GRM Exclusive Reveal: Exocet Spec-A

z31maniac wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote:

kreb wrote:

Warren v wrote: Cough Cough Page 9: http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/Super-Touring.pdf We's all officially classed and stuff.

Interesting chart. Am I right to understand that those are time trial adjustments? If so, the speed factors seem to put it in with some seriously fast company.

It's right up with a Caterfield Seven, which is a reasonable match. The Exocet has a bit of a weight penalty compared to those cars though.

Seems about right since the Miata typically has a weight penalty vs other cars in NASA classing as well.

Perhaps, but the Caterfields aren't really suffering too badly in the handling department. I expect those preliminary numbers will change once a few get out there.

Indeed. The mod factors are subject to change. I suspect they were just conservative and echoed the 7s numbers. Remember, the mod factor dictates power/weight, so a slightly heavier Exocet (versus a 7) means moar power in the straights to punch through the air. According to CFD analysis, the CdA of an Exocet is comfortably less than a Miata. If anyone wants to rent some rolling-road windtunnel time for me, I think there's some fun data to be found.

I hate to ride that line between GRM comradeship and blatantly hawking a product, but I figured I should make sure you all knew the following:

On Jan 1, 2014, Exomotive will be increasing the price of all Exocet kits by $500. Deposits have to be made with a 2013 timestamp to qualify for 2013 prices.

This month has seen anywhere from 6-8 orders per week. Even with our steady increases in production capacity, the delivery schedule is stretching further and further in 2014. If you want one in time for summer, now's the time.

Online deposits will let you order up to the last second of 2013: https://squareup.com/market/exomotive/exomotive-exocet-deposit

You don't have to specify your colors or other details right away, so don't let that stop you from locking in your slot in the production schedule.

Warren v wrote: I hate to ride that line between GRM comradeship and blatantly hawking a product, but I figured I should make sure you all knew the following: On Jan 1, 2014, Exomotive will be increasing the price of all Exocet kits by $500. Deposits have to be made with a 2013 timestamp to qualify for 2013 prices.

This is more like a Public Service Announcement, so no worries.

Besides, after 30 pages of our drooling and lust, plus your thirty pages of awesome information, you're firmly in the comradeship camp. :-)

David

Warren v wrote: I hate to ride that line between GRM comradeship and blatantly hawking a product, but I figured I should make sure you all knew the following: On Jan 1, 2014, Exomotive will be increasing the price of all Exocet kits by $500. Deposits have to be made with a 2013 timestamp to qualify for 2013 prices. This month has seen anywhere from 6-8 orders per week. Even with our steady increases in production capacity, the delivery schedule is stretching further and further in 2014. If you want one in time for summer, now's the time. Online deposits will let you order up to the last second of 2013: https://squareup.com/market/exomotive/exomotive-exocet-deposit You don't have to specify your colors or other details right away, so don't let that stop you from locking in your slot in the production schedule.

Warren - What is the return policy on the deposit? I clicked on the link on the link you supplied, which directed me to the main site, but the legal notice on the main site doesn't really address deposit. Curious to know if the deposit is refundable, should plans change in ~6 months.

I think I voted or liked your post dyintorace. Not sure how to remove that, don't think it matters.

How far out is production on the new body changes? For those of us who have already put deposits what is the wait time? Can we get kits faster without bodies? (obviously that means we incur higher shipping costs having to receive 2 deliveries). Do we relay our final decisions or special requests thru Flyin Miata? My kit was ordered mid to late November as a sport kit with steel floors. I'm going to skip powdercoat & am hoping to get double diagonal bars on the roll hoop. My Miata comes apart starting Jan1st & I've sold off $2500 worth of parts from my car (I'm obviously using a pristine car instead of a cheap doner). I even bought v8 roadster subframe local, still need to order control arms.. Sorry rambling... Just want to get started...

Thank you

Sean Castner

dyintorace:

I just talked to Kevin to clarify our policy, as it's only happened once. A dropped deposit really messes with our build schedule and MSO allocation, but we don't want to be jerks about it. Your deposit is refundable minus $250 and any material costs we may have incurred at the time of the refund (your custom gelcoat and powder). We'll work with you.

mrvwcastner:

We are currently shipping cars without bodywork so customers can get started on their build. We'll ship bodywork separately until we catch up.

We will be getting our second jig table Mid-January. Coupled with the new hires, we should be pumping out frames quite quickly.

dyintorace wrote:

Warren v wrote: I hate to ride that line between GRM comradeship and blatantly hawking a product, but I figured I should make sure you all knew the following: On Jan 1, 2014, Exomotive will be increasing the price of all Exocet kits by $500. Deposits have to be made with a 2013 timestamp to qualify for 2013 prices. This month has seen anywhere from 6-8 orders per week. Even with our steady increases in production capacity, the delivery schedule is stretching further and further in 2014. If you want one in time for summer, now's the time. Online deposits will let you order up to the last second of 2013: https://squareup.com/market/exomotive/exomotive-exocet-deposit You don't have to specify your colors or other details right away, so don't let that stop you from locking in your slot in the production schedule.

Warren - What is the return policy on the deposit? I clicked on the link on the link you supplied, which directed me to the main site, but the legal notice on the main site doesn't really address deposit. Curious to know if the deposit is refundable, should plans change in ~6 months.

Given that the delivery timeframe on kits is less than 6 months, I don't think you'd be dealing with a deposit situation anymore. You'd be selling an uncompleted kit.

Sean, the delivery time for your frame shouldn't have changed since you placed your order.

Warren v wrote: According to CFD analysis, the CdA of an Exocet is comfortably less than a Miata. If anyone wants to rent some rolling-road windtunnel time for me, I think there's some fun data to be found.

This feels like the nightly news...a tease! Where's the beef?

How about some more info...

-at same ride height?

-Miata with top up / down / hardtop?

-Exocet with rollbar & driver? Without wings? Passenger?

-How much of the tubing / suspension / other lossy bits were included in the mesh?

The Exocet, or any exocar, doesn't appear to be aerodynamically very clean. But they don't have a windshield, nor large mirrors, and you can get very low. And, just like the FE contour plots shown earlier, a CFD user can make it say just about what you want it to without critical review.

Coast-down is much cheaper than a rolling-road, and should be able to indicate "comfortably less", especially since the rolling gear can be identical. Have you tried to calibrate using coast data?

I might try a coast-down once ours is up and running. I know a Miata isn't terribly slippery, but I have a hard time believing the Exocet would be better. Exposed tubes are awful from a drag standpoint. It must be down to the small area of a windshield-less Exocet.

I was going to say my Locost is draggier than a Miata - and it's got a smaller surface area than an Exocet. You can really see the acceleration drop off above 80 mph. Although when I think about it, I haven't done much back-to-back running with a Miata of similar power characteristics.

Can't wait to see the data, Keith! We haven't had a stock-powered Exocet in a while.

I didnt realize when I ordered it was 12 weeks out for frame & further for body. Either way doesnt matter to me just means its naked half the Autocross season. Either way I was expecting to trailer it at first, doubt DMV will plate it naked.

Will it fit on 12 foot trailer? There is a Featherlight for sale local.

Are you going to show us the next teaser bit of the new body?

Sean Castner

I think theres some miscommunication. The 2014 bodywork (as seen in the videos posted a month or so ago) is due to start popping out of the molds in a about a month if I understand what Warren has told me. And this is the bodywork that would come with your kit.

The "new bodywork" that Warren posted in the last couple of days is the full body. At least, that's my understanding. Warren?

It's the standard 2014 bodywork that will now come with all kits, yes. There's nothing more to tease until we've got parts out of the molds. The eggcrate model I shared a few days ago is part of the mold process for the bodywork teased a month ago (specifically the hood). We just delivered the last set of 2013 bodywork and the molds have been mothballed.

Just to head off specific "will it fit" questions, here's a handy little graphic. Forgive the use of the engineering model, it's not as pretty as the rendering model (bodywork has flanges, etc).

So... this may be the first (or one of the very few) cars that can fit in a toy hauler? It seems a lot of them have a 12' cargo area.

By the way, I'm a bit surprised to see non-metric units on that diagram. Isn't the miata all metric? Warren, did you design an non-metric kit to fit on top of a metric car?

You guys are likely going to use 'murcan trailers and measuring tapes, so I set the dimensions of this graphic to round to the nearest eighth-inch. The Exocet model itself is a disgusting mix of metric and inferior, dirty, disgusting imperial units, due to the fact that metric tubing and tooling is obnoxiously expensive in the states. Due to check templates, our jig, pilot holes in the aluminum panels, etc, the only thing we need to measure during a build is when we put on the left rear fuel tank bracket, and that's even on a slot so we could be a whole 3/8" off without worries.

@ Warren v: I've left a couple voicemails and emails over the past 3 weeks with no response. I'm trying to work when I can expect the chassis to be ready as my first race is in March 29/30th and I already have the donor car in roller skate fashion.

EDIT: got a response back and the info needed. Thanks Exomotive!

In Ontario a minimum vehicle safety inspection requires a windshield and wipers. Some locost and ff people seem to have got away without, but I think it would be wise to try to follow all of the rules. If one assumes the windshield is mounted in a "race" chassis as described on page 18 of this thread, any ideas as to how something you could define as wipers could be installed? I don't know if a 1920s style manual wiper might suffice.

There are plenty of marine-application hand wipers available.

They are usually under $50 and will satisfy most requirements. Use RainX and it will work just fine.

Sounds like a plan. I'm a great believer in RainX as well. Frankly I'd be fine with rainx alone. I am planning on fair weather use alone, but at this stage it wouldn't take much to have boat style button on sides and roof.

I am at the stage of removing wiring etc.. From my doner. Can someone post a link to a build thread or something else that will help me do it efficiently? I pulled every body panel today (was kinda weird gutting a perfect car 0 dents, shiny paint, one of the cleanest early NAs around). I'm hoping to be a rollerskate next Sunday. Is there any reason I shouldnt store my rollerskate on a 2 post lift?

Hello folks.

2nd post on this forum and wanted to introduce myself. I'm in WA, I will be building a Race, I placed my deposit in the late hours of December 31st, and I just picked up a 1999 donor with torsen.

For what it's worth, after much haggling at a stereotypical shady Eastern-European wreck rebuilder in OR, I paid $2,500 for a branded car with a bent front subframe, thread-less tires but apparently strong drivetrain. I tried to find the magical $1000 wrecks some people mention in here, but the auction sites I found required a $200 registration, with no guarantee of finding a car afterwards.

I was planning on picking up a $175 junkyard subframe, but I keep hearing mentions of a tubular option. Is it the $850 V8 Roadsters part, or is there a cheaper alternative out there? I'm not looking at spending 5x the price of a used stock part...

Regarding painting, I'm undecided on paint vs powder-coating. I know I want to go with the Gulf Oil color scheme, but I'm unsure how to make that look good on this car. Suggestions welcome.

Thanks Warren for a great thread, as well as Keith and everybody else :)

In reply to linuxd00d:

IMO I'd go with orange powder coated bars and blue body panels. That's actually what I was going to do but I'm several months out from being able to put a deposit on one.

mrvwcastner wrote: I am at the stage of removing wiring etc.. From my doner. Can someone post a link to a build thread or something else that will help me do it efficiently? I pulled every body panel today (was kinda weird gutting a perfect car 0 dents, shiny paint, one of the cleanest early NAs around). I'm hoping to be a rollerskate next Sunday. Is there any reason I shouldnt store my rollerskate on a 2 post lift?

I doubt you'll be able to lift the roller skate on a 2-poster. As for the wiring, just keep digging into the car. There's no magic secret, it's not really designed to be a serviceable item.

linuxd00d wrote: I was planning on picking up a $175 junkyard subframe, but I keep hearing mentions of a tubular option. Is it the $850 V8 Roadsters part, or is there a cheaper alternative out there? I'm not looking at spending 5x the price of a used stock part...

Welcome. You'll learn that people love to boast about how cheap they can do things around here. The magic $1000 donor is not as common as the internet would lead you believe.

Your choices for the front subframe are a junkyard part or the $850 tubular item. There's no middle ground, mostly because the volumes aren't high enough to allow for less expensive custom options. New custom stuff does cost more than used stock in most cases, though. Unless you can weld.

For the Gulf scheme, I'd go with a black frame and baby blue panels. Then the stripe. Contrasting the frame would be difficult to get right, you'd end up with a lot more orange than usual for this Gulf colors.

Thanks Keith. I think you nailed everything there.

One of my FSAE buddies from Tech is going through the same color conundrum: