UK Lakester build G/GL

[Lemming Motors]

Thanks John, I appreciate the suggestions and warnings.

At this stage the only thing in the cockpit with me are the brake and clutch master cylinders. Nothing forward of the foot box structure. Of course, when I start to squeeze things in rear of the firewall the space may dictate different solutions than those in my head.

Finalised the inner lining last night and bolted the harnesses in. Strapped myself in as tight as I could and made vroom vroom noises. Couldn't actually reach the turnbuckle to release the harnesses - my hand didn't quite turn back on itself far enough with the shoulders so completely isolated and no way of nudging an elbow out the side now the sides are in.
I 'lay' there with the vroom vroom noises gently turning to a whimper. Apart from the obvious bail out fail I was wondering how long it would be before Tracey came out to say it was time to come inside - she doesn't mind me spending time with the mistress in the garage but a bit at a time, not hours on end.
Then I clocked that the shoulder harnesses could be easily slackened off in that position (only needed to slacken one) and that freed my arm movement to allow my hand to do the buckle - a 2 second release process so that should be fine (?).

[Stainless1]

Tight cockpits have that issue with the buckles that require you to turn a knob... If you could loosen your own shoulder harness you weren't in tight enough, were you wearing your arm restraints as well?  My suggestion is get a duckbill release for your 7 point harness. 

[Lemming Motors]

I wasn't wearing the wrist restraints. I was on my own after all. That would have been kinky.

Have a friend from NZ visiting this weekend - he has ambitions to drive Squeeze of Lemming (we went to SW as spectators last year) so we'll explore how tight we can strap in (with wrists) and see what happens.

One step forward....and he trips over.

[Lemming Motors]

The big day arrived and mini Squeeze of Lemming went into the Lammas Way wind tunnel.

Initial trials gave a measurable drag force (on a set of jewellers scales) but reproducibility was poor and I had to conclude that I learned a lot about wind tunnels and aero by researching and building this but absolutely nothing useful for the build in terms of data - I was hoping (okay, maybe too much hope involved) to learn something about wheel track - I did not.

I think I made the test area too large for the amount of suck available, or maybe the model is simply too slippery. 

[Lemming Motors]

At least the throttle pedal and push / pull cable appear to be working as they should.

[tauruck]

Went to an air-show over the weekend (IWM Flying Legends) at Duxford UK. Everything on the flight line got into the air (B17, 11 Spitfires, a DC3 and a DC6, Focke Wulfe's, Hurricanes, Grumman cats, Curtis -Wright Hawk, War-Hawk, P40, B-25 Mitchell's, Corsair and etc.). Then they did a display with an F35 which ripped the sky apart.

Towards the end of the day a P-38 Lightning came out to play and, with the association to the original tankers, I freely admit to getting a little excited seeing one in the flesh.

Not many in the air this side of the pond these days - it had come over from Austria.

Unfortunately there were no belly tanks 'lying around' in the museum or workshop sections (all open to the public) so I didn't get a chance to see if one would fit on my roof bars.

When I was involved in online combat flying (Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2) there was a site called Duxford Legends where you could download 3rd party planes. The home page had audio of a Spitfire passing low overhead at full tilt.
The first time you hear it it scares the Subaru out of you. My old mate Errol (79) at the time fell off his chair. I felt really bad about suggesting he turn the sound up to full volume.

[Lemming Motors]

Making vroom vroom noises.

[Rex Schimmer]

John, That looks great! I really like the raised forward floor, it looks comfortable and your legs are well protected and lots of options for the body shape. The whole thing lookis like a great foundation for a great lakester. Keep it up.

Rex

[wobblywalrus]

The A2 wind tunnel in North Carolina is set up for testing vehicles sent to them from remote places with video links to their distant  customers.  The customers do not need to be there for the testing.  That might be an option.

[SPARKY]

Sir Lemmings
on the 126 post just where are you planning on the frt axle passing through?

[Lemming Motors]

Rex; thank you. Only time and money and some more money and some salt will prove the design.

Wobbly; MIRA in the U.K. has a full size wind tunnel. I wrote to them but was met with silence. It sounds like A2 has some LSR experience. Waiting for a lottery win to be able to make multiple trips to the U.S. from the U.K.

Sparky; the front axle is planned to be around 2 inches under the bottom rail under the legs; pretty much directly under the point that the two diag braces make this is the widest point of the chassis and tapers forward from there - under the calves / ankles give or take. In theory the roll structure will provide some weight over the axle. There will be vertical push rods acting on a rocker translating bump and rebound to horizontal coil overs pretty much above the thighs mounted along the top longitudinal tube.

[Lemming Motors]

Had a great business trip to Irvine Ca last week. Made time to visit Simpson and am now the proud owner of an SFI 20 suit. They did me a deal as I only 'need' a 15 but they didn't have stock and when I called a couple of weeks ago they couldn't make one up in time for my visit. Over specking the suit has been recommended to me so that worked out okay.

Talking to the nice man who will help with my engine build and this came up..... I will be running gas: what octane is typically available at Bonneville and perhaps a little optimistically: how are tanks sealed after a fill if one was on a qualifying run?

[Ron Gibson]

Any octane you need. Rick (ERC) will ask size, comp ratio, etc, and recommend what you need. Rick seals the tank with a piece of duct tape and a marker. The "MAYOR" knows what it is supposed to look like and can tell if it's been tampered with.

Ron

[Lemming Motors]

Thanks Ron

[Lemming Motors]

DIY, canoe training and work seem to be interfering lately. I decided to mount the pedal assembly this weekend (just been sitting in-situ until now) and in the process did some rework and made the mounting adjustable for different leg lengths.

That creates a lot of extra work (drilling, welding nuts in place) and more plate (3mm) than I expected but I want them a bit more robust than simply bolted through the 2mm ally floor.

I just don't have the experience to determine the material weights so typically apply the 'too much is just right' engineering principle.