GRM Exclusive Reveal: Exocet Spec-A

ddavidv wrote: It kind of depends on what you want. Do you want to race, spend lots of money, risk getting your car run into but also get thrills not otherwise possible? Then Spec Miata. If, OTOH, you just want to build something cool, drive something cool really fast, get lots of attention from having something really cool and giggle like a schoolgirl every time you drive it, then Exocet.

That's a fair way to look at it. My intention is absolutely to go racing. I have been time trialing the Miata for years, but I want to make the jump to wheel-to-wheel. If I bought an Exocet, I would not bother making it road legal. The Viper already attracts more attention than I like on my way to work/causes meniacle giggling/spins third gear whenever it decides it's appropriate (often without asking me first).

I saw the post about getting the car classed for racing. Was that ST1? I don't necessarily need to be around other Exocets to have a good race, but field full of Miatae would certainly take the car out of the equation to some extent.

In reply to Zeitgeist:

I'm very, very much on the same page. I have dreams about clear panels, too. Unfortunately making a smooth, continuous vacuum-formed panel as big as our hood is difficult, so we're running fiberglass on the cars for now. It's such a no-brainer for this application, at least while we're in the early stages of the company.

Doing clear bodywork is possible, but we'd need to make aluminum tooling and pressure form everything. That would provide the surface quality we need.

In reply to Warren v: No sweat Warren, I'm sure when you guys get to the plastic clear vacu-formed body panels it will be done right. I will probably have my Exocet with current gen panels so please allow for the upgrade. I'm already thinking of ways to have the lights behind the body panels and shine through sections that aren't painted. Just need to go with LEDs or similar for the heat and size flexibility to make it special.

On a similar note I notice the new wider fenders are still tire fitting continuous radius cycle fenders. Any reason(s) not to o with slightly more aero flat top with rear vent area like some Lotus/Caterhams have from the factory? Patents,cost,clearance.weight etc..?

Like these but I can't find the ones with a rectangular cut out on the top rear side of the fender to let air out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caterham_CSR260.JPG

And these in the 4th post down.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=108132

confuZion3 wrote: OK, so I just finished reading every post of this awesome 36 page thread. It looks like you guys have put together an awesome car. I have a Miata now that I was going to turn into a full-fledged wheel-to-wheel racer despite the fact that people just keep telling me to sell it and buy a Spec Miata. (If everyone just sold their Miata and bought somebody else's used spec car, who would build the Spec Miatas?) This thing looks like it would cost about the same as building a race Miata from a stock NB. Is this a reasonable statement? I mean, roll cage, hard top, Spec suspension... that's thousands of dollars right there. (Why does the word "spec" look so weird to me right now? I think I need sleep.) Is the body made out of fiberglass or plastic? It would be really neat to see the body in translucent color. I would love to build one in translucent blue (think Hero Blue from the Buell motorcycles). Is that possible? I apologize if this has been covered: I may have missed the answer.

Check out my build I keep in my blog ( http://conflictedracer.wordpress.com/ ) as I'm going from racing a Spec Miata (actually sold it to fund this build) to an Exocet ST3 platform with NASA. I've got my chassis and barring the damn flu and single digit temps and almost 2' of snow we've had in the past month I'm going to get this finished!

I'm starting out with a stock 1.6l motor for the first several events while I build an NB 1.8 for a turbo kit so I can hit the magical ~180whp reliably as it will be raced, TT'd by a friend of mine, Enduro'd this year. Plus will visit some car shows as well in my area and Performance Racing Industry at Indy in December.

Zeitgeist wrote: In reply to Warren v: On a similar note I notice the new wider fenders are still tire fitting continuous radius cycle fenders. Any reason(s) not to o with slightly more aero flat top with rear vent area like some Lotus/Caterhams have from the factory? Patents,cost,clearance.weight etc..?

Good question, as we definitely explored that option. The biggest reason was scope and cost reduction for both us and the customer. The current design is symmetric front-to-back, which means the exact same fender can be used on the right or left side. This allows for more usage flexibility and easier replacement. It also allows us to devote more time to more-requested features, like a windshield.

As we get more settled into our new production rate, we will explore more stylish fender options.

In reply to jjkarns:

We're all cheering you on. We wish more of our customers could be like you, documenting every step of the way.

One of our early UK kits recently changed hands and is now being rapidly put together in Charlotte, NC with a keen focus on added lightness. Claimed weight is 1308 lbs with a half-tank of gas. The new owner plans to extensively autocross this bad boy.

For those keeping score at home:

This "M-Style" UK frame weighs about 135 lbs. The single-hoop "MSA-Style" UK frames (like Kevin's black XP-1) weigh about 180-185.

With powder, a US Exocet "Base" frame weighs 178 lbs, and the "Sport" weighs 195. Our "Race" weighs 239 without floors. Aluminum floors weigh 8 lbs, steel floors add 25. The steel floors are approximately 10% stronger in most loading conditions (the aluminum floors are thicker). Again, we have not yet done physical testing, but computer models show an increase in stiffness of approximately 4-6x over the earlier frames, which are comparable to a book Locost frame.

If those scales are accurate, a "Race" under 1500 lbs is possible.

In other news, we got our provisional building inspection and have started to move into our new shop! Production continues to rock on in our temporary building, we plan to move all that stuff on Wednesday.

Offices:

We got our Certificate of Occupancy today. Time to move in!

But first, celebratory donuts were promised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=010Lnc1ZKTU

In reply to Warren v:

Needs Moar Exocet!!!

What thicknesses are your aluminum and steel floors?

Have any of the new bodies come out of the molds?Photos? ETA?

Fuel for the fire: http://www.kmiata.com/home.html

In reply to bgkast:

16 gauge aluminum, 18 gauge steel. We are looking into replacing the steel floor option with aircraft-grade 7075-T6, as the weight penalty for steel floors is noticeable.

In reply to mrvwcastner:

We are now fully moved into our new shop. Molds are being constructed along with the composites rooms.

In reply to Warren v:

The videos that YouTube has matched to yours are Gabriel Iglecias. Seems you might make doughnuts that even he couldn't eat.

Is there an ETA on new bodies? T6 floors.... My kit is due very soon how long would it delay to save the weight of T6 floors?

mrvwcastner wrote: Is there an ETA on new bodies? T6 floors.... My kit is due very soon how long would it delay to save the weight of T6 floors?

Hey, when did you order, and has Exomotive given you some sort of estimate? I ordered on 12/31 and I still don't have a time estimate, so I'm wondering where others are at.

In reply to linuxd00d:

We had a couple weeks worth of orders on 12/31, so it could vary a lot. Info@Exomotive.com is the only guy that knows the sales orders and delivery timelines. While we had delays earlier due to weather and moving, production is now up to 10 cars/month.

7075 floors are months away at minimum; the only way it will happen is if our metal supplier uses it in another project. The bulk cost is reasonable. Ordering it in quantities less than tens-of-thousands of pounds is very, very expensive.

Found my first use for the pallet wood. DIY Engine Hoist

Wouldn't try to lift much more than that Miata engine with it.

Fr3AkAzOiD wrote: Wouldn't try to lift much more than that Miata engine with it.

I made sure it was well reinforced and tested it by hanging from it and doing some pull ups (I'm 200 lbs). I then swag a little to see where to add more support. It lifted the engine without issue or visible strain. We then used it to lift each end of the car to put the jackstands up higher - instead of jacking it up. Again it did it without drama.

I think the bad weather created a trickle down effect of delays. The new facility, new body molds... Etc.. Per conversations with Exocet sales & FlyinMiata i think my car is a couple of weeks away. I also made a single special request of double diagonal bars on the hoop but ommited powdercoating. Steel floors as well. My car should be easy to spot if photos surface. Hint Hint. I believe I put a deposit up around November 20th give or take. I would gladly wait an additional month for T6 floors, but not much longer. I was hoping to be done by 3/15 asmy B-Day present & start of Auto-X season but not happening. Maybe by end of April, but work will have me out of continental US one week a month for next year or more so poor Exocet will be more neglected than I wish anyways.

You're very much not wrong. Those two weeks backed up our suppliers too, unfortunately right after we put in some critical orders.

Good news is that things are rockin' better than ever. Our powdercoater is still working through a backlog, but we're still cranking out frames. In fact, with the one that just came home from powder today, we have six in our shop. Seven, if you include XP-3's stripped frame. All this production is going on while we're setting up the shop and getting settled in.

Tyler and Al (engineering intern and welder, respectively) are working together really well. The frames just keep better and better. Weld quality, fitment, I'm pretty damn happy with what we can do, especially considering the cost. 170 parts (132 unique) go into every Sport frame.

(The acetone does not sit there when the welders are turned on, I took this during lunch.)

Weld quality keeps getting better and better: This is lady-in-waiting #4. She's complete and QC'd, just waiting on powdercoat. The production tag says FM on it.

Warren I thought I saw a list one time of various pros and cons of different years for possible donors, but now I can't find it. Did I dream thus up? Maybe it was on fm website

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

http://exomotive.com/exocet/selecting-your-donor/

Basically, anything cheap that has a Torsen and isn't a MSM.

Warren v wrote:

This picture is perfect for a question that I have. Would you recommend drilling holes into the rear metal plate (shown on the top right of the above picture) for the parking brake cables to pass through (using a rubber grommets)? Or run them up and over?

The parking brake cables can be routed through that plate or the propshaft tunnel itself.