Franken-Rex idea

[SuperTrooper]

Originally Posted by aerohead

The two-abreast seating amplifies the frontal area so much I've gone to an experimental aircraft canopy for my trike,and thats with 700-cc and 57-hp.

Is there a thread on your trike?

Pictures! We need pictures!

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by SuperTrooper

Is there a thread on your trike?

Pictures! We need pictures!

In the archives under phil knox's aerodynamic photos album there are some pics of the "hyper-minicar".Not much to look.I've married a VW front end and partial pan to a motorcycle(from fork tube back).So far its just a mockup to figure all the human factors and nuts and bolts of it all.I started a thread on it over at maxmpg long ago and have been side-tracked with other "priorities" in the meantime.I gave up on side-by-side(too much frontal area),and tandem(too long) and have settled on a solo,with enough room for groceries.The Sonnerei canopy will help shave frontal area.I will build some crumple area around the flanks,with as much plan-taper as I can get away with.The target is motorcycle weight for licensing and registration and Cd 0.12 if I can pull it off,with maybe 100-mpg.I have a 1986 Honda VT 700,H20-cooled,shaft-drive bike for power and electrics.The V-dub axle is robust if not ideal.Everything is on hold 'til I can weatherize more shop space to protect everything and get me out of the dirt and mud.The aero trailer comes this Christmas season before any more work on the mini.You can see the idea for that also in my album.It's the red Honda Insight with integral micro RV trailer in the windtunnel photo,except with the T-100.

[Vince-HX]

Originally Posted by aerohead

I'm thinkin' the aero loading would favor the Ninja a little.If the trike ended up the same length as the CRX,you couldn't do much better than Cd 0.23.At around 18.5 square feet frontal area that gives you a drag factor of 4.25 square feet(higher than that of the Ninja).At a 1,000 pounds,you'd have very little power reserve,as your road horsepower would be in the range of 17-horsepower at 70-mph.You could probably slip the clutch a little to get going if need be,but in gridlock on the freeway or Camelback Rd or what have you,I think it might drive you nuts.The windshield is your nemesis.The two-abreast seating amplifies the frontal area so much I've gone to an experimental aircraft canopy for my trike,and thats with 700-cc and 57-hp.I agree with you that you can probably get away with the weight,I just think its alot of air for the Ninja to push.Without the power reserve,your totally dependent on your brakes for collision avoidance,and as a motorcyclist myself,more times than not,the only way I've been able to escape situations,was to accelerate away from them.Just be careful!

Thanks for the great info. Some in depth was just what I was looking for. So would I be able to get a bit better Cd by extending the back a bit? I am going to have to add # least a foot to the wheelbase because of the proximity of the engine to the driver and passenger.

This also would be used as a in city driver only so speeds would never exceed 50mph. How much hp do you think it would take to steady cruise @ 45mph with a weight of 1000lbs and cd of 0.23?

There are a few benifits of the crx chassis. The ability to have a passenger, carry additional payload, safety.



I love this thing Actually your mini-car is pretty much exactly what I have wanted to build for quite awhile. One thing that has been bothering me though is safety. In the past 6 months I have been in three collisions, one major one that I should have lost my life in, and two minor ones. It would seem like a pretty hard task to make such a small lightweight car able to withstand the force of an accident without harming the driver. I had planned on making the whole frame out of chromoly and building a funny car style cage around the driver.