What’s going on with the famed King K’s? Do we have any rolling road #'s confirmed? Is the book out yet?
Seems like forever since any word has been spoken/written about Simons Rover K projects.
Just wondering what the lastest news is.
Mike
Aren’t one or two examples running in the LoT series
There is only one that i know of in the lot series, run by Sean Bicknell.
Seems to go very well and its reliable
I have one of Simons 1.8’s and it is running really well thanks. My 2 litre is pretty much ready, but I am not going to run it in the car and move up to Class C (the 1.8 puts me in class B) until we have fully tested it and are totally ready and hopfully competitive.
The 1.8 is competitive in class B and worked very well at Brands where I won my class in the scratch race. Snetterton was going very well for me aswell. I qualified badly in 11th but was up to 5th (2nd in class) when my gearbox paddle shift started playing up and it resulted in a power surge that blew the master trip and called an end to my race.
One interesting fact from Snetterton was how many revs the engine pulled at the end of the main straight (Snetterton has the longest straight in the UK). In order to keep the really short final drive in my gearbox to give me the best acceleration but at the same time so I wasn’t hitting the rev limiter I basically had to rev the engine to 9,300RPM and the engine loved it on the test day and qually and the first bit of the race till my electrical gremlin.
Not bad on a standard crank!!!
We now have some different cams and a propper exhaust, so should have a bit more power for Silverstone!!!
My electrical gremlin has bought on a whole new propper race loom and unfortunatly we haven’t finished in time for Oulton Park, so I wont be racing at the weekend.
Sean…
Sorry to hear that Sean, but at least you got to the root cause on the electrics and hopefully that’s not going to be an issue in the future.
Bad luck re Oulton. That engine sounded wicked at Snetterton - 9300 rpm! Well clearly it does what it said on the tin so to speak.
Maddog has also been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster - his mapping session got cancelled a short while ago, but touch wood, he has found another place to do it. Hopefully he will make Oulton.
Sean,
What cams are you running to make your motor pull clear to 9300 rpm? I’m running 1444’s and the torque falls off sharply around 8000. Torque peaks at 6100rpm.
Mike
Hi Mike,
The cams are simons own, and in truth I don’t know the exact spec of them. The engine has a lot of Simons own design parts on it like cams, valves, tappets, oil pump, water pump, etc.
I know the redesigned oil and water pumps are crutial for high revs as they don’t cavitate, plus things like the oil pressure are adjustable.
My personal favourite is the new exhaust though, we have waited ages for it but it really is lovely and hopefully will give us a bit more at the top end, without sacrificing too much mid range.
Sorry I can’t be more specific matey, but if you want to know more get in touch with Simon, he is a nice bloke, but beware he will talk your ears off!! lol ;o)
Sean…
Mike,
There are plenty of cam profiles that will allow the engine to rev to 9000RPM+, these are all hotter than the 1444 profiles that you have. Way back in 1998 Mike Bees (1700) and Peter Carmichaels (1800) engines (both DVA’d) were happy revving to 9500 and making good power. These used profiles with more duration and lift than the 144s.
1444s are popular because they make their power at attainable RPM and with modest outlay. They do not sacrifice mid range torque to such a large extent as some of the more aggressive profiles.
The Caterham R500 engine uses 1227 cams which are retarded to move the torque up the rev range. The R500 engine as a consequence delivers less in the mid range but still produces usable power at 9000RPM, however the area under the torque curve is less than an equivalent engine with 1444 profiles that have been timed to maximise torque.
Working together the cam profile and exhaust configuration can to large degree move the torque around the rev band, it really depends on where you want it and what other drawbacks your choices may bring.
Dave