Full Carbon Fiber Body

[Juice Lucas]

First I would like to say Hi to everyone on this great forum... been a lurker for a while and between this and the GTM forum I've seen a lot of great work from the respective members. The moment I saw an SL-C it was "love at first sight" though lol.

Now that that's out of the way... Has anyone ever thought of a full carbon fiber body car a la Zonda R?

I guess it all depends on how deep your wallet is. I just see everyone trying to strip down everything to save weight. Might as well go all out with a lightweight body. As I do not own an SL-C I don't know how much the body weighs, but I'm pretty sure we're talking at least 150-200lbs if you go ALL carbon fiber like this builder did with the interior of his SL-C.

2x2 twill carbon fiber goes for $2300-$2700 for 50"x100y. Let's say you need 2x. So $4600-5400 for the cloth... Don't know how much resins, etc... would run. I'm sure those of you that are experienced in the field could chime in. In the battle of the bulge I just think this would be an excellent idea if you think it is cost worthy. I donno let's call it the SLC-XR :2thumbsup:

 

[Alex]

If I recall a conversation I had with Fran correctly he had said they'd done/were doing a carbon fiber slc. It was $$$$ though.

Also, I don't think Tim's interior is real carbon fiber - I'm pretty sure that's hydro carbon fiber (for visuals) over the fibgerglass parts. The seats though are legit carbon fiber - they're Tillets.

 

[Doc Kaler]

+1 Alex!

It depends on you goals I guess. For an all out track car, perhaps it would be worth the expense to have the car PLUS replacement panels to campaign at the highest level. The SLC will be competitive without a CF body. But replacement for a road car would break the bank! So, save weight in other areas (or add HP to overcome the additional fiberglass weight, eh Alex?).

 

[Ricardo Montalvo]

CF would be cool, but adding HP is much easier and cheaper. I would surprised if the 25 hr SLC-R (or the the ones in the pipeline) didn't or isn't looking hard into this and what his conclusion was.

 

[Alex]

(or add HP to overcome the additional fiberglass weight, eh Alex?).

Everybody needs a power-to-weight of no more than 2.5 :laugh:

 

[Dave]

Only the seats are carbon fiber in that car. The rest is what Alex described... a CF print on the standard inerior parts. I also think the front splitter is CF as well but cannot remember.

....carbon fiber like this builder did with the interior of his SL-C.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Splitter and skirts are carbon also...we made them.

 

[Juice Lucas]

Yeah I guess at the end of the day it all depends on how much $$$$ you're willing to spend. I've heard getting CF to mold correctly is a PITA as it doesn't stretch much for contours. So labor costs would skyrocket I'm assuming. We just need to find someone that doesn't care about going deep into their wallet for the R&D of making it happen lol.

 

[Alex]

We just need to find someone that doesn't care about going deep into their wallet for the R&D of making it happen lol.

Hey, hey, why are you guys looking at me like that....... :lipsrsealed:

CF body would be cool, but I'm happy with a carbon spoiler, splitter, and sideskirts. I think that's just the right amount on this car on the exterior - if you have too much you can go from looking classy to it looks good, but a bit out of place.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

There is a big difference between shiny carbon for looks (Zonda) and real carbon for strength and lightness ( race/F1cars)...

 

[Ben Whittle]

Fran, wet vs dry carbon?

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

wet vs pre preg...flanged moulds, resin infused,autoclave etc etc ....you name it...the longer the list , the more it costs...

The SLC tooling is fine for wet/open face layup...but in reality there is very little difference in weight between a good hand lay up in FG vs Carbon...

I did not want/plan to ever do prepreg /autoclave tooling as its extremely expensive, big, heavy and a pain in the Armpit....

Besides for the one or two clients in the cars lifecycle that wants carbon...whats the point?

 

[Juice Lucas]

Hey, hey, why are you guys looking at me like that....... :lipsrsealed:

CF body would be cool, but I'm happy with a carbon spoiler, splitter, and sideskirts. I think that's just the right amount on this car on the exterior - if you have too much you can go from looking classy to it looks good, but a bit out of place.

C'mon Alex YouTube - You can do it montage.

But on a serious note... It would make more sense to just put the money into the motor instead... but if $$$ was not an option... why not both lol

 

[Mike Pass]

Mick Sollis at Southern GT now does a carbon fibre rear clip. Very light and rigid.Glenn mason has one fitted to his 40. It also makes a big difference to the front/rear weight distribution and helps handling by reducing the weight high up at the rear of the car.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

I held the original tail from 1032 during its restoration and it is extremely light..its also hand laid but in FG....

The Robertson Racing GT body is carbon and its race carbon not shiny carbon....I had a nice sit down when I found out how expensive it was..:stunned:

 

[Mark Hamstra]

A skilled and meticulous craftsman can produce "race carbon" that is shiny. Take a look at the work that David Algie is doing on his LP1 kitplane, which is essentially the aviation version of a high-end kitcar like the SLC. (And despite being essentially 100% "race carbon", the cost of the LP1 airframe without engine or avionics is not all that much more than the cost of an SLC without drivetrain....)

The photos of the completed dash panel, glare shield, and cockpit console on the Facebook albums of Woodward Aerospace will show you what I mean. Woodward Aerospace | Facebook

 

[Mesa]

My girl and I have been keeping an eye on that LP1 plane. She's the pilot and me well, I'll be doing the grunt work if we move forward. Cool plane for sure.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

I agree it can be...bit only if the tooling is designed to be carbon compatible...

The carbon wing we have is really nice but show guys dont only want shiny...they want perfectly laid weave with superb symmetry...such as this $1,400,000 Koenigsegg

 

[Alex]

When repairing carbon fiber, is it ever possible to do a 100% seamless repair? I've seen surfboard repairs where it looks like a perfect repair (flush, no signs of damage, etc...), except the weave pattern distorts (does not match the original weave) in the repair area.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

I am sure its possible but I know that we are not carbon experts to that degree, and that is best left to the guys that are...