Info On The New Hood

[Guest sconibeer]

Hi

 

I am patiently holding off purchasing a 2B, pending the release of information about the New Hood.

 

I couldn't make the Newark Show. Was there a mock up there, or is there any fresh information or pictures on the grape vine.

 

Stoneleigh was the last show I could attend, so anything that has come to light after that would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps somebody with the appropriate contacts could prompt an official release of info from RHSC.

 

Any information greatly received, as I'm itching to get started on something, and I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out.

 

Cheers

 

Scottie C

[Guest Nishka]

The 'New Improved' chassis was on display (thanks to Grim for the photo below) working title of 'Hood RS'. This is the racing version of the Hood chassis with full roll cage.

 

It was very much a work in process chassis though.

 

Acording to Richard and his Dad, the production chassis should be available in late August or early September at a full kit cost of £3500 + VAT (£4112.50inc).

 

It will not include exhaust or propshaft or wiring loom, but other than that kit content very similar to the 2B+ kit.

 

Improvements over the Oulton/Stoneleigh chassis include revised rear suspension, improved steering rack mounting, general stiffening, floor mounted pedal box with bias adjustment, etc.

 

The 'Race' roll cage may be offered as an option if enough people express an interest.

 

Hope this helps

 

Nishka

[Guest sconibeer]

Thanks Nishka.

 

Any idea when we are likely to see anything official on offer from RHSC, especially regarding body options and exact kit contents and costs of additional bits required. (understand body to come in ally, stainless or grp).

[Guest Nishka]

Talking to Richard and the guy who is doing the racing chassis prep work (sorry forgoth his name).

 

They still habve some development to do, Richard would rather it be available later than be offered incomplete; as far as I am aware the body options will be as you say aluminium, stainless and possibly GRP.

 

The racing chassis is to use 6mm aluminium honeycomb paneels as stressed members to the floor and body sides. (should provide a massive improvement in stiffness).

 

There was also talk of developing a fully enclosed wheel body to drop onto the chassis, maybe like Chapman did with the Lotus 11?

 

No idea when RHE are going to announce anything, their website has not been updated for a while.

 

HTH

 

Nishka

[Grim]

they also talked of vacuum formed plastic bodies, at least for the race car.

[Guest tom2b]

Im loving that full rollcage, think i may contemplate buying another robnhood after all.

 

Richard would rather it be available later than be offered incomplete

wow, looks like the company really are soritng themsleves out!

[Guest docter fox]

Im loving that full rollcage

that's what I thought

[Guest tom2b]

I want one badly but i think it will look out of place on a more traditional 2b, however it will compliment the racing pedigree of the new "hood" perfectly

[Guest Nishka]

The racing roll bar is even more aggressive, by all accounts.

 

It will have high level side impact bars that run from the top of the rear bodywork right through to the nose cone. Also there was talk of side 'nerf' bars.

 

Nishka

[Guest Takumi]

i hope they have revised the front suspension aswell as the rear..

 

At Stoneleigh, the front rocker arms for the inboard coilovers hit the chassis when moved!, very poor for what was supposed to a 'demo' display model, for me - it doesn't install much confidence in the new people running RHSC..

[Longboarder]

front rocker arms............hit the chassis when moved

You can only go so far on paper or computer modeling. (Mind you, two bits of the car wanting to occupy the same space on build up is a bit disappointing) Inboard shocker activation has been well worked on many kits but RHE still seem to be stalled.

 

I had a close look at the chassis at Newark, particularly the front suspension and I think it's just a demo to show the concept. I don't know that for sure as the three RHE staff were talking and despite my close interest in the front suspension and being the only person looking during a quiet time in the hall they didn't seem to notice me. I imagine they have other chassis' in a more advanced stage of development. Perhaps we shall see Richard driving a Hood RS chassis at Barkstone in a couple of weeks time and we can all relax and feel more confident.

 

Nigel

[Guest timswait]

The rocker arms did had a large amount of adjustment built in, there were a lot of holes so the geometry could be changed, they were still a bit of a work in progress, and I don't see getting them to clear the chassis being much of a problem.

Overall I quite liked the new Hood, definitely a whole lot better thought out and designed than the 2B. I liked the inboard set up at the front and the way it was so adjustable. The wishbone geometry looked vastly better. The steering rack could be moved to change the bump steer and Ackerman too. I liked the wishbones at the back, about time they lost the Sierra subframe.

The roll cage is a good idea on a track car, but it needs to be MSA approved if it's going to be any use, and as yet I don't think it is. In places the welding looked a little agricultural. He was claiming an all up weight of around 600kg with a Pinto, which is really good, but it's hard to see how that's achieved as it doesn't look 150kg lighter than a 2B, I suppose the plastic body panels help. The chassis still didn't look as good as much as the competition, he says it's been tested for stiffness, but they "didn't get any numbers out", makes you wonder what the point was. The main problem is that people like MK and MNR offer kits at about the same price as the new Hood's going to be, so it's got some pretty stiff competition......

[Guest Takumi]

the sales guy came almost running over to explain why it was like this (coilover rocker arm).. after he saw the small crowd pointing at it and frowning..! The sales person claimed the chassis had been build wrong, the pivot point should have been further out.., and the rear coilovers were seriously rubbing the outer CV boots . . . -they said it would be different on the production chassis..

[Guest timswait]

To be fair this is why development chassis are bult, to find problems like this.... The traditional RH approach seems to be to let the customers do the developing!

Also forgot to mention that a little thought has gone into the aerodynamics too. The rad is mounted horizontal, air is ducted to go in the nosecone and out the top. This generates some downforce (as opposed to upforce in the usual set up where air exits under the car) and lets convection help with cooling when the car's stationary. There's also some ducting at the back end to direct air past the brakes.

[Guest Takumi]

I don't deny that it is a promising developement of the 2B chassis. The rear wishbone suspension I think being the best bit.. I just hope that it weighs alot less than the 700-800kg 2B..