Team Phoenix Esprit - 358cid conversion

[M Blur]

the shallow rake was always the problem unless we went for a bespoke lights and placing forward at correct angle faced ride height problems for UK MOT.. agree airfow not as smooth but shouldn't be too bad and overall front will be much improved on stock. Car will def have a distinctive Lotus-Lambo look about it once done.. probably having perspex covers to enclose each pod may be the way to go and I know a firm that could probably do that if I can make up the template. That would smooth out the flow significantly but sth to do over winter perhaps.

[Jonathan]

The eyes look superb - really pushing the boat out on this one eh ?

[M Blur]

I always felt the Esprit's potential was cut short a little and later rules regs really stiffled..tho the Gt1 Esprits and Elises were awesome.. I'm going to try and take the car as close to a GTP car as poss with some .. lots of mistakes and learning ahead and trying tokeep the car road legal (just) and get the most on track is almost an impossibe task but then I haven't got 40K to throw at suspension so a compromised set-up probably works best for now.

I also look at all these 250-300K supercar track toys coming out from everyehere and think if an avg Joe can bring together a car was a fraction and still wupp their ass on track - with some proper racing provinence and built as a proper road-legal racer, then that's a cool thing indeed. I also like the fact it'll be ashamedly old skool with real 80s Gt charm but with strong LM/GTP cues.

really I do it for the passion - there's very little logic involved in these ventures. Total end budget is around the 40-45K mark but that's been aided by a lot of bargain hunting, contacts and the genirosity of MVS.

Hypercar on a show-string

[punky]

Hi Jon

Still following your progress and looking forward to seeing it running.

keep up the good work dude :yes

[Vulcan Grey]

Just saw the Customer Corvette C6.R for GT2 in the states will be $450,000

[M Blur]

C6R a great car Trav.. but most comparable cars I see do go for big money but of course there's racing provience/fia papers to take into account.

long-term I want a high tune ZR1 engine but the current is a cracking old skool lump

[Jonathan]

Could you winke a ZR1 + gearbox in there ?

[M Blur]

adapter and G50-50 would be retained over.. not too much hassle to swap a sbc out with a modified LT1, whcih are more alike than later LS'. but it'd need to be tuned by my man in Texas to match the sbc's raw delivery.

Edited October 22, 2007 by M Blur

[M Blur]

Car is going to be black with functional red edging to mark out extremeties, intakes, lower diffuser, leading edge of the ing - a bit like Mikes and the Gt1 cars..

Think SR-71 and that'll be about bob on. Stealth prototype and a good backdrop for any sponsor logos and Club Esprit logos of course.. 8)

what I want to do next is call on club afficionados and come up with a logo that's in keepign with Esprits.. sth that calls on previous racing and sport models..Car is called a 358-SS but maybe should be called GT358-SS, as befitting the monikers of old and new..

any ideas chaps..

[M Blur]

some update pics from the blog: you can see the novelle alternator arrangement (alternator is ex-nascar and weighs 4-6pounds = v.light). MVS duiscovered that pulling from the trans had little or no perceptible drag and meant no engine inertia.. they also find it a reliable source and has no obvious effects on the shafts. I do wonder how the shafts remain balanced to rpm from the box but the guys have been using this with kobota alternators for a while now.. it then feeds an Optima yellow-top gel battery - yep one of the bad boys.

shafts are actually new but just to be polished up at a suggestion from a chappie at Hewland - race spec - jst checking on specs and material used. So far MVS doing an awesome job and the best yet to come

Cheers

Jon

[Günter]

Hey Jon, great car and interesstin way of solving the problems...

I hope your baby is not as leaky as SR71

[M Blur]

all MVS' efforts but they do find ways fo solving problems - we had a space issue anyway and they don't like the drag of a conventional set-up. When the first descibed it I thought it was a dynamo.. but thankfully no.

but hopefully as fast.. mach 3.. yeah

[hilly]

How compliant are your engine and gearbox mounts ?????

From looking at the pictures the alternator is bolted to a bracket welded to the chassis.

If the mounts are a bit bendy then the gearbox is going to move around (admitadly about the drive flange axis), if it moves a lot then it will play havoc with the belt......

Hilly

[Vulcan Grey]

Yeah, I would think they'd bolt the alt to the tranny to keep them moving together.

BTW, they ran the alternator off the axel on the 4cyl GT2 race cars.

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EOtherstuff/EspritGT2.html

[Jonathan]

Indeed they did !

Got some sneaky pics of the Le Mans car as well showing the alternator being driven like that.

[M Blur]

You're not the first to mention the flex on the alternator Hilly - I'll ask the workshop again + they may not have tried the set-up with a beastie like my 358 before..

meanwhile.. here we're sizing the rear arches.. hence bigger rims - they'll be vented when finished of course

and the new carbon wing - over 6' wide - LM type bi-plane

Rear section undertray and diffuser

[mike_sekinger]

Hey John,

Shaping-up nicely there... is the front track width being retained?

Enjoying watching this beast come together ;-))

Cheers,

Mike S

[M Blur]

for now yes but we're enlarging the front arches for the future..

Alternator bracket duly being mounted to trans chaps

The air flow under the front cover wil be split (a bit like an MC12 but not as pretty) so to direct that nasty warm air out of the front rad away from the roof intake..

I'll stop nothing short of owning the maddest (and fastest) road legal Esprit in the world.. muhahahahahahah and I'll be making the compromises for road as small as possible.

It'll then all be finished in black for now until we can decide final livery etc. a white or gunmetal canopy/tailgate may be an option or in red. Black cockpit and engine bay just spells hot so will look at that.. want to keep it stealthy looking tho

A nice thing I learned was the old chap who is building the manifolds/exhaust used to make them for Chapman during the F1 years.. 8)

Edited November 7, 2007 by M Blur

[Günter]

Hey Jon, looks realy wild! What type of car is it in the picture, with this huge wing sit on its back... ??

[M Blur]

I think that's one of the larger Radicals .. they also made this all-carbon prosport..

I'm getting a choice of roof intake s- will post here for comments/opinion before choosing

This is another one off the back of a Swift sprint car

but these are smaller wings..

out of these guess which one I'm getting - yup - the big one then a second blade also.. car wil be 6' 8" and I think the guys can do a 6' long blade.. maybe even add some secondary stantions but will see how it lines up..

[mike_sekinger]

Hi Jon,

Those wing profiles still look pretty mild to me. The GT2 car has a much deeper and more agressive profile.... but only generates useful downforce from the outer edges where is sees clean ariflow.

Maybe if you

[M Blur]

tks - I'll refer on Mike - those wings are smaller - the one I'm getting will use a 40cm main blade x 6' and then a second smaller blade which is a useful adjuster for different tracks The guys do a lot of work with Radicals and other prototypes so have good experience here and aero has moved in a bit since the GT1 cars.. it's always moving. I'll make sure they sit the wing nice and high.

I'm not so concerned about drag initially, as I'll more than enough power to punch through and ultimately as much as the Elise Gt1s.. .. I'm after downforce and hopefulyl more than what even the Gt1s were generating but probably some way short of the Elise Gt1 long-tail.

[mike_sekinger]

Yeah!

I

[M Blur]

Tks Mike.. out of curiosity - - what's the depth of the wing on your GT1..? If you can get me some dims that'd be great.

Hopefully it'll stay just about recognisable, I would hate to lose the Esprit lines and looks more an evolution but it wil be pretty hairy granted.. plenty of Club Esprit logos jsut to be sure tho

if you have any pics of the undertray etc that would also help us a lot..

[mike_sekinger]

Tks Mike.. out of curiosity - - what's the depth of the wing on your GT1..? If you can get me some dims that'd be great.

Hopefully it'll stay just about recognisable, I would hate to lose the Esprit lines and looks more an evolution but it wil be pretty hairy granted.. plenty of Club Esprit logos jsut to be sure tho

if you have any pics of the undertray etc that would also help us a lot..

Hi Jon,

I