Ben Willis Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 So, I've been into this hobby for just under two years now, and as an engineering student I've decided that RTR's aren't enough. So I have embarked upon a project to design and build a speed car to enter the ROSSA event, probably in 2017 as this year would be very tight on time. Only thing is, it's going to be a bit different from the majority of speed cars... It's gonna be nitro :b Electric simply doesn't interest me, and over two years I feel I've gained enough knowledge of nitro to make this work. My initial target is to break the 200kph barrier but I will be extremely happy with anything above 120mph first time around. This project started in my head around a month ago and I've done a bit of research since and priced everything up and today I gave it the green light :b The power plant of choice will be the Novarossi Mito 7 long stroke .21 on road engine, a large part of the choice was the fact that its peak power comes at pretty much the highest rpm's of anything I have found. Another slight quirk of this project is that I have designed it to use a chain drive transmission due to the packaging constraints of fitting a nitro engine and pipe into small space. The chassis will be custom made from carbon, with twin vertical plates braced with aluminium square bars and a flat carbon under tray. Boots will be of the GRP 2016 velocity GT variety in the rear and likely a single 1/10 TC foam up front, depending on how suited to high speed they are. I've managed to enlist the help of a friend with access to a 3D printer to produce the body and all the aluminium parts including the solid rear axle will be machined by myself :b The past few days I've been drawing up some designs ready to go into CAD to make sure everything fits and will work successfully. I'll keep this thread updated as and when bits arrive and interesting developments occur as a build diary of sorts, and I may attend the ROSSA event in August to get a feel for how it all goes down and get a good look at the running surface. Ben P.S. If anyone knows where I could get the engine from that isn't A-Main and is in Europe that would be wonderful, because the import tax if customs get hold of it won't be enjoyable in the least :b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pieman5 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Not sure a chain drive is such a good idea (would use a belt and pulleys if it was me) Sounds like an interesting project though, ill keep my eyes peeled for updates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlovering Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Good to see some interest in Nitro cars. The big block class is max 0.45 now or 7.5cc so you will need a light car if you are going to use a .21 engine. You will also need to have a 2 or 3 speed gearbox to be able to get it off the line at the high gearing required for fast speeds. I'm looking forward to seeing a decent nitro car at the event Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Willis Posted January 26, 2016 Author Share Posted January 26, 2016 Gearing is the biggest issue I'm encountering so far. Gearing it to hit 130 is really easy, but as you say it is unlikely to get off the line particularly quickly... Would anybody be able to tell me how long the run up to the gates is at the UK ROSSA event?? At the moment I'm looking at modifying the transmission from an Xray RX8 but I can't do this without accurate engine dimensions which are proving difficult to come by, as Novarossi haven't replied to any of my emails... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlovering Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 The usable run up length would be about 600m assuming you used the total length of the dragstrip before the speed traps. The problem is the surface. Even with the surface dressing we havent found a way to stop the cars slipping all over the place. I managed 108mph with my nitro there but will be using Llanbedr to improve on that. Dont hold your breath with Novarossi. The dims of the case are the same as the 35PLUS21. IMO the 7 port 35PLUS21 is the best engine they made Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Willis Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 A quick update on this, been a while since i posted originally and to be honest not much has happened. Nearly got the chassis plates CADed up to be sent off for a quote, just waiting on some final dimensions from Xray for the front wheel hubs. I've sent over a part file to my friend with a 3d printer to give it a go at printing a test piece for the body to see if my calculations are actually any good and just to check there are no huge mistakes... hopefully it all goes well :') Been a bit slow recently since I've had plenty of uni work to be doing but I should be able to make some good progress over the easter break, hopefully get the designs finalised and start ordering some materials :b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1tch_87 Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Will be interesting to see how your build compares to my budget build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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