About Our First Teapot Racer
This racer was the first ever teapot racer we built, and she was built in preparation for Portmeirion Steampunk Spectacular in 2022.
She was built using an old RC chassis that we had already, a large brass teapot, and we customised aluminium side panels and a spoiler for her. We kept a lot of the original wiring and circuit from the RC chassis, but changed most of the old gearing, and some other RC components that we had at our disposal. Most of which was placed into the teapot itself to save space. In true Bailey fashion, she is adorned with many LEDs.
She threw up many issues on the day, and definitely kept us on our toes. The motor we had changed was too powerful for the wires that were used, drawing far too much current for them to handle, which inevitably caused a small fire (or three). After some quick rewiring, and some parts that were lent to us, (with thanks to some friends on the day), she was up and running and was able to complete the race.
Her name is due to her sheer size and how she only just fit into the sizing rules for the race we built her for. She was undoubtedly the largest racer there.
If you are interested in learning more about this teapot, and the chaos she caused on the event day itself, we have an article detailing everything that happened, which you can read HERE.
She is still out of operation at the moment, but we do want her fully operational (and hopefully with less fire and more tea next time).
We are now on version 1.1, due to a new motor and a new ESC.
Full Stats:
Version: 1.1
Designation: Teapot Racer v1.1
Name: GiganTea
Utility: Exploration/Fun and Education
Purpose: Robotic Racer – Teapot Variation
Weight (total):
Length: 38cm
Width: 27.5cm
Height: 28cm
Drive: 2WD / RWD
Relative Speed (to our other robots): Fast
Microcontrollers: None – Uses RC System Instead
Switches: 2x Stainless Steel Toggle Switches (SPST)
LEDs: 6x in parallel (2x Front, 2x Back, 1x Port and Starboard each), 2x RC Beacons, and 1x Rear Laser
