The 4L Trophy is a tradition that is world famous in France. A procession of Renault 4s drives to Marrakech loaded with no longer a topical gym and hospital stuff in France. Straight through the Moroccan desert. The participants are students between the 18-28 year. The idea was conceived by a campfire in 1997.
What do you need for it?
A Renault R4, two passengers, a driver's license and a compass. The roadbook is provided. And R4 enthusiasts must be fast now. To participate or to score another R4. This year, 1500 Renault R4s are going through the desert. And a well-prepared R4 survives the journey 2-3 times.
And so we come to the HAN automotive department in Arnhem
There, Sam Voncken and his French fellow student Nathan Gaté were faced with a project choice. Nathan named the famous 4L Rallye in his country. That proposal provided exactly the right preconditions: A Renault R4 is a car and you can do a lot of craftsmanship to prepare such an R4. But at the HAN Automotive level, tinkering and buying ready-made parts is valuable, but not the goal. The installation of an F6 rear axle is nice. But not enough to graduate with distinction. To bring the Renault R4 to bachelor level, you have to calculate.
After some research and a day of looking around, a neat, rock-hard R4 was found. And that is now completely apart.
Engineering sponsorship with a keyboard han4ltrophy.com
Meanwhile, with the knowledge of today, quite a bit can be done about the concept of an R4. You can simply weld a roll cage firmly together. Or even buy. But you can also calculate such a handy attribute. And if you want to trot through the desert with an R4 full of stuff? Then some extra power is of course also an option. Interrupt the R4 block to 1300 cc? It happened that way. But optimally calculating and creating customized intake and exhaust manifolds? That's where the work really starts behind the keyboard these days. Then the stuff only needs to be made. And then all kinds of usage and consumption functions can be calculated using Arduino hardware and software. Those Arduinos are not the sharpest knives from the drawer full of electronics, but they are surprisingly handy things and a real Arduino Nano is available online for $ 22.
The entire HAN Automotive project must be ready in December. Until that time, such an 15 people M / V from 13 nationalities are working on it. The drive to Morocco is about 8000 kilometers long.
The story can be followed on Facebook under HAN 4L, and the same on Instagram.
This project is a learning trajectory. But to prepare the students for the real world, they are expected to look for additional sponsorship. 'Certainly because even an R4 burns quite a bit of gasoline at 8000 kilometers. In this way you can contribute to a new interpretation of the old 'Netherlands Knowledge Country' principle. If you want to donate money you can do so through the sites. If you want to provide sports, school or medical material (and of course computers), you can contact Sam Voncken, han4ltrophy@gmail.com
This Thursday there will be an open day in Arnhem. You are welcome to come and view and discuss the project. Perhaps there is a piggy bank for your donations.
Sponsors wanted!
I visited HTS Car Technology, then on Laan van Mensenrechten / Condorweg in Apeldoorn, for two years.
Because I am more into motorcycles than cars, and the motorcycle was seen by a number of teachers there as a pariah in technology at the time (niche product, anything goes), my interest in the course died out.
There were good times in the key room there (Kayersdijk), where Autoweek regularly had a test car completely dismantled to show wear and defects.
But that was in a different life when I was young, wild and attractive ..
But now you are calm, experienced and wise. That is also worth something!
Something about "keeping up appearances" ??? Or is someone really changing?
Haha… let's just stick to that.
At HAN Automotive, motorcycles, cars, trucks, agricultural vehicles, defense vehicles, fire engines, even towed equipment and all other mobility solutions are now up to date. It is about the choice of our students, not about our preference. Still left the HTS a little too early ...
Do you want to try again? You can also follow Automotive Engineering in Part-time!
What was the old cry again? “Education permanent?” There is still so much to learn!
Bye Koen.
I can remember a teacher with the winged statement; "do not you believe it? Just check! ”
I just don't know anymore if you were Koen.
Thanks for the offer, but after the HTS I went to the PTH Wtb in Zwolle and have been in the classroom for some time now ...