Good to see I have some company building mid engined cars. Just to introduce myself, my name is Paul Stockley and I currently live in Toronto Canada (Moved from the UK about five years ago). I am currently in the process of designing and building a Suzuki Hyabusa powered open cockpit LeMans type car. The car will mainly be used for track days but will hopefully be road legal here in Canada. To give you an idea of what the car will look like, think Westfield XTR2 or Radical SR3. Here is a bit of a rundown of some of the features the car will have:

. Space frame chassis paneled with a combination of structural carbon sandwich panels and aluminum.

. Unequal length A-arm independent suspension with pull rod actuated shocks. Adjustable roll bars front and rear.

. Custom machined uprights with Mitsubishi EVO hubs.

. Four piston Willwood calipers front and rear.

. Front splitter, rear diffuser and adjustable rear wing all in carbon

. Home made carbon sandwhich construction bodywork.

. Suzuki hyabusa motorbike engine with dry sump coupled to a quaife transaxle (From Radical SR3).

I am quite far along in the design and have already sourced many of the major components. Allan Staniforth (Author of Competition car suspension and Road and Rally competition car source book) is helping me with the suspension geometry and upright design.

Hopefully in a month or so I will get a basic WEB site up and running to track my progress.

Sounds great

Do keep us up to date and keep checking back on here.

I don't know if you've seen mine or not....

http://www.desicodesign.com/meerkat/

Good luck

Thanks, Alan. Your site is excellent and I am looking forward to seeing the first bodywork pieces come out of the moulds. I know how tedious making the moulds is and this is the part I am not looking forward to on my project. I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress.

[Edited on 11/6/02 by ProjectSRP]

Welcome Paul,your not mad just forward thinking(thats what i keep telling myself),mine will be similar but no carbon fiber or bike engines,keep it simple(like me)

Paul, I just re-read your post....

You actually KNOW Allan Staniforth?...cool
He's definitely one of my inspirations....I'm a proud owner of high-speed low-cost...R and R car source book and Comp car suspension.....all highly recommended...IMO

quote:

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Originally posted by theconrodkid
...... but no carbon fiber ......

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Allan Staniforth runs a suspension setup consultancy called Terrapin services. He's a good guy to work with and is very down to earth. You can take your car to him and he will optimize the suspension and steering geometry to meet your goals. When I talk to him he always seems to have a new car in the shop for sorting out. He has also done quite a bit of work for kitcar manufacturers and other auto makers. He does some long distance work similar to my project but usually likes to get his hands on the actual car. His advice have been invaluable on my project so far and I am pretty confident that when finished the car will handle pretty well. Without his help I would be pretty nervous taking on such a project, especially as mine isn't what you would call "Locost". However it will still be a lot cheaper than buying a Radical or Westfield.

If you need any Carbon, I know a guy in the US who will sell any amount for reasonable cost. For example 10oz harness satin is about $15 per square yard (less the half the usual cost).

Paul, thanks, I will take you up on the carbon info. nearer the time.(or just e-mail me if you like)
I thought your name was familiar...I was just reading your post on pistonheads.com.....about the Radical v Ultima....Ok the Ultima got past, but with what? 5 times the engine size? Hardly fair was it?

I prefer this forum BTW, because it's more about getting your hands dirty than signing cheques, although that is still a necessary evil now and then