By 2103 we had got Silver going pretty well, but had also learnt so much from our developments, and the ease of riding demonstrated on Red Max and Anables Atom. Peter O & Kev sat down (over curry & beer - one night between events). We talked about those lessons learnt, and soul searched over its limitations. Most of those related to Transmission & Handling. Silver was heavy, and we decided that decent handling needed less mass to flick around, and Peter came up with our twin carbon frame system.
Everybody knows how good this stuff is - but Peter was able to describe a way we could use it without complex flanges & molds (he's very experienced in wet lay up patterns & techniques). More beer flowed, and Kev started to think of ways we could combine this ultra light structure with machined & fabricated parts using plastics, aluminium, and stainless (we like stainless - coz it's Nice).
We very quickly settled on twin carbon frames made on a simple jig, with lasered fabrications for the moving parts. We accepted that we couldn't make perfectly round hoops, and the ovality causes most wheels to roll with tight spots - so we opted for an articulating engine & drive wheel assy, which needed to go in ahead of the rider. We wanted to keep with suspension, so added a second sprung assy under the riders seat. Those rollers were complemented by 2 more, one directly opposite the drive roller, and a front roller (symmetrical with the ride roller).
We designed it to use our Honda GX160 engine from Silver, making sure that we could upgrade to the GX200 version. This early sketch shows how similar that was to what we ended up building for WarHorse (& even Trojan !), and floor layout is how we decided on our hoop diameter. This was worked up in CAD, checked with a plywood mock up, refined in CAD - and then we began.
Parts & Build
Operation
This vid shows how well WarHorse drives. The reduced rolling resistance means the engine out of Silver was able to raise our speed from 37mph to 48mph (Straightliners Wheelie Weekend 2014) - but by now Tom was well over 50mph, and on the Sat, he peaked at 60mph. It was time to bring out our secret weapon - a GX200 that had been tuned for 9000rpm.
Development
While WarHorse was fast & stable - it took us another year to get the Guinness World Record - mainly due to dabbing with feet in the runs. During that time there were a few tweaks, developments & lots of riding practice. Long fast runs caused the rubber drive rollers to melt - so we switched to polyurethane for the ride roller, and vulcanised natural rubber for the driving roller (choice of shore 70 & shore 80 compounds). We also added some ballast & did a lot of work to understand CoG & torque reaction. We made a nice exhaust shield to protect the riders leg