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Hi guys, i recently put a 2-stroke 250cc motocross motor in my lawnmower, and during a high speed run i got to 135km/h then the front end produced lift! I was wondering if any of you could give me some help on the front end aero?
Why not have some custom blades made with an aerofoil cross-section and use them like the old fan car. You should get much better road holding. As for the front end lift, a pair of snow shovels, one mounted in front of each wheel on brackets welded directly to the front axle should suffice and continue the agricultural theme nicely. That is if your sanctioning body allows movable aero devices, in which case you may also want to investigate a mass damper. If you like that idea, look into a used unit. Do you speak French?
Hi granty, welcome to THE forum.
I am assuming it is a riding mower with a deck between the front and rear wheels. If so, you are having a lot of air building up in front of the deck and under the front axle. Can you locate the engine or driver further forward? can you build something to split the air and spill it out the sides? Can you build a sort of cowcatcher on the front of the nose? Smaller diameter front wheels and/or larger diameter rears to tilt the nose down?
Dave: I am assuming it is a riding mower with a deck between the front and rear wheels. If so, you are having a lot of air building up in front of the deck and under the front axle. Can you locate the engine or driver further forward? can you build something to split the air and spill it out the sides?
Well; No deck, no i cant move the driver forward due to no being able to put the power down otherwise, and no i havent tryed a splitter.
Ted: Why not have some custom blades made with an aerofoil cross-section and use them like the old fan car. You should get much better road holding. As for the front end lift, a pair of snow shovels, one mounted in front of each wheel on brackets welded directly to the front axle should suffice and continue the agricultural theme nicely. That is if your sanctioning body allows movable aero devices, in which case you may also want to investigate a mass damper. If you like that idea, look into a used unit. Do you speak French? Umm Maby? Et non j'ai mis parle le français
I'm still assuming it's a tractor style mower, it's very difficult to build a mental picture without some more info on this mower. But if I'm going down the right path, anything like a front air dam should help a lot. They reduce drag, and reduce lift on the front end.
Modifications, modifications--when a bunch of enthusiasts get together and one says --" Watch This. " Something is bound to happen. Maybe Granty(Welcome to F1Tech) could send me the old tractor motor---I have an 86 Suzuki Motocrosser without the barrel or head, sort of a reverse osmosis process involving inter-moto-species-genetic-migration ---but the lawnmower's CG--install a laydown racing seat and harness perhaps, extend the pedal rods for a relocate---put a chin like on a racing cart---add a movable panel---air brake to the chin---and with further F1T advice--- Granty's got a Speed Racer Formula Car fast enough for road use AND conquering the track!
Officially, the fastest lawnmower in the world. The picture above is only partially true, for the high speed run other bits were fitted to contribute to the downforce and lower drag. Please look at this. http://www.letsmow.com/images/worldsfas ... mower1.pdf
I have a better idea. Don't fiddle around with lawnmowers. Stick to carting. It's safer (and even if you do get killed carting at least your obituary won't say "..died what he loved best, racing lawnmowers.." and it just looks bad on you...oh and did i mention that it's dangerous? The front axle pivots making it as stable as a tricycle. Even if you DO work all the bugs out of it you end up with something that's not a lawnmower anymore. It will be more like a go-cart which would totally defeat the purpose.
Don't be daft, lawnmower racing is the essence of amature motorsport, but being motorport there is a new seriouse level to it. In the lower classes it must surely be the cheapest form of motorsport and entertainment, although I reakon 134km/h (84mph) is pushing the more seriouse side of it. The AX I've just sold* would reputedly only reach 166km/h (104mph).
*Anecdote: I sold the AX last Wednesday (27th) and by Monday (2nd) it had been impounded, not bad.
Murphy's 9th Law of Technology:
Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
Okay, seriously, have you looked at the front end for some simple way to lower the nose? Maybe flip the axle, fit smaller diameter tires, anything that can be accomplished without major surgery. That and a simple dam should do what you need.
Before you go any further with this project, get a friend or relative to film you riding your racing lawnmower and show it to your wife/girlfriend/or whoever. If you still feel proud what you are doing well then...go forth.
To me, grassroots (no pun intended) racing is more like starting from scratch than from a flawed chassis of a lawnmower. It will probably end up cheaper in the end as well.
All I'm trying to say boys is that there is a line and you may be crosssing it(I think you may know what that line is)
What G-rock says is absolutely true. You are trying to make a machine that was never designed to exceed 10 MPH do something almost ten times faster. It's engineering at it's worst, but it's also redneck fun at it's best.
There are countless arguments pro and con.. it's dangerous, it's innovation and how home mechanics advance technology.... yadda yadda yadda.
It's fun and it's dangerous, and that's probably why they do it. When I was much younger and much "smarter", I could have done stuff like that. Sometimes I wonder why I survived, and my epitaph wasn't "Hey y'all, watch me do this......"
