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About a zillion hours of preparation have gone into the teams new car, but at the moment it still is a bare shell, with some modifications 
The donor car was cleaned and everything that was bolted to the shell has been taken out. To get the underseal etc. off took about 10 days ... after that the shell was beadblasted and the preparations could begin.
We talked alot about where and how the old car (which is in the 2008 calendar, thanks all who voted for it) could be improved: weight, weight distribution, suspension geometry and horsepower.
That last bit is being taken care of by John Vollenberg who is finishing a one-off 2 liter BDG. He also build the Pinto with 225 bhp for the team so we expect a 300+ bhp / 10000 rpm engine .... it will breath through a pair of 55DCO Weber carbs!
Weight: all parts that are not an integral part of the chassis/shell have been looked at and removed or lightened where possible. Example: behind the C-pillar (louvre) there is alot of metal that's doing nothing; has been removed although it meant taking the inside of the C-pillar apart.
Bonnet, boot + spoiler, bumpers are all going to be carbon-parts. Bolts that do nothing (like holding the washerbottle) are from alloy.
Weight distribution: without telling it all, think about the special 1979 Monte cars from Boreham ... by trying to keep most of weight between the 2 axles the car will be nimbler (is that an english word?). The petrol tank will be placed above the axle, even more forward than a normal GP4 car.
Suspension: the special AST dampers are excellent so they will be used again next year. The geometry however will be somewhat different and hopefully better; when a car rolls or generally "works" on its springs the geometry changes (for instance bumpsteer). By lengthening all the relevant suspension components (rods, compression struts) this is reduced.
As this is going to be a tarmac rally car the ride height is low. To get sufficient suspension (& axle) travel the shell has been modified to allow this.
All the team members who work on the car(s) have normal jobs so this is an amateur project with limited budget. However the goal is to be faster than all the Evo's and STi's in 2008.
Will try and post some more photos of how we get on in the next couple of months. (taking pics is all I do ....
)
Regards, Leon.
The donor car was cleaned and everything that was bolted to the shell has been taken out. To get the underseal etc. off took about 10 days ... after that the shell was beadblasted and the preparations could begin.
We talked alot about where and how the old car (which is in the 2008 calendar, thanks all who voted for it) could be improved: weight, weight distribution, suspension geometry and horsepower.
That last bit is being taken care of by John Vollenberg who is finishing a one-off 2 liter BDG. He also build the Pinto with 225 bhp for the team so we expect a 300+ bhp / 10000 rpm engine .... it will breath through a pair of 55DCO Weber carbs!
Weight: all parts that are not an integral part of the chassis/shell have been looked at and removed or lightened where possible. Example: behind the C-pillar (louvre) there is alot of metal that's doing nothing; has been removed although it meant taking the inside of the C-pillar apart.
Bonnet, boot + spoiler, bumpers are all going to be carbon-parts. Bolts that do nothing (like holding the washerbottle) are from alloy.
Weight distribution: without telling it all, think about the special 1979 Monte cars from Boreham ... by trying to keep most of weight between the 2 axles the car will be nimbler (is that an english word?). The petrol tank will be placed above the axle, even more forward than a normal GP4 car.
Suspension: the special AST dampers are excellent so they will be used again next year. The geometry however will be somewhat different and hopefully better; when a car rolls or generally "works" on its springs the geometry changes (for instance bumpsteer). By lengthening all the relevant suspension components (rods, compression struts) this is reduced.
As this is going to be a tarmac rally car the ride height is low. To get sufficient suspension (& axle) travel the shell has been modified to allow this.
All the team members who work on the car(s) have normal jobs so this is an amateur project with limited budget. However the goal is to be faster than all the Evo's and STi's in 2008.
Will try and post some more photos of how we get on in the next couple of months. (taking pics is all I do ....
)Regards, Leon.
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