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