Projects Spirit of South Dakota LSR lakester/rear enigine roadster

Can't be too safe Trent!

 

You are right Carl, can't wait to spend time with you and Jack on the salt again!

 

Keep it up...Some of us want to see "every freakin tube".

 

Looking good Trent! I like the shoes and I see you always have your rule book out. I notice a beer or two too.

Joined the landspeed chat the other night, now what?

 

The beer cans are for scale Tim

 

OK I lied, another tube, working on the parts I call the "tie bars, knuckle bars etc" These are there to add support to the "dash" hoop and keep our hands and arms protected should we get wrong side up. This tube is coped at teh front but I need to get the back trimmed up so it will drop a couple inches and intersect with the front helmet hoop.

Also still looking at the skin design, hence the lath mocked up.

 

Gonna be tough getting in and out with those in the way don't ya think? What front axle is that? I want the rock gaurd on your wall.

 

When it is fit and dropped down a few inches it mirrors the shoulder hoop for width. They actually provide a grip and make it easier to climb out. The Axle is a new/old MAS from Saltflatmatt. He had a few made up to sell. The grill guard gets cut up for an insert on my Tudor.

 

Spent some time on the phone with ISP, the safety guys that Poteet, John Force, and lots of NASCAR use. http://www.ispseats.com/ Bill was beyond helpfull! We are going with a 3 or 4 piece system the fully pads the sides top and back of the helmet. They are going to work with us in building a custom helmet support system as well as our poured seat and some other driver protection. Top notch guys to work with, I was impressed. They have a couple ways to order, you can use their form and send in measurements then they send you the aluminum bases. OR, you can do as we did, use the spec'd .090 aluminum and form the parts to fit your cage and send to them for covering. I tripped over some Al drops at the tool surplus and figured the timing was perfect! So, last night I got to work with the torch, a slapper and started to form the side pieces. I used the torch to anneal the very fron tip so it formed easier. Normal deal, soot it up with a candle actually then burnt it off with MAPP gas. I am also working on getting the grab bars notched for final fit.

 

Looks like your gonna be well prepared for anything...........

 

Thats the plan. safety first then we will work on speed

 

Since I had the aluminum out I also started on the dash, some machine turned al that I started for my tudor.







Also spent more time on the helmet panels and the frame.

 

Consider the lower edge, and your legs, in a crash.

 

Yup, it will get a turned edge that is blunt. One of the other things I talked to ISP about was padding for ABOVE the legs in the event. We will have tubing bove the legs, then the firebottles, ala Speed Demon then the upper frame and body skin. Even for just getting in and out I want the smoothest, least dangerous coqpit liner we can achieve.

 

And one of the spectators from the bleacher seats yelled "Go Trent, Go!"

Damn cool project.

 

Looks good Trent. Just wrap the bottom of the dash around a cross tube, that will keep your legs on your body if you go over. That's what we did with Elwood.

 

Put some thought into it this AM, had the same setup on the T with a tube backer to hide the sharp edge like you mention Tim. But I am going one step further and going to attach a full upper cockpit liner above the legs, these things are hard enough to crawl out of, anything that helps from snagging on egress is a GOOD thing.

 

It sounds like you are building a crash "pod" or tub like they use in formula 1. Everything else breaks off leaveing you and the pod in one surviveable unit. Also the inner skin also keeps flying parts from getting IN and pokeing holes in you.

 

Yes we are. Thanks for noticing. Using as much safety technology as the average guy can get his hands on. It is AMAZING the amount of stuff that is out there if you look. We are doing a removeable poured seat, crash liner for the whole interior and breakaway points for the front and rear suspension. May also design in a point for the engine "pod" to break free behind the driver capsule.

 

Looking good T.

 

Looking good T-man!

Sam

 

Jeebus Sam, after 12 years you should know there is no DASH in Tman! Or just call me Trent, I think my mom might be the only one that still does that? Even Carla just calls me T, pretty soon I will just be a symbol like Prince used for a few years...........hahahahah. But, sincere thanks for the props Sam, always enjoy benchracing with you.

Serious time. OK, tonight I crawled back in the frame. Had a turtle moment where my plywood shifted and I was stuck 3 feet in the air on the jig LAYING in the car with no good way to pull myself out! But after some better practice I decided that a few moreof the lower tubes need to be added so we can simulate a bail-out. These semi-laydown cars are TIGHT. And ours is roomier than many. WTF!?!?! Crazy but fun.

 

Looking good sir, I'm sure what space you have availible will soon 'fill up' quickly once you start joining the dots as such, keep hooking, enjoying seeing your enthusiasm.

Visibility - I appreciate that you only intend to go forwards in a straight line, but I seem to recall a certain constraint on the operators field of view as such (appoligies as I don't have my rule book handy to check before I open my mouth), with a need for side vision (albeit limited). Is my memory fraught, as I imagine that between those bars and padding your 'field of view' would be getting quite narrow.

Again, enjoying your build,

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

But the good news is if the frame fell off the table with you in it, you should be safe....right? Hope I get to stop by on my next trip out West.

 

Nathan Stewart is pretty good at pointing out things guys interperet poorly. I have been guilty of a couple items as well. The book actually says 120 degrees FORWARD vision. Between HANs Type devices and the new rules for helmet support, there isn't a car out there that the guys have any sort of peripheral vision anyway.

Be good to have you stop by!

Elmo Rodge actually did the roll test in his tank. strapped in and rolled it over! Look at the pictures of his tank below.

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,10881.15.html

 

Looking Good Tman! What spindles are you going to run?

 

Chad, I have some Ford spindles and hubs.

 

Serious time. OK, tonight I crawled back in the frame. Had a turtle moment where my plywood shifted and I was stuck 3 feet in the air on the jig LAYING in the car with no good way to pull myself out! But after some better practice I decided that a few moreof the lower tubes need to be added so we can simulate a bail-out. These semi-laydown cars are TIGHT. And ours is roomier than many. WTF!?!?! Crazy but fun.

Now the visualizations I have in my head of this are out of this world.....Thanks Trent!<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

Tell me about it!

Did the beers have anything to do with this?

 

Damn! I was hoping for video.