will not change though with the addition of dimensionally accurate parts though.
The frame will be constructed of square tubing since it's much simpler to work with and it's easier to weld. Plus if I decide to create body panels it will be easier to attach them to the square tube frame using rivots.
The E-Crosser should now be completely legal for the CASC-OR series. (Well the frame at least is) I have lengthened the wheelbase, and I have lowered the driver so the frame is higher than the waist.
Also, I have adjusted the tires/wheels to a 14" size to limit costs on tires. I am still using a 225 width.
Enjoy the newly revised E-Crosser.
I'm not 100% convinced of the rear frame setup to support the upper shock mount.
Man I love the look of this thing!
Saturday 19 March 2011
Frame Design 2
So here is the second concept for the frame of the E-Crosser.
SIDE NOTE: I forgot to mention, I am using 3D Studio Max for the design concept.
The changes are significant as you can see. I got rid of that swing arm concept for fully independant suspension all around.
Also, All four wheels would be driven by an electric motor, instead of one large one in the rear, controlled with the hope of a clever traction control program.
In this concept I was thinking about using wood for the frame. I thought it might be kind of unique to try this, and also, I have a lot more experience with wood working than metal fabrication. Because of this concept idea I built the frame as a hybrid using boat and plane frames as a basis. A silly thing to try, but why not? I later thought I should move away from using wood because I learned that plane frames and boat frames tend to flex, and in a car for carving corners, flex in the frame is not what I want.
I increased the wheels to 225/45/15 as well. The wheelbase is still not legal under CASC rules so that is in development now.
Also, from the input of someone on the CASC forum I will be utilizing a Mazda Miata's suspension in Design 3. Should be easy enough to find one at a wreckers. It's sorted out by Mazda so it should be almost "plug and play", but you won't see that design until Concept 3...we are only on Concept 2 here. It's about 65% done now so it should be done in a week or so.
Enjoy
SIDE NOTE: I forgot to mention, I am using 3D Studio Max for the design concept.
The changes are significant as you can see. I got rid of that swing arm concept for fully independant suspension all around.
Also, All four wheels would be driven by an electric motor, instead of one large one in the rear, controlled with the hope of a clever traction control program.
In this concept I was thinking about using wood for the frame. I thought it might be kind of unique to try this, and also, I have a lot more experience with wood working than metal fabrication. Because of this concept idea I built the frame as a hybrid using boat and plane frames as a basis. A silly thing to try, but why not? I later thought I should move away from using wood because I learned that plane frames and boat frames tend to flex, and in a car for carving corners, flex in the frame is not what I want.
I increased the wheels to 225/45/15 as well. The wheelbase is still not legal under CASC rules so that is in development now.
Also, from the input of someone on the CASC forum I will be utilizing a Mazda Miata's suspension in Design 3. Should be easy enough to find one at a wreckers. It's sorted out by Mazda so it should be almost "plug and play", but you won't see that design until Concept 3...we are only on Concept 2 here. It's about 65% done now so it should be done in a week or so.
Enjoy
E-Crosser Frame: Concept 1
The concept of this whole project is to build an electric autocrosser. For those who don't know autocrossing, look it up because it's way too much fun for you not know about it.
Right now in the design stage I am only working on the frame and suspension. Here is the first concept of the E-Crosser frame. I was going to try and be innovative with the suspension, having a swing arm rear and the electric motor would be on the swing arm. Perhaps not the best setup but it was different. Also, I was hoping to build the suspension from scratch. This would change.
This design also would not be legal as I was informed by some people on the CASC-OR forums, because the wheelbase was not 80 inches, and the frame was not up to the waist of the driver. I missed that part of the rulebook. Woops.
The front suspension was inspired by a formula car's front end.
The wheels (those brown donut things) are for scale only. They are 205/50/15. This will change too as the design goes on.
There is a thread on the CASC-OR forum that you can take a look at to get up to speed with this project. Here it is.
http://www.casc.on.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=21686
There you will see what my concept is hopefully going to become and you can read all the comments before I started this blog.
Because people like pictures and renderings, I'll throw all of my previous designs up here, but I'll not put all the comments from the CASC forums..
So, here is concept 1.
Right now in the design stage I am only working on the frame and suspension. Here is the first concept of the E-Crosser frame. I was going to try and be innovative with the suspension, having a swing arm rear and the electric motor would be on the swing arm. Perhaps not the best setup but it was different. Also, I was hoping to build the suspension from scratch. This would change.
This design also would not be legal as I was informed by some people on the CASC-OR forums, because the wheelbase was not 80 inches, and the frame was not up to the waist of the driver. I missed that part of the rulebook. Woops.
The front suspension was inspired by a formula car's front end.
The wheels (those brown donut things) are for scale only. They are 205/50/15. This will change too as the design goes on.
There is a thread on the CASC-OR forum that you can take a look at to get up to speed with this project. Here it is.
http://www.casc.on.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=21686
There you will see what my concept is hopefully going to become and you can read all the comments before I started this blog.
Because people like pictures and renderings, I'll throw all of my previous designs up here, but I'll not put all the comments from the CASC forums..
So, here is concept 1.
A Tip I picked up about Sanding Rust on Sensitive Parts
This has nothing to do the E-Crosser but this tip really helped me with removing rust from brake caliper cylinder and the sliders.
Last weekend I was rebuilding some spare brake calipers for my Spec-V and had a bitch of a time unseizing the slider posts. Those slider posts were completely welded to the main body and over a course of an hour and a half, a few choice obscenities, and enough banging with a mallet to make the almighty Thor, God of Lightning jealous, they finally came out. Also the main cylinder was rusted, but not seized..
Now here is the tip I learned. I soaked the parts in vinegar for a few minutes to help break up the rust. Being acetic acid it will eat away rust, but do not leave it too long or else it will start eating the part and create a pitted surface. After taking the parts out of the vinegar, I washed them with water and then I used aluminum foil like sand paper. Since the foil is a softer metal than the steel of the parts I was cleaning, it didn't scratch the surface. And from what I have also read, Aluminum Oxide is a polishing agent so maybe it helped in polishing, but I'm no scientist.
I sprayed rubber conditioner on all the rubber components exteriors, fogged the interior of the main cylinder to prevent rusting during storage (I had to make a note to clean out the cylinder when I use them in the future), and packed them up in bubble wrap and boxed them.
That's it. find it useful or useless, your call.
Last weekend I was rebuilding some spare brake calipers for my Spec-V and had a bitch of a time unseizing the slider posts. Those slider posts were completely welded to the main body and over a course of an hour and a half, a few choice obscenities, and enough banging with a mallet to make the almighty Thor, God of Lightning jealous, they finally came out. Also the main cylinder was rusted, but not seized..
Now here is the tip I learned. I soaked the parts in vinegar for a few minutes to help break up the rust. Being acetic acid it will eat away rust, but do not leave it too long or else it will start eating the part and create a pitted surface. After taking the parts out of the vinegar, I washed them with water and then I used aluminum foil like sand paper. Since the foil is a softer metal than the steel of the parts I was cleaning, it didn't scratch the surface. And from what I have also read, Aluminum Oxide is a polishing agent so maybe it helped in polishing, but I'm no scientist.
I sprayed rubber conditioner on all the rubber components exteriors, fogged the interior of the main cylinder to prevent rusting during storage (I had to make a note to clean out the cylinder when I use them in the future), and packed them up in bubble wrap and boxed them.
That's it. find it useful or useless, your call.
“What am I thinking?!? Am I insane to do this?!?”, were not the words in my head when I started sketching out a concept for a small vehicle for racing. Those should have been the words scrolling in my brain, but they weren’t. “Why?”, you may ask, because designing and building a car is no small feat.
There are so many details that have to be considered. If it were simple, then I’m sure everyone would be doing it.
I look back wondering, ”why”, but then, there could be many more complex things I could work on, like a submarine, space station, or a plane.
Oh wait, a plane, I tried that for my thesis year at Humber College Here’s a small story to fill some space to show you just how oblivious I was.
It was 1996, and I was a cocky kid who thought he knew everything, and could do anything on his own. For my thesis I planned to design a small, kit plane that was jet powered.
The design was solid, and I had sponsorship so I should have completed this, right? Wrong. I built a quarter scale model, with only 1 wing completed by the end of the year.
The process took the entire thesis year. Drawing up the design, writing the proposals, building the frame, sanding expanded foam, and many, many kilograms of bondo application. As you can imagine, this was never going to be a working model and I probably took off a few years of my life from all the dust I breathed in. I built a brick. Hell, a brick would have flown further, since this model of mine weighed a good 50 kilograms with only half its wings.
At the end of the year and after the graduation show at the DX, with the help of some friends, it ended up getting parked in a parking spot in a basement parking garage in one of Toronto’s business buildings. I didn’t want to lug this 50 kilo object to my car. My car was parked another floor down, too far. Looking back this wasn’t the most brilliant thing to do, but at least I had dumped the “body” without getting caught. I was a kid, in it for myself. I just wanted to go that day and get drunk, come home and crash on my futon. I didn‘t want to think about how and where I would store this model in my bachelor’s apartment.
That was me back in 1996. That was the year I started this hair brained idea. Notice my naïvety, my youth, my ignorance. Hell, look at how I dressed. I tucked in my KMFDM band t-shirt into my pants. What was I thinking? This statement may come up a few times.
I was an industrial design student on my way to “greatness” designing innovating products that would influence generations to come. Sure seemed like I could too, but then, I had no idea. I was 19 and tucked in my industrial/goth shirts into my black plastic pants, while wearing steel toed club stompin’ monster shoes. See, I really had no clue.
After graduating I moved to Jersey City to work as an industrial designer at a lighting design company. After a stint with staying at the secretary’s house with her family, I found a place with a couple of other people, who I found in the classifieds. Craigslist was not online so classifieds came from the paper. A risky proposition to have with strangers, but one thing that my new place had was a large unfinished basement. A perfect place for the dark room for one of my roommates who was a photographer, but more importantly, space for me to start building a frame to the car. And bonus, only 1 of my room mates was a drug addict.
I was originally going to build a vehicle that was meant for the road, and would have been pedal powered. A much different idea, than what I have now, but I was hoping to build this vehicle to move at city street speeds using gearing.
Would have it worked? That can’t say, but I’m going to guess, probably not. Before I could even start designing fully, I was coming back home to Toronto. I left all the stuff I had bought to build this car in the basement. Beams, hinges, bolts, etc. I seem to be pretty good at just leaving stuff places. I guess it was my signature move back when I was a kid.
After a year in Jersey I came back to Toronto. I slacked off with my savings, hanging out with my old friends in Toronto. My best friend at the time was working during nights, so during the day we would play Playstation, or Warhammer, or whatever. I would eat delivery pizza 9 out of 10 meals, get drunk 3 out of 7 days a week, and sleep in until noon 7 out of 7 days a week.
During the night though those other 4 out of 7 days that I wasn’t out drinking, a lot of the time, I would sketch designs. But because I was living in a high rise building, in a bachelor apartment in Toronto, floor space was at a premium, so building a car was out of the question.
When the money ran out, I was forced to find whatever job I could, and within a week, I was a catering manager.
Early mornings meant early nights to bed, so for a number of years, I didn’t sketch or design anything remotely close to a vehicle. My spare time was on the weekends, and guess what I did? I drank with friends at clubs and bars. So, there definitely was no room in my lifestyle for sitting down and sketching and designing.
I was so serious about this whole restaurant industry thing that I took courses to get my restaurant management certificate.
I was happy for years as a catering manager, until, I catered to a furniture design company. That to me was a sign I had to move on and get back into what I really wanted to do, design.
I left the restaurant biz, and got a student loan in order to get my diploma in 3d modeling and animation. Here I could design to my heart’s content. Environments, characters, you name it.
Once I graduated I got back to sketching regularly. And now, 8 years later after graduating and working as a digital illustrator for that time I’ve learned a lot, but perhaps not enough to do what I really want to do in my life, build a car.
I’ve been autocrossing for a bunch of years. First with WOSCA, casually, when they were in London. I would drive down there from Toronto every so often. I joined HADA for 1 year, and then I went to PITL, which is the series I’m in now.
During this time, I had been thinking about building a vehicle, but nothing came from it. It was only until the winter of 2011 when I met one of the guys from EBW. His company builds electric go-carts.
I met him at a casual dinner at a family friend’s place in Montreal. His company built the “Silence”. They had a contract with the company who built the T-Rex 3 wheeler. The differene with EBW’s version was that it was electric powered. And this thing could move, crazy fast.
The Silence sounded like a jet engine, and talking to Paul got me thinking. An electric Auto-crosser. It was a perfect idea, to me at least. Amazing instant torque of an electric motor would be perfect for the short winding courses of autocross. Coupled with a light frame, sticky R-Comps, and a small battery that would only have to survive for 6-8 runs.
So here we are now in the design state. I have a time frame of no more than 10 years, but hopefully once I get some funds I can get started on the actual fabrication earlier.
I still have a checklist of things that I need to accomplish. On that checklist is LEARN TO WELD.
“How hard can it be?”, are the infamous words from Jeremy Clarkson, next to his, “... in the World” statements. I could be just as off as he is in so many cases.
I also need to talk to people about electric motors since this is an area that I don’t know much about. Electric drag racing teams, and grassroots racers who have built these electric or
hybrid beasts are a good starting point.
So, in a way, I basically am going in this blind in many respects. I don’t know how to weld yet, I don’t know electric motors very well, and I don’t have the funds yet. Really, the only thing I do have is a passion for cars. I understand them, and I love to get dirty with them, wrenching and racing. Hopefully that is enough. Time will tell.
So I hope you enjoy this blog with the progress of this little endeavour. I am determined to do this and with the help from anyone I can get, I believe it will happen.
I’ll see you on the asphalt.
Travis Winch
Clueless Designer
There are so many details that have to be considered. If it were simple, then I’m sure everyone would be doing it.
I look back wondering, ”why”, but then, there could be many more complex things I could work on, like a submarine, space station, or a plane.
Oh wait, a plane, I tried that for my thesis year at Humber College Here’s a small story to fill some space to show you just how oblivious I was.
The design was solid, and I had sponsorship so I should have completed this, right? Wrong. I built a quarter scale model, with only 1 wing completed by the end of the year.
The process took the entire thesis year. Drawing up the design, writing the proposals, building the frame, sanding expanded foam, and many, many kilograms of bondo application. As you can imagine, this was never going to be a working model and I probably took off a few years of my life from all the dust I breathed in. I built a brick. Hell, a brick would have flown further, since this model of mine weighed a good 50 kilograms with only half its wings.
At the end of the year and after the graduation show at the DX, with the help of some friends, it ended up getting parked in a parking spot in a basement parking garage in one of Toronto’s business buildings. I didn’t want to lug this 50 kilo object to my car. My car was parked another floor down, too far. Looking back this wasn’t the most brilliant thing to do, but at least I had dumped the “body” without getting caught. I was a kid, in it for myself. I just wanted to go that day and get drunk, come home and crash on my futon. I didn‘t want to think about how and where I would store this model in my bachelor’s apartment.
I was an industrial design student on my way to “greatness” designing innovating products that would influence generations to come. Sure seemed like I could too, but then, I had no idea. I was 19 and tucked in my industrial/goth shirts into my black plastic pants, while wearing steel toed club stompin’ monster shoes. See, I really had no clue.
After graduating I moved to Jersey City to work as an industrial designer at a lighting design company. After a stint with staying at the secretary’s house with her family, I found a place with a couple of other people, who I found in the classifieds. Craigslist was not online so classifieds came from the paper. A risky proposition to have with strangers, but one thing that my new place had was a large unfinished basement. A perfect place for the dark room for one of my roommates who was a photographer, but more importantly, space for me to start building a frame to the car. And bonus, only 1 of my room mates was a drug addict.
Would have it worked? That can’t say, but I’m going to guess, probably not. Before I could even start designing fully, I was coming back home to Toronto. I left all the stuff I had bought to build this car in the basement. Beams, hinges, bolts, etc. I seem to be pretty good at just leaving stuff places. I guess it was my signature move back when I was a kid.
After a year in Jersey I came back to Toronto. I slacked off with my savings, hanging out with my old friends in Toronto. My best friend at the time was working during nights, so during the day we would play Playstation, or Warhammer, or whatever. I would eat delivery pizza 9 out of 10 meals, get drunk 3 out of 7 days a week, and sleep in until noon 7 out of 7 days a week.
During the night though those other 4 out of 7 days that I wasn’t out drinking, a lot of the time, I would sketch designs. But because I was living in a high rise building, in a bachelor apartment in Toronto, floor space was at a premium, so building a car was out of the question.
When the money ran out, I was forced to find whatever job I could, and within a week, I was a catering manager.
Early mornings meant early nights to bed, so for a number of years, I didn’t sketch or design anything remotely close to a vehicle. My spare time was on the weekends, and guess what I did? I drank with friends at clubs and bars. So, there definitely was no room in my lifestyle for sitting down and sketching and designing.
I was so serious about this whole restaurant industry thing that I took courses to get my restaurant management certificate.
I was happy for years as a catering manager, until, I catered to a furniture design company. That to me was a sign I had to move on and get back into what I really wanted to do, design.
I left the restaurant biz, and got a student loan in order to get my diploma in 3d modeling and animation. Here I could design to my heart’s content. Environments, characters, you name it.
Once I graduated I got back to sketching regularly. And now, 8 years later after graduating and working as a digital illustrator for that time I’ve learned a lot, but perhaps not enough to do what I really want to do in my life, build a car.
I’ve been autocrossing for a bunch of years. First with WOSCA, casually, when they were in London. I would drive down there from Toronto every so often. I joined HADA for 1 year, and then I went to PITL, which is the series I’m in now.
During this time, I had been thinking about building a vehicle, but nothing came from it. It was only until the winter of 2011 when I met one of the guys from EBW. His company builds electric go-carts.
I met him at a casual dinner at a family friend’s place in Montreal. His company built the “Silence”. They had a contract with the company who built the T-Rex 3 wheeler. The differene with EBW’s version was that it was electric powered. And this thing could move, crazy fast.
The Silence sounded like a jet engine, and talking to Paul got me thinking. An electric Auto-crosser. It was a perfect idea, to me at least. Amazing instant torque of an electric motor would be perfect for the short winding courses of autocross. Coupled with a light frame, sticky R-Comps, and a small battery that would only have to survive for 6-8 runs.
So here we are now in the design state. I have a time frame of no more than 10 years, but hopefully once I get some funds I can get started on the actual fabrication earlier.
I still have a checklist of things that I need to accomplish. On that checklist is LEARN TO WELD.
“How hard can it be?”, are the infamous words from Jeremy Clarkson, next to his, “... in the World” statements. I could be just as off as he is in so many cases.
I also need to talk to people about electric motors since this is an area that I don’t know much about. Electric drag racing teams, and grassroots racers who have built these electric or
hybrid beasts are a good starting point.
So, in a way, I basically am going in this blind in many respects. I don’t know how to weld yet, I don’t know electric motors very well, and I don’t have the funds yet. Really, the only thing I do have is a passion for cars. I understand them, and I love to get dirty with them, wrenching and racing. Hopefully that is enough. Time will tell.
So I hope you enjoy this blog with the progress of this little endeavour. I am determined to do this and with the help from anyone I can get, I believe it will happen.
I’ll see you on the asphalt.
Travis Winch
Clueless Designer
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