An Ultima and two Radicals

[Kiwi XTR2]

The Phantom Thread Thief said:

There is a very persistent rumor that 2 Radicals (and an Ultima) arrived before Christmas . . .

Esprit said:

. . . this MUST be researched further . . .

I've tried to substantiate this and am beginning to wonder if it's a bit of an urban myth ?

3 or 4 people have told me about this and it tends to start - "I heard somewhere that . . ."

Does anyone KNOW any facts for certain ?

[Ffirg 005]

OK, got some facts....

There's an Ultima coming to a Wellington owner - was talking to him about it this avo. The kit arrives in NZ in the second week of March and he's aiming to have it on the track - maybe for Super GT racing - by June for a first outing at Manfield. It'll be assembled in Canterbury, not sure who exactly. Someone from the factory is coming out to do the suspension setup once it's assembled.

It'll have an iron block SBC from American Speed - 6.8 litre, 720hp NA. When the fibreglass panels arrive he's having them all moulded to make carbon fibre copies which he's expecting to save 200Kg in weight. His understanding from talking to the Ultima factory is that there are no other Ultimas in NZ or on order.

Don

[chevtrev]

Bring it on.
I haven't heard of this guy approaching Super gt yet,but I hope it happens.I think there is more to come out of the wood work very shortly.

[kiwi le]

What about the Radicals ?? I'd like to see one of those going tracks here, see if there as good as all the hype ?

[Kiwi XTR2]

That Ultima sounds the Mutts . . . but the build time sounds VERY optimistic.

In fact I'll stake a nice cold can of coke it will be late Very happy to lose that bet

The Radicals are great cars but £ for £ / spec for spec no better than a custom Westie. There are more established packages you can buy however from £25k up to £90k.

[Ffirg 005]

This isn't a guy doing it in his garage as most Ultima builds are - he's got a professional outfit doing it for him.

[Kiwi XTR2]

Ffirg 005 said:

. . . he's got a professional outfit doing it for him.

OK my mistake . . . but you can still have the coke if he finishes on time.

Do you know whether it will road-legal ?

[Kiwi XTR2]

Do you know which model ?

I always thought the CanAm's were a bit ugly but watching a few of Ian's videos in the last couple of days I think that's the one I'd go for

[Esprit]

Kiwi XTR2 said:

Ffirg 005 said: . . . he's got a professional outfit doing it for him. OK my mistake . . . but you can still have the coke if he finishes on time. Do you know whether it will road-legal ?

Doubt it'll be road legal if he's building it that dedicated for super GT.... it sounds awesome.... perhaps there might actually be some competition for Carl Hansen's Tuscan

[Kiwi XTR2]

Possibly but he'd need to be a more than decent driver as well. Real variety (and competition) in the GT's would be great to see.

So who wants to sponsor me into a Norma M20 M-Power 3.0 ?

Thanks once again to Roger for finding my favourite video. Never fails to put a smile on my face and create a gaggle of confused colleagues outside my office door.

[Ffirg 005]

It's a GTR and I think intended just for the track. He's keen to run in the Targa also (do you need to be road legal to do that?). His company is pretty high tech - Nedax does building security systems - and one of his guys is going to fit it out with on board video, GPS lap timer, etc.

I could be wrong but don't think he's done much in the way of motor racing before.

[Kiwi XTR2]

Plenty of time to get some practise and instruction before June . . . not to mention a competition licence.

Imagine going from something like a XR6 roadcar straight to a 720 bhp mid-engine track-car.

And YES you do need to be road-legal for Targa. All the details are on the Targa website.

[jamieheasman]

Lucky sod. I wish I had the cash to get one...

200kg weight saving from carbon panels? I very much doubt that, in fact I doubt if the standard Ultima bodywork weighs 200kgs given the all-up weight of 980kgs with an iron block SBC. Ultima have built a car with carbon panels and stated that the weight reduction just isn't worth it. They'd be better off getting an alloy block SBC to save the extra weight.

I hope he's been given the nod to run in Super GT - from what I've heard they tend to change the rules on a weekly basis! I imagine he would have though - you don't invest the sort of money he is without checking these things out first.

[chevtrev]

It does seem a bit odd to go the expense of loosing weight through a carbon fibre body when it's still got an iorn block.
Surely the factory could supply a lightweight glass shell.
The Malaysian bodied Chim has weighed in at a tad over 200 kilos,with a 3 or 4 ply lay up as apposed to the standard body of about 275/300.

[Lawrence1]

Yes, 200kgs would be a lot to save over CSM panels.
The panels would be better produced with honeycomb cores than just a standard lay-up.
The Hansen car main body weighs 16kgs and doors 2.2kgs
These were made with 6 layers of 200gm carbon with a 3mm honeycomb core in a vacuum mould.
The use of an alloy block will save 60 pounds in weight, or 132 kgs. Far easier to loose weight this way than bugger around making new moulds and panels.

I wonder what the factory has to say about someone ripping off a set of moulds for their cars? Who knows what could happen then - all sorts of clones hitting the road .........

[Kiwi XTR2]

Lawrence1 said:

The Hansen car main body weighs 16kgs and doors 2.2kgs These were made with 6 layers of 200gm carbon with a 3mm honeycomb core in a vacuum mould.

That is really impressive

Lawrence1 said:

The use of an alloy block will save 60 pounds in weight, or 132 kgs.

So is that 60 kg = 132 lb ?
or 60 lb = 27.3 kg ?

[chevtrev]

even at 25 kilos,that impresive,but with the money thrown into that machine you'd expect nothing less.
Must double check on those lightweight? Chim bodies being 200 kilos,i'm feeling decidedly heavy now.

[Kiwi XTR2]

chevtrev said:

. . . I'm feeling decidedly heavy now.

Have you tried the Atkins Diet ?

Any idea what you want to increase your power:weight ratio by?

[chevtrev]

Kiwi XTR2 said:

chevtrev said: . . . I'm feeling decidedly heavy now. Have you tried the Atkins Diet ? Any idea what you want to increase your power:weight ratio by?

Funy You say that,lost two stone on the Atkins.
My cars been built on 550/600bhp for /950kilos,if i'm very lucky can shed maybe 100/150 kg's with lightweight grp body on which im taking moulds on soon,there's no way I can warrant spending mass's amounts of doe on CF.
The good thing is its sister car just finished with minimal developement is doing dead 101's with 380hp(probably the lowest powered car in super GT) with a too short diff and 1000kg's.

[Kiwi XTR2]

I think it would be quite interesting to pick a particular car (like yours) and plot a range of upgrades (both power upgrades and weight savings) for [power/weight] vs [$] to see how consistent the curve is.

OR a 3-D plot of [power] vs [weight] vs [$] . . .

Can you tell I'm an engineer ?