CRT #2 Car

Following the team's decision to enter two cars into this year's eV Challenge, both entries teams have been plowing ahead with the design and manufacture of parts and chassis building. The #2 entry has a lot of catch up to do as the design phase is only just been completed, however due to new funds there has been no lack of material for trial and error. As this vehicle is also going to be entered into next years Perth Electric Endurance Race Series, based on the electrathon rules from America, both sets of rules and regulations must be adhered to. The picture, shown below, is of a simple sketch-up design that shows the #2 car's forward spaceframe estimated to weigh 7 kg.

More to come soon, and more updates on our FB page, just search for Coulomb Racing Technologies :)

Garage Upgrade and Drivetrain Preparations

For all those following us on our FB page, you will have seen that we have been held up for the last month trying to get the vehicle welded up so that we have a rolling chassis. Last week we ordered a smaller, more competition specific 500W 36V motor from Oatley electronics along with many other miscellaneous electronics and also decided to upgrade our garage. We have painted the floor to look like a proper racing garage with gloss white paint and also added a new side bench increasing the work and storage space for us. You may be able to spot a slight difference between the before and after photos below :)

Our Back Bench - Before Upgrade

New Back Bench -After Upgrade

 Also our video of the 2010 eV challenge, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es8R8XXw2CM, is currently sitting on 499 views, who wants to be the 500th?
Thanks all for your support and feel free to contact us on FB if you're interested in visiting the garage.

James and Peter

Completed Front Body Work

Finally, 300+ holes later and only an extra 2.5 kilograms and the front monocoque is finished. Display panel is being built by Peter now and hopefully the frame will be welded up soon. Front wheels and steering to go on next... Please help spread the word and help us raise the money for our 6 kg weight reduction for the battery pack. Thank you all for your support, we have our first sponsor/advertiser, George's Bike Shop whose website can be found here: http://www.georgesbikes.com.au/ :)

Internal framework before top panel was added

Close up shot of 'Open' tub

6 Hours Later

New Wheels have Arrived & Sponsorship Space

Finally the funds have been available for the purchase of 2 new 16" front wheels and the replacement of the hub in the back wheel. Many thanks to Georges Bike Shop Willetton, Perth for their continual support. With these new wheels we are back on track for a rolling chassis by mid May.
Please continue to show your support for our team this year by liking our FB page at;
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coulomb-Racing-Technologies/226148400779816
Many special events and deals will be provided for those who follow our journey for the race in October.

One of the two cockpit sides of the eV, only about half the 150 holes drilled for weight loss have been done and that's only on this side. The holes will be covered by lighter weight sponsorship stickers and stickers carrying the names of those who participate in our FB promotion. Very time consuming process but well worth the effort.

Follow Us On Facebook

 Join Us On Facebook

Seat Molding

Currently in the workshop we have been re-designing the cockpit section of the go-kart. We have made the decision to sink the seat down in the frame. This creates a more ergonomic ride for the driver, and makes more space for the driver to make themselves comfortable in eg. bend their legs.
A plywood sheet will become the seat and seat-back, while the metal helps shape the wood and protects the driver if the seat breaks in a crash.

Central Beam being bent at each end

Central Longitudinal Beam in one piece with tape

Welding The Cockpit

After having cut the metal for the cockpit chassis we reached a point at which we couldn't continue our construction of the aerodynamic fairing or of the steering. Thankfully Joel Percival TIG welded the base frame for us. We look forward to Baguley Engineering welding the transmission end of our frame and the wheel support arms. Thanks again to Joel for his continual advice and help. Aero-fairing to come soon!

Our Workshop:

From an area we couldn't step in without tripping over, to a workshop with a workbench, battery station and work area. We spent hours clearing a section of the mess, and then we 'moved in'. We have two A-Frames, which form the supports for our wooden bench top, creating our workbench.
We also supported a small wooden pallet on two bricks giving us enough space to slide one of the two battery chargers underneath. This charger can handle 13.8V at 20A. Then we slid one of our 12V 220A Marine Batteries on top of the platform and put our other batteries on - creating our battery station. Under the workbench is our storage and 80L air compressor. The rest of the clean area is our assembly area for the chassis which we try to keep as clean as possible...

Mounting Brackets

 After having cut the metal that forms the cockpit, we have started to create the mounting brackets for the front wheels and back section. We had used the metal for our make-shift workbench, however we have had to replace the metal with wood as we have used that metal for our brackets. We collected the metal last year from a scrapyard, meaning we had to flap-disc the rust off. The brackets and metal has all been cut and we are now in the process of writing a manual for the welder at Baguley's engineering. Check out our photos of the frame coming together piece by piece;

Our work bench before it was cut up for brackets

Front structural cross-beam with brackets

The front end supported by our custom cardboard A-frames.

Complete Basic Chassis Without Seat Back

And the Build Stage begins.......

With the completion of the Cockpit Chassis CAD Design, Pete and I started to cut the metal for the chassis in 'the shed' AKA Grandad's shed. Having a dimensioned Sketchup design to work from was very different from previous years. It was very satisfying to see the Chassis come together exactly at it is shown in our CAD. Many thanks to Grandad for the metal and his constant aid and advice. Not long till we are rolling!!

Pete 'Sparky' Hill Angle-Grinding

The chassis coming together one piece at a time

Outline of the frame

Finished Cutting The Cockpit

Happy James with our afternoon's work

Design Phase - CAD Design

Well after about 2 months of designing and constantly changing our Computer Aided Designs (CAD's) we now have our finalised chassis design for 2012. We are using a combination of 40x40x1.6mm and 25x25x2mm square hollow section. Weight and aero-dynamics have been our priority this year, however we have fitted some innovative additions such as inter-changeable wheel arms. Find our CAD screenshots below, not long until we start building!!

Dimensioned Cockpit Section with Narrowed Front End

Front End View - Chassis with no sub-frame yet

Cockpit with Painted Body Pan and Wheels

                                                                                

2010 eV Challenge Video

 

 

A Bit of History - 2010 eV Challenge

Preparations for the 2010 eV Challenge began months before the race and yet the car only ran properly for the first time at 1:20 AM the day of the race. Our 9th place finish was a great improvement over the previous year and thanks to the great engineering and fabrication skills of Joel Percival our car won the Design and Engineering Award for it's innovative tilt-steering design that allowed us to lean into corners some-what like a motorbike, albeit with 2 front wheels. Scrub between the belt drive tensioner and the tyre, a heavy chassis and lack of testing prevented us from finishing on the podium however our 9th place was a 18 place improvement over 2009.
In 2011 the tilt steering was removed and with a non race setting programmed into the Alltrax Controller we were able to attain a top speed of ~90 kph, the kart also proved its safety with a high speed crash in mid-2011 resulting in no injury and just scratches and minor damage to the underside.

Our 'Pit Garage' 2010

A Bit of History - 2009 eV Challenge

2009 was our first year entering our own go-kart, we used the chassis of an old land-yacht which had been converted and raced in the 2006 EV Challenge by our friend Joel Percival. The kart used a 500 watt hub motor, seen above, in the front wheel powered by a 36v 12ah lead-acid battery pack. Unfortunately the hub motor was attained from a chinese dealer and had an in-built restrictor which proved very difficult to remove. Despite being limited to 14 kph, we still managed to finish 29th out of 45 karts entered in the race, however to be honest this result was mainly due to other teams crashing and mis-management of their power. The race was a wake up call for the organisers as the karts pushed the safety envelope of the track, a car park at Polytechnic West, a result of this was a roll-over mid-race. The 2010 race was still held at this track but in 2011, thanks to new sponsorship by ITC Global the race moved to a new, longer track at the RAC Driving Centre.

The Beginning - About Us

We are two brothers, James and Peter from Perth, Australia. Motorsport is our passion but it is through electric motorsport, in the form of the "Perth Electric Vehicle Challenge" that we began designing, building and racing our own electric go-kart. Finishing 29th in 2009, with a 500 watt hub motor and 9th in 2010, also winning the Design and Engineering Award for our innovative tilt-steering system.
2012 is the year it all happens, the foundation of Coulomb Racing Tech. (CRT) marked the transition from a DIY trial and error team to a more structured team with the aim of winning this year's Perth ITC Global EV Challenge. Follow our journey this year from the CAD Design stage to the Build stage and ultimately testing and THE RACE