Duncan The undercarriage height is influenced by a few things, but the two issues in this case:
The Original KR1 and 2 had a low tech, low cost, very simple retract system that was almost great. Many KR's are still flying with these folding legs(taildragger). The simplicity of the design dictated that they were pretty short (stubby) and thus a the very low sit on the ground. No other reason. For what it is worth, I thought this was a great concept until it became clear that there was no real speed advantage in this particular case. Pity. coz that is the whole idea behind a retractable u/c. So - the original KR's were squat simply coz it suited the landing gear as designed and supplied by Kenny Rand. The next issue is propeller ground clearance. With the original direct drive VW engines it was neccessary to let them step out a bit (rev up) to develop the hp. We never want our propeller (tips) to go supersonic (or even close) so the faster we turn the prop, the smaller the diameter needs to be. The smaller the diameter, the smaller the circumference, the less feet travelled during one rotation, the less feet travelled per minute, the lower the tip velocity (for a given rpm) As a consequence, prop diameters were relatively modest and the squat landing gear was not really an issue. Some builders used different motors like the C65/85 and O-200/235 that needed a bigger prop. Similarly, redrives emerged that facilitated slower prop rpm on auto engines, so bigger (longer) propellers were back in fashion. The folding legs soon gave way to the variety of attractive and effective (rugged) u/c configurations we see today. Even if the original folding legs had been popular, they would have presented a problem for the new breed of power plants. The u/c simply needed to be taller. A fixed u/c presents drag in proportion to its size (and length)-so most builders will only accept what they need for enough propeller clearance. Ed ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
