It’s the night before an Autokhana, you remember the handbrake (a vital ingredient to such an event) has never function, so what do you do!
Check out the video and pictures below.
Archimedes once said
The tent pole hand brake – it was so long at first it would hook itself into the steering wheel. – This could be good for parking though?
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
I think that may have been crazy 200BC drunk talk…
But in the same spirit, I figured –
“When you want to drift and your hand brake don’t work – make a longer lever!”
This is what my mate Simon and I managed to do with a tent pole, a mountain hand grip and a lick of black paint (for reduced track side embarrassment.)
Why a quick solution – With the first day of the Motorkhana season fast approaching and the “Motorkhana Special” still lacking an engine, I though I can’t let a motorsport opportunity slip by so naturally I turned to the crumbling Galant.
The main reason for the tent pole was the perfect fit, plus it already had a good grub screw built iIt really did appear that the only solution for my Galant hand brake mechanism (apart from making the big move to a hydraulic handbrake) was gaining more leverage. Everything about the standard hand brake seems pretty badly designed (or “fit for purpose” as Simon described) – But I need those back wheels to LOCK!Did it work? -Watch the video to find out. Leave a comment also to let me know what think.Step one was bending the existing hand brake. Working in car -That was an adventure in itself.
Requirements:
1 tent pole
Bicycle hand grip
Approximately 2 beers.
For best advice on optimising your hand brake mechanism there is a good article on the MotorkhanaWA website here -see page 7
