The Range Racer
Discussion
Hi All!
So after a drunken night on Gran Turismo a couple of months ago, My self and 2 friends (all landrover employees) decided it would be a good idea to try and convert an old range rover into a track car! And from what we have found so far, no one has done it! (how hard can it be?)
Anyway, fast forward a few weeks and none of us had managed to talk each other out of it, so we have a car! A 2005 L322 Range Rover Vouge 4.2L V8 Supercharged.
Anyway, we thought we would create somewhere where people can follow our rather stupid encounter, enjoy!
Charlie, Ryan & Simone
So after a drunken night on Gran Turismo a couple of months ago, My self and 2 friends (all landrover employees) decided it would be a good idea to try and convert an old range rover into a track car! And from what we have found so far, no one has done it! (how hard can it be?)
Anyway, fast forward a few weeks and none of us had managed to talk each other out of it, so we have a car! A 2005 L322 Range Rover Vouge 4.2L V8 Supercharged.
Anyway, we thought we would create somewhere where people can follow our rather stupid encounter, enjoy!
Charlie, Ryan & Simone
We have had the car for a couple of months now we we have a little to catch you all up on so say tuned this weekend.
So here she is!!
At the time it was the cheapest L322 supercharged in the country. Completely staggered at the value for money!
Paid £3630, 170k miles, lots of history, 400hp and NOTHING wrong with it!
fully loaded with options (all of which will be removed when she goes to fat camp)
heated seats, heated steering wheel, TVs in the seats, DVD changer, CD Changer, the list goes on an on.
Anyway we have our start point!
So here she is!!
At the time it was the cheapest L322 supercharged in the country. Completely staggered at the value for money!
Paid £3630, 170k miles, lots of history, 400hp and NOTHING wrong with it!
fully loaded with options (all of which will be removed when she goes to fat camp)
heated seats, heated steering wheel, TVs in the seats, DVD changer, CD Changer, the list goes on an on.
Anyway we have our start point!
Our logic....
Are we mad? Certainly! but maybe not completely.....
Ok maybe we are just trying to justify our mistake here but here goes. It seems that the formula for a good track car is well practised, start with something light and nimble then add some sticky tyres, big brakes, stiffer anti roll bars and some more power and hey presto! you have some thing fast an fun.
BUT what if you had the opposite approach? start with something like a range rover...
- Mac strut front suspension (like a 911)
- Double wishbone rear (like a F1 Car)
- Huge 4pot brakes from standard
- Huge Anti roll bars from standard
- 400HP!
Just the ridiculously high centre of gravity and the 2640kg (yes, we had it weighed) to fix then! Easy right?.....
Are we mad? Certainly! but maybe not completely.....
Ok maybe we are just trying to justify our mistake here but here goes. It seems that the formula for a good track car is well practised, start with something light and nimble then add some sticky tyres, big brakes, stiffer anti roll bars and some more power and hey presto! you have some thing fast an fun.
BUT what if you had the opposite approach? start with something like a range rover...
- Mac strut front suspension (like a 911)
- Double wishbone rear (like a F1 Car)
- Huge 4pot brakes from standard
- Huge Anti roll bars from standard
- 400HP!
Just the ridiculously high centre of gravity and the 2640kg (yes, we had it weighed) to fix then! Easy right?.....
hyphen said:
What do you do at land rover? Are heavily skilled and so equipped for the challenge, or desk jobs in marketing?
I think it would be optimistic to say we are equipped for the challenge! But we all work is chassis design engineering. Intresting we all also own cars far better suited to the track than a range rover!!Charlie - Chassis engineer - E46 M3
Ryan - Chassis engineer - Honda S2000 & V6 MR2
Simone - Chassis engineer - R32 GTR & Audi S6 & Mx5 & almost definitely something else he hasnt told us about yet.
Edited by charlie-5mkmt on Saturday 5th January 13:58
Edited by charlie-5mkmt on Wednesday 16th January 17:36
charlie-5mkmt said:
I think it would be optimistic to say we are equipped for the challenge! But we all work is chassis design engineering. Intresting we all also own cars far better suited to the track than a range rover!!
Charlie - Suspension system tuneables & air suspension - E46 M3
Ryan - Roll control engineer in special vehicle operations - Honda S2000 & V6 MR2
Simone - Suspension system architecture in special vehicle operations - R32 GTR & Audi S6 & Mx5 & almost definitely something else he hasnt told us about yet.
I went for an interview at Gaydon years ago. I was amused by the works car park. One section was all Ford owned Marques. Our host told us they got big discounts on cars and got new ones every year. Charlie - Suspension system tuneables & air suspension - E46 M3
Ryan - Roll control engineer in special vehicle operations - Honda S2000 & V6 MR2
Simone - Suspension system architecture in special vehicle operations - R32 GTR & Audi S6 & Mx5 & almost definitely something else he hasnt told us about yet.
Edited by charlie-5mkmt on Saturday 5th January 13:58
As we drove passed the second employee section it was full of very nice cars like M3s and M5s. Our host said to us “those are all owned by the people who design the chassis and like to drive. We ask them to park away from the building entrances visitors don’t realize they are employees”.
Edited by h0b0 on Saturday 5th January 14:07
charlie-5mkmt said:
I think it would be optimistic to say we are equipped for the challenge! But we all work is chassis design engineering. Intresting we all also own cars far better suited to the track than a range rover!!
Charlie - Suspension system tuneables & air suspension - E46 M3
Ryan - Roll control engineer in special vehicle operations - Honda S2000 & V6 MR2
Simone - Suspension system architecture in special vehicle operations - R32 GTR & Audi S6 & Mx5 & almost definitely something else he hasnt told us about yet.
Those are not bad credentials! Charlie - Suspension system tuneables & air suspension - E46 M3
Ryan - Roll control engineer in special vehicle operations - Honda S2000 & V6 MR2
Simone - Suspension system architecture in special vehicle operations - R32 GTR & Audi S6 & Mx5 & almost definitely something else he hasnt told us about yet.
Edited by charlie-5mkmt on Saturday 5th January 13:58
If you need a willing volunteer to take it out when it is ready, I'll do it
So our plan...
After we got the car we went back to the pub to discuss what the hell to do, this is our rough plan!
- Oil Change
- Benchmarking track day (in completely standard form)
- Lowering (likely by tricking the air suspension for now)
- New wheels and tyres, smaller in OD and with a little less sidewall.
- Some SERIOUS Weight stripping along with some bucket seats.
After this point i think we will have a fairly good idea of the scale of the mistake we have made....
Longer term & bigger budget goals...
- Conversion to manual and likely rear wheel drive (mainly for weight reasons)
- Coil suspension conversion
- Cage
- Power upgrades, supercharger pully etc
- Quicker steering rack of possible.
Also forgot to mention, we completed out first mod! some minor badge changes!!
After we got the car we went back to the pub to discuss what the hell to do, this is our rough plan!
- Oil Change
- Benchmarking track day (in completely standard form)
- Lowering (likely by tricking the air suspension for now)
- New wheels and tyres, smaller in OD and with a little less sidewall.
- Some SERIOUS Weight stripping along with some bucket seats.
After this point i think we will have a fairly good idea of the scale of the mistake we have made....
Longer term & bigger budget goals...
- Conversion to manual and likely rear wheel drive (mainly for weight reasons)
- Coil suspension conversion
- Cage
- Power upgrades, supercharger pully etc
- Quicker steering rack of possible.
Also forgot to mention, we completed out first mod! some minor badge changes!!
d! I'm all in for this sounds amazingh0b0 said:
I went for an interview at Gaydon years ago. I was amused by the works car park. One section was all Ford owned Marques. Our host told us they got big discounts on cars and got new ones every year.
As we drove passed the second employee section it was full of very nice cars like M3s and M5s. Our host said to us “those are all owned by the people who design the chassis and like to drive. We ask them to park away from the building entrances visitors don’t realize they are employees”.
Its a strange place! the car park transforms between winter and summer from boring daily's to more like a car show.As we drove passed the second employee section it was full of very nice cars like M3s and M5s. Our host said to us “those are all owned by the people who design the chassis and like to drive. We ask them to park away from the building entrances visitors don’t realize they are employees”.
Edited by h0b0 on Saturday 5th January 14:07
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