We’ve been building this hillclimb car for Practical Performance Car Magazine. The full details of the build will be available to read over the next few months. PPC mag have an event called the 999 challenge. The idea is to build the best MoT passable car you can for 999 quid and carry out a timed quarter mile and handling course. The fastest car wins. We decided to take the concept a step further and see if we could build a hill climb car for full competition still sticking to the 999 pound budget. The list of modifications is massive. We reduced the weight by about 20% which is hard going on a car that’s so light to start with. With all the weight stripped out we built a cage that not only keeps the driver safe but adds to the shells rigidity. The engine received a turbo and anti lag system including launch control and flat shift. It also features a hydrogen gas system for better combustion and a cold water spray for the intercooler. We carried out a few suspension and brake modifications and thoroughly set the cars geometry to give it perfect handling. The aerodynamics were last to be addressed and are controlled tightly by the regulations. We designed an aero package that other than the allowed rear spoiler didn’t change the cars silhouette. We achieved this with a flat underfloor, undercut splitter and a rear diffuser than uses a cut out into the rear bumper. The rear aero is fed by the exhaust gases between the spoiler and the diffuser which aid flow attachment. There’s still some fine tuning to be done but it should be an awesome package on a very tight budget
What was originally a 1.6 Ford Capri came in for some major work. This started by completely stripping it to a bare shell. All major areas of rust were tended to, all none structural metal was removed and a roll cage fabricated. Fibre glass wings, bonnet and tailgate were fitted and a new lightweight wiring harness was made. A new cross member was fabricated for the front to relocate suspension and steering components plus engine mounts for the new engine. An inlet manifold was fabricated from scratch to take an as yet untried inlet system combination and an ECU was sourced for the ignition. The wiring loom was made for the ECU and all necessary sensors sourced and brackets and adaptors made to fit them as required. The engine was fitted and rigged with a temporary cooling system. A dash was made and wired in to monitor everything and countless other jobs were completed to make all of these parts resemble a car and stand a chance of working. In late 2008 the key was turned and it fired in to life. All of the prototype systems functioned and the car could be driven. Although there was a huge amount of development to be done the ground work was laid for what would be a tremendous racing car.
