Greetings from Thailand! Formula 1000 in Progress

Hi all,

I've been reading some of the great build threads on here, and decided I should join both to get access to the members' knowledge and to contribute a bit of what I've learned.

I studied Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, but went on to design computers (real computers, not PC's :)-)), started my own computer peripheral company, sold it, and retired to Thailand. Back in the US, I had autocrossed a Honda Civic, then moved on to a 1965 911 which I built to a 2.7 liter Euro Carrera-spec engine and did Porsche club time trials and drivers schools for 23 years. Sadly, I sold that car in 2004, just before prices exploded. The guy who bought it sold just the seats for half what he paid me for the entire car :)-(.

After I got my machine shop built, and incidentally a house attached to it, I cast about for something to build. I drove a friend's Lamborghini Diablo, and found out I don't want to drive a supercar in Thailand-- like taxiing a 747 down the street, preceded by a marching band, majorettes and all. Eventually I discovered Formula 1000, a new SCCA racing class with wings, slicks, ground effects and 1000 cc superbike engines. That's the ticket! And the best race track in Thailand is four minutes from my machine shop/house.

So I've been designing and building a Formula 1000 race car for about the past three years. The frame is done, the body master pattern is done, and today I'm making my first body part mold.

Cheers,

-Jim
 

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Hi Fred, I'll see what I can come up with. I went through every post of your build thread back when I was just getting started, and again last week. Inspirational!

Thanks Kevin. Stay tuned.

Keith, I didn't do a full 360 in my computer renderings, and I've probably lost the recipe to make more by now. I'll attach another angle, though.

As of this moment, I'm waiting for the gelcoat to partially cure on the bottom half of the two-part nose mold. Doing this in Thailand is a challenge. For example, all the chemicals come in completely unlabeled bottles. There was no explanation of what turned out to be cobalt naphthanate, a "promoter/accelerator" that needs to be added to the gelcoat at a rate of 0.2%. When I carried it back into the store in a plastic bag with the polyester resin hardener to ask, he hurriedly separated the two into separate bags. It turns out he also neglected to mention those two chemicals explode when mixed...

Here's a pic that shows how everything fits together.

-Jim
 

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