Hi guys, I thought some of you might be interested to see something I get up to in my spare time. - 1020kg - 450bhp - Pineapple Racing large street ported engine - GT4088R turbo - DTA S80 Pro ECU - Race Technology data logging setup with CAN interface - AP Racing complete brake setup (calipers, discs, pedal box, lines) - Ohlins 2-way adjustable dampers - Racing Beat aluminium flywheel - 5.5" AP Racing Clutch - Drenth DG400 heavy duty sequential g'box - 4.77:1 final drive - ATL 80L fuel cell in rear buckets - Self-built carbon fibre nose, headlights, front wings, bonnet, front splitter, rocker panels & rear arches - Custom cages T45 rollcage - AP Racing air jacks - Fibreglass rear hatch - 10.5J 18" CE28Ns all round
Very impressive Alex ! I've always been wondering if the Mazda in your Avatar was your own car. Do you race with it or track days ?
The latest thing I made were the doors.. Which came to 3.5kg It starts with a normal steel door Which is modified to give it simpler curves which will make it stronger when made in CF. Here's the modified one polished and ready to take a mould from Inner and outer moulds. Need a good trim and polish. Laying up the fabric in the mould Inner half Bagged up, vacuuming to compress and infuse with resin. The darker part you see has resin travelling through it which has not yet reached the lighter coloured parts. Popped the parts out the moulds Made aluminium mounting points and bonded to the inside Testing where to put various things before bonding All in place, with access hole cut for catch Bonding inner and outer skins. Very tiny amount of vacuum used here due to fear of distortion. Done. Waiting windows and paint.
Im no engineer or car specialist, have 0 knowledge when it comes to race spec cars and their set up, had to get that out of the way before i ask. Was this done to any design drawings or specific specifications cause it looks like massive overkill and more of a hinderance than help, more boy racerish than racer, but this is my ignorant opinion :- see disclaimer above
No, no hindrance at all. It's all about adding front downforce. Adding rear downforce is easy to do with a road-based car: you add a bigger wing. To add to the front is harder though because there's no legal way to mount a wing, so the front splitter has to be quite significant. I designed it with some Solidworks CFD. It's also the first section of the car's flat floor, which leads to the rear diffuser. Here are some more pictures of it:
Thanks, not sure why i doubted it i do understand the theory, idk, maybe that first picture it just looks very, errr, boy racerish to me, probably distance and angle, perspective? Seeing the close up pictures especially with the front end uncovered and obvious end plates looks a lot more convincing - Professional! I guess i had something like this in my head
Great! Amazing! Hey,Please start working to record it soon! R3E requires the sound of RotaryEngine. Everyone's dream We LOVE MAZDA RE
A little update from this weekend. I went to work on the car on Friday night (it lives at my parents' house an hour away) and spent the weekend working on the doors, getting them closer to the point the windows can be fitter and outer skins can be painted. The first thing was to finalise the check straps, which my dad had a brilliant idea of using old lanyards for, so they can be released quickly. He made these eyes up for me from solid aluminium. They screw into the hard points I'd already bonded in before I stuck both halves of the doors together. I used old lanyards from work; Le Mans Series race at Donington Park in 200...8(?) maybe. Next, I dragged out an old steel door so I could move some of the OEM rubber seals across onto my newly made doors and copy the positions nicely. Man this thing feels heavy! Before the seals went on. Then after
Wow this is just ridiculously cool! Who even knew you could lay up carbon at home. I went to the ginetta factory a while back and had a look around their carbon room, it's like a laboratory! Massive kudos to you this project looks immense. What sort of racing are you planning? Nothing that may involve contact I hope....not like to can pop to the scrappers for another hand made carbon body panel....
Alex, MATE, I got a cracking zed that needs some track mods and a good beating around a track near you! I`ll let you have free reign over it as long as it stays road legal
There are a couple of nice series which run in the UK and have an invitation class for modified/none homologated cars: https://www.gtcup.co.uk/ http://www.britcar-endurance.com/ Seeing as they both run longer races than the usual 20 minute club race, they give the chance to get your teeth in to it. Also the chance of contact is greatly reduced, as everyone is in the endurance mindset. I have kept the moulds for every single body panel on the car, so I can always make more, although it'll take some time!
RE for various reasons it takes money and a lot of labor is necessary. How did you solve these? Tthere is no doubt that in the race it will show great performance. Mazda and REAmemiya have proved brilliant achievements in the past. I hope your race activities will be successful.