Hey Stefan

Could I please reserve No:170 for my GN Minx Special (still under construction).  It should be rolling and ready for testing early this season.

It's Romilly's number and something to do with her birthday.

Thanks in advance.

Tim & Romilly

More…

Next up was the steering linkage at the front of the car.

My ERA suffered early on from unwieldy steering partly due to the steering arms not being level enough.  Coupled with this, my welding on the steering linkage bracket was a bit crap, so these two issues were rectified early, and I took the opportunity to reposition the bracket to help.  It's not perfect on the ERA, but it's ok.  I wanted this to be better on the Minx, and the steering column also needed to clear the pedals.

Please don’t judge my welding!  It’s not welding really…it's more metal glueing.

Quite a bit has happened, so I will update here in stages.

The chassis is as standard as they come, so it was easy to put together.  It does taper to the front, but not as acutely as the ERA, and it’s also slightly shorter by a couple of cm.

I wanted to make my front axle myself, but I knew the geometry would be difficult to achieve.  My ERA uses a Gemini axle setup and works really well from a camber and Ackerman perspective, so I decided to replicate this using Gemini yolks, kingpins and stub axles, but use my own axle.

This meant I had to make the brackets for the springs and notch the axle at each end to 16’ to accept the kingpins from Gemini.  I built a rig on my drill press to notch the axle.  This was quickly abandoned after the whole saw bit into the piece, the axle broke free and smacked me across the head…so I went and bought a proper notching tool.

To be honest, the axle really tested me with the cutting, welding and keeping everything totally square (and keeping my head out of the way). In the end, I made it twice.

The springs are from the rear of a Morris Minor, cut down, bolted and clamped to the chassis.  I wanted these to be adjustable.

More to come shortly…

GN Minx Special

So, here we go again!  This hobby is seriously contagious.

I’ve had the idea of building another kart for a while, but after my daughter Romilly came to Oulton Park and loved driving the ERA, it was inevitable that the next one would be for her.  As much as she loves the cars though, she is a Karter and is less interested in the looks and more interested in how it goes.  With this in mind, it had to be a GN Special.  We wanted it to be able to compete with the quickest out there and handle like a go-kart, which is what she is used to.

I spent a lot of time looking for an inspiration car but struggled to find something to tick all the boxes.  So I decided to base it on another Cyclekart but add bits that I liked from other karts.  I eventually found a kart in the US, built by Kelly Woods, called Little Red (picture below).  I’m assuming it’s called that, because it’s little…and red?  We liked the simplicity of the whole thing, which is important to me as I’m not an engineer, but it's still different enough from the ERA for me to find it challenging.

There is quite a difference in height between Romilly and I, so the car will have an adjustable seat and pedals so that I can get in it

The car is mainly for Romilly, so it’s going to be named after her.  When she was diddy, her nickname was Little Minx, so that’s how we get GN Minx Special.

Watch this space

Hey Rhys, I've messaged you on here with it

Hey Rhys

What size are the Axle bearings?

Are the wheel plates for Honda wheels?

Thanks

Tim

Hey Cyclekarting Chums!

We are having a Northern Builders Meet on the 6th of September at my Workshop in Bingley...all are welcome.

We will be kicking off at about 10:30 for a few hours, talking all things Cyclekarting, as well as a load of cobblers I'm sure.  Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.

Bingley is easy to find...it's the center of the universe.

Directions are attached along with my number if you have any questions.

See you there

Tim H

Thanks Jay, ordered and on the way