RaceWerkz Engineering | Project Snowball
There are Multiple ways to interpret a phrase as arrogant and cliched as The Ultimate Driving Machine. You could say that a DTM Race car is truly the only acceptable definition of such a phrase, and far be it from us to disagree. Really, what we looked at as this statement was thought of, was that the once hardened and iconic sports car of yesteryear seemed to be fading off into the distance. The fight for the biggest and most luxurious was starting to rear its sickening head as we watched helplessly. These new so called "sports cars" got fatter, safer and easier to drive. A true sports car is in no way meant to be easy to drive. It is not intended for your wife to take grocery shopping. And it is DEFINITELY not meant for soccer practice. It is meant to reveal the seemingly forgotten joys of driving. To remind us all that we can still be young at heart and that our quest to live life to the fullest hasn't ended yet. This is the spirit that lives behind our goal. We wanted a car that wasn't meant for taking 4 grown men to dinner. That wasn't necessarily the comfortable car of the morning commute. We want the car that stirs our emotions, that brings a slightly evil grin to our faces as we drive. We wanted the best of the best. In essence, we wanted the Ultimate, Ultimate Driving Machine.
We started with the heart of any car, the engine. Of course, this couldn't be your run of the mill bolt on blah blah charger making more power than God and everyone has. That's a pissing contest for the feeble and we'll settle our battles with lap times and grins. What we need is something, different. Something, shall I say, classic. We needed a naturally aspirated, punched out, loud mean revving machine. We need a stroker motor. And who else to contact other than our friends down at RDSport in Anaheim, Ca. The guys at RDS live in the land of the engines somewhere, frankly I'm scared to ask where exactly. They have built winning race engines in everything from Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and BMW's all the way to little Fiats. After a few short months at their camp and our sadistic 4.6liter stroker from hell was back and ready to make some noise. Drop it in, bolt it up, a quick tune and all that was on our minds was the start button to the right, clutch to the left, throttle to the right and off through the gears we go. We may mention torque a few times in this article, but understanding what we mean is difficult to truly grasp until your head is pressed firmly against the back of the seat with no hope of moving forward until the the huge Stoptech Big Brake Kit is engaged. The sound the engine makes as it runs through the rev range are shouted enthusiastically as you go from a deep low end roar all the way to an iconic M3 heavy metal-esque high end scream. This, is a true enthusiasts motor. Gobs of power, purely addictive sound, and every day drivability. Trifecta achieved.
Now with power in the back of our minds, we need to make this thing handle like an Ultimate Driving Machine. For this we need a long list of things and none of them will work right without the others. Its what we call balance and its an art form not to be taken lightly. The proper combination of suspension, aero and rubber, you'll be seeing checkered flags. Throwing some random parts in a box and hoping for the best, you'll be left scratching your head in frustration as the kid in the beater Honda runs circles around you. To make sure that doesn't happen, we rely on only the best, mixed with proper tuning and setup. First thing on the list, dampers. It's no secret anymore that the difference in well set up suspension is worth seconds over off the shelf grab and go kits which is why we turned to Motion Control Suspension all the way from Alpharetta, Ga. Motion Control Suspension (MCS) are the new kids on the block. Or are they? MCS has started to make a name for themselves, no doubt due to the top quality products they've been engineering for the past two years. It's always fun to see the "new kids on the block" showing up some of the big ol' boys in a classic game of “Who's Faster”, but are they really the new guys? The answer, put simply, is no. Many years ago, a well known company named JRZ Suspension was created, then followed another similar company by the name of Moton. Arguably two of the best suspension companies to date. The team known now as MCS, was partially responsible for the creation of both the preceded companies in their glory days. Coming from a background of not only producing excellent shocks, but also winning races around the globe in almost every professional and semi-professional race there is. Their years of expertise and experience show in their newest endeavor as we dive, both figuratively and literally, into the new MCS 2-way remotes.
Aerodynamics. Possibly the most overlooked asset of the weekend track junkie and it's one of those sad but unfortunately true facts. The big wing was ruined for most of the casual track guys thanks to the "Fast and Furious" era as we like to call it. Kids running around with big triple foil spoilers sticking off of whatever cheap import they could get their hands on before running to the street races after their day job as a pizza delivery boy. This demographic puts a bit of a crux on the self respecting business man with a family and a respectable job. The lap time improvement seems appealing but typically not at the cost of being associated with your average street racer. Luckily, there are companies like APR Performance in Pomona, Ca. The guys at APR might actually be as big a group of gear heads as we are. They love racing, real racing, with a passion. Spend 5 minutes speaking with anyone there and that statement will be made very clear. Not much can be said about APR that hasn't been said in the last 15 years. Wins in every form of Motorsport at all levels in all classes as far down the tree as you care to go. It's no surprise that APR has become the household name of aerodynamics and downforce. In our own testing we have found that a wing and our custom splitter combo from APR can lead to an excess of 4 seconds off your lap times at the local track. Scary numbers for a few bits of carbon here and there isn't it? For "Project Snowball" we outfitted the car with the GT-250 67" flat plane wing mixed with our custom race splitter. The combo is not only aesthetically pleasing, but more importantly to us, it’s fast.
Now comes the home front. The interior. This is the part that separates "sports car" from "race car". Race cars are very German. All business in the front, and, well…all business in the back too. They have little emotion about them, they are designed to work efficiently and go fast. Don't get us wrong, thats a great way to go, but this project requires a little, homey feeling too. By keeping the carpet, windows, stereo and HVAC we may keep some undesirable weight, but we don't feel so spartan inside and nostalgic for the few amenities that we don't have. The rest of the car reminds us that their is danger lurking, which brings out the chest pounding Rambo that we all dreamt of being as a kid. Our in house remake of the AE bolt in roll bar (we used chromoly and fig welded it) with some Recaros and a pair of Schroth race belts and you seem to be reminded that if the worst should happen, you'll still crawl out of the car… Probably. Finish it off with some alacantara bits here and there as well as a BMW performance wheel with built in gauges and shift lights for fun and you have a complete package.
We set out on a quest to emulate what we always dreamed of as the best all around car. Though the future may hold many of the answers to our questions, we'll keep looking forward, take the good with the bad and enjoy the ride. What we do know, is that we have a model for what we like to think could very well be one of the best, perhaps even "The Ultimate, Ultimate Driving Machine”.
PS. This is a running thread and “Project Snowball” will continue to grow and change as we see fit…or get bored. Either way, keep an eye out to see what we come up with as this car transforms.
Picture Time! Enjoy!
