The Fingertight Racing Sidecar Project

[swarfie]

Here's some photos of the hub steering bucket sidecar

All very cool but I can't help thinking someone has lost the plot a bit. Haven't you guys heard that 3kg is a HP? How on earth you expect a little engine to drag all that ironmongery around at speed is beyond me ( and then you have to stop it too! ). My home built "Matchless" engine probably doesn't make THAT much more horsepower than my competitors hotted up Triumph and Norton engines, but the whole plot is a HEAP lighter than all the extra shit their old bangers have to drag around...it's all about power to weight ratio. Make them light and they will go

[Skunk]

I like the centre hub steering. Great photos, can't fully work out how the steering works there though. The brakes are neatly tucked away in there ain't they!

It all looks quite strong though.

Full floating disc. Not sure if you can see it properly. The disc is held in place by lugs. Remove the wheel and the disc comes out.


If it ain't smokin' - it's broken.

[Skunk]

All very cool but I can't help thinking someone has lost the plot a bit. Haven't you guys heard that 3kg is a HP? How on earth you expect a little engine to drag all that ironmongery around at speed is beyond me ( and then you have to stop it too! ). My home built "Matchless" engine probably doesn't make THAT much more horsepower than my competitors hotted up Triumph and Norton engines, but the whole plot is a HEAP lighter than all the extra shit their old bangers have to drag around...it's all about power to weight ratio. Make them light and they will go

Talent built it. It was a top chair. Weight or not.


If it ain't smokin' - it's broken.

[Pumba]

Full floating disc. Not sure if you can see it properly. The disc is held in place by lugs. Remove the wheel and the disc comes out.


If it ain't smokin' - it's broken.

VTR250 inboard jobbie same as on mine

[Skunk]

VTR250 inboard jobbie same as on mine

I had been told but couldn't remember. You should build a centre hub steer rig.


If it ain't smokin' - it's broken.

[Pumba]

I had been told but couldn't remember. You should build a centre hub steer rig.


If it ain't smokin' - it's broken.

That is my plan. And I will start when some steel, wheels, hubs, oh and a pipe bender falls off the back of a truck

[Skunk]

You and me both.


If it ain't smokin' - it's broken.

[jibberwobble]

All very cool but I can't help thinking someone has lost the plot a bit. Haven't you guys heard that 3kg is a HP? How on earth you expect a little engine to drag all that ironmongery around at speed is beyond me ( and then you have to stop it too! ). My home built "Matchless" engine probably doesn't make THAT much more horsepower than my competitors hotted up Triumph and Norton engines, but the whole plot is a HEAP lighter than all the extra shit their old bangers have to drag around...it's all about power to weight ratio. Make them light and they will go

I agree with the concept that weight is very bad. Having said that my outfit when last together was weighing in at 110kgs and 270kg's all up with the idiots on board so that gives us -70hp going on the 3kg per hp theory.

[swarfie]

I agree with the concept that weight is very bad. Having said that my outfit when last together was weighing in at 110kgs and 270kg's all up with the idiots on board so that gives us -70hp going on the 3kg per hp theory.

I actually meant that if you remove 3kg off your machine, it is the equivalent of gaining one horsepower.

[wildman]

I actually meant that if you remove 3kg off your machine, it is the equivalent of gaining one horsepower.

While the hub centre bucket sidecar looks heavy the framing is very small funiture tube and when it;s set right it does fly or it did with the watercooled mb engine. the weight of passenger also doesn't affect the handling like on the go-kart derived ones [ i know because i've run them both and weigh 115 kg ] It's also survived 24 years of abuse considering it was built in 1990

[Rick 52]

Well it's one strange thing to drive and swing on !
Fitting the FXR motor was much trickier than I thought it might be but after many hours and Henk driving two hours a day to my place to help every weekend and lots of tea and biscuits we sorted it and got it to run properly,
a trip down the driveway made us a little concerned, it would not turn !
At the track on the Saturday first few laps confirmed it needed lots of work to make it handle anything like as well as the old rig, the front shock was so soft that when driving hard the front was very vague and braking it bottomed out and swerved across the track, Henk had a great idea to pre load the spring and srap the coils together with thick cable ties, this made a huge difference .

The race day was dry and that was a big relief as even damp patches made the rig uncontrollable, big difference than the old rig, that loved the wet !
After qualifying we were both worn out, it's so physical to drive and swing on, Brenton qualified on pole but we were not far of his pace.

Our start was a cracker and we led the race, we have a little more power but lost lots of ground around the horse shoe, even sliding in sidways the rig will not turn right under power, even with Henk as far upfront working his arse off with bruises to show for it, over driving the rig we had a massive slide and Brenton passed us only to have a big crash himself, glad to see you both ok !

Two very lucky wins from its first outing as a diesel but not happy! We have a new wide rear 10"slick and rim to go in, we have fitted a Kart wheel to the chair 180mm further back with adjustable front to back and toe in, we have moved the tank and given Henk more room to swing forward, The front spring has been changed for a much stiffer one .

Let's hope this makes a big difference and we can enjoy rather than being scarred of pushing the rig.
On a much more positive note, we have enjoyed working on the rig and a lot more confident to make it much much better, big thanks to Henk for all the hard work

I think knocking 1second off the lap record in either direction before the end of the year!
Come on fellas get in your sheds and get building ..

[Kickaha]

Two very lucky wins from its first outing as a diesel but not happy! We have a new wide rear 10"slick and rim to go in, we have fitted a Kart wheel to the chair 180mm further back with adjustable front to back and toe in, we have moved the tank and given Henk more room to swing forward, The front spring has been changed for a much stiffer one .

Not sure how you'd scale it down from the full size Long Sidecars but they normally run around 3mm toe in measured over a metre on the sidewheel

You can change the front to rear weight bias by moving the chair wheel forwards or backwards

Front suspension is normally much softer than the rear and rear ride height is about 10mm higher than the front

Chair wheel runs slightly negative camber and rear drive wheel slightly positive

[mr bucketracer]

when i had a go at the gp apart from the crazy gear change witch i could never get used to , it steard way to fast for my liking but something you would get used to , felt like the front wheel would turn 90 deg if you did not hold on to it

[Drew]

Having seen photos of the hubcenter chair in action, no amount of set up is going to fix it till there's some lateral rigidity up front. If it isn't twisting the way it looks to be, someone has set the castor up backwards and it cambers the wrong way when you turn.

[Drew]

Oh yeah. Putting a bigger and better drive tyre on it will compound the steering deficiencies, rather than improve them.