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Originally Posted by Southern Man
They look to be an interesting car but one can not help but wonder who controls and/or supplies all the control parts. Is it the Supertourers register, is it a number of companies and/or individuals or is it a single company and/or individual?
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My understanding is that the spec. is all determined by NZ V8 Supertourers, who I believe consist of Mark Petch, Wayne Anderson and Gary Pederson? (someone correct me if I am wrong there?) To me this makes sense, you cannot design anything by committee, it just does not work. Better to be told "this is what you are running" and make your own mind up whether or not to be part of it. I am sure Mr Petch and associates will have a view to making a dollar out of this venture, but why shouldn't they?
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Originally Posted by MarioNZ
The car looks OUTSTANDING!
From what you can see (versus a V8SC or SC CotF) this class appears to be all about cost cutting/containment whilst still producing a high quality, 'proper' race car?
Mr Dog, what's wrong with a Link engine management system? Not that I have experience or expertise in this field but Link appears to be being used succesfully across a broad range of applications and the fact that it's NZ made I would think would be a real plus for this car, the more local content the better as far as I'm concerned. Can't comment on the data dash thingy, they all look the same to me - wouldn't this be something that teams fitted to their preference?
Re the engine - a quick online check suggests that the engine was specifically built as a 'production race engine' developed for the Corvette Le Mans program, hand built, titanium rods and valve train, cnc heads, dry sumped - doesn't sound very road car? They appear to be a very proven motor but time (on track) will tell. Got to be better than the pre-historic boat anchors in the NZV8's.
The construction looks quite 'sparse' any word on weight?
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I think you summed it up in your first sentence, it does look about cost cutting/containment, while producing a proper race car (although we probably have different opinions on what a proper race car is, but that is not important)
The Link is a very basic system, and although they have improved their product over the years they are still aimed at the more "budget conscious" end of the market. Motec is dearer, but without getting into technical details you get what you pay for. The reason I think a Motec would have been better is that most of the engineers in NZ and Aus are familiar with Motec datalogging software, and for any driver or engineer who competes in both series data can be compared more easily, and without having to learn the idiosyncracies of a new system. But as I said, you can't design by committee, and that is the choice they have made for whatever reason, so that is what everyone gets.
The prototype car is obviously not finished yet, looks to me like a set of headers as well as exhaust yet to be made, plus some other detail parts to be finished.I am not sure how a Ford dealer or Ford NZ would feel about supporting a Falcon Silhouette with a GM engine either?
But all that said, if they can deliver a finished "kit" to the competiors for close to the $185K (less engine) then I think it is very good value for a new, (albeit rather low-tech) race car.
Maybe Mark will chime in and give some opinion/feedback to this discussion? I am sure he has been reading this.
Conrad