In the case of the prototype it represents an evolution of the F2004 in every aspect. A lot more effort to the project has paid off with a much more accurate and well designed machine. The car’s basic structure is the same as the old one, with composite monocoque and a longitudinal mounted engine. The main difference with the F2004 is the greater use of composite materials and more complex suspension systems and steering. Hence, the model required a deeper design phase and longer time either for design and manufacturing. In addition, a development period has been added to the Project, so the car can be improved with several modifications once it has been run for first time.
External dimensions of the real car were took from a officially licensed scale model of the R26. This served to model a master assembly of the prototype using the correct ration between the real car’s size and the prototype. This steep was kind of a initial design stage, or global definition of the car. Once, the main devices were placed into the CAD model, a deeper design phase started in order to design every single component of the car. Hundreds of components are combined to obtain the assembly, which took 6 months to be finished.
Once the design was finished, hundreds of drawings and templates had to be printed out and used for manufacturing. Most of the templates were used for the models and moulds that would produce the actual composite parts. Therefore, for every component, a minimum of a pattern and a mould have to be made.
Manufacturing
Due to the high number of components, the manufacturing process of this car has been long. There are several process that need to be used, such as wet-layup, machining, welding, metal sheet bending and welding, etc.
Some of these process require external companies to manufacture the parts for me. Those parts, are usually difficult to machine and require small tolerances.
On the other hand, some components were of the shell parts. These components are common RC parts like dampers, gears.
All the composite parts were made in house, using wet lay up and sometimes, it was followed by vacuum bag process. Most of the composite parts are made out of various parts which are bonded together. This fact, increases the number of actual parts that are built.
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Engine: OS 30 VG
Max. Rpm / Peak Power: 40.000 rpm / 3 CV
Driveline: RWD. Centrifugal clutch. No differential.
Brakes: Rear brake discs on each wheel. Front brake discs on each wheel. Independent front / rear hydraulic master cylinders.
Chassis: Glass fiber moncoque. Aluminum / carbon fiber rear structure.
Bodywork and wings: Glass fiber, polycarbonate and aluminum
Front suspension: Double Unequal A-arm with push rod. Torsion bars. Antiroll bar.
Rear suspension: Double Unequal A-arm with push rod. Torsion bars. Antiroll bar. Third spring and damper.
Weight: 6,0 kg
Dimensions: 940 x 360 x 190 [mm]
Testing and future work
A ready to run version of the car was finished by the end of December 2008. This car was tested a few days after, to shake down all the components and systems. Some problems became clear and the car was retrofited with new components.
On August 2009 the painting was finalized and the car wasready to be tested. Testing was first performed during September 2009, and is being done until now. Some changes are taking place to improve performance and reliability.
The future development of the car will be very useful to learn about racing car handling and performance. A mini data logger system will be installed and data collected compared with a computerized simulation. It will be used to experiment with different set-ups and improve the overall performance of the car. The simulation was coded in Matlab language and can optimize suspension set up for a given maneuver.
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