By Colin Croucher

Australian grassroots motor racing grew up with the home built special. Many examples of these historic cars are still in existence today. Some were built as circuit racers, but many were built for the ever-popular hill climb events held at the various climbs scattered around Australia.

To build a competitive home built racecar today requires many skills. Most importantly the racecar enthusiast constructor will need to have hands on knowledge of metal fabrication skills, i.e., knowing how to weld or braze metal, or machining skills may also be required to operate
lathes and milling machines to produce many of the special one off parts. Just as in the early days of Australian motor racing, today's constructor needs to be extremely resourceful.

If the budget is tight, the home race-car builder can use many avenues to keep the construction costs down to an acceptable level, being multi skilled will allow the home fabricator to construct all manner of things instead of resorting to expensive of the shelf custom made parts.

Many people are unaware that metal casting techniques can be used in the home workshop to cast lightweight aluminium parts. Metal casting is not that difficult to do, and in the last couple of years there has been a worldwide resurgence of home metal casting, i.e., people have been busy setting up a simple home workshop foundry to cast special metal parts that would otherwise be quite expensive if sourced professionally.

Basically all you really need is to build some simple foundry equipment, and learn & practice the basic skills, and before long you will soon be creating some amazing things in metal with your own mini foundry.

A basic understanding of foundry knowledge and self - built equipment is the key to your metal casting success.

Proven foundry methods and techniques are employed by model engineers, home mechanics, car & motorbike restorers etc, to create high quality cast parts that would be otherwise unobtainable. If you have never contemplated casting your own metal parts, then you'd be amazed at the many different things that can be made, especially if you have a well-equipped machine shop. It is possible to make those hard to get parts right in your own home foundry workshop... for a very low cost.

The foundry process is basically carried out by producing a pattern, which is normally made from timber, but patterns can also be made from many other materials, one particular compound that can be used to reproduce broken parts to make a new pattern is RTV silicone.

Once a pattern is produced, it is imbedded into the foundry sand to make a cavity, green sand is a common type of foundry sand, but there are many other types of easy to use sand moulding mediums. After the sand is rammed around the pattern, or the silicate sand has set, the pattern is carefully removed from the sand mould, and the mould is closed and made ready for the pour..

A simple gas fired furnace can be constructed to melt the metal which is then poured into the sand mould to create the casting. Once the casting has cooled, it is removed from the sand mould, cleaned and prepared for the machining & finishing operations. Quite often, the complete operation; from pattern to finished casting can be achieved in just a few days, and that is the great advantage of being in full control of the whole operation, you can manufacture and finish everything in house, while reducing the overall cost to an absolute minimum.

Once you are familiar with the basic foundry techniques, and you understand the techniques involved, you will be able to create many things in metal that you would otherwise not thought possible.

By Christine Douglas

Solar power does not have to be boring. Solar race car kits are great for kids who want a race car and who want to learn more about solar power. They teach you about the science of collecting sun and allow you the opportunity to build your own car. There are many different kinds of solar race car kits. This article will give you a brief review so you can find a great solar race car kit for your child or for yourself.

Some of the best solar race car kits are made from recycled materials such as plastic bottles. This not only adds to the aesthetics of the car, it also teaches kids the importance of recycling! These plastic cars can be painted or left clear so you can see the workings of the car. Many cars also come with decorating options such as stickers.

There are many options beyond solar race car kits as well. Many companies are making boat, blimp, and even helicopter solar kits! One such company has kits for solar bottle boats. These kits are fun because you supply your own soda bottle! With three boat designs, propellers and a water proof solar panel, this makes a great toy for any hot, summer day. You can also find solar powered Kinex building kits, toy windmills and waterwheels and animal robots! Want to power traditional toys instead? Your child can build their own solar battery charger with a specially made kit!

Solar race car kits make great gifts. They are available in a wide variety of price ranges from $20 for basic kits and $100 for very advanced kits. Not only are these kits fun, they’re educational. Maybe one day the little tike you taught solar power to through solar race car kits will be solving the world’s energy crisis! And you don’t have to worry about your gift being a dud. These innovative and unique kits will impress even the most spoiled kids around!

By Adam P Archer

Finding race car parts online is just as easy as it is finding them at performance shops, catalogs, magazines, and salvage yards. There are many maybe even thousands of retailers online just waiting for you to visit there site and help you find whatever it may be for race car parts that your looking for.

Some times you can find used race car parts online because when you use performance race car parts you always want the best especially if your racing with them and, So, this leaves an open market to sell used race car parts, even though they are still good working parts, most race car drivers wouldn't want to take the chance of breaking down in the middle of a race just because they wanted to save a couple dollars and didn't replace the older version carburetor with a brand new one.

So, the best way to go about finding the race car pats for you, is to use your favorite search engine and type the word "race car parts" now this is very broad, So, after you narrow your search down a little bit, meaning after you've some what found what your looking for, try it again, So, say you were looking for a high performance race car part + carburetor types the word carburetor then you get your results, then you find lets say, "Holley carbs", So, then you go back to your search engine and type the word "Holley carburetor". Wa-la, you get thousands of competitors trying to out do each other to provide you with the best deal, That's how you save money on race car parts.

Race car parts are usually pretty high priced. So, finding a deal is big concern to many people, there has never been a better place then to do just that. The online market place is a booming muilti billion dollar industry phenomenon, and while there are still people are online shopping there will always be a great deal or bargain to find.

Many sellers online will try to sell useless race car parts to unsuspecting customers. Don't let this happen to you, These hassles can be avoided if the race car parts are bought directly from a trusted merchant, do your research before you buy anything. Some times you can find an affiliate offering a better deal on race car parts then the manufacture is offering, the reason for this is, they make a commission off the sale and want to do whatever it takes to get it, offering you extra bonuses and rewards and sometimes even a percentage off the original sales price.

The online world has never been a healthier market to shop for race car parts and for anything else at that. So if your looking to find a great bargain, do alittle research and get the steal.