Ziggy's "Black Knight" rocket hybrid

Ziggy said this about his car:

After building and running a number of IC cars at speed I have deceided to deviate slightly and try to build a non wheel driven car. I was lucky enough to be contacted by Ben Jarvis, one of the few guys in the UK that understands hybrid rocket technology and has the capacity and know how to put together a power system for the car. With his know how of hybrid rocket systems and my understanding of RC technology with regards to speed cars our team has a good chance of building a vehicle capable of 200mph. This car will be called "Black Knight"

Video: AJ's 100mph V2RRR

Ziggy's twin engine Alien 3

Click here to get more info on his new project.

AJ's Kyosho V1RRR with a .28 Picco

Kyosho V1RRR with a Picco .28 FTT ABmods Stage 3 drag mod. AJ is calling it the "V2RRR"

This thing will break 100 mph without a sweat. Read more about it here.

Video: AJ's Alien 3

AJ said this about his first run:

I tried the car outside and the road was a bit bumpy but the car wasnt all the stable. I have booked onto the drag strip on Monday so will find out then.

The shell is a 1/8th Mercedes CLK shell cut down the middle and 100mm taken out. I then overlap the edges and chop out anything that sticks out. Then use Poly Zap as a glue and drill and bolt it together.

The best I can hope for ism that the car is stable and tracks straight. If not I have a few options.

Add a tail for high speed stability and then add front wishbones but that will add weight and make it wider so I'll need another body.

Cheers

Mini-CVT

This is a CVT clutch for AJ Lovering's car. It always engaged and shift at 20,000RPM.

The clutch is design to be used in a RC nitro car.

This is a prototype clutch made by CVTech in Canada.

Video: UK Speed Event - 103 mph!

Fastest cars in the UK!

Video: Tony Lovering on the BBC!

Link to the video

Video: AJ hits 94 mph!

Listen to this bad-ass machine shift gears. Awesome.

Video: A J Lovering's Kyosho RRR 87 Mph

From AJ:

I was testing again today. I have run in the OS .18 TZP Murnan and ran the RRR with the new engine. I clocked 89 mph running slightly uphill and against the wind with 20/56 gearing and 65mm tyres. Here is the vid of an 87 Mph run

Video: Tony's 3 engine monster. Speed run and crash

Tony Lovering did a great 88 mph run with his custom 3-engine Kyosho Evolva before crashing into the timekeeping tent at the WFRCCC 2007 due to the battery coming unplugged from the radio.

New Pics of AJ's car - Beautiful!

AJ's car fully complete. More pics here.

AJ's radio modifications and speed video

This is one of the coolest videos I have seen. A 3 .21 engine monster going 77 mph. Awesome.
From AJ:

Today didnt really go as planned. we got to the drag strip and started the car and found the radio had no range whatsoever. I changed out the receiver and tried again but no luck so we moved to the end of the srtip where the range was better but not good.

I managed 4 runs and maxed at 81 mph which is no better than the last runs. I stood as far away as I could while still in control of the car and floored it. The car whizzed past and the failsafe just cut in. You can see in the vid the car veering to the side and the revs dropping.

I also had problems with the engines as the back 2 kept cutting and due to the radio problems couldnt keep the car in control to be able to turn around and run it back for a retune. It took 4 hrs to do 4 runs!

The drive train problem was a lost drive pin. I need to locktight them in

At the end of the day I changed the RX pack to a 6 cell and voala!! Problems solved but by now it was time to leave.

Off to mallory park for some more running on Friday. I'll be on my own so no vid but i'll attempt to tune the engines

I have the V6 clutches on order and the 9db anenna turned up but no cross over from the TX unit yet.

From AJ:

I think I might have solved the radio problems. Here is a pic of a 9db aerial attached to the Spektrum system. It has a much higher range but needs to be kept vertical.

AJ Lovering converting to 4wd drive

AJ says:

The side belt fitted perfectly and the belt tensioner moves the belt down just enough so the belt does not foul the 1st engine exhaust manifold.

The drive train is as follows

Front tyres 70mm.
Front axle one way with 24T pulley
Front layshaft pulley 17T
Front side pulley 14T
Middle side pulley 19T
Middle pulleys 18T
Rear layshaft pulley 16T
Rear axle pulley 18T
Rear tyres 75mm

2nd speed pinion 22t
2nd speed spur 44t

This give a 2nd gear final drive ratio of 2.25
A top speed at 41,000 rpm of 157 mph
and a front to rear overdrive ratio of 1.0094

I'll be testing the car tomorrow at Long Marston Drag Strip

Video: A J Lovering's test run #2

Here is what AJ has to say about the run:

1st run with new pulleys and belts

We managed to find a nice open car park with nobody in it to test the car and the plan was to run with one engine to loosen the drive train up then do a quick run with three engines to see how it goes.

As you can see the car was running OK with one engine but what you don't see on the video the jobs worth security guard who came over and told us to bugger off. This was just after running one engine. I decided to ignore him and start all thee engines anyway and do a quick blast.

You can see that the middle exhaust mount comes loose and so we had to abandon the attempt.

Even with the short blast the car had way too much power. The wheels were spinning at the blip of the throttle and this is with the practice engines 2 of which were not run in and all very rich with hardly any power!!

This is OK as the gearing is standard 1/8th gearing with top speed of 65 mph. When the high gearing is installed the wheel spin will be minimal.

The exhaust lugs were only held on with epoxy so i didnt expect them to last. We will re solder them in place and its off to find another car park for a decent test.

Thanks to Jez for the help.

Video: AJ Lovering ground test - 3 engines running

Here is a link to AJ's blog about his project

A J Lovering's project update 2

From AJ:

Hi

Just a few things to tidy up then I'll strip it and build it up from scratch for the final assembly to make sure everything is OK. As you can see at 9 1/2lbs this is not a light car but at 7.5 HP its about 1.5 times the power to weight ratio of a normal 1/8th car.

I still need to run in 2 of the engines and then its the low speed testing.

Sorry about the colour but the shell is made up from bits I had lying around. I will fill in all the holes and spray it over the outside


Cheers

A J Lovering's project update

A.J. says:

Hi Nick

I haven't managed to find any aluminium elbows to make the custom exhaust manifold yet and am waiting for the High Temp Solder from the USA. I thought it looked cool with normal exhaust stuck on the sides if slightly impractical!! LOL

I was going to machine special car extenders but realised the fitting was 15mm the same as domestic plumbing in the UK hence the copper fittings.

You can post the pics on the blogg and site if you want

Cheers

A J Lovering's 165 mph car

Here is a pic of the re designed chassis. The drive train will come from the long car (pic of engines). I will just swap it over and bolt in the 3 engines. The long car was worthwhile making as I learned a lot about what I wanted to do. We did get it going with 2 engines but the chassis kept bottoming out. The new one is a lot lighter and with better front suspension

Basic design is 3 or 4 3.5 race engines and a gearing for 240Mph. The length of 40" is a real restriction, I planned for 60" so might have to restrict to 3 engines.

Here is a post from "ziggy12345" on 3Hobby.net about his car:

by ziggy12345 on Tuesday, April 24 @ 19:52:42 CEST

First test today for the drive train. The engine fired up OK and I ran the car around. everything looked OK and it was free enough. It will free up after a few runs. Just waiting for the 2 engines and exhausts to arrive and then mod the drive train to give me 165mph at 43,000 rpm Cheers

He also said this:

04-30-2007, 01:04 AM

I went to the drag strip yesterday to see what it was like (my first time ever!) The track is super smooth with a 1/2 mile run out. I asked if I could run my RC car and the guy didnt see why not.

After seeing the speed needed I knew I had to re design the car. With the weight I had I would never get to top speed before the 1/4 mile. Also 1/4 mile is just about the limit for seeing and controlling the car for now.

This puts me back a bit for timing but I still think 1'll be ready for a first run in October