F-Body Europe

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/newmode ... ive/28090/

Very INTERESTING!!!!

I don't know anything about this project, BUT last week I attended a 2-day seminar/workshop on composite chassis design. Also present were some of my ex-colleagues from Porsche's racing department and most of the big players in carbon chassis manufacturing.

For the record, ATR in Italy built the Enzo and Carrera GT chassis, a complex job that needs a lot of autoclave time. They are also the only firm that can consistently deliver the required quantities (2 per day).
Carbotec (Austria) built the 2 Spyder RS racing chassis, but they specialize in cold layup and only have 1 autoclave.

I noticed that the Porsche guys treated ATR like sh*t and sucked up to their new "friends" at Carbotec. So if the story is true, I foresee a rather troublesome time for Porsche trying to secure production capacity.

Potentially Porsche can put a motor together, but I have serious doubt about where they will secure a transmission. The Veyron project took so long because VW could not get a transmission that would cope with the tremendous torque of the V16 engine. According to my sources the development cost for the drivetrain cost more than the selling price of the car!!!! That means: purchase a Veyron transmission and Bugatti will throw in the rest of the car for free!!!

However, it will be interesting to follow this story.

PS, I just came back from the Le Mans Classic.