Technical
Over the last 20 years, this car has been developed from its humble Formula Ford origins. In 1996, Mark Webber won the Brands hatch Formula Ford festival in works Van Diemen chassis.
I took the car and added a 2 litre Zetec engine, as that was what it was designed to run. Many new parts were added, wings, floor, and after a few years running the glass fibre body we lightened the car with a carbon fibre copy and replaced the aluminium floor with a carbon one. Naser Teymourian did a lot of work with modelling the car and running it through CFD to improve the Aerodynamics.
Over the years, we upgraded the engine, but the big change was to switch to an SBD supplied Duratec after purchasing an identical chassis from the late Bill Gouldthorpe. The car is the best of the two, and the current spec is as below
Chassis:
Engine:
Power:
Weight:
Gearbox:
Tyres & set up:
Bodywork:
Aerodynamics:
Datalogging:
Braking:
Oil:
Performance
Space frame steel from a Van Diemen RF96
1998cc normally aspirated Duratec from SBD Motorsport. MBE9A9 ECU
307bhp 195lbft
425kgs with a full 3.5 litre fuel tank
5 Speed Hewland JL sequential, paddle shift, ECU controlled clutches up and down shifts, 17ms. Supplied by Mark Bailey Racing
Pirelli supersoft radials 13" 8.5" front 10.5" rear Triple M Motorsport
Hansell Composites Fibre-lite. Floor, wings, supports, body panels, seat
AIM and MBE
Brembo F3 callipers, solid steel discs 10mm, AP master cylinders
Dry sump with pre-heating, SBD and Alloy Race Fabrications
0-60mph - 2.8 secs, 0-100mph 5.4. top speed 155mph