We are in the process of building our new Time Attack car for the 2008 season. We are starting from a new GC8 2 door motorsport shell, pre-prepped by prodrive for conversion into a WRC shell, there are a few of these about, but this one already had a far bit of work done.

The basic spec is as follows:

2 door gc8 shell
Multi point cage with additional bracing to suspension elements
All plastic windows except front screen
Fabricated suspension links all round
4 way adjustable suspension
8 pot front brakes
6 pot rear brakes
Floor mounted pedal box
2006 hubs and uprights all round
custom subframes
Composite panels except roof (for FIA events) and bonnet
FIA approved bag tank
Dual fuel setup
Mid mounted radiator
Lifeline plumbed in gas based fire extinguisher
2.4L Engine with variable cam heads
700hp
6 speed gearbox (eventually with sequential shift)
Full aero package
Front mounted turbo package as per 2007
Front mounted intercooler
very low CofG
Target weight is under 1000kg

I will get some pics of the shell and some of the parts we are starting to accomodate into the build, along with some tech info on why we're doing what we're doing, but not too much info on here

 

Sounds Impressive mate

 

Sounds like a stunning spec...

Best of luck for the coming season

 

hope mine goes this well when u finnish it paul

Cant wait to see the car being prepared.....

 

sounds very impressive.. can't wait to see it in the flesh again!

 

Similarly, I have a new GC8 2 door shell from Prodrive at the early stages of WRC conversion - has your been converted to wide arch?

What are your plans for track width? Will the 2006 uprights give you something in between standard and WRC width? I am trying to avoid the costs of genuine WRC uprights, which is phenominal.

Cheers,

Rich

 

Is that all?

I was expecting something special

Mark A

 

I have seen this in the flesh and it's amazing, it's going to raise the bar to new levels in 2008.

 

I've seen the pictures of yours, and I would say it's a weeks worth of work behind where I got mine. Unforunately some of what was done we are going to have to undo. The shell came with no outer sills, no scuttle panel, no suspension turret tops, no roof, no lower front panel, all the "stuff" removed that isn't required, jacking points cut, rear quarters cut and more besides.

The car will start on OE uprights, and at £10k for a complete set of prodrive units, I would like not to use them. Unless you're doing WRC events, you don't need them either, they are not light (neither is a WRC car) but nigh on indestructable.

I have prodrive rear turret tops welded in, and am machining new ones for the front to use with S5 wrc topmounts.

The rest you will have to wait and see.

 

Good Luck, Hope all goes well this year!!

Dill

 

Good Luck paul and co,

Looking 4ward to seeing it in the flesh, think I had a poke about at the shell last year when I was having some work done sounds like a challenge. Must be a scary proposition tho when the last car was so successful .

What’s your driver line up like this year are you planning on using the same guys as last year , well you have my number if not ( he keeps dreaming) … will be in contact soon for some more ZEN power !

 

It sounds like a great project Paul and I am sure will do well this year with all the data gathered from testing and development right through last year.

Do you think the lap times will come down by another 2-3 seconds this year too?

 

Look forward to seeing this in the flesh...

Regular updates required please

 

Thats gonna be a beast, especially judging by last years #1 effort! Good luck all at Zen

 

Gotta sort yours first though

 

So what colours this one going to be this year, any more teddy bears kicking around for inspiration?

It sounds awesome, i'll have to get my money together to sponsor you Minty.

 

Good stuff - I look forward to seeing the completed shell. I have recently been in talks with a company suppliying very good quality carbon/kevlar WRC front and rear wings and the extended WRC outer sills to match, or have you already taken care of the cut-about rear wings?

What will be your plans to increase the track to fill the WRC arches, if you are using standard uprights/hubs?

Not prying for info, just desperate for a solution....

 

Just seen this, slow on the uptake me as ever

Good luck again this year Paul and team.

 

I already have said panels waiting to go on.

Yes as I've already said, I'm using standard uprights and hubs, wider wheels, wider links and driveshafts. However for circuit use we will be doing a few things that you don't see on a WRC shell. Pics coming soon.

 

All the best guys at Zen.

 

How soon is soon for the pics?

 

Sounds very impressive

 

sounds like a beast of a car!!!
how heavy was your old car?

 

good look to you for 2008.
hopefully i will be racing with you one day

 

can we have some pics yet please

 

I've not long got back from work, despite the late hour, I've just been tidying up after the weekends efforts, after spending most of the day on the phone. These are the only pics so far, that I managed to take before the battery went phut on the camera.

Here we have the carbon/kevlar rear quarter panel shown against the rear of the shell, and you can see what has been removed so far. The cut out of the outer shell was done by Prodrive, the inner by me. Somehow we have to make the two fit! You can also see one of the jacking point tubes we have welded in, although the car will probably have air jacks for normal maintenance, the points in the sill are useful if you want to keep the car high in the air, they are the same as any old group N car, nothing special. Also of note is the lack out an outer sill, still not figured that out yet!


General shot of the cage, there are a few more tubes to weld in, but we are leaving those out for now to allow easier access to the interior while we sort out other fabrication jobs inside the car. Evident is the lack of roof, which makes the cage fitting so much easier, and is definitely the way forward if you're going to spray the car.


Front inner arch mods from the outside, the car is going to sit LOW (flymo style...) But we want to make sure we have the full travel available on the suspension all round so mods to front and possibly rear are required. Anone that knows what they're looking at here will appreciate how much has been removed.


Below is the same arch from the engine bay, the keen eyed will notice that much is missing at the moment, some of it will return, but not a lot! You can also see the features for a LHD shell...


Here you can see the Prodrive rear turret tops welded in place. It sits at a different angle, and has the top mount positioned differently too. However for me, it was a case of an easy fix as the shell had none at all!



In the next few days we should have the mounts for the pedal box, steering column, fuel tank and plumbing started, and hope to have the shell to the body shop within a week for them to begin the process of fitting the panels and painting, while we work on the engine and drivetrain to go into the completed shell.

 

Stunning! You going for proper ground effects this year then ?

 

I thought you were prototyping it for Zen?

 

The same road, but Paul is much much further along it I wont be going flymo low though although I do have a cunning plan but that might be lack of sleep

Paul, I presume that there wont be any suprises in the engine / transmission side of things like a certain Evo (if you can still call it that)?

 

2.4 with VVT as far as I am aware, I would Imagine still running the GT40..

The car doesnt need any more power , Its main increase will come from Aero, Chassis and setup

David