818 SEMA Update WITH PICS!

[thestigwins]

This is the roll cage that I imagined the R would have. Its looking pretty good,although could use a set of wheels.

I would like to say that comments like the comment above are the reason we have been left in the dark. Keep up the good work F5.

Grant

[D2W]

To be honest i'm kind of surprised the R doesn't have a full cage. That forward down brace looks to be right in your line of sight (sideways) and a great place to bang your head against. Definately helmet only motoring.

[Xusia]

The design phase has been over for some time, so negative comments and suggestions are not going to add any value to the forum or the project. Therefore I suggest the old adage apply: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything!

[PhyrraM]

To be honest i'm kind of surprised the R doesn't have a full cage. That forward down brace looks to be right in your line of sight (sideways) and a great place to bang your head against. Definately helmet only motoring.

As you would expect from an "R" version? At least that is how I always took it.

Car looks good, waiting for the street version to get really excited. REALLY hoping for more tech details and raw naked pictures.

A bit dissapointed with the size of the rolling stock and the performance hit that mayinduce on such a light car.

[GUNS]

I think it's looking great! I can't wait to see more.

[mhoward1]

To be honest i'm kind of surprised the R doesn't have a full cage. That forward down brace looks to be right in your line of sight (sideways) and a great place to bang your head against. Definately helmet only motoring.

If it sits like the challenge cars cage does, then no it's not in the line of sight you actually look through it pretty well. Also as far enough to the side that there is no real impact chance with harnesses on. If it's like The challenge car cage, then it really is a full cage with the front crossbeam just under the dash. This puts the string line or contact line above the helmet points On a roll over.

By the way. I am posting this by dictating to Siri, so please forgive any funky words that might pop up in this.

[Mechie3]

I hope we can go wider than 255 tires. I had 255 star specs on all four corners on my wrx. Im hoping we can convince a 295 it'd like to call the 818 home.

That picture is quite cool. I still like some or the modified front ends better, but the fender flares show up better now, especially the front one. Can't wait to see more!!!

[ehansen007]

Its looking pretty good,although could use a set of wheels.

Grant

Say what?

[mhoward1]

Just remember with tires there's diminishing returns in ratio to the wait. At a certain point the contact patch doesn't get any larger with a wider tire, it just changes shape. You go from a square contact patch to a more oblong side to side contact. 225 on a car this light should be plenty of time. Otherwise you may actually never get the tires up to temperature or have enough traction in one direction or another. It's like the Lotus Elise's tires or on a much lesser scale the Mazda Miata which seems to really like 225 or 235. The W RX or the STI are much heavier cars so they benefit from the wider rubber.

[ScottKoschwitz]

OK, after the dearth of FFR information, and keeping myself occupied mulling over a possible Miata turbo- or supercharged project, I'm starting to get excited about this again. I can't wait to see the pics from SEMA, and I hope FFR hosts an 818-centric winter open house so we can finally see this car in person.

I think it looks sharp, but I still can't shake the impression (even with the Challenge car there for scale) that it will be larger than I had hoped.

[anthonyb]

I definately agree....

The design phase has been over for some time, so negative comments and suggestions are not going to add any value to the forum or the project. Therefore I suggest the old adage apply: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything!

[wallace18]

I think it looks awesome!!! I can not wait to put down a deposit. I just hope the negative comments don't surface and ruin the excitement.

[anthonyb]

This is pretty exciting! My sons and I will have a field day with this one for sure!

[mhoward1]

I think Dave and Jim are well aware they cannot make everyone happy. I do think they have quite a success in their hand and I think that most will Appreciate the 818 for what it is.

[timmy318]

Not totally what I was expecting but none-the-less FFR has done it again and impressed me! Great job for the FFR team on getting this thing almost done! Can't wait to put the deposit down for this!

[Gary in NJ]

I'm digging the shape. I can't wait to see it with all of the details in place.

[RM1SepEx]

psyched, roadster design meets my goals, looks great!

Cash in hand

Donor parts 90% ready, everything is in hand... 2 weeks +/- to paint powder coat and assemble
(except LSD install, and wheels/tires, still mulling options)

timing almost perfect... I'll be ready early

I'm thinking 215 x 45 x 17 in front and 235 x 45 x 17 Direzzas in the back for max load about 500 lbs less than a NA or NB miata

[David Hodgkins]

I like the fact that a high quality soft top is being engineered for availability at the launch. It looks like it will be about the same size as a C-Car, with a longer wheelbase.

I think it's going to be a monster in the corners!



PS I too am waiting to see if I get the OK to release any more pics. As SOON as I get any more info, I'll pass it along!

[Dave Smith]

Allow me to briefly break my radio silence.. The development process on the body panels is ongoing and very challenging. Probably the largest challenge of the project as costing with paint vs. without paint is a huge deal. I like some of the on-line shape suggestions (like the vman front cuts) but there is a zero rating on that as a critical path item since it is easy to change (nose panel change) and there are too many other items that have to be completed first. When it comes to platform, Ive made it clear that variant body shapes and purposing is in the design spec and so it remains.

The panels are all seam-free quarter or smaller panels that CAN be made in gel coat if we have to, but a higher end process is being worked on, just not done. This isnt easy and I will not make stupid claims that end up years from completion.

The 818R and the street car differ in door panel inner liners, functional doors, cage/no cage, shocks, brakes, but mostly cage (which is a true race cage) and solo windscreen vs. full windshield with surround.

I was alone releasing the image as Ive seen most people cant extrapolate the shapes to the real-space car and details like paint, lighting, wheels, ride height, interior, engine, exhausts, etc ALL dramatically change the way a car looks and the one thing I've learned fully thru this process is that renderings and 1/4 scale models are virtually useless in determining the physical presence and feeling of the car in real space. We have paid a good amount of money to learn this lesson and even the diff between photos and real world 3d is hard to really quantify.

I am immensely proud of the design team, the partner companies, the tools we are using and the dedication to accomplishing the design goals. The chassis is impressive, the body (in person) is striking and dramatic as hell, the running gear and pricing are intact, the process still being developed, but in the end, the only thing that will determine our success or failure is whether people weigh our work and deem it worthy of their hard earned money. A tremendous amount of work and skill and experience and technology has been applied to the effort and we are still so far up the headwaters of this exciting new design.

I'm grateful for the interest and will make more updates concurrent with the SEMA show.

Dave Smith

[GUNS]

Thanks Dave and the team for the sneak peak and keeping us informed. I'm very happy with the design and will hopefully begin dismantling my donor soon. Looking forward to more pics.

[narkosys]

I like the looks of it so far and I think that this will make a great car for a first project. I look forward to seeing both the roadster version and a coupe (which would be my preferred way to go).

P

edit: hopefully FFr is already in contact with Canada customs so that Canadian versions can be shipped shortly afterwards.

[thane]

I feel like the qualities of the photograph of the unfinished car do a better job of conveying how the car will look in the flesh than have previous shots. Thanks for posting, and fwiw, the latest shot makes me like the looks of the car, even more.

thane

[Mechie3]

I was thinking narrower in front, wider in back for traction purposes. Competitive ESP WRX's run 315 width R-comps. My WRX would spin both inside wheels on corner exit with 245 tires. The elise and miata are light, but also don't have powerful motors.

And.......Dave breaks the silence!!! Just want to let you know, as an engineer, I understand a lot of the challenges your team is going through. I look forward to seeing more pics and progress. IMO, build pics are just as fun to see as final result pics.

[smoove7410]

Thanks for the information and picture. I think it is coming along rather nicely.

Will it be possible to mix and match? I like the R look with no windscreen, but may not need a substantial cage for just cruising the street. Would I be able to get the R visuals on a street setup?

[Benji]

Roll on SEMA!

[GS guy]

Looking Good! Great to see a fresh body out of the molds.

[Sultan]

Dave you remain a hero to me!!!!! It looks AWESOME!!

[metalmaker12]

I think it looks awesome!!! I can not wait to put down a deposit. I just hope the negative comments don't surface and ruin the excitement.

Looks great, my father and I are building one too, I can't wait to see it in person and buy a kit

[timmy318]

Looks great, my father and I are building one too, I can't wait to see it in person and buy a kit

Same here!!!! Thanks Dave for the update and now I guess I can calmly wait for SEMA to unveil it the way you want it to look!

[D2W]

Thanks for the information and picture. I think it is coming along rather nicely.

Will it be possible to mix and match? I like the R look with no windscreen, but may not need a substantial cage for just cruising the street. Would I be able to get the R visuals on a street setup?

I believe Dave said in the past that the windshield is removeable for track days.

[Mechie3]

Oh, and for a few laughs:



or, a real pic of me.








(no, I don't usually carry cash. I was picking up my Fmod, paying cash, and wanted a funny/making fun of the "I'm suburban and white and trying to be a street tough gangster" pic. haha!)





but seriously.....deposit....here we come.

[Racebrewer]

More photos....... I can't wait to see it in other colors. The red is hot though.......

John

[Zodiac]

I think it looks even better in the pic than it did in the rendering. I can't wait for it to be shown at SEMA and be released. I still gotta find my donor though. 06-07 salvage auctions have not been kind lately :/

[timmy318]

hey david h, anyway possible of making a thread of only 818 pics at SEMA. Just have people who've taken pictures of the 818 and are at SEMA post them on their so everyone doesn't have to go searching for them. Just an idea being thrown out there!

[ursa5000]

Dave ,et al...I can't wait to mod the nose and rear with carbon fiber cutouts and masks, black- high gloss - torque thrust wheels, and custom headlights. FFR has designed a wonderful blank canvas so we can express our own design ideas.

Congrats to the entire development team!

Da Bear

[Rockraven]

Yeah, I'm a convert. I'm already thinking of how I want to do my 818. I'm thinking of matte blacking the lower front facia recesses and adding honeycomb inserts with some round driving lights. Nobody can say Dave and his team didn't do a terrific job with this car. I hope I can get one to Canada in the spring!

[Russ Thompson]

To Dave and the design team, great job guys, can't wait to see all the new stuff at SEMA!

[flynntuna]

Very exciting times for ffr, SEMA will be quite a milestone. Congrats!

[Stickshift84]

Well, this has just made my month!!! Can't wait for the end of next month!!! Keep up the great work.

[RM1SepEx]

Thanks for jumping in Dave... we weren't sure if we would see anything from you before SEMA :-( You and your team have done an impressive job, I'll be proud to both build and drive my 818

Can't wait to place my order, been adding capabilities since Mark and I met with you about a year ago to discuss this project. My donor work is at the point where colors are important... I think I'm forced to stay with simple colors for stuff like valve cover colors, brake calipers, suspension components etc... to avoid some wierd issues with body color conflicts

Can you give us any insights into colors, beyound the obvious black, white and red?

Thanks

Dan