U2U | Member List | Search | Photo Archive | Chat | Links | Shop Not logged in [Login - Register] LocostBuilders » Forum » Mid Engine » Group C/ IMSA GTP/ Prototype style car » Post Reply MIG Welders & ARC Welders at MachineMart.co.uk   Post Reply Who Can Post? All users can post new topics and all users can reply. Username  Need to register? Password:  Forgot password? Subject: (optional) Icon: Formatting Mode: Normal Advanced Help Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Script MT Bold Stencil Verdana Lucida Console -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 White Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: HTML is Off Smilies are On BB Code is On [img] Code is On [quote][i]Originally posted by Dom9[/i] Hi guys, Just wanted to introduce myself and my project, which is likely to take the next few years! I have degrees in materials engineering and fluid/aero dynamics and have worked for Ferrari F1 and Lotus Motorsport previously but have been working in the oil and gas industry for the last 7 years. I have always admired the Group C cars that used to race at Le Mans etc during the mid and late '80s and even the F1 engined prototype cars in the early 90's. I grew up in a Porsche 956 shaped and liveried bed with a painting of a Porsche 956 at Le Mans hanging over it... I think my parents must have been pre-conditioning me! I have wanted to design and build me own Group C replica for as long as I can remember and the closest I have got was to scratch build a mid engined spaceframe chassis'd car when I was 19... Since leaving university I have mostly been travelling with work and so have never had the home to get on with a project but now we are back, living in London and settled, I have resurrected the idea! I have been following the bodywork design thread here: http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=43112 but I feel that it might be easier to start with a body in GRP and construct a chassis using those dimensions than start completely from scratch. I was offered the full bodywork for a Group C Jaguar XJR, in GRP about 5 years ago by Don Miles, who used to race a Jaguar XJR-5, but sadly I had to buy a flat and then start travelling again with work. I will try and get in touch with him again to see if he still has it for sale, although I doubt it! Some of his racing can be seen here: http://www.groupc-gtpracing.com/racereportsspamay03.htm The only other body I have come across is from Derek Smith in Canada and is an exact replica of the Porsche 962: http://members.shaw.ca/p962/p2.html He has offered to sell me a complete body at what I believe to be a fairly reasonable price, although it would need to be shipped over here, which may be expensive. I can see myself bombarding him with emails over the next few years, so I hope he doesn't get bored of mine! His project has really impressed me and is very similar to what I would like to achieve although I will reduce the complexity. I did see a full Group C-style body in a kit car magazine in the UK a few (8?) years ago. It was towards the start, in the news section and was priced at something like £600! I wish I had jumped at that, but couldn't at the time. Does anyone recall that article or know of anywhere that I might be able to get such a body? It looks like a few people have had the same idea as me over the last few years: http://www.gurneyflap.com/gtprototypes962.html http://www.slackmotorsport.com/Porsche_962.php http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php?s=64f7668cbc0d2a038eb42094a13f0eb7&threadid=98865 So hopefully there will be a lot of info out there and plenty of helpful souls! I have more books about car, chassis and engine design than a library, so I hope I am in a good position to get things underway. I have also ordered kb58's Kimini book, which ought to provide useful when the time comes to do some more research. The basic spec will be: Body - GRP Group C replica (possibly Porsche 962) Chassis - Steel tube frame Suspension - Hopefully use Ultima parts Brakes - Ultima again hopefully Steering - Yes, Ultima again Engine - N/A Quad cam V8... Maybe Lexus You will see that I am going to see if I can adapt the Ultima stuff to fit a bespoke chassis as I think this will cut down on time, cost and testing since the cars should be a similar proportion and weight etc... Though I really need to see an Ultima, without its bodywork close up and take some photos - Does anyone have one under construction in the South London area? I could probably just use the Ultima kit as a whole but I get the impression that the necessary alterations to the main chassis would be so substantial that I might as well save some cost and maybe even time by designing it from scratch (my missus, Lou, is a CAD operator!)... But I am pretty sure that I could 'copy' the front and rear frames of the Ultima, to hold the engine, suspension etc. I just wanted to name check Fran Hall from RCR here as he has been talking to me and giving me advice over email and his car is something quite similar: http://www.superlitecars.com/ Any thoughts, help or suggestions are more than welcome! Many thanks, Dom [/quote] Disable Smilies? Use signature? Turn BBCode off? Receive e-mail notification of new replies? Topic Review This is a long topic, click here to review it.  LocostBuilders » Forum » Mid Engine » Group C/ IMSA GTP/ Prototype style car » Post Reply Connectivity donated by NetrinoUK All content © 2001-6 LocostBuilders. 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