I’m having hip problems that keep me from side-stepping quickly which is how I get from behind my computer. The muscles I need to move my hips from side to side are not functioning to specs the last couple of days, and that keeps me from getting up and going to the toilet as quickly as drinking lots of fluids to prevent kidney stones combined with diuretics to keep my BP down and also not get kidney stones sometimes requires. Basically I’m trapped in a bentwood rocking chair with tall arms and I need to completely stow the keyboard shelf and my laptop under the desk to have room to slide sideways out from under my desk, and sometimes there’s a bind in the sliders and I can’t get everything out of the way in time before the dam breaks and I have soggy underwear. So far I’ve managed to get my pants off in time, but my underwear doesn’t clear the waterworks before the dam bursts, and I have to put on fresh underwear. This is embarassing, but it’s a fact of life when you have hip issues and calcium metabolism issues and blood pressure issues all at the same time, so I just live with it and try to not get caught in places where someone could find out about it.
I’ve been watching YouTube videos related to building the Sprint-T and getting hopeful I might get this thing done before I won’t be able to get in and out of the car because of my hips not working, maybe. Even though I’m still missing an engine, transmission, frame, and all that kinda stuff I have to either buy or build yet. Anyway, I’ve kinda figured out how to make the clutch work so I will be able to make the car start and stop without stalling, but I really wanna know how Indycar makes the clutch on the steering wheel work, because they can slip the clutch or dump it as required from a paddle on the steering wheel where I’m looking at using a handbrake lever to do the same thing. If I could get it done from a paddle on the steering wheel, I could granny shift with the same paddle instead of having to buy a special gearset for the transmission and jam the car into gear without the clutch just lifting the throttle and sticking in the right gear. Looking at the way it’s done by Indycar, I don’t think it’s a viable method for the Sprint-T. Indycar uses an electro-pneumatic system, which has a system not on the Sprint-T to power the clutch declutching, the pneumatic system also used to operate the airjacks that are also not on the Sprint-T. I can’t find anything more than that about the system but as it allows the gradual engagement of the clutch I’m assuming there’s some kind of linear sensor in the paddle on the steering wheel that controls the clutch, and probably a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal to the controlling device for the pneumatic cylinder that drives the clutch to declutch the transmission. As I stated I’m having to exercise my imagination on this because there’s nothing on how this system works beyond “electro-pneumatic clutch” “operated by a paddle on the steering wheel”, in two separate articles, but I can’t figure out any other way for it to work than as I have posted it.
As it stands I’ll have to use both hands to get the car in gear then lift throttle and jam the gearshift either up or down to get the car in the right gear, because I’ll need to use my left hand to work the clutch and my right hand to shift into gear and if the car is moving that leaves no hands to turn the steering wheel, which is illegal in some states and not recommended in most if not all of the rest. Although these same states allow putting critical engine and HVAC controls on a touch screen that requires taking eyes off the road for an extended time so apparently not having a hand on the wheel is a bigger thing than not having eyes on the road.
And I’ve been awake over 22 hours now and I’m getting clumsy at the keyboard and having to fix typos repeatedly, so maybe this is a good time to put this post to bed, and me shortly thereafter.
Witch on a Bicycle 