Edge New Side Pods

[ghickman]

Thought I'd post of few pics. of our latest change we made to the Edge F1000. New side pods, radiator, and oil cooler.

This all started after we towed 1,000 miles to High Plains Raceway Dbl. Nat. last July and had major cooling issues. Discovered we had marginal cooling capacity at 5,200 feet and 100 degree ambient temp. Now have 200 sq. in. of H2O and 220 sq. in. of oil cooler.

Also this is basically a brand new car from the one we ran last March at Thunderhill. We built a new frame, new suspension, new uprights, all in the quest to lower the weight of the car by 70 pounds.....now we have to balast the car to make minimum weight.

Machined some new wing flap molds this week, those are going on the car next week before we head to Willow Springs to test our Road Atlanta ARRC setup.

Special thanks to Dustin @ Phx. Race Works for the custom radiator and oil cooler. If you need a custom H2O or Oil Cooler give him a ring.

Extra thanks to Tony Moore for the 500 plus hours he's put in since T-Hill.

Gary Hickman FB #76
Edge Engineering

[VehDyn]

Looks fantastic.

[RussMcB]

I agree. Very impressive. Can't wait to see it next month in ATL. Good luck at the WS test.

I have mixed feelings about the ARRC. I can't wait meet with everyone and to see all the great cars. It's just unfortunate that cars like this (with talented pilots) will push me further back on the grid. :-).

[glenn cooper]

there, Gary. Looking very "Brawnish", which of course can't be a bad thing!

Russ - 2 words: Local Track Knowledge. OK, 3 words...
Don't discount it.
Better bone up on those Tony Robbins tapes!

GC

[Richard Dziak]

The top side pod air vents look very similar to the new Phoenix F1K.09 vents.

The new "edge" side pods look very impressive....nice job Gary.

[Rick Iverson]

Gary;

Can these be adapted to any car? About the pod bottom panels, I note they are angled at the outboard. Any particular reason? And the dimensions of the radiator shroud, please.

Iverson

[Mike B]

Rick,
I think the angle you see is an optical illusion. The leading edge of the floor is delta shaped, which makes it look like it angles up. I think.

You should talk to Dustin Wright at Phoenix Raceworks. He has two side pod designs that could be adapted to your VD and are reasonably priced. I plan on doing the same this winter and will design a floor specifically for those side pods to fit my VD.
http://www.phoenixracecars.com/index...d=13&Itemid=18

[Richard Dziak]

Gary's new "edge" sidepods look like a combination of my Phoenix F1K.07 sidepods and the newer F1K.09 Phoenix sidepods. The Phoenix 2007 sidepods are rounded in the front, and angled upward into the side panel of the cockpit, they do have the appearence of an angle inward from the front, while the 2009 sidepods are flat across the top.

With Gary's new design and the addition of the coolers from Dustin at Phoenix I am sure that he will be very well pleased. They look awesome, and I am sure will be very efficient in cooling.

I also like the new engine cover design as from the front view provided it appears the drivers helmet and head will be recessed slightly into the cover.

Gary's car looks GREAT.

Below is a photo of Phoenix 2007 sidepods from front view, and the 2009 Phoenix flat and vented sidepods.

Gary did a great job combining the two different designs as seen below from Phoenix Race Works.

[ghickman]

Thanks for all the nice comments. We actually took ZERO design influence from either of the Phoenix cars, however I think the F1k09 does look similar. If I'm not mistaken Dustin may be working on a new design that looks similar to ours...yet to be seen.

Actually what we did do was HEAVILY study all the currently built F3 cars, especially the DALLARA. We did this because we felt that FC pods are to small as these bike motors require more cooling capacity. Was also felt the FB and F3 are similar in power to weight ratio. Lastly TOP priority was to keep frontal area at a minimum.

The majority of the build time on these was designing the plugs for the ducting. We wanted them to be light, highly functional, and be the support for the radiator / oil cooler. We did all the above and came up with a unit that is modular and weighs only 3 lbs.

Our pods would more than likely fit just about any FC built. The duct work would more than likely fit also. If anyone is interested you're welcome to PM or email me.

Gary Hickman
Edge Engineering FB #76

[Northwind]

Nice work Gary,

It's always good to see some fresh design by skilled people.

[Richard Dziak]

Gary:

All in all, the new side pods look great and very functional. No intent to say you copied the Phoenix. I know Dustin looked at the Dallara cars also for the 2009. There is a striking resemblence to the two Phoenix cars when combined.

You were clearly on the same track as Dustin at Phoenix IMO.

Great job...

I would like to hear more about the engine cover and recessed area for the drivers head and helmet.

Is this something new that you did not have on your first car?

[ghickman]

Gary:

All in all, the new side pods look great and very functional. No intent to say you copied the Phoenix. I know Dustin looked at the Dallara cars also for the 2009. There is a striking resemblence to the two Phoenix cars when combined.

You were clearly on the same track as Dustin at Phoenix IMO.

Great job...

I would like to hear more about the engine cover and recessed area for the drivers head and helmet.

Is this something new that you did not have on your first car?

Thanks Richard

Not to get off point but I talk to Dustin probably more than anyone on this forum. We collaborate on many things beyond the F1000 market. If things go as planned you may see some really cool stuff coming out of our collaboration in the near future....stay tuned...dang I let the cat out of the bag.

ENGINE COVER:
No, it's always had that recessed area. I'm tall (6'-2' 175lbs.) and we needed to get me as far back in the cockpit as possible, this was done more out of necessity but we also feel it has a slight aero advantage. No CFD was done just years of aviation experience.

Gary

[KodaBear]

Thought I'd post of few pics. of our latest change we made to the Edge F1000. New side pods, radiator, and oil cooler.

This all started after we towed 1,000 miles to High Plains Raceway Dbl. Nat. last July and had major cooling issues. Discovered we had marginal cooling capacity at 5,200 feet and 100 degree ambient temp. Now have 200 sq. in. of H2O and 220 sq. in. of oil cooler.

Also this is basically a brand new car from the one we ran last March at Thunderhill. We built a new frame, new suspension, new uprights, all in the quest to lower the weight of the car by 70 pounds.....now we have to balast the car to make minimum weight.

Machined some new wing flap molds this week, those are going on the car next week before we head to Willow Springs to test our Road Atlanta ARRC setup.

Special thanks to Dustin @ Phx. Race Works for the custom radiator and oil cooler. If you need a custom H2O or Oil Cooler give him a ring.

Extra thanks to Tony Moore for the 500 plus hours he's put in since T-Hill.

Gary Hickman FB #76
Edge Engineering

Very nice Gary, the progress of your car is the one I enjoy following the most.

BTW, since the car pictured is basically a new car, what happened to the old "car"?

[ghickman]

Well the frame is sitting upstairs above the shop, the uprights got recycled, all the suspension pieces got either cut up and used for the tubing or recycled. The body parts that were superceeded got thrown in the dumpster along with their molds.

Eventually we'll likely sell this car and build something totally new but for now we'll keep this one on the developement train. It's now so highly developed there's not much left to tweek except for suspension setup. The driver needs more stick time for sure, spent all my time the last 2 years building and rebuilding.

Gary

[Fatoldman7]

Nice work, I'm curious, what material are you using under your radiator? is this the same material you are using for your end plates on your rear wings? My next question for you is entirely optional, depending if you have the time, and care to share. In a previous post you mentioned that you had problems with lower rear ball joints failing. Can you describe what the problem was, and what you did to fix it? The reason I'm asking is that I'm in the process of design and building myself, and after playing with Solidworks/cosmos/math, it is nice to see if I'm on the right path, and learn from others experiences. Last request, I think I'm like most of the kids that play in this forum, got any more pics of your build? I'm always happier looking at cool pictures of nicely built cars.

[ghickman]

Nice work, I'm curious, what material are you using under your radiator? is this the same material you are using for your end plates on your rear wings? My next question for you is entirely optional, depending if you have the time, and care to share. In a previous post you mentioned that you had problems with lower rear ball joints failing. Can you describe what the problem was, and what you did to fix it? The reason I'm asking is that I'm in the process of design and building myself, and after playing with Solidworks/cosmos/math, it is nice to see if I'm on the right path, and learn from others experiences. Last request, I think I'm like most of the kids that play in this forum, got any more pics of your build? I'm always happier looking at cool pictures of nicely built cars.

I believe you are refering to the FLOORS? If so they are .25" foam core vac. bagged with E-Glass. Those end plates are aluminum but as of today they are same as the floors.

We broke two rodends at T-Hill back in March under braking. We knew we had a design issue because we had bent a rodend at WSIR the month before. We simply had a rodend that was under a terrbile bending moment. It actually was a good thing this happened because it gave Tony and I the push we needed to redo the entire suspension the way we really thought it should be done. Now it's super easy to adjust, strong, and is lighter than before.

Most people probably would have given up at this point but I've always been the guy that takes on crazy tough projects. Of course it helps to have your own machine shop, full time welder, full time engineer, etc and an understanding spouse.

I'll post some detailed pics. when I get a chance of uprights and suspension pcs.

Good luck with your build, not something I recommend to anyone but good luck none the less.

Gary

[SteveLevin]

Gary,

You guys already built a true piece of art...I can't wait to see the improvements in person.

Steve

[ghickman]

Thanks for all the nice compliments.

I plan to be competitive at the ARRC but just being there is going to be the height of my season. Next years goal will be to hit twice as many races as this year.

Not sure why I feel I need to say this but there's one person on this forum that I'd really like to thank and that's Dustin Wright at Phx. Race Works. He has given me more insite into how a solid design should be approached, and I felt I knew it all before. This kid literally designed and built 2 completely different cars in the span of 2 years without the tools that I have at my finger tips. His latest iteration is a winner hands down. He may not have a name like Firman or Bruns but he will soon.

Gary

[Richard Dziak]

Gary..........I agree....

Dustin Wright at Phoenix Race Works is one of the BEST.

I can attest to that personally as I own one of his cars. It has performed flawlessly and he has ALWAYS been available to answer questions and provide information when needed.

Any one considering owning or building an F1000 race car should consult and consider a Phoenix Race Works product.

He builds a SUPERIOR product.

I invite you to call him personally.

[CSHAW]

Gary, nice work. I am encouraged to see you sticking with all this. I hope though, that your sticking to it is out of the pleasure as opposed to frustrated stubbornness...

Good luck on this project and I hope that with all the enthusiasm that I see for F1000 along with all the experimentation and tinkering throughout the class, that there is going to be some real close racing in the classes future.

[Northwind]

I've already seen some real close racing in this class. I could only imagine what twice the cars on the track would look like.