It's good to see pro fabricators here, even if they tease us amateurs. We can learn a lot from pros like Stan and Moti.
Dauntless wrote:
As to your question about how many people will pay 14 large for a set of panels, well...125 and counting in our case.
Roger that, but you (Stan) are in a market where people will pay double to knock their lap times down by 1%; an arena where buying from you is money well spent. What Kreb asked was (emphasis mine)...
kreb wrote:
How many people here are going to pay 14 large for a set of panels?
...and let's not forget that here is LocostUSA, which is a bunch of homebuilders with shallow pockets and goals less lofty than your fifteen National Championships.
Dauntless wrote:
It may come as a surprise to learn that our Protoptype 1 & 2 (CSR/DSR) chassis also feature steel space frames, albeit with prepreg carbon/honeycomb side anti-intrusion panels...
Okay, that was a slight surprise. I thought the Stohr sports racers have steel subframes front and rear on a carbon fiber tub/cockpit. It may come as a surprise to learn that when
I'm asked to build on a six figure budget (yes it's rare for me; this millennium it has only happened once) I use carbon fiber and epoxy structures. On this forum, we're the guys swapping backyard barbecue recipes and you're the chef from Maxim's telling us that's not how you do it in Paris, which is good to know and very interesting, but doesn't mean we can't cook good 'cue the old fashioned way.
Fay Curtis is indeed using the same materials and techniques of thirty years ago, but her bread and butter is replacement parts for vintage racers, where prepreg carbon fiber would fail the era-appropriate test. I too use Ye Thirtie Year Olde Materials and Techniques for my classic racer inspired projects, even though I am capable of using 15 year old materials and techniques when I think it's appropriate. But for an Abarth SP 1000 body, I think these guys are on the right track--period correct materials/techniques and affordable for folks that just want to build themselves a cool car with classic looks.
I'll concede your "excessive weight, low strength and low Tg" comment in reference to the fastest of modern road racers, but perhaps the weight isn't excessive for a mid-'60s sports prototype, and while the strength and Tg of fiberglass/polyester are lower than autoclave cured carbon/epoxy they're probably adequate, or the original cars wouldn't still be standing, fifty years after they rolled out of the factory.