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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[White Hawk]

In what way? The plug feels firmly snapped into place and the female part has spring loaded connectors. I've never had anything misbehave.

The whole board is very loose, moves down at the back very easily and the USB port is also angled down a bit, that is not parallel with the board. It’s also a pain in the backside to try and get the throttle connector out as I can’t get to the clip easily compared to the clutch one which is fine.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Mine's snug. Have you tried tightening the bolts back there? However I have the same issue with the throttle cable snapping in deeper such that it requires a knife tip to get to the RJ9 release The clutch cable clips in with the release exposed properly.

 

[F1Aussie]

Yeah I don’t like that either, mine seems rather loose too.

Mine is tight as, I actually found it hard to unplug as the plastic bit you push down is fully pushed into the brake, took a bit of jigging around to get out. The extension has this bit sticking out a little so it is easier to take out.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

Hello everyone!
Small question about the spring noise. We're currently building a batch of Sprint pedals and I set up a long line of finished Sprint throttles to find what's causing the noise. I've found only one that does the little 'twang' sound, but even then, it's only once in say, every 20 strokes. Is there anyone in here that has the issue consistently (For example, every other stroke) and lives in Europe? If so, could you send an email to support@heusinkveld.com ?

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'm in the US, but mine is every single time. I could create a video if you like.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

I'm in the US, but mine is every single time. I could create a video if you like.

Perhaps that would help us identify the issue. If you're able to get a good shot of the spring while it makes the noise, we would appreciate it.

However, I asked the question because we'd like to do a hands on inspection of a pedal with this issue and we'd rather collect one from Europe rather than the US or Australia if possible.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'll set up a macro lens and zoom in very closely from a number of angles. I understood you wanted someone local, but I'll be happy to do what I can.

Edit: 8/29 Just got back home and have my macro lens mounted. How to get to this soon.

 

[White Hawk]

Mine does it probably 90-95% of the time, I’m in the UK.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I got set up to shoot the video, but I think I've isolated the ting noise pretty well

The top of the small vertical spring is catching on something, possiblity a bolt sticking down from the flat piece above it.

If I touch the top of the spring from the back with an allen key, it moves slightly towards the pedal face and the ping goes away completely. However with repeated cycles of the pedal the top of the spring slides back and starts to catch again.

If I remove the pedal and shoot from underneath I may be able to capture this. After I finish some work, I'll get back to this and see what I can do, but I think I should be able to capture the exact area that is catching the small spring during compression and causing the ting noise to happen.

You need LOTS of light to shoot video using a macro lens stopped down for depth of field, but I can focus on a specific section that is wafer thin if need be.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

I'll get back to this after the Expo guys

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'll get back to this after the Expo guys

When you get back, the very top of the spring is catching on the edge of the ball head bolt. I can see this clearly. I think I got it. I'll check it out in my NLE soon.

 

[RCHeliguy]

It may be the washer at the base of the ball head screw.
My guess is that the ting sound being generated is dependent on the rotation of the spring and how well it is centered over the ball head bolt and washer.

I need more light! I left the camera and light in place so maybe I can stop the lens down a bit more to get more in focus and add more light to illuminate bolt and base better.

I think this one is a bit better, but it will be the last one. I added a second light source, stopped down to f 14, recorded UHD and then cropped down to HD and sharpened a bit.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

It may be the washer at the base of the ball head screw.
My guess is that the ting sound being generated is dependent on the rotation of the spring and how well it is centered over the ball head bolt and washer.

I need more light! I left the camera and light in place so maybe I can stop the lens down a bit more to get more in focus and add more light to illuminate bolt and base better.

We get videos in 144p from time to time, this is perfect! I'll forward it to Niels and we'll see what we can do after the expo.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Props to the guys at Heusinkveld. Besides producing excellent products, it's this level of support and personal care the reason I have HE pedals, shifter, and handbrake.

 

[RCHeliguy]

It looks like putting a chamfer or just rounding the edge of the washer might fix this.

 

[Igorek111]

I have a similar problem with the gas pedal, it has exactly the same sound! I made a purchase 02/02/2019
I didn’t write in support, I honestly feel ashamed to write in support =) I contacted 2 times already - 1 time I broke the controller (circuit board with electronics) during installation (scrapped mount) Heusinkveld was kindly sent to me new one! 2 times my brake pedal failed, the pedal simply refused to work, I was also sent a new pedal by Heusinkveld.
Now I only care about gas, there is exactly the same sound, I have a similar spring jumping in the installation location. Sometimes helping to get rid of this problem is if I push the spring to the side with my hand and then the problem goes away!
It was necessary to process both sides of the spring with silicone or something like that! there the whole problem is that the spring does not hold tightly and goes from side to side. Or replace the mount between the lc sensor with something non-metallic.
Sorry for my English =)

 

[ShinyAndy]

Received my Sprints last week and installed immediately - wow, what a difference!

Fitting was really easy to my Simetik rig as the K2 pedal plate is removed by simply undoing two bolts and then could assemble everything on a bench and slide it all back in. Only issue I had was that the tiny screws that hold the pedal faces were done up so tight it was almost impossible to undo and ended up rounding off the screws. Same thing happened with the heel-rest part of the baseplate when using the smaller spacers as I could not get it to tighten even with the supplied washers - in the end I used some of my own washers that were a tiny bit thicker and everything was fine (although unlikely to be able to undo the screws again!).

I was a bit concerned about how much flex there would be with a non 80/20 rig but there were no worries there, the K2 continues to surprise me with just how solid it is. For safety I added some thicker/wider washers to the back of the mounting bolts in the pedal plate and there is virtually zero flex.

If you are in Europe then I would thoroughly recommend ordering through G Performance (http://gperformance.eu/) in Slovakia, the level of feedback and help was fantastic and they receive new stock every two weeks. I placed my order on Saturday 24th August and they were shipped out to me on the 11th

Took some getting used to the feeling as I've only been using T3PA pedals so quite a significant improvement - the best part is I knocked 1.5 seconds off the best lap time I'd managed over the last week within about 30 minutes use Two more monitors next and then sadly now I feel like I *need* a dd wheel, does it ever end

 

[RCHeliguy]

Two more monitors next and then sadly now I feel like I *need* a dd wheel, does it ever end

I've told my wife that I think I'm done about 4 times now if that is any indication. I just got an SC2 Pro, but I've already embarked on a customized button box.

 

[ShinyAndy]

My wife thinks I buy everything on 5$ KickStarter campaigns or for peanuts on eBay

 

[Hiro Abe]

My wife has simply accepted I'm hopeless when it comes to controlling myself purchasing sim hardware and tinkering with my rig.