I'm back again this month for an update to the current range of builds I have going on at the moment, I hope you'll enjoy the read. Some of you may remember a post back in March about my time attack build. The car sat lonely in the corner with no paint, as unattractive as any car can look yet the reaction we got to it was something we had never seen before. The picture appeared everywhere; on time attack forums around the world people were debating the legality of it and how fast could it be. So here we are today and I think its time we answered some questions ...
Last week we sent the car away to get painted. We wanted to have the car together as a rolling shell for the Custom & Performance show here in Ireland on Sunday the 13th of September just gone. On Friday morning myself and Speedhunter photographer Paddy McGrath arrived at the HQ of Carbon Fusion in Co. Kerry to try get the car ready for the weekends show. The shot above depicts the car just after we arrived. It was still a bare shell with just the front subframe and one wheel attached. We had a lot of work to do ...
We're still waiting on the proper arms, wishbones and hubs for the car (the track of the car is quite a lot wider than a standard Altezza) so for this show we needed to get some custom one off spacers made up to ensure we got a respectable wheel fitment. Just for the show, we would run our infamous sky blue Work wheels but when the car is completed, we'll be using single stud Dymag magnesium lightweight wheels.
We've removed the transmission tunnel so we can locate the seat in the centre of the car. The idea behind all this to keep as much weight as possible in the middle of the car and to keep the weight as low as possible (both as light as possible and as physically low in the car as possible) A lot of people were trying to say the car was space-framed and as such would be illegal to run in most Time Attack series'. The car is NOT space framed, it just has an extensive roll cage designed and developed by DJM Motorsport in the UK. We still have to refit the front bulkhead, along with a new rear firewall behind the drivers seat, you'll see why in a moment.
At the moment, we're planning on mid-mounting the engine. The advantages are obvious but the choice of power plant will be just as important. We're currently leaning towards using a turbocharged 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa motorbike engine. Our reasoning being that the engine is small, its very light and still capable of over 600 horsepower. The work involved in getting the engine into the car and running will be astronomical, but like I've said before if something is worth doing, its worth doing right. If anyone has experience with the Hayabusa engine, we'd love to hear from you in the comments !
I loved this sign in the Carbon Fusion workshop, guess it sums up life for a lot of us !
Progress was slowly being made throughout the day. With wheels and subframes fitted, it was time to start making it look like a car again. Incidentally, whilst the car was being painted, we had it weighed. As just a bare shell with the cage, it weighed just 80 kgs. This leads us nicely onto our next point ...
... a target weight of sub-600 kgs dry. Some of your are thinking that's slightly 'ambitious' but when you look at it, its perfectly achievable. The bare shell with cage is 80 kgs and that is still with the steel sides and quarter panels which are to be removed and moulded in carbon fibre. All the glass has been replaced by our sponsor's Plastics 4 Performance Lexan Marguard lightweight windows. The wings, doors, bonnet, boot, roof, quarter panels will be all carbon fibre with the bumpers being made out of kevlar which lighter again than carbon fibre.
Suddenly it's all starting to look a lot more realistic.
Work continued late into the night, here is the front arch being compounded for a cleaner finish. One of those things I learned is how dangerous working with carbon fibre is. When it's sanded or drilled or cut it, releases carbon dust into the air, which when consumed can be fatal. Think about that the next time you drill your CF hood, always use a mask !
You'll have to disregard the comical amount of negative camber as the car has no suspension in this shot, its just a rolling demo car at the moment with big plans that we will need to achieve in small steps.
You have to love the weave ...
The join between the front wing and the top of the bonnet. The carbon will be visible on the final car, as in we won't be painting over it.
Finally its looking like a car again. Pity it needs to come apart in the future to get it to the stage we have been talking about throughout this post.
A final overview of the car before it was rolled onto the trailer. For the show we had an Origin GT wing on the back mounted to the boot. On the final build the rear spoiler will be mounted directly onto the rear chassis legs.
The plans are big and it is going to take a long time to build, but were hoping to build a world famous car that we can bring anywhere and know we can win with. We want to break as many lap records as possible and then leave everyone playing catch up. For the next while though, its going on the long finger as we make the final push to finish the full kevlar drift / track / hillclimb SR22 Altezza which we're hoping to unveil at the NEC Autosport show in January. Like the carbon car, all the sides and bulkhead will be removed to be moulded in kevlar. It'll feature a 500hp SR22 with a Trust 6 speed dogbox.
We would like to also invite your opinions on this project, what do you like / dislike, where can we improve, what would you do instead ? All feedback will be listened to so don't be afraid to post !
We hope to bring you another update next month on the progress of the kevlar car but who knows, but if someone approached us with the right deal, the carbon car could come together a whole lot faster ...
- Martin Ffrench
Big thanks to my sponsors again, especially Carbon Fusion, Speedhunters and Plastics 4 Performance !