This car was built and run by the Electrocutioners. I think it ran twice (?) and won at USF. As you can see from the video, it has a lot of weight up high. I think it was challenging to drive. That once you committed to a line, it was hard to rapidly change direction. In tight tracks, when you are dealing with traffic that might move in unexpected directions, being able to react is essential.
My personal memory is starting to pass the leaner on the inside and watching as it leaned over above my canopy. He could not lean any less without hitting the outside curb, and I could not turn any tighter without getting the inside curve. We tiptoeed through the corner and managed to avoid hitting each other.
Rodney also owns a leaner but it is much lower and leans much less.
Thanks Cliff.
Yeah I can see how with that high center of gravity it would be a fight to change direction/lean direction quickly.
Thanks for the insight.
Steve, I can give you a little info and my two-cents-worth. The car in question was, as Cliff said, built by the Electrocutioners team. After running the car a few times, they abandoned the idea and cut it up for parts. It was difficult to drive and the other cars/drivers were afraid to run close to it. If you were beside it in a corner it seemed as if it was going to fall on you!
The "leaner car" that Rodney Schreck owns was built by Dana Barlow in Miami. Dana and his son, Lance, used many of the ideas from when they built cars and won the "Human Powered Vehicle" competition several years ago. They won every race they entered with it, but the car was never completely legal according to Electrathon America rules - it was open in the front end and had no provisions to contain the driver's legs in a rollover. Their success was probably due to Lance's driving expertise and the high efficiency of the drive train, not the fact that it leaned in the corners. They were careful to pick the races where their skinny road racing tires would be advantageous and they avoided the rougher courses. Since Rodney bought the car we have updated the roll cage and added the necessary containment bars to the front end. After racing the car a few times, Rodney removed all the leaner mechanism and linkage. He says it was more trouble than it was worth to maintain and it proved to be no real advantage.
It is purely my opinion, but I believe simple and reliable wins more races than complicated and exotic. I've been running in Electrathon for 19 years and I am yet to see a leaner car that has any advantage. Maybe they are easier on tires and spokes? I don't know, maybe, but I don't think it's worth the trouble.
It is purely my opinion, but I believe simple and reliable wins more races than complicated and exotic. I've been running in Electrathon for 19 years and I am yet to see a leaner car that has any advantage. Maybe they are easier on tires and spokes? I don't know, maybe, but I don't think it's worth the trouble.
I agree and disagree.
Reliable wins races. Keeping the car simple means reliable is easier to achieve. So simple and reliable tend to win more races.
But a leaner might be worth the trouble if done right.
I think a well designed leaner car could be hard to beat. The known advantage to a leaner is that it keeps from shifting all the weight to the outside tire as the car goes around a corner. This allows the car to go through the corner faster because both tires are working.
A possible advantage is a diminishing of the energy cost of changing direction. It costs energy to change direction which is why, at a constant throttle, a vehicle will slow through a corner. A tire leaning into the corner wants to roll in the direction of the turn rather than straight and might roll through the turn more freely. Less wasted energy, more speed.
Free to castor steering or rear wheel steering might increase this advantage.
But getting any of these to work will take time and testing.
directions, being able to react is essential.