KRF Truck Racing League

[NQMT]

Ok LordBanjo:

Say your album's URL is: imgur.com/a/AbCdE

You do [ imgur]AbCdE[/ imgur] (without spaces)

[Koolkei]

Right, lets start from the top:

(I'm writing my responses now, bear with me)

@LordBanjo

1. Your truck is in clear violation of height restrictions.

- your cab floor (and therefore your cab) is below the wheel line.

- Your truck overall is too low - it must reach a height of minimum 1 Long I-Beam

- please note that you are using an odd resolution which makes the screenshot seem squashed so I cannot tell the actual height of your vehicle. However, it looks smaller than the cargo on top of the trailer is, which is an indication that something isn't tall enough.

2. Trailers are NOT part of the race - they are only required to demonstrate that your vehicle IS in fact a useable cargo transporter.

- Your trailer may be a flatbed trailer if you prefer, however you DO need fixed railings on it to secure the load - use I-BEAMS or panels, that's up to you.

- No Powered wheels on the trailer for obvious reasons. We are measuring performance of the truck not the trailer after all

3. Rear spoiler is to be mounted on a structure extending from the tail section of your truck. The thing you attach your back wing to must NOT be part of the ''load-bearing'' Chassis or overall structure.

You said that your truck wheelies when you unlock the Klaw. It does sound like you need a 4 wheeled trailer, with a set of wheels at the front.

Alternatively, you need to change the structure of your truck so that the trailer and it's weight is spread OVER the back wheels, as opposed to BEHIND them. I will have to put that to the test myself to be honest but at least in theory it should work.

It looks like you are were going for a Class-6 truck - in which case a full 44.444 ton load will be a little bit much for your vehicle. Trucks overall have the CoG offset towards the front of the vehicle. This is perfectly natural - my truck during braking stands on the front wheels only due to KSP physics.

@Koolkei

All 6 of your truck wheels can (and I suspect due to competition between races, SHOULD) be powered. However, your trailer wheels should not be powered at all. Some might argue this is irrelevant since you are not racing with the trailer anyway - but in principle, you are not allowed powered wheels outside of your truck.

As for the RCS placement, I meant the back of the truck itself, as in the overall structure or what is recognized as the ''tail'' section. I might allow RCS placement on the cab or on TOP of the cab - if you want to have RCS coming out of your exhaust pipes, that's fine. Do it if you want to, it will look cool.

so...

the 6t minimal only have to pull the small cargo??

bold mine nearly doesnt just have to put enough weight closer to the center of the truck

my truck is pretty much done.... if not for the weight.....

mine only weighs 5.33t.

need some ballast somewhere

Edited April 9, 2014 by Koolkei

[NQMT]

If you need quick ballast, the Oscar-Bs on Cubic Octagonal Struts are great.

[GROOV3ST3R]

Well...

Considering that the average weight of a semi-truck is around 7 tonnes for the vehicle itself and cargo can go anywhere up to around 80 tonnes, a 6t vehicle hauling a 44t cargo wouldn't be unheard of. Since this is KSP, I might change it so that class-6 trucks are only required to pull a total of 22.222t.

It' a gray area.

That truck still looks a little low... can you put up a comparison between the height of your vehicle and the vertical long I-Beam?

Also, I would advise you to put that trailer mount somewhat closer to the cab.

[Lord Banjo]

Moving the Klaw even further forward would help.

Looking at the Banjomobile now it is to short overall and the cab is below the top of the wheels.

44 tons is reasonable for a 6 ton truck IMO.

How much affect does drag from non control surfaces affect speed? I don't have anything to compare with.

Anyone else have a truck trailer prototype yet? I know this is competitive, but learning some from each each others designs can't hurt.

Are there any rules about changing our trucks after the first or any race(s)?

Edited April 10, 2014 by Lord Banjo
Harebrained Nonsensical Gibberish and new questions.

[hermanberk]

i have built one, ill post it later together with my truck

[GROOV3ST3R]

Well, I just emptied the rcs tanks on my truck and found it to be 3t lighter than it should be. So I'm considering counting in the weight of RCS fuel into the total mass of the vehicle.

But then that mass will change and I don't want people to just burn through all their RCS halfway through the lap to lose weight like that.

So I will have to weigh my truck down as well ^^

[Koolkei]

Well...

Considering that the average weight of a semi-truck is around 7 tonnes for the vehicle itself and cargo can go anywhere up to around 80 tonnes, a 6t vehicle hauling a 44t cargo wouldn't be unheard of. Since this is KSP, I might change it so that class-6 trucks are only required to pull a total of 22.222t.

It' a gray area.

That truck still looks a little low... can you put up a comparison between the height of your vehicle and the vertical long I-Beam?

Also, I would advise you to put that trailer mount somewhat closer to the cab.

owh...

nevermind that anyway... mine still could pull 50t+(heavy cargo+trailer), while the truck itself weigh only 5.33t without ballast

Well, I just emptied the rcs tanks on my truck and found it to be 3t lighter than it should be. So I'm considering counting in the weight of RCS fuel into the total mass of the vehicle.

But then that mass will change and I don't want people to just burn through all their RCS halfway through the lap to lose weight like that.

So I will have to weigh my truck down as well ^^

heh? 3t worth of RCS? how much do you have?

mine only have 80 unit of RCS fuel......

like .3t only......

Edited April 10, 2014 by Koolkei

[Koolkei]

here's my TUGTRUCK

ready for inspection

it's 98% ready.....

the last 2%?

GROOV3ST3R please determine the RCS fuel limit that we are allowed to carry.

mine weigh 5.73t (without the RCS, with, it's exactly 6.05t, for now that is)

the last .3t is space for either more RCS fuel or more ballast. depending on the rules.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

here's the file...

TUGTRUCK

just a few notes

1. the trailer has it's own core, actually only to be able to lower the holding gear/leg on itself (but it doesnt have any external batteries except the ones inside the cargo)

2. action group 1 to 4 for the lighting stuff. i was too lazy to note down which do what...... so try it out yourself

[GROOV3ST3R]

Im thinking of about 600 units of RCS maximum, but your truck must weigh at least 6t or 12t without any RCS in the tanks. Aside, it's not a bad looking thing ^^

[Lord Banjo]

Koolkei-

Awesome Rig! Looks way better then mine.....

Why didn't i do all my tests with a probe core? That would have saved some time.

What is the part count? I would like to try it out but my computer is slow.

General question. How do i move the FAR/ Kerbal engineer box/ window?

[GROOV3ST3R]

To move the Toolbar window, you need to click on the little arrow and then select ''Unlock position'' option. Then click and drag to move it around and when you are done, click the arrow again and lock the toolbar.

On the side:

Here's what I came up with:

The trailer with cargo weighs 56t. With the truck weighing in at a whopping 14.4t fully RCS fuelled, the rig weighs in at 70.4t. Surprisingly mobile at that speed. I had to reinforce the ARM heavily, as well as the trailer itself, in order to minimize bending and dipping.

The trailer itself has landing gear which starts deployed. It has no core of it's own, though. I put lights on it which share their action groups with truck lights, so when I indicate right/left, brake, put on hazards or activate main lights, the trailer does the same when it's hitched. Overall not bad, though the load LOVEs to swivel out of control and tip the trailer over a lot. Oh well, you live and you learn.

This also means that you are allowed to place the rear wing anywhere in the ''rear'' section of the vehicle. As long as it is clearly hanging over the tail section, over the edge/bumper or over the trailer hitch, it is legal

Edited April 10, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R

[Lord Banjo]

-Groov3st3r

On the SIDE!?!?!?!

I am at a loss of words. Enough said.

I'm not even going to ask about the part count....

[GROOV3ST3R]

The trailer I believe is 363 parts or so. The truck is a little over 260. I'll check that though and tell you just how many parts it has.

I also had the pervious two iterations of the truck loaded into that save so my frames were a little sluggish. Normally though I would be able to drive this about without too many issues.

Tyres though - and overall stress levels - are reaching the breaking point. If I turn too vigorously I might rip the trailer wheels off just doing that - if not, then I risk toppling it which pulls the truck along for a roll about ,splitting it in half..... sideways. Not just into front and back sections, but left and right as well. At one point, I crashed in such a weird way, that my engine simply fell out - almost undamaged - while the rest of the truck was like a peeled orange.

Edited April 10, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R

[Lord Banjo]

Wow that is a lot of parts, but it does look nice.

I run in the yellow with 2 100 part cabs loaded.

Comparison of designs. Is there anything wrong with what i have built so far? (vs not added)

[Koolkei]

Im thinking of about 600 units of RCS maximum, but your truck must weigh at least 6t or 12t without any RCS in the tanks. Aside, it's not a bad looking thing ^^

that was it (but we are only doing 1 lap each track right?)

IMO RCS more that 160 units for class-6 truck are useless, just dead weight, and 240 units for class-12.

really 600 is IMO way over the diminishing return for the exchange of extra speed @ the price of extra weight.

and my truck could be easily added more weight with that tank in the middle filled up to 75% or more.

so besides the weight issue. my truck passes for the race right?

that was one of my top 5 best aesthetically looking craft i've made

and being in my mind that this one is made to be as barebone as possible to keep the part count low. while keeping the CoG as low as possible.

(notice the wheels attach point arent inline with the structure beam? instead higher by half a cubic strut size.)

getting a 'not bad' from you actually means a lot to me thx

barely any other aesthetic stuff besides the cab part itself, the bumper and the lights..

Koolkei-

Awesome Rig! Looks way better then mine.....

Why didn't i do all my tests with a probe core? That would have saved some time.

What is the part count? I would like to try it out but my computer is slow.

General question. How do i move the FAR/ Kerbal engineer box/ window?

1. lol, so you have to load it with kerbal first to test it?

2. not so bad. it's actually lower than the cargo itself. was it 137 only (FYI im running KSP on an AMD quad core low clock speed laptop, the least optimal spec for running KSP)

3.click that 'white box' and choose unlock tab or something, after that you could drag it anywhere, but lock it again when you're done.

Wow that is a lot of parts, but it does look nice.

I run in the yellow with 2 100 part cabs loaded.

http://i.imgur.com/bUxAftn.png

Comparison of designs. Is there anything wrong with what i have built so far? (vs not added)

http://i.imgur.com/DykimSY.png

that.....

no offence but that looked like a buffed up buggy??

with added capability of tugging a trailer.

on the other side.... that could be able to be seen as a retro 50's/60's buffed up racing truck

[hermanberk]

Here is my entry:

Truck: Kerbworth

Team: Karterbang Team

Specs and features are in the video

pics:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Video:

[Koolkei]

Here is my entry:

Truck: Kerbworth

Team: Karterbang Team

Specs and features are in the video

pics:

http://imgur.com/a/CMAYQ

Video:

just a couple of question

1. that's in the class-12 right?

2. that's not the correct type of lamp required is it?

3. that's a lot of part...... how much is it?

4. well it only require us to make the cab only to survive any kind of impact.. but still, isn't it a lot of things tearing off on collision??

[hermanberk]

just a couple of question

1. that's in the class-12 right?

2. that's not the correct type of lamp required is it?

3. that's a lot of part...... how much is it?

4. well it only require us to make the cab only to survive any kind of impact.. but still, isn't it a lot of things tearing off on collision??

1. Its indeed in the class-12

2. indeed it is! didn't spot that, but does it really matter? because it emits more light than the mk-2, which is what i think headlights should do (and i kinda like these more).

3. it does have alot of parts yes, it has 229

4. this is only in "extreme" conditions, a normal head on collision only destroys the indicator lights upfront.

[GROOV3ST3R]

I really like that submission ^^ Well done hermanberk, I hope it will draw some more people into this challenge Your truck looks pretty good, sturdy and all.

I might post a video of my own truck as well, it seems like a neat idea

On the side:

You are allowed to put some spoilers on the truck for slightly more downforce. Also, you can increase the turning range on the front axle if you wish to do so.

Other than that, really well done. We now have 4 trucks in the competition, when we get around 8, we will open the first race and begin the championship!

@Koolkei

Maybe 600 units is a little much but bear in mind that you can then burn RCS throughout the entire race and you have 6 RCS ports to burn through it all. That's only 100 units per port. You should get through all that fairly quickly. I will limit RCS to half that on Class-6 trucks though.

[hermanberk]

well, i would increase the turning range but it will flip if i do that , ill try to add downforce and see if that will help

[Lord Banjo]

The Banjomobile is down right ugly compared to these. I will consider redoing the cab and hopefully more. I have lots of ground clearance i don't need...

Trying to get a friend to build a truck. We will see if that happens.

[GROOV3ST3R]

Sure, go for it ^^ And recruit as many people as you can/want - it will only help. We need to get traffic going through, keep the challenge on top and hopefully keep people interested with constant updates and stuff.

Herman, you can always try pressing Caps Lock to enter the smooth control mode. It will slow down your reactions on ALL controls - including rover controls. Alternatively, check if you can drop the CoG without altering the exterior of your truck. Maybe a slightly wider wheelbase would help you out?

[Koolkei]

1. Its indeed in the class-12

2. indeed it is! didn't spot that, but does it really matter? because it emits more light than the mk-2, which is what i think headlights should do (and i kinda like these more).

3. it does have alot of parts yes, it has 229

4. this is only in "extreme" conditions, a normal head on collision only destroys the indicator lights upfront.

b-b-but the regulation said you HAVE to have a mk2 attached on front. then the extra light could be anything you want

eh wow

mine have only like 60% part counts of yours.....

I really like that submission ^^ Well done hermanberk, I hope it will draw some more people into this challenge Your truck looks pretty good, sturdy and all.

I might post a video of my own truck as well, it seems like a neat idea

On the side:

You are allowed to put some spoilers on the truck for slightly more downforce. Also, you can increase the turning range on the front axle if you wish to do so.

Other than that, really well done. We now have 4 trucks in the competition, when we get around 8, we will open the first race and begin the championship!

@Koolkei

Maybe 600 units is a little much but bear in mind that you can then burn RCS throughout the entire race and you have 6 RCS ports to burn through it all. That's only 100 units per port. You should get through all that fairly quickly. I will limit RCS to half that on Class-6 trucks though.

but did you test how long it would burn the RCS until it's depleted.

i tested mine. 80 units of RCS burned with 6 ports last like 25-30 seconds. that's on straightaways.

most of the tracks would include turning right? i doubt people are gonna burn RCS for more than 40 seconds. unless they burned all the way through the corners.

but i highly doubt that, since we are racing trucks that have relatively high CoG that would make us roll easily.

what about 300 max for the class-6?

and double that for class-12?

well, i would increase the turning range but it will flip if i do that , ill try to add downforce and see if that will help

try distributing the weight closer to wheels/side, instead on the center of the truck

Sure, go for it ^^ And recruit as many people as you can/want - it will only help. We need to get traffic going through, keep the challenge on top and hopefully keep people interested with constant updates and stuff.

Herman, you can always try pressing Caps Lock to enter the smooth control mode. It will slow down your reactions on ALL controls - including rover controls. Alternatively, check if you can drop the CoG without altering the exterior of your truck. Maybe a slightly wider wheelbase would help you out?

wider wheelbase would also help. but with consideration it would take up more space and you have less space to manouver

[GROOV3ST3R]

b-b-but the regulation said you HAVE to have a mk2 attached on front. then the extra light could be anything you want

what about 300 max for the class-6?

and double that for class-12?

That's what it is at the moment.

And tracks will take you a fair amount of time to go through. I might up the RCS thruster limit to burn through it quicker.