Flying in the face of Conventional Wisdom...?

[glasshorsevh]

Ok, we know what you're thinking... WRONG, WRONG.. , but isn't this late-sixties/earl-seventies Trans-AM racing? ...and where is the power plant supposed to be? We at "Tiny Alice Racing" dare anyone to build a Corvair with the motor behind the rear axle and enter it!


Val

[waaytoomuchintothis]

It can work. I did a front motor, front wheel drive chassis once that was such a failure I couldn't even enter it as a joke in the Mini Proxy. But motors behind the rear axle works fine. Today's tiny motors mean you could do it in 1/32nd as a sidewinder.

Years ago, someone did a tractor-trailer truck with rears driven by sidewinders in front and rear of the tandem axle in 1/24th. It was long enough ago that I think I saw it in a picture in Car Model or Model Car & Racing.

[BARC 1]

I applaud your effort, and will one day attempt the same, knowing full well that there is a reason slot cars and configured they way they are( mid engined)

Cheers

Dan

[BARC 1]

I just reconfigured my chassis so the Porsche 911 has the motor behind the wheels in the spirit of your effort.

Cheers

Dan

[glasshorsevh]

A bold "move" by Barc Racing! Last nights testing on the front motor chassis was very encouraging.

[TuscoTodd]

I like it!
(and that is one CLEAN looking chassis build!)
:text-bravo:

[glasshorsevh]

Thanks guys for the moral support... Here's a bit of an update...

After the initial testing, I decided to change the front end configuration. I just didn't like the way the front wheels rolled, so I did some cutting and added some square brass tube instead.. This was done in one piece, and once soldered, it was then cut to size for the twin axle stubs (and stops) giving it independant rolling front wheels.. With a real car, weight jacking is done regularly to obtain better traction either side to side or front to back. Because the front motor car would be inherently front heavy, I decided on a slightly backwards rake to get weight transfer to the rear wheels coming out of a corner instead of just adding more lead to the rear ballast tray. Yup, it does raise the center of gravity a bit, but the rear is very low (still within the rules).

Let me say hear that drive train alignment is REALLY touchy with this thing. I used the forged PM brackets hoping that keeping everything strait would be easier... but, the alignment still seems to depend on correct torque procedure on the motor mounting screws, a small shim in the lower front left, and a whole lot of fussing with it to get it tight and right. I am using a ScaleAuto 26 tooth gear and a ScaleAuto 9 tooth aluminum pinion with the hope of cutting down on vibration with the use of the long drive shaft. I usually use Slot-it gears, but I'm warming up to these.

Results so far? The chassis itself is outrunning last years entry (cheers from the team in attendance at "Tobiano Raceway Park")!!! Although encouraging, one must keep in mind that Tiny Alice Racing came in at the bottom of the O2 list in 2016 (ball point spring front suspension wasn't such a hot idea I guess). We'll see what happens with the '65 Monogram Barracuda body mounted up. We really want to redeam ourselves at PDR.......



Val

[HomeRacingWorld]

Good job. Seeing this approach is fun as I do things against "the norm" often.

Sometimes the build itself is the most fun.

[Abarth Mike]

[glasshorsevh]

Pretty cool Mike... How did it run?

Val...

[Abarth Mike]

I did it as an engineering exercise. Those little motors don't have much grunt so it goes OK but doesn't stop. Noisy as well as it is geared very low.

But now you have asked I'll dig it out again and give it a spin at the week-end.

[Retro Racer 44]

Somewhere in the Devis3D Design use thread, I posted pics of a Panoz LeMans roadster that I built a front engined brass chassis for. I used the D3D pod for the motor and front axle and then the drive shaft back to a home built rear bracket. The teflon one I first posted didn't line up right so I made a brass one instead. The pod floats and provides good handling. It is a bit heavy and I must try it again with a lighter chassis, but it is my goto front engined car when our club runs that class.