Hi Guys!
I'm thinking of fabricating a start gate myself. Anyone has advice on how does the start gate mechanism work? Any diagrams with some descriptions would be greatly appreciated.
Are you talking about a single start gate for practicing or fabricating one for 40+ riders? The designs will drastically be different due to how rugged the multigate design will have to be.
Use at least 1" o.d. tubing bent into a U-shape. Side to side dimension should be around 3' with the height being around 2'. You can drill the end of the tubing for the pivot or preferably weld a piece of 1" (6" long) angle iron to each leg and drill that for the pivot. This is one gate.
The mechanism is a little harder to discribe. There has to be a rod that holds up the gate that slides on the flat side of the gate formed by the angle iron. This rod is attached to a tube that rotates one way (for the gate drop) and rotates the other (for raising the gate). The tube is also attached to a pedal that is depressed that unlatches a mechanism that hold the tube when the gate is up. How you go about this is up to you. Better have access to a welder, chop saw, and grinder!
Due a search for motorcoss gates, your should be able to find some other information. Also, go to your local track and check out the starting gate. Draw out the starting gate mechanism. Take a few pictures and measurements. Ive seen two or three different types of mechanisms. Like anything else, keep it simple, but bulid it strong.
We have a 12 place shotgun starting gate.
The gate is made very well and the price was really cheap.
The only problem we had was getting it.
It took more than three months to get it and whenever we would call to check on the statis we got a recording. No-one would call us back and it came down to actually threatening the guy with comming to see him before we got a reply. He actually reduced the price and said he was sorry about the hold up. I couldnt build the gate for what we bought it for.