Robinhood Lightweight?

[Guest Takumi]

What does the Forum think of the new RH lightweight..?

 

said to be a sub £1K kit aswell...

 

tak

[Guest rizla]

if and i mean if it ever gets produced it should be good

but at the moment i think a rich tea biscuit would be stronger

[Mat-Moo]

Why? Look at the frame an an Elise, all ally held with glue!! The monoquoce construction will make it a pretty solid tub, and at half the weight of a standard 7 chassis/panels is gonna save a fair bit of weight. All that has been seen so far is a proto-type (and people have been slagging it off for sharp edges, come on it's a flipping prototype!) I'm sure there is still a bit of development to do on it, but it looks pretty nice imo providing it is strong enough. My only concern would be if it took a knock, could you replace a single panel, or whole chassis?

[Guest rizla]

as i said matt i could be good,but as its only a protertype it needs more testing and more testing,it will be a hit with all the track racers who wont be to worried about longevity,just winning

but r/hoods are well known for their strengh compared to the oposision

what concerns me is will this dent their rep or boost it

[swan]

hi

 

i'm with rizla on the building of the production models

With all the additional testing required and with the company up for sale i dont think it will hit the road, however ( my get out clause ) if the business is not sold in the next few months then it may be further developed after all it would be a good addition to the range of models that are produced .

 

swan

[Guest Takumi]

I do hope the company finds time to put it into production,

 

I guess if they finish testing, it should be easier to produce than the 2B , being all flat panels..

 

 

tak

[Guest chris]

Isnt it a variation on the early monocoque models?I dont understand why RHSC stopped making them in the 1st place.Quantum seem to be doing ok with thier x-treme after all

regards chris

[Bob Tucker]

If you're concerned at the strength of ally glued together,

you'd better NOT take a good look at the plane you fly off in for your holidays......

Bob.

[Guest rizla]

i know what you mean i had my first flight in 15 years when i went to florida and boy do those wings flex,i spent 7 1/2 hours checking that it was still attached

 

but i think boeing 747-400 had a bit more product development than r/h

[stevedohc2b]

I have wondered if the amount of interest shown in this kit could be used as a ploy to up the value of the business. Showing future sales potential to a new owner, and leave them to bare the cost of development and production. Think about all the orders for the 2b this year after the super spec was only available last year. A demand is there for the new car like there was last year for the 2B.

Just my thoughts.

 

Stephen Atwasser

[Guest Takumi]

Hi,

Iave just had an Email back from info@robinhoodsportscars.co.uk

 

 

"We do not yet have a release date for this although they tell us development is going well, for more information and the weight details you could try our technical line on  07976 640841.

 

Regards "

 

 

Maybe developement is still going strong..

 

 

 

tak

[Guest timswait]

An aluminium monocoque sports car has huge potential to be excellent, and aluminium can be bonded using resins very successfully, easily strong enough, it can be stronger than riveting (but only if the surface prep is excellent).

However, if it was so easy everyone would be doing it. A steel spaceframe is easy to design, a monocoque is harder. Steel is a forgiving material, if 40% yield stress isn't exceeded (which it won't be unless you use tin foil) it will not fatigue, aluminium will always fatigue, it's just whether it takes millenia, decades, years or months that it will be designed for. An airliner is monitored every so many flying hours for structural integrity (a major service is virtually a complete re building), all a car gets is an MOT, which isn't the same.

Aluminium monocoque construction offers huge benefits but it would take a lot of development time and money, and I doubt a kit car maker could afford that, which is why most don't. Having said that, RHE is one of the bigger companies so if anyone could, maybe they could, although product development and testing really doesn't seem to be their strong point.

[Jon Bradbury]

Hi Mat

 

The Elise has an extruded aluminium frame that is bonded together with a special epoxy resin. However, Lotus found in testing that it was necessary to rivet some of the joins together because under sudden shear stresses such as those endured during an impact the bonds can come loose suddenly. The bonded / riveted solution was proven stronger in testing than alloy welding.

 

Because the main spars on the Elise chassis are extruded, they are very accurate and uniform in thickness. This means the chassis itself (and the suspension geometry) is assembled to very fine tolerances. The advantage of glueing is that you're not causing heat distortion due to welding. It was said that the Renault Spider chassis (welded spaceframe made by Hydro Aluminium in the same factory the Elise chassis is made in) had to be put in a jig after welding to straighten it out! But back to the Elise chassis. They're hugely strong and rigid, much more so than any tub made from sheet materials. In fact, the chassis on the Elise was said to be even more rigid than a steel monocoque (if I remember right).

 

What makes me wonder is the incidence of cracking in the Robin hood stainless steel tubs. Lotus found that their original engine subframe (which was aluminium) suffered from stress cracks and they were forced to replace it with a galvanised steel substitute. I'm willing to bet you that the RHE lightweight chassis is going to suffer from this, and badly.

 

Someone is going to read this and probably shoot me down. They'll no doubt say I'm being a nay-sayer and prejudging the capabilities of this new product of RHE's. That person should first watch the story of the Elise's development which was filmed like a fly on the wall documentary by the Discovery channel. It gives a fascinating insight into the problems any new car design comes up against and deals with the strengths and weaknesses of using aluminium as a chassis material.

 

The Robin Hood lightweight chassis is an exciting development though, and I look forward to seeing it succeed. I may even buy one, if it can be proven to be durable and safe.

[Longboarder]

Talking to Richard at the shows late last year he did at that stage intend offering the lightweight in three materials. Aluminium, mild and stainless. I suspect a mild steel tub would still be seriously light.

 

Nigel

[Guest Battery Bill]

Tim

An airliner is monitored every so many flying hours for structural integrity (a major service is virtually a complete re building)

No its not

You name me an aircraft that has any of its major structure changed during a Major service!

OK granted they change lots of lifed components and lots of bits that have broken but have been deemed acceptable to fly with (Yes each aircraft has such a book, it lists all acceptable defects that can wait till a servicing to change or fix.

Some of these faults do not effect the aircrafts performance at all but some faults or defects actually stop the Aircraft performing to its full extent so the pilot needs to know these before he takes the aircraft

Right who's on the next flight overseas then?