Phoenix F1K.07 Update 4-6-07

[Matt Conrad]

It has again been awhile since we updated our progress....and this will most likely be the last update prior to unveiling the completed prototype and our scheduled testing.

All of the mechanicals are basically finished and the George Dean prepped GSX-R1000 runs and sounds awesome. We've also mounted the side floors and the rear diffuser and have the radiator and oil cooler in their places. We have some final tweaks to do on the setup pad this afternoon, and then we'll final fit the bodywork and then she'll be ready to load up and go do some testing.

Here's a quick shot showing the rear of the car from the engine back...before we put the floor on.....



The exact exhaust tip location will be modified some once the bodywork is fitted. Also note the rear shocks with the potentiometers mounted.

Here's another of the footbox....



Note the only carbon-fiber part on the car...the cover for the Odyssey battery and the Halon fire bottle. You may also notice that the pedals are way back...vertically challenged driver.

I'll try to have some more details and insert some more images of the complete car (less bodywork) later tonight.

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[willpelton]

Hey Mr. Conrad what does it take to put an air shifter or solenoid shifter tied to the paddle shifter on these F1000 cars? Don't some of the DSR cars employ this type of shifting?

[RussMcB]

Looks great, Matt. You must be excited.

It seems like it has come together quickly, but I'm sure that's an inaccurate perspective from afar. I know you and your team must have been working pretty hard for the last few months.

When you get done with it and have nothing to do and you're bored, come on over and help me finish my car.

[Matt Conrad]

William,

We are currently not using a paddle shift system on the F1K.07, but we will have a mechanical system available for those that want one. There are several systems being sold on the market (some air, some electric, some mechanical) and most can be adapted to our cars fairly easily. Some of these systems have been problematic for the users ( I believe there's a thread around here somewhere on this subject....it may be on the Sports Racer forum) and some of these systems can exceed $3,000....that's almost 10% of our roller cost so it's really hard to justify them as a standard....maybe as an option....but only if we know they work flawlessly.

Russ,

No problem....As soon as we finish the production cars I'll be right over. I hope that the recent conversion results has you motivated????

More Images and Info....

First off....a few things. Bodywork. It's going slower than we had hoped....but bad molds will produce bad parts so we don't mind having them done right. I haven't called our composites guy today (if he's on the phone...he's not working) but he assured us all the bodywork will be in our hands in the next few days.

I also want to acknowledge Chris Harrison of Harrison Auto Dynamics. Chris has been a huge help in the final preperation of the car for testing. While Dustin (engineer) was off in Florida with the Indy Pro Series team Chris and I worked long and hard to get the car ready for testing. Chris will also be working with us at the track during the testing and racing events as we develop the car. He has over 20+ years of experience in the business and will be a very valuable asset to the team.

So finally...more on the car...

Here's a shot of the car pretty much finished on the stand and getting ready to be lowered onto the setup pad...



The floor is on and temporary stays are in place to keep it where it needs to be until the bodywork arrives. We don't want it to develop any "bad memory". You may also be able to see the ITG foam filter we'll be using for testing as we're still working on the custom airbox for the car.

And on the pads....



That's Chris Harrison in the back "taking a break".....actually he and Dustin are trying to locate a repeatable spot to check ride height for the rear of the car.

And now that it has been on the pad, we have a very good idea for the weight of the finished car...and I'm pretty pleased. The assembly you see (complete running car, no body, no front wing) with no fluids in it weighed 703 pounds. We didn't actually remove the fluids....we used 8 pounds for a gallon of water, 6 pounds for each gallon of fuel, and each quart of Redline weighs 2 pounds....and did the math. The front wing assembly weighs 12 pounds, so that leaves us at 715 pounds without the body. Even if the new body weighs as much as the entire DSR bodywork, we'll be under 775 pounds. Not too bad considering that the prototype wheels are very heavy and we're using solid rear axles and the old style CV's.
Production cars will have lighter wheels and will be running the newer TRE drive assembly.

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[carnut169]

Matt-

You guys must be pumped.

When you've got the car on the pad you know its getting VERY close to being done... and your car looks great (looks a bit like a naked FM).

Couple questions...

Seat... leaving that up to the buyer?

Rear bellcranks... it is hard for me to imagine how they will work. It appears that the pushrod is at a strange angle to the shock- I'm sure its just an optical illusion but on my car they are almost at 90'...
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...diffstuff3.jpg

Sway bars... I see one up front but how about the rear? Are they adjustable from the cockpit?

Chain adjustment... how do you do it?

Pictures... give us some good, big pics so we can see what is going on! I'd like to see your engine bay and how you mounted it, your headers, etc. Those pics are a tease!

Lastly, now that the prototype is nearly complete what do you invision your production capabilities to be?

[Matt Conrad]

Sean,

First....congrats on the RA win. Well done!

One thing I forgot to mention in discussing the weight of the F1K.07....the dry sump system on the prototype adds several pounds over a wet sump. The pan is heavier, the oil pump that replaces the water pump is heavier, the added electric water pump, the added braided hose and fittings. I'd guess at a few pounds...

Answers to your questions and comments......

The seat. We offer a Bead Seat kit and we will fit the customer in the car if they visit us prior to delivery. My seat (not covered yet) is in the car and you should see it here....



We didn't have the harness mounted when we weighed the car so we threw the whole box in. You should also see the shifter lever just behind the right side of the steering wheel.

Rear Bell Cranks/Sway Bars. Must be an optical illusion....Our motion ratios on the front and rear are right at 1:1 and the pushrod is at a 90 degree angle to the shock. We measured them in the computer as well as on the car. We use the same bell crank on the front and rear of the car. The front and rear sway bars can be configured to be adjustable from the cockpit, but for testing I'm going to let Chris and Dustin make the adjustments in the pit lane.

It looks like I did a poor job yesterday of taking pictures of the rear of the car, but you should see the rear sway bar assembly in this shot...at the very left side....one of the drop links is disconnected because we were scaling the car....



As far as the chain adjustment...I again didn't take any shots of it yesterday...but here's a shot from a ways back that shows it pretty well. The 3/4" aluminum plates carry the diff. There's a pivot point at the bottom, and two turnbuckle adjusters at the top. It takes about 2 minutes to adjust the chain. The only thing to be careful of is to turn both adjusters the same as to keep the diff straight in the car. FYI...the rear sway bar mounts between the two top adjustertabs. Here it is.....



Engine Bay...it's pretty busy in the engine compartment....especially with all the extra lines and hoses for the dry sump system...here's a few shots that show the empty engine bay with the engine mounts attached....and then full of engine, hoses, wiring, etc.





I'm using some smaller images as I don't want to be a bandwidth hog and my camera isn't that great. My wife has the big mega-pixel unit and I'll try to steal it from her this week and take some better shots. I will probably post them on our build blog and I'll post a link to them.

Production. Our goal is to under-promise and over-deliver on the production cars. As of right now, the first production car (turn-key) is scheduled for delivery on June 15th. We really want to focus on delivering the best cars possible....not the most cars possible.

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Matt Conrad]

Our schedule for running the new Phoenix F1K.07 car is fairly fluid at this
point, but due to the many inquiries on our schedule....here's our tentative plan at this point....

Private "shake down" tests of the Phoenix F1K.07 car have been scheduled within the next few weeks....and several public "tests/events" are planned within the next 30+ days. All private testing should be concluded by 4/23 and our first public display of the car is planned to be at the Pro Autosports event at Firebird Main on Saturday, May 5th. The next planned event is to race in the AZ Region SCCA REgional race being held at FIR East on May 6th.

If you are interested in the car and want additional information on our plans, please contact us at info@phoenixracecars.com.

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Matt Conrad]

Thought we'd try the new camera and see if these BIG images were any better....

Per an earlier request....Here's the rear ARB assembly and the diff adjustment mechanism....The countdown to completion has begun.....it is now days and not weeks or months.....



Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[stonebridge20]

Here's a TEST for all F/1000 groupies. What one single piece in the above picture will you NOT find on ANY other F/1000 car on the planet? And probably never will ! First person to figure it out get's a free prize! I promise !

Matt is NOT eligible for this contest ! No clues either

Agnif

[Brandon Dixon]

I'm guessing either the handwritten "to do list" on the left or perhaps the catch bottle that has some sort of logo or mascot that I can't make out from to photo....

Brandon Dixon
Citation F1000 in progress

[Jon Jeffords]

Brandon, I'm willing to bet that's a Phoenix logo (you know, the bird) on that one-of-a-kind catch bottle!

[Matt Conrad]

Brandon,

That's a good one....here's what's on our updated To-Do List as of today.....

1. Mount Bodywork (It is all done!)
2. Load Car in Trailer
3. Load Tools and Equipment
4. Go Testing

The countdown to turning laps is 6 Days, 1 hour and 49 minutes......

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[carnut169]

Big pics are 100% better, thanks!

As for the contest...
I believe people are talking about an overflow catch tank?
but there is a lot of other stuff on this car you won't find on other cars... the frame is unique, interchangable bellcranks, custom chain-guard, and wizzy red axles to name a few things.

[RussMcB]

Matt,

In between steps 1 & 2, please insert this one:

1B. Take short video of F1K.07 being driven in parking lot, post on Apexspeed.

That shouldn't be a problem, given the 6 days, 1 hour and 4 minutes you have between now and testing, while you're sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, right? :-).

Brandon,

That's a good one....here's what's on our updated To-Do List as of today.....

1. Mount Bodywork (It is all done!)
2. Load Car in Trailer
3. Load Tools and Equipment
4. Go Testing

The countdown to turning laps is 6 Days, 1 hour and 49 minutes......

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Matt Conrad]

That first item on the list is very misleading.....there's a ton of work to do in step one of the To-Do list.....it should take us several days to accomplish.....

....in the meantime.....

We do have some other work to do as well. One of our CSR customers is upgrading his car to the new aero package we developed for the SR-07 Sports Racer....in fact he's actually upgrading the chassis to some improved geometry we worked on late last year. We've also been working on some carbon repairs to the wings on one of the IPS cars that Dustin helps to support.

At nights....I've been squeezing in some laps in a "Time Machine" TaG Kart (built here in Phoenix) out at the PKRA track that's about a mile from my house. Man....that is a workout. I have a ton of respect for the full-time karters....especially the one's that are old like me....

...and truthfully, those axles aren't very "wizzy"....they're the solid type and are VERY heavy. The production cars will have the newer style drive assembly from TRE and lightened axles.

More soon...

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Jay N]

Good luck Matt. It is really looking good!!!!

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[Eric Cruz]

The nitrous bottle strapped to the oil tank????

Best regards,
Eric

[Matt Conrad]

I truly was prepared to wait until we had the entire car ready to display a few more images.....but we're way too excited about the car and want to share.

We've lowered the car onto the ground and trial trial fitted all the pieces....and truthfully....the flanges that our composites vendor came up with will need some work....but overall, the "test" bodywork will do its job and enable us to get out and run the car.

Here's a few "teasers" for now....first one from behind....



...and the second from the front. Haven't gotten the nose set yet as we need to lay up some internal stiffening for the wing mount and mounting points to the chassis....and Chris Harrison is again laying down on the job....hard to get good help these days



I'm too tired to do the math on the countdown to testing...maybe tomorrow...

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[stonebridge20]

We have a winner! Man that didn't take long! Brandon Dixon, you have a "prize" coming to you. Hit my email at the bottom of the page and send me your shipping address. I'll send you out one of those fancy Phoenix Race Works "catch cans" Which is really a Phoenix Race works DRINK BOTTLE. As the east coast Phoenix Sports racer dealer, I have a box of them !
For anybody else that want's one,....Buy a new F1K.07 and you get one FREE !