Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint Interview and First Impressions

[Paul Jeffrey]

We talk to Niels Heusinkveld and try out the soon to be released Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint.

Catching up with Niels Heusinkveld at the recent very busy Sim Racing Expo over in Germany, we took the opportunity to quiz the man behind Heusinkveld Engineering about his newly announced Sim Pedals Sprint set of high end sim racing pedals. With Niels in a buoyant mood following what appeared to be a largely very positive reception to the new hardware, we took the opportunity to question him about the features and improvements of the new gear, learning plenty about how some dramatic software features and production improvements have moved the product range on from the already very impressive offerings of HE Engineering.

Not content with merely taking Niels at his word, we also couldn't quite resist the chance to get strapped into the cockpit and have a go ourselves, recording a short but sweet talk and drive segment as we give our first impressions based on the limited time we had with these brand new set of pedals.

Frankly, I was very impressed, although it is exceptionally hard to gather any serious kind of feel with something like a high end set of pedals with such a short period of time behind the wheel... not helped any by a crowd of people watching on, and a camera and microphone in my face!

However, with that said I'm going to be lucky enough to take receipt of a review set of these pedals in the very near future, so please consider this more of a taster video, with a much more in depth and detailed look at the HE Sim Pedals Sprint set to appear on our various social media channels in the near future. So stay tuned, get subscribed and watch out for some new footage in the (hopefully) coming weeks...

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[o Tiger Feet o]

I dislike the show off of wealth in this thread!

....Or show of debt

 

[o Tiger Feet o]

Can anybody tell me what bits n bobs come with these? By that I mean fixings... Im guessing m5 bolts if anything?

 

[White Hawk]

Can anybody tell me what bits n bobs come with these? By that I mean fixings... Im guessing m5 bolts if anything?

Unfortunately no fixings from what I’ve heard.

 

[RCHeliguy]

You will need 12 x 5mm bolts 16mm length and 12 x 5mm T-nuts, and some 5mm washers. I used 24 washers, but that would depend on how thick the washers are.

You could go with 12mm length and no washers, but I think having the extra threads is worth it and the washer protect the pedal frames a bit.

 

[White Hawk]

Well there it goes again, after the email the other day that the 7th they would have more stock and the page saying 2 days it’s now showing 8 days and order is still stuck processing. The wait continues, do hope it’s no more than a couple of weeks.

 

[EsxPaul]

Well there it goes again, after the email the other day that the 7th they would have more stock and the page saying 2 days it’s now showing 8 days and order is still stuck processing. The wait continues, do hope it’s no more than a couple of weeks.

I think mine will be 2-3 weeks at least. I think your order went in before mine so with a bit of luck they'll be with you before then.

 

[White Hawk]

I think mine will be 2-3 weeks at least. I think your order went in before mine so with a bit of luck they'll be with you before then.

You were right, just got email that it’s been dispatched, yay except for the fact my CSW V2 died last week so I can’t really test them straight away as that’s only just got to the repair centre today, so it’ll be look at them, install them on the rig and pretend I can steer.

Hope you get your email soon dude.

 

[EsxPaul]

You were right, just got email that it’s been dispatched, yay except for the fact my CSW V2 died last week so I can’t really test them straight away as that’s only just got to the repair centre today, so it’ll be look at them, install them on the rig and pretend I can steer.

Hope you get your email soon dude.

Glad you got good news on the pedals and sorry to hear about your wheelbase.

Hopefully they'll turn that around quickly for you and in the meantime you'll be able to mount those sprints to absolute perfection

 

[White Hawk]

Glad you got good news on the pedals and sorry to hear about your wheelbase.

Hopefully they'll turn that around quickly for you and in the meantime you'll be able to mount those sprints to absolute perfection

Yeah I was thinking that, I’ll be doing some demon tweaks with them with the time I’ll probably have. Though I have to wait for the Sim Labs heel plate, that was also posted today, and might need some bolts and washers, time to do a inventory check again and get on Amazon.

 

[EsxPaul]

Yeah I was thinking that, I’ll be doing some demon tweaks with them with the time I’ll probably have. Though I have to wait for the Sim Labs heel plate, that was also posted today, and might need some bolts and washers, time to check to a inventory check again and get on Amazon.

I've been and got a piece of 2mm brushed stainless steel from eBay. Not looking forward to cutting and drilling it out though


I also picked up some M5 X 12mm bolts and washers from Amazon to bolt the actual pedals down through the plate onto my 8020.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been and got a piece of 2mm brushed stainless steel from eBay. Not looking forward to cutting and drilling it out though
View attachment 304819

I also picked up some M5 X 12mm bolts and washers from Amazon to bolt the actual pedals down through the plate onto my 8020.

Do you have a drill press, cutting oil, and HSS or better bits designed to cut through Stainless steel ?
SS is much harder on bits than other steel alloys.

You want a reasonably fast speed for SS somewhere around 600-800 rpm depending on your bit size. You want sfm of about 50 with HSS bits on SS.

Be VERY careful protecting your eyes! You might break a bit and have pieces.

 

[White Hawk]

I've been and got a piece of 2mm brushed stainless steel from eBay. Not looking forward to cutting and drilling it out though
View attachment 304819

I also picked up some M5 X 12mm bolts and washers from Amazon to bolt the actual pedals down through the plate onto my 8020.

I thought about getting a aluminium plate myself but I just couldn’t be bothered for the heel plate, don’t really have the best tools either, I’d just done a mounting plate for a Virpil WarBRD flight stick base, that was enough for me right now.

 

[RCHeliguy]

What's funny is that machinists hate working with aluminum because they consider it messy, but for someone with a decent wood shop aluminum is pretty easy to work with.

 

[EsxPaul]

Do you have a drill press, cutting oil, and HSS or better bits designed to cut through Stainless steel ?
SS is much harder on bits than other steel alloys.

You want a reasonably fast speed for SS somewhere around 600-800 rpm depending on your bit size. You want sfm of about 50 with HSS bits on SS.

Be VERY careful protecting your eyes! You might break a bit and have pieces.

Good advice for me there. Thank you

Luckily for me, I can enlist the help and tools of a colleague at my workplace so it shouldn't be too bad.

Just need the pedals now so I can start mocking things up

 

[RCHeliguy]

Good advice for me there. Thank you

Luckily for me, I can enlist the help and tools of a colleague at my workplace so it shouldn't be too bad.

Just need the pedals now so I can start mocking things up

Sure, I recommended aluminum over SS mostly for the additional hardship involved in working with SS, but if you've got someone handy who is comfortable working with it, that is less of an issue. I'm big fan of SS fasteners, but I still tend to avoid SS in sheet form.

 

[EsxPaul]

Sure, I recommended aluminum over SS mostly for the additional hardship involved in working with SS, but if you've got someone handy who is comfortable working with it, that is less of an issue. I'm big fan of SS fasteners, but I still tend to avoid SS in sheet form.

Can't disagree with you there. The fella who is going to help me with it rolled his eyes when I told him it was stainless.

" Why didn't you get aluminium, it's much easier to work with!" Was the reply

 

[White Hawk]

They have arrived.

 

[RCHeliguy]

They have arrived.

Now you just need to setup a game controller for steering to try them out

 

[White Hawk]

Now you just need to setup a game controller for steering to try them out

Yep, I’ll be doing that tomorrow night after I get the bolts and washers from Amazon.

Just paid Fanatec for the CSW v2.5 upgrade repair so hopefully I’ll have that back next week.

 

[Mr Latte]

Page 15, but.........

Still not got an idea how well these compare to the ultimates and if for most people they may not need to go beyond what these already offer in feel and quality. Its quite a substantial jump in price even if I will just be wanting a 2 pedal set.