about the team
I first got into Hovercraft Racing in 2002 after stumbling on the Hovercraft Club of Great Britain’s site. I saw my first race and was hooked- and after realizing how accessible it was and how friendly the hovercraft crowd was I got the ‘bug’.
For me half the fun is in the designing and building as well as the racing. Since hovercraft racing is a developing sport there is always the chance that a new design could make the winning craft compared to a sport like karting, where there are very strict rules and little room for innovation.
See below for info on the new craft and some about the old craft at the bottom.
Craft 08
The new craft for 2008 is the result of 3 years design and build. It is designed purely for the high-pressure bag skirt system and for this reason is built in a different way to most other racing craft. For this reason the strength of the hull comes mainly from the foam cored members rather than the air-feed ducting in a conventional finger-skirt craft.
The craft is built to compete in Formula 3 racing (upto 250cc 2-stroke) and will be powered by the Yamaha TZR 250 engine. The hull is also designed to race in F2 as well. See specs below:
Hull: foam cored composite
Skirt: high pressure bag skirt with contact strip
Engine: Yamaha TZR 250 –around 45hp @ 10,000 rpm
Lift fan: shaft driven 500mm diameter hasconwing
Thrust fan: 900mm diameter three bladed hasconwing
Steering: Handlebars controlling single composite rudder
Initial ideas started before I had finished the tank (see below) and I started construction in early 2007. Before I left school in 2007 all of the transmission components had been fabricated- there I had access to the lathes/milling machines etc that were needed. Most parts for systems like the skirt, steering, engine ancillaries, the duct have already been built or bought. At the moment the hull is being manufactured.
‘The Tank’
My first attempt at a ‘racing’ hovercraft it was pretty sturdy but it could be said it lacked speed… It was finished in Summer 2005 at a race meeting after a two year build, and one year of ideas before that.
Although the craft was slow it taught me the basics of driving a hovercraft and got me through my 15 novice races (although probably started nearly 25 races). The craft less engine is now sitting in a field
The design was a cross between the simple cyclone in the constructors guide (available from the Hovercraft Club of Great Britain) with a rounded front similar to the Eagle 1 (K & M Products). See specs below:
Hull: Plywood monocoque over frame construction strengthened with fiberglass and incorporating polystyrene buoyancy. The duct was my first attempt at a fiberglass part and even though the mould had to be destroyed to get it off it is still solid as a rock.
Engineering: Powered by the popular Yamaha TZR 250 engine giving around 45hp. Eventually the gearbox and any other non-essential parts were hacked off to save weight (drive is taken straight off the crank). The transmission was through a rubber coupling via toothed belt on H type timing pulleys. This drove an 821mm diameter MultiWing fan at around 3300rpm at full speed. Everything was held in place by a substantial steel frame welded together with 1” box section.
‘Steering’: Was provided by twin aluminium airfoil rudders controlled by handlebars through a morse cable.
To find out more about starting hovercraft racing and more info on the design and build of the tank see my article which I wrote for the HCGB magazine.