Fasteners speed access to land speed record

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 21, 2005

When a speed racing team from the UK hits the road in the Nevada desert this May in an attempt to smash the FIA world electric land speed record, speed will naturally be of the essence.

When a speed racing team from the UK hits the road in the Nevada desert this May in an attempt to smash the FIA world electric land speed record, speed will naturally be of the essence - and not just when the vehicle is moving.

To win its place in the record books by exceeding the current FIA world record of 396km/h, the ABB e=motion racing team has to make a minimum of two runs within the space of an hour, and so a critical factor is the speed at which the vehicle can be turned around between runs.

As the car's batteries need to be changed between each run, fast access to the battery packs is absolutely vital.

Helping speed this turnaround are Dzus Quick Access fasteners manufactured and supplied by engineered-access solutions specialist Southco.

In its sponsorship of the record bid by driver Mark Newby and his colleague Colin Fallows and their team, Southco has supplied over 250 Dzus Quick Access fasteners for the 9.75m-long battery-powered ABB e=motion car.

Some two dozen fasteners are used on the battery access panels, with another 20 or so for other key parts that need to be accessed between runs.

"The speed attempt will take place on a 12.9km stretch of road and under the FIA (Federation Internationale de L'Automobile) rules for world speed record attempts", said Mark Newby.

"We have to go down the course and return in less than an hour".

"At the end of the first run, the 9.75m-long vehicle has to be spun on its axis and prepared for its return run, which involves changing all the battery packs".

"Colin has designed special quick-release battery trays, and to access these we had to use fasteners that are the quickest and easiest to undo and re-apply".

"These fasteners help slice valuable seconds off the time we take and ensure we can change the entire battery pack in less than 20min".

Speed and simplicity of use are the key advantages of the Dzus fasteners from Southco, not only during the all-important record attempt itself, but also during the vehicle build process.

With panels constantly being removed and replaced while building, testing and tuning the vehicle, the time savings can be significant.

Dzus Quick Access fasteners provide the advantage of a positive lock that can be easily detected.

If screws were used, determining the correct torque on each screw would be extremely time-consuming, especially when time is of the essence.

Another disadvantage of screws would be the danger of them vibrating loose or even being dropped near tyres, posing a serious puncture threat with a vehicle travelling at speeds of up to 480km/h miles an hour.

"The reliability of the Dzus Quick Access fasteners from Southco plays a significant part in our plans", Newby added.

"With our combined drag racing experience of more than 65 years, neither Colin nor I have seen or heard of any fastener failure involving these products".

"The environments in drag racing and speed record breaking are especially hostile, with vibration being the worst enemy".

"In extreme cases, tyre shake can have severe, even life-threatening, consequences".

"I once lost a tyre at 386km/h and although vibration destroyed some of the car and snapped some brackets, the Dzus Quick Access fasteners we used remained in place".

"Travelling at the speeds we do, you cannot cut corners in any aspect of engineering and we have always had complete confidence in the Dzus Quick Access line of access hardware".

Newby and Fallows - who already hold the British land speed record at 483.3km/h in a jet car - originally conceived the idea of building an electric car to set a new record in 1998.

In its design they set themselves the challenge of using principally off-the-shelf components, including the Dzus Quick Access fasteners.

The ABB e=motion electric land speed attempt is scheduled for 5th May 2005 in Nevada.

The venue was chosen for its near-perfect road surface and excellent weather patterns.