A sim racing rig built from dimensional timber, with a direct drive wheel base on a raised deck, pedals ahead of it and a black bucket seat behind

Personal buildPart 2 of 2Drawing 4.2 of 37

The rig I use

This is the rig that's still assembled. It doesn't use the carbon seat, and it's a better rig without it.

StatusSeat and rig built August 2023. Second rig photographed April 2024
MethodPlywood buck, carved foam, clay plug, hand laid forged carbon
TimelinePlywood box to demolded shell in eight days
ShopA home garage, hand tools and an open mold
Not recordedSecond rig's build date, materials and current status

Sheet 02 of 03/Second rig

The second rig

I don't sit in the carbon shell. I sit in a padded reclining chair on a second rig I built later, and the photos of it are from April 2024. The chair sits on a wide, low base instead of a narrow frame. Making the shell was a better exercise, but the chair is better to sit in.

Close view of the rig's wheel deck, a direct drive base bolted to a timber crossmember with a rimmed wheel attached and cabling below — *PL 12*The wheel deck up close. The base bolts through the timber instead of clamping to the edge of a desk.

The sim rig seen along its length from behind the wheel, showing the seat, the wheel base and the pedal plate all on one timber frame — *PL 13*The seat, base and pedals in line. This is the version I still use.

Sheet 03 of 03/What changed

The wheel deck

The clearest fix on the second rig is that the direct drive wheel base bolts straight through its own timber crossmember instead of clamping to the edge of a desk.