Australian Belly Tank

[hawkwind]

You are doing a good job in avoiding our mistakes.
When I mention a Maxton type event, I mean just that.
You must have some available runway surface left over from WW2 that is closer to your population.
 The salt is certainly the best and you should always focus on that.
 Smaller meets on a hard surface can be very user friendly and are not as much work as you might think.
 When you divide up the duties you will still have time to race.
 The closer to the population you are will better generate workers that have no desire to race but just be part of the action.
 4 or more race meets can be scheduled without the expense and commitment to a once a year deal with no backup plan.
I think the 1 mile run up to a 132ft. trap is something that could happen all over the world.
If you standardize the rules and procedures you can race the guy in south Africa and England at the same time.
Instant (hands off) timing and the power of the Internet can put common interests together.


(coded note to the Americans)
I just wana kick their butt.

All is not quiet on a 'maxton. type event ,a decommissioned runway at Evens head northern NSW is maybe going to have a similar event ,but it may be cancelled  only 11 entrants so far and its really not long enough 1.3 mtrs total  that would include stoping , there is another runway being looked at at Tocumwal (murry river ) apprentally its about 3 km's long but a dirt surface ,I will report on suitability soon
Gary

[Reverend Hedgash]

"Only 1.3 metres in total..."

Gary mate I think you may be looking at the track sideways... is it really really wide?

Good to have you back Jack.

Rev.H+

[JackD]

1.3 mtrs represents the farthest distance he got before he did a face plant and that is all he can remember.

[hawkwind]

hardy har har , convert 1.3 mtrs to 1.3 km's

[Dr Goggles]

" What happened, was during the day he fired it up and chuffed a head gasket into the water jacket and the squeeze from 1 jug " PILLOW POOFED" the tank to fit.
It was an unintentional result ,but he silently enjoyed the credit for all the extra work.If you were brave enough to ask , he was brave enough to share the truth.That is really the important part for both sides that needs more work.

he he he ......he shouldn't have "given over " on that one and you would have saved the story for his funeral as a measure of his meticulous attention to detail..........lets just say that there will be no mistaking our effort for one of a latent genius.......BUT, it will be the biggest thing give or take a percentage point or so that would fit in the spot , we could have made a perfectly symetrical spotlessly tig welded Aluminium tank , but we were busy , um , doing other things so a frankenstein steel one will be just fine.......right now I'm fairly confident when we don't go as fast as we should it will be well down the list of "causes" .....

Great to see you back on deck Jack, given the fact that you've been tied to a stationary machine for a couple of years I'd assume that you'll be concentrating on some less than stationary ones for a while now.....do tell.

Hey Gary , next Speedweek I'll hold the Rev' down and you can belt him one just for being a smarta---

This morning Greg W rang and said he'd been talking to Lucky as well.( about his old bike liner).....jeez ,it's Lucky's lonely Landspeed hearts line......The first time I met GW I immediately thought whoa , he knows his onions....and you couldn't meet a nicer more relaxed bloke....something serious will come of all that....you mark my words Mr D.

[Reverend Hedgash]

Jack, apparently Pixar read your posts talking about the Global Land Speed   events and have got the idea to place "Cars 2" at various land speed sites.

Lightning McQueen and the crew challenge BARF1 to a series of drags around the world.

Attached is a local promo shot showing some local talent from the DLRA!!

Can't wait to see this one.

reverend H+

Photos and news on the real tank to come soon

[Dr Goggles]

Hi All
last night I picked up the latest aquisition for Jarman-Stewart Racing( er that's me and the Reverend) it's a Spitfire tank that we bought from Hillbilly Jim Pitman in Sydney.........As with the tank we're using for our lakester the comments from the freight guys are always priceless ...." oh , you're here to pick up the submarine /bullet/pod/bomb thingo etc , ...what the h--- are you gonna do with that?".......so you tell 'em , they look at you like you've got " I am completely nuts" written on your forehead ,they laugh and wish you luck.....and I always reply the same ...." I hope we don't need it"..........

This is one small tank.It's seven feet long , steel and would seem to be the same pattern as the P38 tank but smaller , it's steel .We intend to make a mold of it in order to avoid chopping it up .Does anyone have any ideas about a really small bellytank lakester ....like for instance are we allowed to use handlebars instead of a steering wheel and pedals? it would save a lot of room up front and may simplify things a bit......I'm thinking bike motor, chain drive , any pointers on those who've gone this route before would be appreciated......might even end up with  a version of the Sum' rear end.........hit me.

[Dr Goggles]

Hi All
last night I picked up the latest aquisition for Jarman-Stewart Racing( er that's me and the Reverend) it's a Spitfire tank that we bought from Hillbilly Jim Pitman in Sydney.........As with the tank we're using for our lakester the comments from the freight guys are always priceless ...." oh , you're here to pick up the submarine /bullet/pod/bomb thingo etc , ...what the h--- are you gonna do with that?".......so you tell 'em , they look at you like you've got " I am completely nuts" written on your forehead ,they laugh and wish you luck.....and I always reply the same ...." I hope we don't need it"..........

This is one small tank.It's seven feet long , steel and would seem to be the same pattern as the P38 tank but smaller , it's steel .We intend to make a mold of it in order to avoid chopping it up .Does anyone have any ideas about a really small bellytank lakester ....like for instance are we allowed to use handlebars instead of a steering wheel and pedals? it would save a lot of room up front and may simplify things a bit......I'm thinking bike motor, chain drive , any pointers on those who've gone this route before would be appreciated......might even end up with  a version of the Sum' rear end.........hit me.

[DON NOBLE]

better idea   make it into an esky , now that be cool . Less work , more refreshing .

[Sumner]

Hi All
last ......might even end up with  a version of the Sum' rear end.........hit me.

It will be interesting to see what you guys do with that tank.  

If you decide to do a rear similar to what I did get hold of me as I would do a couple things different and will probably change it at some point in the future.

You guys are 6 months out from running.  How are you doing time wise???  I'm 11 months out for me and worried .

c ya, Sum

[Dr Goggles]

Seven months, thanks for reminding me!!....We had one of those backwards days today....I had a look at the tailpipe and what had been tacked and fitting nicely last week was somehow kind of crooked and not fitting up too well after welding(does heat distort things? )......it took longer to dick around with a few flanges and stuff than it did to make it in the first place , great.We're still fiddling with bracing in the rear frame too . We're also dealing with issues with hoisting the motor as stuff is crammed in around it we need to work out the obvious stuff like what order things are removed.....not rocket science but with the room we've got it makes each successive job a little longer...I reckon by the time we're running I'll have a name for every nut and bolt on the thing.We will be there , but it's gonna be tight

[Dr Goggles]

If you decide to do a rear similar to what I did get hold of me as I would do a couple things different and will probably change it at some point in the future.c ya, Sum

building these things is a great metaphor for life......some stuff you would do differently, some stuff you wish you'd done better , some stuff you don't know why you perservered with or have since gone after lots of time and money, some bits you still can't fathom and you just put down to good luck or divine intervention and some other bits that you know were right although you struggled to find people who agreed with you.

 

[JackD]

I trust you will have all this worked out before you release the kit.  LOL

[Dr Goggles]

........they'll be making them in China before we get our brochures back from the printers and by the time the last canape is eaten at the "media launch" there will be rumours of " reliability problems and safety concerns".....the business goes broke after three pre-sales .Twenty years later the smart bastard Jack someone who'd bought the first three units sells them as mint set on E-bay and makes a motza , just another curio.

Anyway, on Sunday whilst staring at our new toy the Spitfire tank the Rev' says " you know I reckon we could cast our screen off that"....yesterday we dug a little deeper.The top side blunt end is unbelievably close to the dimensions of the screen in the render you see above so it looks like we'll be cleaning it up to take a mold.....I mean how could we not? So it looks like the outside profile of the car will indeed be made solely of bellytank .........pedants.

I guess I'll be spending some time looking at your segment on how to slump perspex Sum'.

Git garn.

[Dr Goggles]

Yesterday we made a start on fixing the body to the frame .Hand made punch and dolly to form countersinks in the aluminium ....little steel tags hanging off the mid-line bar ...and a whole lot more measuring and chin rubbing........after about six hours we had a system and we had four( of a probable hundred) countersunk machine threads in place ( the right place).....it should get quicker from here.......this is the " housekeeping" part of the build and to be honest it's not the bit I relish.