Riley 9 Brooklands

Mail call... Found these springs from a Kawasaki Mule and thought they might work for a Cyclekart. Unfortunately the eye-to-eye distance is a little long at 750mm. Material is 6x50mm so also a little too heavy duty. They have three leaves, two of which are usable. I'm figuring that I can weld some mounting eyes to the second leaves which are 600mm long to make another pair of springs. The longer springs could be chopped down and used as 1/4 ellipticals on another build. Was hoping that these could be a potential source of springs but alas the search continues.

Had some more eBay parts arrive today. Managed to find a bunch of really cheap tyres, Just $5 each. Michelins too. That should see me good for tyres for a while now. There's enough to complete the Riley and an additional build. I also ordered a couple of Vevor torque converters. These were super cheap. They look reasonable quality and come with mounting bolts and a changeover sprocket. Drive belt is a generic brand but looks reasonable enough.

Mail Call... Look what rocked up today... This is a TDKMan engine that I ordered prior to the one I linked to below but essentially the same as all of the clones, just with different stickers on it. I'll use one of the engines for this build and the other I'm thinking of using the other for a 'club build'. One of the things I've always wanted to do was have a Cyclekart workshop where those who are not as technically adept can work on building a Cyclekart with the assistance of those who have done it before. This also means that the group ends up with a 'spare' kart that can be used by whoever.

So I've started to order some bits and bobs, mostly as they were a good deal and you've got to pull the trigger on these things when you see them. An engine with electric start for just $215 delivered - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/153972166482 A torque converter for $77 - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/334540298198 No doubt I'll come across some other bits as time progresses

A Cyclekart before its time... In my search for Riley inspiration I stumbled across this photo of a scaled down Riley 9 Brooklands. This car was built sometime in the 1930's and featured a working engine. I managed to track down the source of the photo as the Cotswolds Motor Museum in the UK. They had the following info along with the period photo shown. Very cool... This fully working model of the famous Brooklands Riley was once owned by Peter Maclure (pictured), whose father Gustave was an engineer for Rolls Royce and Riley and brother Percy was a famous Riley racing driver. Percy Maclure had established an impressive reputation with Riley and, if it had not been for his untimely death at the age of 37, he may have gone on to be one of Britain’s greatest drivers. The Maclures had a large garden with a track so Peter took every opportunity to practice his driving skills. Peter and the ‘Baby’ Brooklands Riley participated in a number of events during the 1930s. Most significantly Peter, aged 10, set the track record for miniature cars at Donnington on Coronation Day in 1937.