Building the Open Track Challenge car

The Red Rat

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Body
We'll have big rubber on this car and a fire-breathing engine. We thought it would suit the car to have proper racing bodywork. 

We're getting a lot of questions about the body kit. It's an E-production body, available from Mazda Competition (1-800-435-2508). We don't recommend it for a street car as it's very thin and fragile. Other body kits such as Racing Beat are probably 3 times thicker.

The work is being done by American Import here in Grand Junction. This will not be your typical patched together race car.

In reverse chronological order:

Some ducting to get as much air through the intercooler as possible.
Hmm, that might cause problems with the cooling.
We only got a couple of hours of work done on Monday, as the clear bra guys showed up to protect the paint. They're low-pressure guys, so the job took a while.
Inside the car, the instruments are installed and the Accusump is plumbed in. Gauges include boost, temperature for oil, water and transmission fluid and EGT.
The kill switch from below. You can also see one of the new brake lines for the proportioning valve.
The Wilwood brake proportioning valve and the master kill switch are visible here. We're going to have to paint that switch red.
A MOMO race seat. You know, that's a tight fit to get in there. The interior is almost finished, with instrumentation remaining.
One side of the front cage is in. This was not a trivial job!
The Flyin' Girlie Car.
Curvy!
Posing with the new wheels.
How aliens see the car.
The finished body.
The race car comes home, complete with hardtop and doors.
The racer is a BIG Miata.
With Baby, one of our project cars.
Up close: the highlights.
Okay, it doesn't appear to be the Lotus colour. But it is a stunner.
Body shop: American Import. Paint: Azure Blue, off the Lotus Elise.
Blue! This paint is about 90 minutes old and not clearcoated, but it's still got highlights everywhere.
In the paint booth. Tomorrow the first colour goes on the body.
There's more metalflake in the colour than we had expected, but it sure looks good in the sun.
The doors in the sun.
The doors are sprayed. This gives you an idea of how the colour drapes over the curves.
A serious blue.
Into the paint booth!
A little "tear duct" that's been added in to the nose so everything fits flush.
Primer on the body and a last touch-up on some air bubbles. The color starts going on tomorrow...
The paint should be going on this week.
More detail work.
Our freshly powdercoated roll cage. Looks great!
The car is almost ready for the paint booth. It's ready to scare the competition!
That's a big hole in the scoop...
The hood scoop has now been done. It's not quite the shape we had intended, but it sure looks mean.
The front corner.
The rear is pretty much complete.
Cut here...
On the road - cowl induction really works! However, we want extraction, and we'll use that low pressure area on the hump.
We have no shame. The test vehicle for aero work on the hood.
The kit is now fully attached and we get our first look at the total package. Wow.
An example of the attention to detail. The profile of the crease along the doors was different than the crease in the fenders. So George at American Import is filling the crease and matching the profile along the length of the car.
I think we're going to need a little more offset here. The fenders are now bonded on to the rear.
Hmm. A problem. The nose and fenders don't meet.
The view from the front of the first test fit.
The fenders during test fitting. The rear wheel flare looks like an old-style 911 Turbo!
Cutting the fenders so they'll clear our wide rubber.
The freshly welded hood vents.
The vents are shaped to aerodynamically pull hot air from under the hood at speed.
At the body shop, George test fits a fender.
Grrrrr! The first test for rough fit.
On a slightly more serious note, here is the hood after some modification. The vents pull hot air from under the hood and they work very well.
We've decided this would actually make a good soapbox derby car. We have steering and brakes!
A speed-sensitive spoiler that retracts at high speed, a low seating position, custom shift lever and an extra-padded helmet. We have it all!
Jesse tries out the aerodynamic and styling package.
The car will be painted Lotus Azure Blue with silver stripes. Here's an attempt at matching the color. See the real thing here
Look, ma! A racecar!
We set the body kit up to have a look. Check out those flared fenders!
The new bodykit awaits.
The Red Rat before.

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