The Weasel Greasers

[stephen]

All you other cartie teams are going to have to work very hard to beat the Greased Weasel.

We tested our cartie for the first time yesterday and today, and it goes like - well - like a greased weasel really.

The design is the classic four wheel cartie, with wheels and brakes coming from children's bikes. Caliper brakes on the back wheels worked from a foot pedal give excellent control and stopping power, but the steering is sensitive almost to the point of being undrivable . A lot of work is going to have to go into making the steering work better, but once it has we'll have a very fast and stable cartie.

You're all going to be eating our dust on 12th June!

[stephen]

The Greased Weasel has now solved its handling issues with the addition of a new steering system, which harnesses the power of pullies and washing line to give smooth and precise steering. It even has a steering wheel.

Photos will appear soon, so you can all get some inspiration.

[stephen]

A serious crash in testing today destroyed a large part of the Greased Weasel.

The weasel rolled on leaving the last corner before the bottom of the brae, while travelling in excess of 42 kph (courtesy of newly fitted speedo), and the entire top half of the cartie is now fit only for firewood. I'm nursing a rather nasty graze on my left arm (to match the one I already had on my right arm), but am otherwise unhurt.

Back to the drawing board. Again.

I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Make sure you test your cartie thoroughly before the gala, and when you're testing make sure you wear proper protective clothing - boiler suit, boots, gloves and a helmet.

[stephen]

Pictures of the Greased Weasel are here.

They show;

1) The Greased Wesel as she was last night, with steering completed, but no seat, speedo or improved brake pedal arrangement.
2) Detail of steering (top side).
3) Detail of front subframe (from below) showing final linkage of steering mechanism and also the brake lever.
4) Detail of rear subframe (from below) showing the twin caliper brakes and the link to the brake pedal.
5) and 6) The Crashed Weasel. You can see what remains of the seat/back rest and the improved brake pedal. The pile of kindling in the middle of the cart is what remains of the steering system.
7) Ouch.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full size picture. Be patient on a dial up link - it may take a while for the pictures to change.

[stephen]

OK, so I've been doing some thinking and I reckon I know how to fix the Weasel's stability problems. Greased Weasel II will feature some or all of the following;

Much wider wheelbase - just a shade narrower than the maximum allowed 1.5m.

Lowered ride height, to drop the centre of gravity.

Aerodynamic surfaces front and rear to increase downforce. This will introduce more drag and so make the cart slower, but will also lower the c of g while moving at speed and give more grip to make steering and braking at speed more effective. A good trade off, I think, and the added security should increase driver confidence so it might even allow higher speeds than at present. (Actually, if it just lets the thing get to the end of the course it'll be an improvement - I've not managed a single incident free run yet... )

"Pseudo rack and pinion steering". using pulleys, push rods and clothes line it should be possible to make an effective steering system where the front wheels don't share an axle, giving car like steering. Probably won't make much difference overall, but it'll look cool.

Ballast fitted under the axles, up to the maximum "dry weight" (100 Kg) to drop the c of g still further.

Four wheel braking. All that extra weight is going to take some stopping...

Drag 'chute. To aid final braking, and 'cos it'll look fabulous when it pops out the back.

Mind you, I have no idea when I'm going to get time to do all this...

[bucket_of_crabs]

Strange omission from all this Greased Weasel propoganda... In the the 3 side-by-side(ish) trials featuring GW and BoC last Friday/Sat, on all 3 occasions GW and its pilot were left eating the Crabs' dust!

Perhaps Stephen would be better off just greasing his head!

[stephen]

Pah - you just got lucky. You came up against the Weasel while it was suffering from some early "technical difficulties" (i.e inability to go more than a few yards without hitting something). You wouldn't be feeling so pleased with yourself if you'd seen Monday's test (apart from the last 5 yards of it...).

The Weasel gets closer to completing the course on every run, and I am confident that when it next sees the open road it'll be setting the standard for you all.

Definately.

[stephen]

... and more importantly ... when the weasel managed to stay rubber side down and on the track it was competitive with your crustacean container despite its many problems. I had to dab the brakes a couple of times just to keep from running into the back of your ludicrous sack barrow based "design".

There is scope for continued improvement in the weasel, but your feeble attempt offers little scope for optimisation. You just wait - the weasel will return, and better than ever!

[bucket_of_crabs]

We shall see, dust-muncher. Actually, we found it hard to keep control of the BoC during the trials with the Weasel. This was on account of the sight of you with your legs in the air in our rear view mirror made us laugh so much.

Perhaps your modifications, should they prove effective, might extend to a slight tweak in monicker? How about 'The Greased Weeble' - hopefully it will wobble but it won't fall down (quite so often).

BoC

[stephen]

Dust muncher? You've got a nerve! You lot couldn't catch a cold, let alone a bucket full of crabs!

[stephen]

It's lower, it's wider, it has sharp and accurate steering and a sleek and stylish new body shell.

If you see a blur going down the brae in the next few days, don't worry - it's just me putting the weasel through her paces.

[stephen]

Fine tuning of the Greased Weasel is now complete, after an extrememly successful weekend in which, for the first time ever, I completely failed to crash it. Not even once.

Many admiring eyes looked longingly at its sleek lines as I towed it through the village (no secrecy shennanigans for me for me - it doesn't matter if you see it or not, you'll never catch it). It was even commented that it "has the look of a Bugatti" about it.

All it needs now is a paint job, and we're ready to show you how it's done!