48 replies to this topic

[Cap Henry]

very nice looking car mike!

[Mike Patterson]

You get the award for Sharpie Man of the Year!

Joe,
Thanks, but I didn't use a Sharpie on the driver, I used a Pilot. I used Sharpies on the body, though.

GO BLUE!!!!!

Dan,
I believe there are several programs available that can help you with that .

[Mike Patterson]

I finally got to race the Aero today, in the Ohio Valley Retro Racing (OVRR) series opener at Tom Thumb. Thanks to numerous brain farts and a couple of senior moments, I raced with zero practice time. But before I get into that, I'd like you to look at post #22, and focus on the picture of the completed chassis.




Well, here's what it looks like now:







Interestingly enough, i ran my fastest lap with the car in this condition. I turned a 5.15 on white in the last heat. So now I get to rebuild and reinforce, hopefully without adding too much weight, because today it weighed in @ 120 grams. If you're keeping score, I finished 23rd out of 30.

[Pappy]

If I was you I'd just blame it on the race director.

[Mopar Rob]

This isn't your first, you must like to bend them up on that track

[slotcarone]

Mike that is a beautiful chassis!!!! If I may make a suggestion look at the Retro East race reports for pictures of Tony's original Aero chassis and redesign the front of yours more like the way Tony did it. I built 2 like his and have been in many races and crashes and have never had any damage to either one. I think the cross piece he puts right on the front makes a big difference. Just a suggestion.

[Mike Patterson]

Mike,

I know what brace you're talking about, and it will definitely get installed on the rebuild. I'm also trying to figure out a way to do a retrofit reinforcement on the pin tubes. That was another weak link. I told you I'd reinforce it after I busted it real good ! Hey, BTW, what do your aero chassis' weigh?

Rob,

No, I DON'T like to bend them up. I don't know what I hit that did all the damage. I didn't hook my controller up wrong (for a change), had no riders, and the car made no trips to the floor. And it's really not bent, just unsoldered. Apparently I had a few cold joints.

Anyway, I've got five months to rebuild it, and that's probably about how long it will take me .

[slotcarone]

I just went in to the garage where my workbench is and weighted them---my first aero chassis was 116.7 with TSR motor. I also built a shorter and lighter aero chassis and this one is at 103.7 with a Pro slot motor in it. These are with body ready to race. I added body mount tube reinforcement by putting a short piece of 1/16 brass rod just behind the mount tube and it is attached to the outer piece of 1/16 brass plate. Usually the mounts get bent back towards the rear of the car so these pieces should prevent that. The best part of building retro chassis is that you can make changes as you like to keep tweeking the handling until it feels just right.

[Jerry Ward]

Hey Mike that looks like my car did after the last Penn-Ohio race at Brian's got a rider and took a wall shot!! OUCH!! Jerry

[tonyp]

Mine is in the 116 range.. Never built myself a second one. I think the one Jay Kisling won in Chicago with was just 110.

[Phil Irvin]

..mmmm When we first started "building". We were at about 125/128 G. They were fast at the time. We are continually working things lighter & lighter. I got one down to 105 but was hard to handle the flat turns. It ended up at 112 and a very good handler. I now have a tri-pod at 105 too & haven't run it yet. I have seen some at 97/99 on here but don't know how well they work either. I wonder just how light we can make them?

OL'FRT
PHIL I.

[Mopar Rob]

I wonder just how light we can make them?

OL'FRT
PHIL I.

You can make it as light as you want, but the IRRA has weight minimums. I think it's 100 grams for Can-Am and 110 grams for the coupe class?

[Mike Patterson]

I added body mount tube reinforcement by putting a short piece of 1/16 brass rod just behind the mount tube and it is attached to the outer piece of 1/16 brass plate. Usually the mounts get bent back towards the rear of the car so these pieces should prevent that.

Mike,

Thanks for the idea. Unfortunately, if you look at my chassis. the one bent pin tube (there's also one completely missing) is bent towards the front. I'm leaning towards replacing the little pieces of 0.016" brass on the outer pans with some 3/32" square tubing, and replacing the brass pin tubes with 0.050" stainless, and running them through the tubing. That way if they do get bent, it won't be much. Plus the square tubing will act as limit stops.

[Mike Patterson]

Here it is, all refurbished, reinforced, and ready to discover new weaknesses! Check it out:


Here's the front brace I believe you were referring to, Mike. It's made out of 0.047" wire, mainly because that's the heaviest stuff I had that I could bend! I'm hoping it will be up to the task.



And here's the revised pin tube assembly, consisting of 0.050" stainless tubing with an 0.032" wire reinforcement. I also took Mike's suggestion, and added a piece of 0.062" brass rod behind each rear pin tube to discourage the bending of same. And if anybody can put it to the test, I can!



Crash report to follow soon.

[slotcarone]

Looks great Mike!!! Good luck on the track.

[Mike Patterson]

CRASH REPORT & UPDATE

Since my last report (and race), the only modification I've done to the chassis is to widen the front wheel spacing by 0.080". This gets the front tire width out to 3.06". I ran the car in the R4 warm-up race, and was VERY pleased with it's handling. The biggest tweak I did on it during practice was to narrow the rear tires about 3/16". That really perked the car up! From orange lane on out, I could just hammer it around the donut! It took me a while to get used to the additional speed I was carrying into the lead-on, but that's a GOOD problem! I ended up with 254 laps, a personal best for me at Tom Thumb, and a fast lap of 5.09. I finished 17th out of 31.

I had hoped to make to Tom Thumb for last Saturday's Can Am and F1 house race, as I really need some more practice time. I had installed fresh power in both cars, too. Unfortunately, Friday I slipped on some ice, and tried to break my fall with my right arm. It worked, but I REALLY stubbed my shoulder good. Come Saturday morning, I couldn't even lift my box into the trunk! Oh well, at least the shoulder is feeling better.

[Mike Patterson]

If any of you are still paying attention, here's the latest poop.

I went to Tom Thumb to race today, but only 5 of us showed up, so Mike let us play all day for $5 . The car was awesome! First time I've got into the 4's with a retro car. I ran a 4.937 on blue, and backed it up with another 4.937. I am a Happy Camper. I also managed a 5 (that's what the monitor showed, 5, no hundredths or thousandths, just 5) on red. Man, I wish I could have made it to the R4 .

[Steve Deiters]

Fast times with a fast chassis that seems to be getting better all the time.
Glad to hear Mike Mc extended his brthday celebration with pit pass track time!

[Mike Patterson]

Glad to hear Mike Mc extended his brthday celebration with pit pass track time!

Steve,

We even had some birthday cake !

[Mike Patterson]

Major thread bump.

I started to rebuild my aero chassis for this year's R4, and the more I looked at it, I decided it would be easier to build a new one. So I did:

There are two big differences between this chassis and the first one. I used a JK motor bracket this time, and I added pan stops to the front of the pans. That was a major problem with the old chassis: The front of the pans would raise more than the rear, so when the car was marshalled (and I made sure it was marshalled a LOT ), the pans would get tweaked in the front, and that would screw up the handling. I'm hoping the added stops will prevent that. Everything else is the same: Wheelbase, guide lead, width, and materials. Oh, there is one other difference: I used JK front wheels.

[Tex]

Good job, Mike; I bet she handles sweet! How much does she weigh?

[DannyHotShot1]

Awesome build Mike looks amzing wish I could build that good.

[911GT3]

Mike, knowing you, it will be faster and handle better than the previous one. It certainly looks good.

[Mike Patterson]

Tex, it weighs 108.6 grams as pictured, without a body. I originally was going to build a tripod style chassis, but there was only 3 weeks until the race, and I would have had very little time to get it sorted, so I went with something I knew would work.

Danny: Practice, dude! Here's a tip: If you get too much solder on a joint, take an old lead wire, strip off about 3/8" of insulation, give it a good dose of flux, and lay on top of said glob of solder. Lay your HOT iron on top of the wire. The heat is transferred through the thin wire to the solder. It melts, and the wire sucks up the excess solder. You might have to do this 2 or 3 times, depending on just how sloppy you are.

Eric: I'm blushing! And I don't know if it's faster, I haven't gotten into the 4s at Tom Thumb yet. At least I know it's straight.