Newsletter NovaBike Racing Team Delft 4th of March 2011 The most busy month for NovaBike (so far) is history. At an incredibly high working rate NovaBike 02 was built towards the deadline, the Motorfair Utrecht. In this newsletter you can find articles about the building of NovaBike 02 and off course of the Motorfair Utrecht.
Also, our rider, Nick Appelman, shares his experience and future perspectives. We want to thank all our sponsors for the financial, material and immaterial support. Follow NovaBike also on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube!
Motorfair Utrecht ͞>Ğƚ LJŽƵƌ ŵŽƚŽƌĐLJĐůĞ ŚĞĂƌƚ ďĞĂƚ ĨĂƐƚĞƌ͕͟ ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ĐƌĞĚŽ ĨŽƌ ƚŚŝƐ LJĞĂƌ͛Ɛ EĂƚŝŽŶĂů DŽƚŽƌĐLJĐůĞ Fair. From the 23rd till the 27th of February NovaBike could be found with a stand on the motorcycle fair in Utrecht. Last year the NovaBike 01 was presented as a guest on the stand of the Dutch Road Racing Association, but for this year we managed to get hold of our own stand, strategically placed between the well established brands; Harley Davidson and Ducati. This led to a steady stream of interested visitors who came to admire and learn more about our project. Many conversations were held with people new to our project, followers and many ex-‐racers which came to share their experiences and tips.
Critical questions were asked, but often people left with a big 'thumbs-‐up', good luck wishes and the message that they would keep a close eye on our developments throughout the season. In the weeks preceding the fair, we have been working hard assembling the NovaBike 02. We also had much help of our sponsors who reworked their schedules to make it possible to produce the necessary parts in very short notice. We would like to thank everyone who helped to achieve this result on such a tight time schedule. We look back on an incredibly rewarding and successful fair and are looking forward to next year.
Update progress NovaBike 02
Hardware: The steel show frame is completely finished. All aluminum milling parts such as the link system were CNC milled at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. The Reynolds 631 chrome molybdenum steel has recently arrived from England. Next week we start with fitting the tubes for the race frame. When this is done, the tubes can be placed in the welding mould to TIG weld them to form a lightweight race frame.
Bodywork:
All bodywork parts where
laminated at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering. A few parts need some corrections before they are being polished and painted. A reserve bodywork will be made in the coming weeks. Polymess vacuum formed a unique fuel tank and windshield. A sheet of HDPE was heated and then drawn around a mould using a vacuum. After cooling down, the two parts were joined resulting in an impact resistant fuel tank.
Engine: The carbon fiber air box and air duct
are finished. HGS Exhaust Systems has made a custom made stainless steel exhaust system in two days, this will maintain the power output within the sound limit. The cylinder head is back from a trip to Germany, where KTM Team West has flowed it and equipped it with a fast camshaft. PMI will provide a high compression piston which increases the compression ratio up to 14:1. The electronics are being made and the data logger which can log accelerations, speeds, temperatures, etc is almost complete.
Team member: Nick Appelman
Last year I was one of the founding members of the Novabike project. This year I will also provide the new bike with a custom fuel-‐ injection system and I will be the driver once again during the 2011 season. Last year our primary goal was to modify the standard KTM 690 engine to be able to safely run on Bio-‐ Ethanol. During the races it became clear that we did not have the most powerful bike, so we decided to do a more radical approach. KTM Austria will provide us with a so called Duke-‐R engine which gives us a little more engine capacity. In order to gain full advantage
of the properties Bio-‐Ethanol, we will be using a high-‐compression piston, the cylinder-‐head will be modified, lighter valves will be used and a new cam-‐shaft will be fitted. HGS exhaust systems will once again provide us a new exhaust system to be able to maximize the performance. I have to adjust the fuel injection in such way that the fuel injector-‐ and ignition timing and some other parameter are optimally tuned. Besides these engine modifications also the aerodynamics and ergonomics are improved. The new bodywork will provide as little drag as possible without compromising the ideal riding position. Analysis predict a 6% top speed gain due to improved aerodynamics. Before the season starts a lot of testing still has to be done, but undoubtedly the new bike will be a big improvement over last year's. I am quite familiar with the Assen (NL) and Oschersleben (D) tracks. Spa Francorchamps (BE), Oss (NL) and Most (CZ) are new but I can't wait to get out on the track to get some nice results during the races.
Our next newsletter will appear on the 18th of April 2011.
EŽǀĂ ŝŬĞ ŝƐ ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚĞĚ ďLJ͗
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