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KRF Formula K World Championship


NQMT

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It will be interesting to see how light cars like yours compare against heavier ones. Acceleration might be better but then with more weight comes more traction. Got any performance teasers?

Thus far: Slow to accelerate, reasonable top speed (I have not reached it yet, it accelerates VERY slowly), very quick to turn, stable. (I had difficulty rolling it for crash testing)

The car accelerates at an acceptable rate with RCS.

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I have reached a similar conclusion. Looks like your design made me rethink my own solution. I can give you a tip - put small nose cones on that RCS fuel tank to ensure lowest possible drag. That should help you out a little.

It does look like lowering your weight helps out immensely with performance of the vehicle - I thought increased weight might improve traction but since we have wings for downforce, all weight is, is an inconvenience. My main issue now is to try and eradicate all unnecessary components whilst keeping the driver safe from any kind of impact. That is proving challenging to say the least.

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BRT-C01

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My initial entry, it will probably change a bit by the first race. This will be updated if it does change.

EDIT: After experimenting with decreased mass (0.6t less), it appears that increased mass does help traction and thus handling. However, the speed/acceleration benefit from a lighter car seems to outweigh that.

EDIT2: Only in Kerbal Space Program could a lighter car be less maneuverable.

Edited by DisarmingBaton5
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Everything is relative. The angling on your control surfaces prior to the race is very important. Too much angle will cause excess drag instead of providing negative lift to keep your car on the ground. At lower speeds you might want more angle, but then I am not so sure about the overall effect of that since you would greatly increase potential high speed drag.

What I found was that a very low angle on my control surfaces seems to do the trick. As for maneuverability, length of the vehicle is key here. Your car, although looking great, is also very long. I say ''very long'' - it's of normal length, but for the purpose of the race, it's on the longer end of the scale. You could compensate by slightly shortening your wheelbase, without having to alter your chassis.

EDIT:

Alteration to vehicle submission.

Recent submissions have prompted a re-design of my own vehicle. I have come to the realisation that 1.9 tonnes is not an appropriate weight for a racing car. Here is the resulting design I will be using this season:

BOXX-CART UT-i7 SPORT

Dry weight: 915 kg (that's right, I shaved off 815 kg off the total weight)

Total weight: 1115 kg

The basic chassis of the car remains the same. However, the structure of the space frame has been altered. Beams have been replaced with struts and molded into a nicer shape. Heavy reactors were removed and replaced with an altogether new and radical solution - photovoltaic panels. This allows me to keep the weight down whilst allowing for full power to all wheels, even in sub-optimal lighting. Readjusted spoilers and added extra crumple zones for better protection of the driver.

Centre of gravity is so low that I have trouble flipping this car in corners. when it DOES flip, the roll cage begins to peel off bit by bit, absorbing impacts and protecting the driver from any nasty collisions. Wheels can snap off as a result, however, you wouldn't honestly hope for a good lap time after a crash - car can be rebuilt, but there is only 1 randomly generated Camrod Kerman. And I intend to keep him for a long time to come ^^ In effect, this car has working crumple zones.

Changes have also brought the costs down to $52k, which is nice.

Pics:

zkzv.png

byp2.png

eknq.png

Speed run:

q0kg.png

So that is that. I simply can't stop developing it now but I will have to force myself to leave it as it is xD

Edited by GROOV3ST3R
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Thanks ^^

Megasnip lol.

You are right to be concerned, the craft will run out of electricity in the dark faster than you can say ''Jebediah''. Kyrian said that I won't need the lights on my car - hence why I am assuming a daytime GP. Plan is to run the car in optimal conditions - if I did that, I might be able to shave even more weight off anyway.

I like your design too, everyone has had their own idea ^^ And now we are competing and racing to develop an even better vehicle than before. This season will be a fun filled one ^^

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Okay, the final re-design. It weighs EXACTLY 1.718 tons full (as the RCS is only 0.375 full it's definately fine for weight, and the lightening has worked.)

It's now the BWRC T1 G1 M3 (or the Blue Witch Racing Company Type One Generation One Mark Three)

8UFc08W.png

No large wing foul ups for me this time!

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RCS fuel in the FL10 tank weighs 200kg.

Other than that,I don't think it's actually possible to reach 25m/s on power alone. However, with a light and aerodynamic vehicle, you can reach 50+ on RCS. This needs more testing.

EDIT: I will repost my updated craft in the original craft post.

Edited by GROOV3ST3R
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I made some changes to the car. First, as almost every one of us did, I changed the 4 RTGs for 7 solar panels. The car is made to run with day light, so if there is a night race I will have to place some batteries. Then, I replaced the heavy I-beams from the roll cage with cubic struts to reduce drag and weight.

The car now weights 1.04tn and its name changed to "SP09".

vLu4qcJ.png

hmDLwjN.png

Also, when I was testing I made something like a diffuser that made the Drag coefficient went from 0.750 to 0.500. I don't really know how this would affect the performance but it seems to be pretty efficient.

r7dy69H.png

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Frafor, the rules state that a maximum of 2 small surfaces be used on the rear of the car.

For now, that diffuser is illegal, but next season I'll change it to 3 or 4.

I'll post the Season 2 rules and regs after race 3 or 4 to give everyone time to develop.

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Frafor, the rules state that a maximum of 2 small surfaces be used on the rear of the car.

For now, that diffuser is illegal, but next season I'll change it to 3 or 4.

I'll post the Season 2 rules and regs after race 3 or 4 to give everyone time to develop.

The final version has only 2 surfaces on the rear wing, the diffuser was only a test I made.

About rally, it might be interesting to do something like that when the season ends. Maybe an offroad race across the Mun craters?

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Well, it would certainly pose new challenges, such as transport, accommodation for drivers, garages, what to do in case you wreck your cars etc. I mean, you can't fix a vehicle in KSP.

Why are these things an issue? Well, you wouldn't want to base a KSP rally around the Space Center alone, would you? There are much nicer places to drive on. However, not many places which are genuine tracks to navigate. You'd have to mark out your own track or use a predetermined savegame with locations and tracks already laid out.

It might happen in the future, but for now, we will focus on track racing rather than rallying.

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Well said, GROOV3ST3R.

No chance of being on the Mun, however. I'm too lazy to get there.

For a rally, I'd be thinking of point-to-point instead of a predetermined track.

Also, Frafor, how do you measure the drag coefficient? I get no readings from FAR from the rover itself. Does it show up in the SPH?

EDIT: 100 posts on this thread! Sweet!

Edited by Kyrian
Yay!
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