Those who have already experienced the Power Racing Series will immediately understand that no part of these cars could possibly stand up to the abuse that is dished out. If you’re unfamiliar, you can get a taste on the video below from the Kansas City Maker Faire. In short, people are modifying and racing these tiny electric cars much harder than they were ever intended to withstand. Though many have already been modified and upgraded to the point that they are speed demon monstrosities that only vaguely resemble where they started, they are still always finding weak points.
This adorable story, written by Tom Gralewicz of the Milwaukee Maker Space, takes us through the process of trying to keep the tires in one piece through an entire race.
The problem with the tires on most of these tiny cars is that they, and the hubs they are mounted to, simply were never meant for this kind of abuse. While you can fairly easily find better tires, hubs are a different story. The folks at the maker space have approached this by casting their own custom aluminum hubs from scrap!
It is high summer, and this week we are celebrating with five days of outdoor sports-themed articles, pictures, videos, reviews and projects. We’ll be here all week, so check back often and get out there.
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The final picture of the hub after machining, reminds me of an old pattern maker friend of mine who opined that:
“A casting is a collection of defects loosely held together with metal”
I’m not sure I’d rely on that casting to support my weight, but hey I guess it is better than some plastics.
The problem is that aluminium is inherently fizzy anyway and prone to porosity problems when gravity cast. Then on top of that using a lost foam technique adds more fizzyness.