Guess where I have been?

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5944

We finally did it, on Thursday after a systems check we made the trek to Walkins Glen and raced our little bamboo car that I did the electronics for. The US boarder guard got a kick from the bamboo car and told us to get going after smiling, as did the Canadian guard did.

Well our left wheel motor suddenly died without warning, after discovering the fault was definitely in the wheel and not the controllers, we decided to try our luck with one working wheel motor, not 2, but none the less we raced it and got 13 laps, or 5mi/8km. Which beat last years team by one mile. Cool

My controllers worked and that is all that mattered to me, well that and showing a 25% distance improvement over last year even with a motor failure.

After the race we ran it on the parking lot, and due to the lack of need to start and stop, we achieved the top motor speed of 16mph or 26km/h and could turn without any issues due to the frame or steering assembly. Actually I wouldn't feel safe going faster then that top speed. Especially when locking the steering to full turn without letting go of the "gas". A 40ish foot turning radius on a 3 wheeled bamboo open frame car doing 16mph is scary as heck.

On a side note, my 2nd trip to the US was as fun as the first, plus got 5o show my buddy all fast food doesn't have to suck as bad as it does in Canada. He was skeptical when I told him it will be the best McDonald burger he has ever had but the non-shredded lettuce, fresh thick cut tomato and meat that tastes like meat won him over on the first bite.

Cigarettes in New York are almost as expensive as they are here, but the booze was half price at the bars. So not too bad. Fishing equipment was on par more or less as I thought. It was interesting to realize we were in the middle of no where while driving and finding only 3 stations, one clearly pop, one semi-country and one what appeared to be Christian talk AM radio.

Mind you it upset me when I realized I was in a NASCAR town and there were no Kurt Busch hats to be found. Sad

But heck a expenses paid trip is always good.

Dimitri

gelandangan · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:49 pm Post subject: Re: Guess where I have been?

Good on ya Mr D, sound like you have a blast!

Great news about the 25% better distances, are we going to build SUV based on these yet? Very Happy

Elvis · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:22 pm Post subject: Re: Guess where I have been?

great one D just think how good it will go next year when you iron out the kinks in that faulty motor.
right on with the fast food have you ever unwrapped a burger and compared it to the glossy photo on the menu board?

Dawgdad · Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:00 pm Post subject: Re: Guess where I have been?

D- Come to the midwest and get a real burger sometime... where the meat is the best and freshest.

Vince · Last edited by Vince on Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:01 am; edited 1 time in total

Well done 'Mitri...but then again...nothing less than I would expect mate.

Imagine how much more distance and speed you would have had with both motors running mate...maybe that turn would have been a whole lot scarier.

Time to improve on your controllers now mate. Don't forget to patent your ideas...don't let some other bugger take ownership of your intellectual property.

Cheers, Vince

Pumpkinslinger · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:14 am Post subject: Re: Guess where I have been?

Good job D! I'd like to see a picture of the completed project sometime.

Ominivision1 · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:42 am Post subject: Re: Guess where I have been?

Atta boy D, I can just imagine the smiling border guards. Smile

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5944

geland,

Nah only if we get brushed hub motors.

Elvis,

American burgers are the closest to the picture, leaf lettuce in the picture then getting a shredded lettuce filled with sauce I've always suspected was to cover the old produce taste. They are like if you cooked them at home.

Dawgdad,

I shall.

Vince,

When we were driving it on the parking lot we got it to top speed, as the motor controllers will not allow faster then 26km/h no matter the number of motors. But acceleration would have been better with 2.

I did it at the college it is not patentable so I posted it all on my website.

Pumpkinslinger,

Will do.

Ominivision1,

Well even the race organizer said we were the most talked about car due to the strong "green" image of a bamboo car verses the kit cars everyone was running that are assembled by students made entirely of metal and plastic. Only 3 teams including us appeared to run something other then these kits

www.blueskydsn.com/kit.html

Dimitri

Suzanne · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:10 am Post subject: Re: Guess where I have been?

Way to go Dimi!! And got a nice MickyD burger to boot!! Yup we're the land of fat-kids.

So have you calculated the efficiency difference between one motor and two? Like what would your time, distance and speed have been if you were running both motors? I was thinkin about the battery life when you said only one motor was going to run.

Suz

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5944

Suz,

But it at least tastes good, most fast food here, especially McDonalds taste like your eating a hamburger that has been blended in a blender as you can't taste anything.

Well, ideally we'd have been able to compete for the full hour, which would have given us, even at the slow speed due to long acceleration we could have done at least 30 laps, or 11 miles, but then again we were all quite sure or primary driver did about 13 laps (he was on the track for 20-25 minutes or so which him alone is 11 to 14 laps) then do our 2nd driver drove like a idiot on the track and cost us a lot of penalties. Such as driving from the outside of a turn (where he was asked not to be due to our slower car), and as he'd turn he'd cut into the inside area. Shocked

Still, could have been do us nothing, I was told to make the wheels spin without excuses and I did, the motor dieing on us was out of my control.

Dimitri