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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