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Steering

Initial steering designs were

Bulldozer	Bicycle	Push-pull

Our final steering design was inspired by Ned from the South Australian Solar Car Consortium.

Our original designs as seen here were based on the principle that the easiest place to leave your hands was beside your legs. Unfortunately the ever increasing demands of space for the suspension shrunk the inside of the car to the point where it was quite obvious that our hands weren't going to fit there.

Once it had been decided that we needed a more conventional steering mechanism we started looking for a way to put a steering wheel or handlebar in that could be moved out of the way for the driver to get out.

Andrew Williams had long ago suggested a boat steering cable. We had dismissed it initially as being heavy and the flexible nature of the cable as being irrelevant. Andrew wins as being the first person to suggest the final choice. The steering wheel is mounted on a swing up arm to let the driver get in and out.

The main issue was finding a steering wheel small enough. We ended up using a control valve designed for use on machinery or valves. It is approximately 150mm diameter.

Any slop in any component in the steering is probably going to make the vehicle harder to control. No weight was spared in manufacturing of the steering to ensure all the components had no slop in them. The steering components are relatively stiff but also comparatively heavy.