Innovation in motorsport - Alive? 4XRWD!

[Blown_Imp]

Today I went to 'The Big One' at Shelsley Walsh, fantastic day of motorsport for not much dosh, well worth the travel

All of the usual hillclimb machinery was there, from 600cc specials right up to the Judd engined monsters.

In amongst all of this big money tech was a crazy car!











Todays event was after the crash and he is fine and racing again.

I had a chat with Karl Schollar the owner during the lunch break, really nice guy, pensioner! The car and event fees all come out of his pension so he only does Shelsley Walsh due to travel costs, 7 events per year and he manages to keep fees under £1000 a year!

The car was just fantastic, all home brewed for less than £4k, however he put a new engine in for this season which cost another £1000.

The car has a double suspended rear end, the four wheels are suspended together on one frame, then independantly they can pivot so each pair on one side can move, like a foden lorry!
It has ground effect tunnels on each side built from three ply, as is most of the rear wing

I'm also trying to find out about this one -



So is innovation still alive an well? Hell yeah, and i'm well fired up about it!

J

[Adam]

'Shelsley Specials'

Basically they were go karts a long time ago. Then the MSA kept introducing rules to ban them from hillclimbing.

They said racing cars had to have suspension, so they mounted the axle on rubber blocks.

They said a racing car had to have a minimum wheelbase of x mm, so they bolted another axle onto the back!

Amazing pieces of kit!

[Adam]

P.S. I'm competing at Shelsley on the 19th September if anyone fancies a day out?! Always a good range of machinery there! The shelsley specials were out there last year

[Blown_Imp]

I'll be damned if that is a go kart! Go karts cannot spin all four (!) wheels in second, or have ground effects

The fact that it has little wheels might make it look a little odd, but hey, it's all for a purpose

J

[Adam]

Aug 22, 2010 18:24:23 GMT Blown_Imp said:

I'll be damned if that is a go kart! Go karts cannot spin all four (!) wheels in second, or have ground effects

The fact that it has little wheels might make it look a little odd, but hey, it's all for a purpose

J

Haha! They've come a long way since the says of essentially being a large shifter kart! ;D

[Adam]

For lots more photos see:

www.zipp.co.uk/search/gallery/Karl+Schollar

And one photo of your mystery car:

www.zipp.co.uk/gallery/Shelsley-Walsh-2010-06-06/85+6429.jpg

[Blown_Imp]

Excellent! I have found out that Farley Mk. 2 is supercharged in some way

[Seth]

Yay for mad home-brew engineering!

[austinpowers]

Now I would love to see that going round the track at next years RR gathering.

[Blown_Imp]

I concur, it would set FTD by quite a long way I think! It is making me ponder the possibilities for my own hillclimb special?

[sammm]

Its always the hillclimbers isn't it?

[kee]

that looks incredibly terrifying and ace ;D

[HoTWire]

Reminds me of the Terrapin racers, but small!

[Adam]

Aug 23, 2010 9:01:31 GMT HoTWire said:

Reminds me of the Terrapin racers, but small!

The Terrapin was another approach at the same issue of getting from A to B up a hill as quickly and cheaply as possibly!

Gould - Terrapin (the first gould!)



A bit of a contrast to the last Gould, Basil Pitt's GR55B now owned by Alistair Crawford....


;D

[stealthstylz]

Another one. Hillclimb specials are immense.

This one looks like its Jag XJ based with a V8 and box chassis.



Matt

[Seth]

Front suspension looks like Herald to me

[sammm]

In the spirit of Jag powered Hill Climb cars;

Inspired by the pre-war Auto Union GP cars. Designed and built by former Jaguar Racing Chief Engineer Malcolm Oastler, between 2003 and 2006.

Specifications as follows.

* Engine ; Jaguar 5.3 litre V12. 6 Weber 40IDF Carburettors. Lumenition ignition. Approx. 320 bhp.
* Gearbox ; Porsche 911 G50. 5 speed + reverse.
* Chassis ; Tubular steel spaceframe with stressed engine.
* Front Suspension ; Rocker and lower wishbone. Inboard spring/dampers.
* Front Hubs & Brakes ; Jaguar XJ6
* Rear Suspension ; De-dion tube axle.
* Rear Hubs & Brakes ; BMW 5-series
* Wheels & Tyres ; Front 19” x 4” with Dunlop Racing 6.50 x 19. Rear 19” x 4.5” Dunlop Racing 7.00 x 19
* Dampers ; Koni 8211
* Body ; Hand formed aluminium.

www.unionjag.com/

[Adam]

Aug 23, 2010 10:40:23 GMT stealthstylz said:

Another one. Hillclimb specials are immense.

This one looks like its Jag XJ based with a V8 and box chassis.



Matt

Matt, thats the Jagernaught (as the name of the picture suggests at a second look ).

Its actually from the channel islands and is a Sand Racing Special. They race over here from time to time however only on special invitation AFAIK as the pedal box is in front of the front axle line.

Have another couple, I took these photos at the Channel Islands hillclimbs in 2008...





And yes... they run banded steels!

[TerraRoot]

[HARDCORE]

Aug 23, 2010 11:06:13 GMT TerraRoot said:

I was just searching my folders for a pic of that! Saw it a Brighton Speed Trials last year (same as Speedman evidently!) - went like a rocket!