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I had made the decision to create my own racing setup instead of buying one already made and the first step in the process was to come up with a vision as to what it will be like. The most important thing is that it functions well while being comfortable at the same time. Because it will sit in my living room for long periods of time it was important to me to make it look nice as well. It was hard to envision in my head so I decided to make a model of my idea out of cardboard. |
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The cardboard model was a great help in creating my design and as you'll see stayed pretty true to the end when it was completed. |
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I had looked online at other racing setups which ranged from simple folding tables to elaborate creations that had me shaking my head. I already had a nice leather reclining chair that I planned on using so my focus was on building a sturdy stand to attach my steering wheel to and then just pull up the chair. Some people had a single support that you had to straddle with your legs and I wanted something more comfortable will a feel like you're in a car. My design had legs on the side that arched over my legs. They would attach to a base that would also hold the pedals. The top part is for the wheel and I made it simulate a dash. |
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Once I had the shape of the steering wheel stand figured out I had to come up with some actual dimensions. I took a tape measure, sat in my chair in the position I was most likely to be in when racing and took measurement of the width, height and length needed for things like reach and clearance. I took that info and made a sketch of the main pieces with their appropriate measurements and this became my working blueprint. It's an easy reference when cutting the wood. |
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I went down to Home Depot and bought one piece of 4' x 8' wood which I had them cut exactly in half knowing I'd be able to get all the cuts I needed out of the two pieces. My design has a lot of curves to it so it took some ingenuity to draw the lines and get accurate curves. I used the plastic bowl to mark the small curve and that long piece of white trim was flexible enough to bend and get a nice large curve. I used a circular saw for the straight cuts and a jig for curves. |
