My friend's car...UPDATE 21/05/09

[massivewangers]

Well, when I say car, I mean space frame 

Lad on my course is building this in his garage. A single seater for hill climb events. Designed it entirely himself, and has made it all too, apart from the uprights and hubs and things.

Just got a few pictures when I was at his the other day, but very impressive I feel!

Space frame:



Front shock (this is about £400 on it's own)



Front hub off a prototype sports car



Wilwood Superlight caliper from above, and they really are super super light!



Rear hub (these are custom jobs)



BBS wheels from an F3 car. These are magnesium, you can pick them up with a little finger, they are uber uber light



And finally, the powerplant, from an R1, just waiting the rear of the spaceframe to be built up around it.



Basically it will look like a baby F1 car, just with a shorter back end, and slightly different aero package.

Rear wheels will take a 10" wide slick on them, and it's absolutely tiny. Weight should come in at around 350kg WITH driver, which will equate to roughly 450bhp per ton 

[cozmeister]

Impressive!  That R1 engine will fly  

[Churchy]

That'll be an absoulte hoot to drive! Lets hope after all this he doesn't stack it into the first corner lol

[massivewangers]

He's only driven a 1.0 Corsa up until now, it's going to be a steep learning curve!!!!

[matt]

I would love to build something like that, i just need the space to do it. Keep us posted on this it will be really nice to see it take shape.

P.S where did he get the design and dimensions from, surely its not all guess work and hopeing things will fit and line up

[massivewangers]

He came up with the design, after looking at lots of other cars and talking to people in the know. Other than that, lots and lots of drawings!

[Churchy]

He came up with the design, after looking at lots of other cars and talking to people in the know. Other than that, lots and lots of drawings!

Auto cad I'm guessin lol.

He's only driven a 1.0 Corsa up until now, it's going to be a steep learning curve!!!!

Steep, thats fucking vertical!!! 

[Fireball]

That looks awesome!

(I didnt know what an R1 was so i just googled it. 180bhp Bike engine?! It's HUGE! must be a f**king big bike. Seems fairly popular with mini's too...... Lunacy)

[Daz-cos]

its one of the fastest bikes available. valentino rossi rides one in the moto gp. excellant engines. as said its goin be an arse clenching moment when he opens the throttle for the first time!!

[RST-Steve]

That engine in a Mini.................... SWEEEEEEEEEEEETT!!!

[matt]

Dont know if you saw the issue of Fast Ford where they done a feature on Mountune, Any way they have developed a V8 version of the R1 engine light as a feather and with a super charger bolted to it develops 450bhp

[massivewangers]

UPDATE TIME!!!

Apologies for the delay for those that asked. Only a few pictures, I'll pop down and see him to get some more, but progress has been made. The engine is now mounted in the chassis, and all being well, the frame itself should be painted after this weekend!

Few pictures for your viewing pleasure 









Like I say, I will try and pop down to get some more pictures, and a bit more info on what's been done and what's next, but that's a starter for you!

[matt]

Looking forward to the rest of those pics

[RST-Steve]

Yep, looks good so far!