OV9

Today, I have mostly been working on the little F3 hovercraft. Sea trials of this and the big red one next week, ahead of an appearance at the Scottish Performance Car show on the 9th June and lap record attempt at Knockhill on the 23rd (I say "attempt", but as nobody's been stupid enough to try it before, I'm feeling fairly confident of a record )

That looks tiny compared to Big Red.

Hope the trials go OK. I always imagined piloting a hovercraft to be like driving a large shopping trolley.

mik wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 7:11 am That looks tiny compared to Big Red.

It's a shitload easier to move around the yard! I'd guess at 120kg, based on it being easily lift-able by 2 not-massively-strong blokes.

Goes pretty well too, by all reports. Highly tuned RD250 in there putting out 55-60bhp at a guess. In it's former life it won quite a lot of races, despite being cobbled together on a shoestring budget

Looking forward to video of the Knockhill lap!

mik wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 7:11 am That looks tiny compared to Big Red.

Hope the trials go OK. I always imagined piloting a hovercraft to be like driving a large shopping trolley.

Yep, the little ones also benefit from a fair bit of weight transfer and are quite physical things to pilot. Good fun when you get it right though.

Carl.

Floating Lap Record still on for Sunday?

mik wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 1:56 pm Floating Lap Record still on for Sunday?

Negetive. Problem found with the abrasion rate to the skirts on tarmac. Solution being solutionised. Re-scheduled for this

https://www.knockhill.com/events/bigdayoot

scotta wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 3:12 pm

mik wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 1:56 pm Floating Lap Record still on for Sunday?

Negetive. Problem found with the abrasion rate to the skirts on tarmac. Solution being solutionised. Re-scheduled for this

https://www.knockhill.com/events/bigdayoot

And I see it's mentioned on the Programme of events for the day, just to add to the pressure to get it working
edit: ah, end of Sept - should be good then, if that's just before the big adventure anyway.

scotta wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 3:12 pm

mik wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 1:56 pm Floating Lap Record still on for Sunday?

Negetive. Problem found with the abrasion rate to the skirts on tarmac. Solution being solutionised. Re-scheduled for this

https://www.knockhill.com/events/bigdayoot

Received and understood.

JonMad wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:54 pm
And I see it's mentioned on the Programme of events for the day, just to add to the pressure to get it working
edit: ah, end of Sept - should be good then, if that's just before the big adventure anyway.

In red text too!

I think the lap record is planned with the racing hoverboard as opposed to the challenge one (?)

mik wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 6:41 pm

JonMad wrote: Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:54 pm
And I see it's mentioned on the Programme of events for the day, just to add to the pressure to get it working
edit: ah, end of Sept - should be good then, if that's just before the big adventure anyway.

In red text too!

I think the lap record is planned with the racing hoverboard as opposed to the challenge one (?)

Correct. The challenge one is fvcking massive.

As Scott says, we had to cancel the lap attempt this weekend because we discovered that the skirt segments could wear to the point of fail in less than 2 laps. If one fails (and it's likely to be a corner one), the next time I try and load up that side, the hull will bite, and it'll be tarmac, sky, tarmac, sky, tarmac, sky...

Besides, a new skirt is about 40 hours work to make, so I don't particularly want to trash one just for the lols.

We're hoping to find a suitable material that we can make triangular wear-pads out off and stitch/glue them to along the contact patch, but a bit of experimentation is going to be required. 2 likely candidates are helicopter tape (may be tricky to get good adhesion, and costs a small bloody fortune) or plasterers crack tape layered up with PU adhesive.

Part of the problem (and why I've been a bit quiet of late) is that I've taken on a reasonably sizable property restoration job (cupboards were feeling a little bare are unexpectedly dropping nearly £30k on the Merc, the red HC, a new FF engine etc etc), and at the initial stages it's being a bit of a time thief (who'd've thought that actual work would require some of my time ). Normal service should be resumed once I can hand over to the site manager.

Hmm. There may be a reason we see so few on the roads....

I propose you line the skirt edges with titanium skid plates. Surely you have loads of that lying around?

I believe diamonds are good for abrasion resistance too...