Drag racing idea

[life_on_venus]

5 minutes ago, SpannerMonkey(smce) said:

I've a feeling those that can do exactly that are in the minority,   yes almost anyone can build one but the setting up and fine details in order to get it to perform are things that only come with experience and time, and elude most people completely.  I can't think of a more restrictive spec for a challenge and reduces the number of potential competitors from dozens to a handful .

Ah I guess so. Mind you, I'm not that good at the setup myself. I'm really liking Azimech's config edits though, it seems more exciting than just sticking on some batteries and rover wheels that make no torque. And seriously, the regular rover wheels only go 30m/s, which is less than 70mph. Here in England that's the speed we drive normal cars on motorways  surely a space agency could come up with some kerbin-only wheels capable of 100m/s?

[Azimech]

28 minutes ago, life_on_venus said:

Would Turboshaft powered cars be eligible for something like this?

All of my old designs may not work because I just reinstalled CKAN and changed some mods around, but thinking if I can whip up a tuboshaft powered car then I'd imagine it would be pretty easy for others to do as well. Plus then we would have things like engine bearing failures and all that good stuff! I would of course use landing gear as my front wheels to provide precise steering control.

 

Yesterday I was building a frame for exactly such a thing, so yes. Don't expect them to be quick though.

[life_on_venus]

23 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Yesterday I was building a frame for exactly such a thing, so yes. Don't expect them to be quick though.

Yeah I just had a few minutes playing around just with rotating wheels and using rover wheels to pull the thing and it is a lot of effort

[Azimech]

Building is good dragster isn't easy. Neither is driving one.

I had one earlier that could do 211m/s and be stable. Too bad I frakked stuff up.

Still busy balancing engine output ... it ain't easy.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Azimech

[Azimech]

But I remedied the situation by making it longer. It's fine now.

[SasquatchM]

I was thinking it would be cool to have an engine designing and balance mod for the Dakar, but Drag racing? I approve sir!

[Triop]

I've already created a dragster roll cage.

Took me all day.

 

[Azimech]

This looks better. And a max of 7.3 G's ... wow.

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by Azimech

[SasquatchM]

 Just a couple of ideas about an engine mod:

Have a base part with node on either side to stack - each of these could represent 2 cylinders and could be stacked with additional parts to create larger engines

Have each engine part have a tweakable cylinder size - larger cylinders give greater power but generate more heat and burn fuel more quickly

A transmission part that has a tweakable power curve that coverts the engine output to a useable resource by the wheels ( this may involve actual custom code outside of just a cfg)

 

 

 

There was more, but I was up all night with a migraine, so my brain isn't quite where it should be.

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

3 hours ago, SasquatchM said:

Have a base part with node on either side to stack - each of these could represent 2 cylinders and could be stacked with additional parts to create larger engines

That's exactly what I was thinking, and I'd be well up for making some engine elements.  and some proper Drag wheels  fatties for the rear and bicycle style fronts,  with approved cfg of course

I think I've got it now, the exhaust is not for show  it's those engines the produce the torque for the wheels

7 hours ago, Azimech said:

This looks better. And a max of 7.3 G's ... wow.

That is stunning , the way it disappeared down the runway  so much resembles the real thing

[DoctorDavinci]

@Azimech - seriously, this is so awesome ... love it

Can't wait to see how this whole idea turns out

Just fantastic ... I tip my touque in your general direction ... well done sir 

[Triop]

Waiting for the engine, bring it on !

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

2 minutes ago, Triop said:

Waiting for the engine, bring it on

Me too

 

I see that you're getting the hang of the tubes, must finish those wheel mount parts

[DarkOwl57]

I'm thinking about making an entry... Fast, light (It's basically a Go-Kart), and ready for a fight

Give me a few hours to finish school and get home

[Azimech]

5 hours ago, SasquatchM said:

 Just a couple of ideas about an engine mod:

Have a base part with node on either side to stack - each of these could represent 2 cylinders and could be stacked with additional parts to create larger engines

Have each engine part have a tweakable cylinder size - larger cylinders give greater power but generate more heat and burn fuel more quickly

A transmission part that has a tweakable power curve that coverts the engine output to a useable resource by the wheels ( this may involve actual custom code outside of just a cfg)

There was more, but I was up all night with a migraine, so my brain isn't quite where it should be.

 

That's exactly what I've been doing: the base part is a reconfigured hex probe core for an engine block which you can stack, the "cylinders" were fuel cells, transformed into jet engines without a nozzle for the conversion of resources into torque and you can place as much as you want (want to build a radial, go ahead). The idea is you need a supercharger element for every two cylinders, they consume torque so you don't want more than you really need. By the way, the supercharger has the typical high-pitched whine and overheats quickly. The exhaust stacks were SRB's, they only produce noise and visual effects.

There is no transmission, the real drag racers use a clutch. This simplifies the whole thing in KSP. The idea is to have one type of rear wheels, the amount of cylinders directly translates to the available torque and thus acceleration and max speed. I have chosen no power curve at all, not for the engines and neither for the wheels. The real engines run at one RPM (max) during a run. Again, this simplifies everything for use in KSP.

Building an engine maybe the easier part of the challenge ... building a fast frame with good downforce/drag values and having it controllable, that's going to be the sport. Plus watching your fuel consumption and temperatures.

I'm at my girlfriends place right now, when home I'll continue to try and develop some kind of logic based on the stock modules to create the typical sound effect when the engine is at idle. I'm probably going to have to visualize a random number generator without using mathematics - if the stock fuel flow logic permits it.

2 hours ago, SpannerMonkey(smce) said:

That's exactly what I was thinking, and I'd be well up for making some engine elements.  and some proper Drag wheels  fatties for the rear and bicycle style fronts,  with approved cfg of course

I think I've got it now, the exhaust is not for show  it's those engines the produce the torque for the wheels

That is stunning , the way it disappeared down the runway  so much resembles the real thing

 

Yep, those "cylinders"  provide the torque. I forgot to say though, the real drag racers produce ~4-5 kN of downforce from their exhaust stacks. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered this, I had already given them 0.6 kN thrust.

In near future I'll resize the front wheels both in dimensions and shape, the rear wheels are a bit too big as well. But everything in kerbal is oversized anyway.

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

9 minutes ago, Azimech said:

By the way, the supercharger has the typical high-pitched whine and overheats quickly.

There's so many things to like about this whole affair the above just being another  , I find myself wearing a silly grin every time I read something new here

[life_on_venus]

Azimech, I really like the way you've used stock models and textures here, I imagine it uses hardly any RAM? Triop, your roll cages are very cool as well. Any chance we can have them in a range of colours for different teams?

 

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

7 minutes ago, life_on_venus said:

Triop, your roll cages are very cool

They are actually built from this mod

 

[life_on_venus]

10 minutes ago, SpannerMonkey(smce) said:

They are actually built from this mod

 

Ohh cool, I may play around with it

[Azimech]

 

Good news everyone!

I'm close to a 0.1 release of the drag racing mod.

 

KerbPaint just had an update ... some old bugs are still there but it's usable. All parts in the mod will be paintable.

In the next picture: what happens if you keep the engine running at full power. Overheat damage disabled.

 

I've used KerbPaint for clarification in this next picture.

All yellow parts are stock, all black and red parts will be part of the mod. All parts are stock models & textures, resized or reshaped and with a custom function.

This includes these tiny fuel lines you see from the supercharger to the "cylinder heads".

 

Right now I'm trying to solve a fuel flow mystery. It's probably got to do with the fact I'm using ModuleEngines instead of ModuleEnginesFX for the cylinders. ModuleEnginesFX or AudioFX has a bug and won't accept my custom engine sound.

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

[Azimech]

 

[Triop]

Nice use of parts and kerbpaint.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by Triop

[Azimech]

Solved the fuel flow problem. Cause was buffers too small, freaking out the system. Now I have to downgrade the engines again, I just reached Mach 1 on the runway ... with a V8.

 

By the way, the mod is also excellent for tractor pulling ... just did a test with it XD

Edited January 11, 2017 by Azimech

[Azimech]

This is version 0.1 of Pull & Drag. At the moment it's very OP but you'll get an idea of what's possible.

I've included an example craft file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbxzfi7r7c3r48d/77I_Pull_n_Drag_0_1.zip?dl=0

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

HA HA you funny man, certainly not giving anything away in the demo craft!   I love the engine but the car it's in....   First trials have been hilarious in the level of incompetence shown by the driver, a return to the workshop saw me stretch it a little which improved things, added a touch of locked off down force and made it, albeit at pedestrian speeds  (163ms) down to the end of the runway. I like that you've held true to the fact that drag engines have practically zero cooling and take forever to cool enough to be touched by bare paws. 

The only thing i don't like much is the off on nature of the torque, a little more build up would be nice, but that I know is a personal thing, and I'll certainly get used to the way it is ....eventually.   

Op agreed and there's a little issue with reverting, which i reckon many will be doing over the next few days, if you revert to launch after a disastrous run, the compressed air is depleted and the engine flames out,  currently it's not a problem but for events,  using hyper edit to top up things will undoubtedly  be frowned upon