818 Photos from Dave Smith

[Dave Smith]

818S Photo by Steve Temple

It's a busy week coming up with production ramp-up, windtunnel testing, next Friday's Ultimate Track Car Challenge Race, and we'll be hosting a major magazine road test of the street car. I'm excited about the 818 project and I wish I had more time to update you guys, but everyone here is working 10 hour days. I'll have a lot more news after next week, but I recently read something from my favorite auto-journalist and fellow UW grad, Peter Egan, that really describes how I feel about the new 818.

"If it hadn't been created, there wouldn't be anything remotely like it. Like most great things, it filled a gap we didn't even know was there." - Peter Egan in reference to the Porsche 911

I swear Peter must have been thinking about the 818 when he wrote that because there really isn't any other car like it. Here are a few photos from a recent road test by Steve Temple from Kit Car Builder Magazine (issue to be on newsstands soon).


Tech guru Tony Zullo drives the street car shortly after Open House 2013.


Ops Director Nate (left) and Chassis Assembly Master Fred (right) with a week's worth of 818S production. Yes, if you noticed, the nose section is mounted to the tail for shipping!

[longislandwrx]

Yes! I can't wait to see more cars, ON THE ROAD.

White looks so good in the sun.

[Kempo]

A work of art Dave. Can't wait to see the results of the UTCCR. I'm sure they will be awesome. Keep up the good work.

[RelfF2]

Great pics, thanks! I love that Mr. Temple looks nice and deep in the car -- I'm sort of obsessed with the headroom question. I wonder how tall he is. Regardless, I'll be picking up the issue. Do you know if it will be on the cover?

[C.Plavan]

Looking great. I cant wait to see the results of the Ultimate Track Car Challenge with the larger turbo.
My 818R cant get here soon enough.

[Frank818]

Thank you David!
See more of that soon!

[David Hodgkins]

Is it OK if I contribute a pic?:

[Zodiac]

looks great I can't wait to start on my own in September. Gonna help a lot that others are posting their builds prior for many of us to learn from.

[wleehendrick]

I wish I had more time to update you guys, but everyone here is working 10 hour days.

Just 10? Slackers!

Thanks for the update, I can't wait to read more in the press. I'm sure every article will bring more orders (and forum members).

Personally, I'm really anticipating seeing photos of the new diffuser: 80496 - Carbon Fiber Rear Diffuser ($275)

I hope it looks good, since the rear of the 818 is the view most will see!

[longislandwrx]

I cant wait to see the results of the Ultimate Track Car Challenge with the larger turbo.

When was this mentioned?


nevermind, I reread the email and actually scrolled down this time.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

100MEDIA36IMAG0505.jpg
Here is a picture of an 818 in it's compact shipping configuration.
Nose is in the trunk.
Bob

[Mitch Wright]

I will be at the UTCC and looking forward to meeting some of the FFR staff that will be there.

[longislandwrx]

100MEDIA36IMAG0505.jpg
Here is a picture of an 818 in it's compact shipping configuration.
Nose is in the trunk.
Bob

Are the 6 boxes under the hood?

[Wayne Presley]

Looks great!

[Frank818]

Personally, I'm really anticipating seeing photos of the new diffuser: 80496 - Carbon Fiber Rear Diffuser ($275)

I hope it looks good, since the rear of the 818 is the view most will see!

I hope it's like the www.difflow.com diffusers!

[Mike N]

I hope it's like the www.difflow.com diffusers!

I saw one on an Elise at Cars n Coffee this past weekend and it looked VERY nice.

[Frank818]

It does on pix, glad to hear it does in real too.
But can FFR make a similar diffuser to those of Difflow for half the price?

[Bob_n_Cincy]

sl_defuser.jpg I like this diffuser, It was the winning car last week at Pikes Peak.
Bob

[freds]

100MEDIA36IMAG0505.jpg
Here is a picture of an 818 in it's compact shipping configuration.
Nose is in the trunk.
Bob

Bob, do you have the overall dimensions of the "dolly" the packed kit is on? I'd like to make my "receiving dolly" close to the same, without any guess-work.

Thanks

fred

[Grok]

Have you been thinking about the possiblilty of offering different color body panels?
Such as all Blue except the hood one white?

[Bkafe]

[


Ops Director Nate (left) and Chassis Assembly Master Fred (right) with a week's worth of 818S production. Yes, if you noticed, the nose section is mounted to the tail for shipping!

I think this is the first picture of my 818s! I am SO PSYCHED!

Thanks Dave...and the entire Factory Five team.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Bob, do you have the overall dimensions of the "dolly" the packed kit is on? I'd like to make my "receiving dolly" close to the same, without any guess-work.

Thanks

fred

I do not have exact dimensions. I need them also to verify it will fit in my trailer. Maybe someone from FFR will chime in here.

[metalmaker12]

40 inches wide x 60 long , jim pm'ed me awhile back, I already made my trolley

[metalmaker12]

I will post pics of my design

[metalmaker12]

I think this is the first picture of my 818s! I am SO PSYCHED!

Thanks Dave...and the entire Factory Five team.

Yours is actually one of them, my kit is there as well

[Frank818]

40 inches wide x 60 long , jim pm'ed me awhile back, I already made my trolley

That's only 3.3 ft x 5 ft, so a trailer that small will be sufficient for the entire kit?

[metalmaker12]

Um no I am talking about a build trolley, that is a scary assumption, you gotta post a lot today to work this off

[Frank818]

Ok makes sense, cuz that was quite small! I was reading "trailer" and not "trolley", I need to stop working with a computer screen or get glasses...

[wleehendrick]

That's only 3.3 ft x 5 ft, so a trailer that small will be sufficient for the entire kit?

Ummm... maybe if you're building this:

7072978201_73b19c18fa_z.jpg

[Frank818]

Yup. Which I won't.

8.5ft x 16ft is the trailer
3.3ft x 5ft is the trolley

[Bkafe]

Yours is actually one of them, my kit is there as well

;^) - Oh so happy!

[metalmaker12]

Lol very funny lol

[wleehendrick]

I thought I would link to this pic in Dan Babb's gallery (posted in the UTCC thread). The photo was on the second page of the gallery, and probably got missed by many. It's the first shot I've seen of the new rear diffuser and spoiler for the S... me likey!

IMG_8356_zps92446e24.jpg

[Xusia]

Ooooh. I like those too.

[07FIREBLADE]

I like the diffuser... but im not quite sold on the lip spoiler. Only time will tell and maybe a few different angles. Need to see it in person. Also might need to modify the diffuser to run a center exhaust system like what metalmaker is planning on doing. Hopefully he will be able to work out all the kinks and start selling those soon too. Loving the ventilation that the rear bumper now has compared to the mostly plain Jane rear end.

[wallace18]

Emailed Joe Scott from FFR today. Rear spoiler is being redone due to windtunnel data. I was hoping to get one when I pick up my kit in August. No such luck.

[wleehendrick]

I like the diffuser... but im not quite sold on the lip spoiler.

The spoiler is what I was hoping for (no wing for my street car); the one thing I don't like is the straight lower edge, which contrasts with the upper curve. Although that could be addressed by painting a crescent portion of it body color so that it visually forms an arc of carbon fiber. Like this quick and dirty photochop:

spoiler.jpg

[SkiRideDrive]

I like it straight.

[07FIREBLADE]

I didnt realize what you did until I rechecked the original photos

[FFR-ADV]

Nice looking rear diffuser. I like the aggressive stance. (Gotta add that to my order....)

A spoiler or wing is likely in the cards. Lotus ran into a similar challenge with getting rear lift before they added an integral spoiler lip in the Elise. The Exige then used a wing to further increase aerodynamic induced grip. You don't have to watch the whole video of project M1-11, but 38 minutes and 56 seconds into the video is the portion when they got their first feedback from scale wind tunnel testing of the Elise (moved video to wind tunnel test thread as that seems more appropriate):

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...ting-818/page2

Cheers!