Originally Posted by
Dave Smith
“Crapped in my own flat hat? Apologize?! Not being upfront with us? “
I asked a question of track or street car launch at SEMA. I posted a picture and some rough testing videos… didn’t see how this can be elevated to the level of Enron.
I loved Xabiers 818R concept the moment I saw it and said so on many occasions. I never said I would build it. There’s no way I could have. But we actually invested a lot in it with the hopes that we might. Truth is that the design does not work the way it was drawn and after A LOT of work and a lot of money (we paid Rhode Island School of Design more than $8,000 to make the model!), it wasn’t selected for the track-version or roadster. No matter how cool the drawing looked, it didn’t work against the critical design goals, simple as that (the rejected silver car had 100% Xabiers nose design). Just a truth of scale, despite looking cool on the red drawing. Still though, that drawing and submission, among many ideas, led us along a great path. To say the team isn’t listening is only for lack of being part of the actual team in house here.
I absolutely LOVE Rodney’s design and planned on using it (or a version of it since a lot can change when drawing becomes real)… I even spoke to him and Jesper here at FFR about the CAD readiness of the design and required changes. But that car would have to be AFTER we launched the roadster (which was said repeatedly), IF we could integrate it (I think I said something about multiple bodies!). BUT it’s a hard top design and making the car a roadster isn’t as easy as making a drawing. You can photoshop a drawing, make it a coupe, a roadster, and back again, but making a car is not the same thing and a lot of designers have no clue about the physical challenges of that change and the realities and limitations of manufacturing. How important is a no paint body or export considerations? etc… The balance is the trick and if you’re waiting for FFR to sell a car exactly as it was drawn, it will never happen because it’s a drawing and not a car.
I said, as Jim said, and as stated on our website, and in our early video discussion of the car, we would lead with a roadster. The Coupe couldn’t meet the launch target of a $9,990 kit… that really required a simple roadster. A convertible top sure, but a full-on Coupe with power windows and OEM level HVAC? Not possible at $9,990. A removable hardtop, a full-on Coupe with power windows, etc… All things possible and likely but not first… the success of design one drives (and funds!) the other models. And this is no guarantee. What if a Truck project looks more profitable and timely than 818 model #2, shouldn’t I have the right (fiduciary responsibility) to change course? Sure, and I will if that’s the truth. That’s also why the FIA keeps getting delayed. It’s also one of the many reasons we’ve grown as a company when others have failed.
From our website:
“The design goal behind this car is very straightforward, the car must be simple, lightweight, affordable, and easy to build in countries around the world. The emphasis will be on handling and driving fun rather than on the 200 mph exotic, although the capable chassis should provide an excellent platform for more competition focused builds and fuel-efficient commuters. The majority of the cars we sell are street cars and this will not be an exception, so full lighting, covered wheels, and safety items will all be incorporated. To keep things simple, this will be an elemental performance based street car first but with a roll bar/structure sufficient for track days. The design competition gave us great ideas and direction for initial roadster body. The success of this 818 project depends tremendously on the full integration of CAD technology, the application of our accumulated street and track experience, and the input of our talented and passionate customer base. It is our largest challenge to date and yet, I am confident we will deliver on the lofty goals.”
I didn’t mislead anyone regarding the design of the body/(s). Please consider that we paid out over $10,000 in prize money, spent another $14,000 on scale models and CAD work of ALL the designs… at a time when I wasn’t collecting a paycheck! That’s how important I thought it was! Much more than some marketing smoke and mirrors! We could’ve gotten input for free but chose to engage our community in a serious (funded) way because we knew it would generate legitimate ideas and take us in a path we might not have gone. The design competition was a critical part of a vibrant and well considered R&D effort, but it was never a promise to make anything… It couldn’t have ever been. The 818 project has been conducted in a very public manner (OVER the objections of many of the team here I might add), and in the end, the design contest was just that... a design contest, and a start. In the end we have to build the car/(s) that we deem best meets the design goals. I have made it clear that my plans for the car involved multiple purposes and multiple bodies, and now with a single glimpse of one rendering the entire world falls apart? This is unreasonable. I would never have made any commitments to any specific design (for or against) in the midst of the process beyond the clear design goals.
Anyone who has ever worked with, known, or visited our company knows that this is a great group of honest, dedicated, TALENTED and hardworking people. Best I’ve ever worked with.
I believe this project has benefitted greatly from feedback over the past year (the design contest is only part of the great technical contributions and ideas generated), but I also believe it is now suffering from the same. I should not have released the 818R photo or in-process testing videos as this has caused serious interruption to the project. I could have answered my own question about SEMA and track vs. street car myself without endangering the process. My mistake and I take the blame for that one. Simply put, we’re not ready to manage communications at this stage and we’re very confident that the project is going in the right direction (we’re all practically giddy with the performance envelope and direction of the car) and perhaps the best path forward is to allow people to evaluate the car/(s) that we end up designing and building in person and in real space and not waste time along the way.
In the end, capitalism will have its beautiful unemotional way with us. If what we design and build is something that people want to hand over hard earned money for, then we will continue to succeed as a company and build our place in automotive history (yes THAT is the goal!). Factory Five Racing is on a long term mission to become one of the great icons of the automotive landscape and we chose to do it from the grassroots level up. A tough job that few are interested in! Our club and our path will be laid by the shared and exceptional experiences of our customers and community and GREAT CARS. Our legend will be told as a result of how well we serve our community and how well our products become part of life stories, not how happy we can make someone with a rendering that we’ve seen change when put to full-size form.
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