Here is something a bit different...

Neat! But...

in a kart or a race car (or an airplane) where your total lock-to-lock is way under 360 degrees, this would be cool.

In a street car you were parallel parking... not so much. :lol:

Pete
 
old school...

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Odie
 
 
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Yeah, I would hate to try to correct a skid with that wheel. Even a normal turn at a traffic light would probably be hard to do smoothly.
 
Re the Hollywood knob. I grew up in L.A. and we called that knob a Brody Knob. I think it was named after a race driver. I had one on my 49 Chev and if I wasn't careful that knob would give me an awful wrap on my hand.
 
haha, I was about to mention night rider when I saw the steering wheel:)

Guess I wasn't the first to find a similarity there:p
 
I think some of you may have missed my point...

I realize that a Go-Kart has about a 110 degree turn from lock to lock, and what I said was that this two spoke gives the IMPRESSION of that.

Its the TWO handles that freely ROTATE like a Brody-Knob that would make this a better possibility of being "street-manageable". One would need to release one hand altogether and steer with the other alone for turns that require a few cranks.

I admit it is really not the BEST or IDEAL thing for any car that does not have a full turn lock-to-lock within the top radius of the wheel... like a Go-kart or a top fuel dragster!

But is sure has a purposeful LOOK to it!

HA!

OH... My understanding whilst growing up in LA was that people that did donuts or turn aggressively and skidding were doing "brodies"... and for us it was usually in dirt, as we didn't have the HP to do it on asphalt. Brody-Knobs usually helped to facilitate the COOLNESS of doing such antics with one hand... with the other wrapped around your girlfriend who sat centered on your bench seat. They also usually had a clear cover with a pin-up or nude inside.

I had no idea it was actually termed after an actual race driver... Probably this Steve Brodie (actor John Stevenson who took the name after some idiot that jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge...) from 1944 or so... as Brodie (Brody)-Knobs became popular soon after.

http://www.fandango.com/stevebrodie/overview/p8634
 
WYOX19 said:
Re the Hollywood knob. I grew up in L.A. and we called that knob a Brody Knob. I think it was named after a race driver. I had one on my 49 Chev and if I wasn't careful that knob would give me an awful wrap on my hand.
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Yes they were considered quite the safety hazard in the 70's, but the 50's and 60's... bring it on!
Thats funny they called them brody knobs. I recall when we rode our stingray bicycles and skidded while turning the wheel, that was called a "brody". As kids we didn't know where it came from, just that was the name for what we just did :lol:
 
Must be an Arkansas thing or something...

east of the Mississippi!

Maybe it has some history back to the suicide doors as well!

BTW... I installed a rather industrial looking brodie-knob I hadta go to a truck-stop to find... so my wife could drive her Honda with one wrist in a cast.
 
A Brody Knob, eh?

Never heard that term before, but we've had one on our Motorkhana Rail for many, many years. Here's some photos of it showing the knob and the outside "fiddle brake" levers which are the reason for the knob. The levers operate on left and right front wheels to give the car instant oversteer around flags or cones.
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And here's a couple of shots of it in action. We use it more on bitumen these days though.
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Warren Smith said:
Never heard that term before, but we've had one on our Motorkhana Rail for many, many years. Here's some photos of it showing the knob and the outside "fiddle brake" levers which are the reason for the knob. The levers operate on left and right front wheels to give the car instant oversteer around flags or cones.
...........Suicide Knob is what they were called when I was kid in California and that is going back in history a bit. Warren gave a name that I never heard. Fiddle brake. I always heard them referred to as steering brakes. We used them on the rear wheels of dune buggies. I remember older farm tractors had steering brakes. Steering (fiddle) brakes on the front wheels must really whip the back end around. I take it you used the hydraulic system. My buggy and most others used the emergency cables for each rear wheel and when used the front would swing in the direction of which ever brake was used. While we are on terminology what is bitumen?
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Click to expand...
 
The front fiddle brakes are hydraulic....

.....and are operated independently by the levers as mentioned, but the rear brakes (only) are operated by the normal footbrake pedal. Sort of like a foot operated handbrake. This is so we have a choice of turning method depending on the surface encountered.

The front brakes (both at once) are operated by the clutch pedal, which when depressed IS actually a clutch, but when depressed further operates a brake master cylinder. This means that when we want to stop quickly, we have to remember to ONLY use the front brakes as if we also try to use the rears, (other pedal) the car will spin.

We have now removed the power boosters from the system as they were leaking and we reckon we don't need them, so the system now only uses 4 master cylinders instead of 6!

Some cars in our club have used similar systems on the rear wheels on rear wheel drive cars.

As for your question "what is bitumen?".. It is the black stuff we all drive on. I believe in the U.S. it is called asphalt. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia....

"The terms asphalt and bitumen are often used interchangeably to mean both natural and manufactured forms of the substance. In American English, asphalt (or asphalt cement) is the carefully refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils. Outside the United States, the product is often called bitumen."
 
WHAT??? A "Motorkhana Rail"???

Talk about living upside down, left to right... forward and backwards...

I have never seen such a thing or heard of a MotorKhana. Do post some videos when you have a chance! HA!
 
Motorkhanas

Tony,
In Australia they are called Motorkhanas, but in some other countries are sometimes called Autokhanas. Similar to your Autotests maybe???

I don't have a Youtube video of our car to post right now, but will work on putting one up soon. In the meantime, go to the following website for an explanation of the concept and you will find quite a few videos to have a look at.
http://www.motorkhana.com/

By the way, if you are wondering about relevance to Xweb, our "Rail" has a 128SL engine and box, with an X1/9 clutch and sump. Front suspension is 128.
 
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