RBP Development

The 1/8 Proto

2008-11-07T21:15:00.005Z

A simple design for a 1/8th scale race bike, utilising parts from GPM for the HOR bike and running gear and the rear shocks from a Mini T, Based on the 2008 chassis with twin shock on the rear the bike work surprisingly well on the first attempt with only Tx set up need to help with thottle and steering speed.

2009 Chassis

2008-11-02T14:27:00.006Z

The new chassis for 2009 utilises the separate layshaft and now has a rocker arm system for the rear shock and longer swing arm in the hope that the increase in leverage will give rear traction and make sliding the bike more predictable.

Weight has been moved forward to help with front end grip. The first track test at Cotswold show that the bike is much more predictable by both riders, and after racing at Rd1 of the http://www.aldershotmodelcarclub.net/ winter championship where lap times dropped by 1 second.

New Season New Chassis

2008-09-18T18:55:00.015+01:00

The team as of round 2 of the 2008 championship.

As you may well have noticed from the photos the team had now progressed to nylatron swingarms and the motor mounts have been integrated into the chassis.

The aim was to make to chassis as reliable as possible, the shock mounting position was still the same as the previous season as the problems had not yet been recognised.

The number one bike was changed to run in the supersport championship with the new brushless motors that were added in the closed season.
The number 2 bike was to run in the superstock championship with the standard brushed motors.
The number one bike had also changed the front forks over to KP desigins. This proved a boon as they were much more reliable than the previously run forks, they eliminated the problem of the forks twisting and then binding.

To The Track

2008-09-18T18:55:00.006+01:00

After the initial tests proved the concept a success it was off to the track again. This time with a modified rear suspension mounting point with the hope that this would help the rear work more efficiently. The modifications to the rear of the bike continued with a separate lay shaft for the final couple of rounds of the 2007 championship. This back fired however when unforeseen problems with the design reared their ugly head at the Aldershot round.

The problem was the chain tension could not be maintained through the travel of the rear swingarm causing the chain to jump off, coupled with the mounting point for the rear shock being too flat and not allowing the suspension to compress correctly.

This resulted in a bad finish to the season after a promising start.

Nylatron!!1

2008-09-18T03:37:00.022+01:00

Whilst at work an ex-engineer from Avon Tyres made the suggestion of looking into this blue plastic called Nylatron. A couple of days later he reappeared with a sample and the new concept was born.

Rather than make the chassis from twin plates it was decided to machine out the shape from a single piece where possible.

The headstock to the rear section were formed from a single piece with the batteries mounted at the front of the chassis to improve the front end grip and weight distribution. The motor mount was made from a single piece of alloy that was suspended from the Nylatron spine. The rear swing arm was from standard Thunder Tiger

Flexi Chassis 1

2008-09-18T03:37:00.020+01:00

The 1st of 2 flexi chassis was rolled out for the winter series with limited success.
While it was able to complete laps it was neither fast or reliable and suffered from the dreaded flex where by the wheel base was constantly altering.

This was countered the next weekend in the workshop with the use of more alloy braces and rivets.
This lead to flexi chassis 2.

Flexi Chassis 2

2008-09-18T03:37:00.019+01:00

Flexi Chassis 2 was essentially chassis 1 with added bracing in the headstock area and around the rear sub frame.
It was rolled out for the Brooklands round where it finished a noble 12th with the front forks needing tweaking by Jimbo "the bender" at the banked corner every lap.

After the race it was decided that no amount of bracing would make the alloy solid and other avenues were then investigated.

2008-09-18T03:37:00.006+01:00

This is one of the very early mockups of the RBp.

Notice the use of plasticard and the rotary engine.

Neither have made it to the full roll out stage.