Anyone been involved with 'kartie' downhill racing? Just wondering if there is a scene in England/Wales - found a reasonable following in Scotland...Aviemore looks a laugh/terrifying!!!

http://www.soapboxracing.co.uk/main

Looks like the sort of stuff I used to build way back in the early sixties!Back then a donor vehicle was a pram

Looks great, I'd love to have a go

blake: we're entering. 23rd & 24th July 2010.

[Edited on 16/1/10 by Benzine]

It's stirring something deep down inside me.....

Build your own soap box racer for £2.50

speedy, you're in mine and blake's team too btw

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Originally posted by Benzine
speedy, you're in mine and blake's team too btw

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(no jag engines though!)

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Originally posted by Benzine


(no jag engines though!)

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Yeah

if the course is long enough you could use the potential energy from the jag engine and turn it into lots of kinetic energy.

(think thats right, i've not done physics for .... eeek, just counted ..... 20 years).

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Originally posted by MikeR
if the course is long enough you could use the potential energy from the jag engine and turn it into lots of kinetic energy.

(think thats right, i've not done physics for .... eeek, just counted ..... 20 years).

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I was on that road in September last year - it's VERY steep at the top! And it's a long, long hill after the flat bit at the junction.

I'm amazed that they were doing that with traffic coming the other way...

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Originally posted by richard thomas
It's stirring something deep down inside me.....

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Hope you don't mind me dropping by. I noticed your interest in gravity racing and just wanted to say hello and thanks for the interest in Cairngorm Soapbox Extreme, which is organised by the Scottish Cartie Association.

Just to clarify/answer a couple of things that have already come up;

The road is completely closed for the race and there is no traffic apart from the gravity racers. We had a police presence there last year to help, and marshalls along the length of the course. You've probably seen the "test run" video, which we did some months before the event just to let people see what they were letting themselves in for. To see some action from the day, have a look at our gallery.

It is quite steep in places and some part of the Cairngorm course are very fast indeed. A well made cartie will reach ~60mph in places (if the driver has enough bottle), so you need to make sure it's soundly constructed and has good steering and brakes. Your fondly remembered childhood carties made of old pram wheels, some planks, a bit of rope for steering and "Fed Flintstone" brakes just aren't going to cut it, I'm afraid.

As well as the growing gravity racing scene in Scotland, there are plenty of races in England too. You can find links to other races and organisations on the Scottish Cartie Association web site.

Hope that all useful to you. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.

[Edited on 17/1/10 by scottishCarties]

A very well organised and supported event in the Cairngorms by the looks of your website - well done! Not only have you got some well heeled corporate sponsors but have also got part finance from the Scottish Executive and the EU.

Any tips on how to get some money out of the Peoples Republic of Scotland (courtesy of English taxpayers) for my hobby would be most welcome

Never had Flintstone brakes on mine, come to think of it there wern't any brakes but thats because it's flat around here. Keep up the good work

quote:

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Originally posted by scottishCarties
Hope you don't mind me dropping by. I noticed your interest in gravity racing and just wanted to say hello and thanks for the interest in Cairngorm Soapbox Extreme, which is organised by the Scottish Cartie Association.

Just to clarify/answer a couple of things that have already come up;

The road is completely closed for the race and there is no traffic apart from the gravity racers. We had a police presence there last year to help, and marshalls along the length of the course. You've probably seen the "test run" video, which we did some months before the event just to let people see what they were letting themselves in for. To see some action from the day, have a look at our gallery.

It is quite steep in places and some part of the Cairngorm course are very fast indeed. A well made cartie will reach ~60mph in places (if the driver has enough bottle), so you need to make sure it's soundly constructed and has good steering and brakes. Your fondly remembered childhood carties made of old pram wheels, some planks, a bit of rope for steering and "Fed Flintstone" brakes just aren't going to cut it, I'm afraid.

As well as the growing gravity racing scene in Scotland, there are plenty of races in England too. You can find links to other races and organisations on the Scottish Cartie Association web site.

Hope that all useful to you. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.

[Edited on 17/1/10 by scottishCarties]

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quote:

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Originally posted by General Bilko
A very well organised and supported event in the Cairngorms by the looks of your website - well done! Not only have you got some well heeled corporate sponsors but have also got part finance from the Scottish Executive and the EU.

Any tips on how to get some money out of the Peoples Republic of Scotland (courtesy of English taxpayers) for my hobby would be most welcome

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in the regs , it says the carts have to be 100kg max - is this with or without the driver ?

ive already been looking at wheels and brakes today !!!

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Originally posted by Volvorsport
in the regs , it says the carts have to be 100kg max - is this with or without the driver ?

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quote:

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Originally posted by scottishCarties

quote:

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Originally posted by Volvorsport
in the regs , it says the carts have to be 100kg max - is this with or without the driver ?

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That's without the driver. There are no restrictions on the weight with the driver aboard, but the driver can't carry any extra ballast, so no diving belts, suits of chain mail, etc.

[Edited on 18/1/10 by scottishCarties]

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Right then, couple of thoughts without trying to get too scientific about this....but I am sure that this forum is the best place to put me straight!

Bicycle wheels with smooth tyres best? Would a standard mountain bike/similar type of wheel take the load generated whilst cornering without leaning in to the corner as on a bike? Also would the standard spindles stand the sideways load....

Inertia wise, would it be best to get the lightest wheels possible to gain maximum acceleration from standstill? Or would the advantage come from heavier wheels?

How long do we think standard wheel roller bearings would run without grease? I assume that a light oil will be necessary to overcome 'stiction'...

Waddya reckon?

There's lots of fun to be had experimenting to find the answers to these perenial questions, and I don't want to spoil it for you by just giving you all the answers, but here's a couple of pointers to avoid some of the more painful mistakes...

Standard 10mm spindles are not up to the job if they are stub mounted. You need to support them on both sides (i.e. mount them in forks). The minimum spindle size for stub mounting is 14mm - quite a common size on BMX wheels.

Large diameter wheels tend to go pringle shaped quite quickly when subjected to typical cornering loads, and unless you want to spend £££ on very high quality wheels you'd probably be better off sticking to 20" BMX wheels, or smaller. The other advantage of using BMX wheels is that you can inflate the tyres to a much higher pressure - BMX tyres rated to 100+PSI are common, whereas MTB tyres are knobblier and lower pressure.

Lots more info' and link to other sites on http://scottishcarties.org.uk/resources/construction

Also - check out http://scottishcarties.org.uk/forum/theGreatWeightDebate

[Edited on 22/1/10 by scottishCarties]

That looks like serious fun!