Skunk Works

[Jack]

This thing looks very interesting. The two problems that I see are getting the transmisions to shift at the same time, I see they are sequensal and are probably electronicly shifted, but there may still be a delay, and the other is it looks like you would not be able to see the ground in front of you with that high bubble of a dash. The rest looks great, and I'd love to see it run.

[desertracer]

Would that car be legal to run in Class 1?

[Mike_McCluskey]

I just posted in the "General Discussion" section on this!! What is that large gold box? a transfer case, v-drive?? I am very curious to see it run.

[Jack]

I think that is the trany, there are two one at each end, so they are independent of each other.

[ntsqd]

OK so I found it. Notice the name "Quaife" on the side of that gold box. They build very nice, very expensive Torsen type limited slips that work like Weismann intended for the most part. Not quite as good as Weismann's, but not as spendy either and they are actually still being made unlike the Weismann. See a lot of Quaife stuff in European Road Race cars. Wouldn't surprise me if that is a stand alone AWD center diff. As memory serves the last I talked to them (@ the last PRI show in San Jose) a 9" Ford application diff was about $1000. That's just the part that the ring gear bolts to, nothing more.

TS

"Teach you all I know and you're still stupid"
-- Howdy Lee

[michael]

I'll throw my hat in the ring...the gold box is the reverse unit. They are using the motorcycle trannies that have no reverse.
These units just change the rotation so you can back up....


Michael <A target="_blank" HREF=http://jmartin.net/parker/goose.htm>jmartin.net/parker/goose.htm</A>

[ntsqd]

That seems like a real possibility for the reason you mention. It's the name on it that makes me curious. They do some funky stuff over in Yirrup (not that we don't), might be a purpose built unit for something like this.

TS

"Teach you all I know and you're still stupid"
-- Howdy Lee

[DPpatrol]

Did any of you see the Cadillac "Twinstar" Eldorado some guy build a while back. It had a Northstar V-8 in the front and back much like the skunkworks car. The car was supposed to be able to out accelerate a Viper.

jason

[jeff]

Yeah - I have that in my favorite folder. That company is always doing weird things. It's always worth a look.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.moslerauto.com/mosautoweb/html/twin_announce.htm>http://www.moslerauto.com/mosautoweb/html/twin_announce.htm</A>

Aloha

[FABRICATOR]

The weight is exciting. Gold box looks to be a reverser and perhaps a speed reducer as well. The transmissions should shift perfectly, if mechanically tied together without a bunch of slop. Will need to avoid big rocks etc. with those lower, rear "Heims", radiators look more like heater cores from a bus or something. Interesting!

The Cadillac puts a lot of torque (and weight) on the ground but it's not very much faster than a regular Northstar at 12.5 seconds.

Multi-engine horse power seems to add up similar to stacking of coil springs......

<font color=orange>The best ideas are the ones that look obvious to the casual observer.</font color=orange>

[jeff]

0-60mph in less than 5 seconds is pretty good... and a top speed of almost 200mph? That'd be fun.

[DPpatrol]

12.5 second 1/4 mile is not that much faster than a normal Northstar Caddy?? The car also does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. That seems quite a bit faster than the average Caddy. This is off subject but speaking of Caddy has anybody seen the V-12 mid engine Caddilac concept car?