We, at Nemo-Racing.com are in for that challenge and have set out the next few years of plans to make that happen and to see how that can roll out into other Time Attack classes, like Nemo’s other 2 stable mates running in Clubsprint.
SA: With a car like this there must be an awful lot of sorting out once the car hits the track. Do you guys expect to hit the ground running and do you think the car will be competitive against the overseas teams by August?
CE: It has taken us 2 years to get to this point. The other day myself and Jacques, who has been a major part of the build, had a coffee to celebrate the 2 years since we started the project.
We still have alot to sort out; aero, suspension, reliability etc. Our advantage is having people from the V8supercar background data acquisition. Nemo, we believe, will be a test bed for that as well.
She has gone above and beyond, most forms of motorsport, in regards to data acquisition. We are monitoring and logging everything we can. We even have
incorporated Aero data acquisition, just for Andrew.
I know he is smiling when I say that, but so are Leigh and James in regard to Suspension data and also Nick in regard to engine data acquisition. We are not going to leave any stone unturned. We would, like everyone, like more testing time on the car, but with the adjustability of the design and the data acquisition capabilities, we believe we have a good plan that we are confident can deliver on and provide a good showing for the Australian cars.
SA: Tell us a little bit about the processes that have been involved in the construction of this car ie, chassis construction, aero design, composites and engineering.
CE: Originally it started with an upright to correct suspension issues. Having seen SSE, Cyber Evo and HKS Evo, they were all great cars created on either suspension, chassis design, weight, engine horsepower and aero, or a combination of a couple of them, but not a culmination of all of them, they took parts of each to create a great car. We wanted to achieve more, that has been our goal, to be at the forefront on each and everyone one of those areas.
G understands suspension design and engineering like few others I have meet, except maybe Leigh who is the engineer on the car going forward. Andrew taught us what sacrifices are worth making in regards to aero. I think it has taught the entire team a thing or two as well, particularly in regard to Aero V Centre of Gravity offsets.
As with all builds it’s all about compromises. But it’s not until someone explains to you the benefits and can articulate the sacrifices well that you really get it. I think Andrew’s lecture on packaging will stick with me forever.
Finally like I said before, you get lucky. Meeting Brad was luck, Tony and G knowing Andy was Luck. Andy having James was luck. Nemo is no one-hit-wonder, she is a collaboration of many peoples experiences and knowledge and will carry their
goals and aspirations forward, like few other cars have, and I think that has been the major step forward in regard to this build.
Large teams around the world building GT cars etc having multimillion dollar budgets, but I believe it is something unique to the relative amateur sport of Time Attack, and particularly to a privateer team. It hasn’t been one person’s direction. We have all been open to everyone else in the team wants and needs and worked out solutions to make sure we could put that in for them and I think this has been a key to the build so far and will be a key to its success in the future.
SA: We hearyou have a pretty tasty drivetrain and engine as well?
CE: We have a 2.2lt 4G63 motor. We are putting down over 800hp at the wheels. With that kind of power and the fact we focused very heavily on weight, it’s very close to a 1:1 power to weight ratio. If we decide to run the larger BW turbo we have, and run our boost to where SSE ran theirs, we believe we would be greater than 1:1.
Due to our focus on weight we also don’t believe we will require that, and that will assist in our reliability, buts it’s good to have it in reserve if do need it and things are tight. She is, like all our competitors all forged internals. A Norris Design Dry Sump system, upgraded dry sump pump. The intake Manifold is HKS Kansai, ID Injectors, Custom fuel rail (read by James Marshall J), Geoff and Jon at Full-Race came to the party and supplied the turbos, yes they are Borg Warner and so far we haven’t had to pull the big daddy from the box. Turbosmart have supplied the wastegates and our friends at Spark Tech delivered on the ignition.
After that it is all mated to a Maktrak 6 speed sequential that incorporates the pneumatic paddle shift from Geartronics. Why a paddle shift? Well it’s cool to have an Evo with paddle shift. We then go back through with an assortment of other goodies, like LSD in front, rear and yes with the Maktrak you also get a centre LSD. We have had to upgrade the ½ shafts and have a carbon tail shaft to finish it all off.
We are also currently fabricating our own light weight flywheel to mate to a 5” sachs clutch, until then we are running the Carbonetics one.
SA: It appears there is a fair few Australian components in the build as well, the shocks are MCA and the ECU is Motec, what else?
CE: Nemo is all Australian. Well almost, with Andrew we have JPN and the US covered, with Andy and the Team at McElrea’s being originally from NZ we have that part of the world covered too, but that aside we have a lot of great talent in and around Australia and Qld in particular.
Murray Cootes and G worked together to design the Dampers. They are trick, as are all Murray’s items. Murray’s attention to detail is unbelievable. But the biggest part is its just great to go for a drive to his Landsborough base, sit and talk to Murray, the family and the dogs, I could spend hours there!
We are running just about every MoTec sensor you can imagine, and then a few they never thought about either. Also many of the items on Nemo are manufactured for her by Australian Companies. From Noonan Race Engineering, who has fabricated many of her parts through to Troy from ProSpeed whom has supplied items like the rims, windows, mirrors etc. Alex and Dave at GT Auto Garage and Nick at NA Motorsports provided many parts and a lot of assistance along the way. We have so much talent on offer in Australia it’s just not funny.
SA: With all that planning (and money) having gone into this build, what are your long-term goals for this car?
CE: A while ago a friend of mine asked, “How would you know if Nemo had made it”? The answer was easy; If either of my 2 sons could go to school one day playing their iPhoney/PSP/Nintendo thingy and be playing Grand Turismo 11 and one of their mate’s came up to them and asked what are you doing they would respond “racing GT11”. Which car are you driving? They would respond. “My dad’s”. Then I would I know Nemo has made it! So that is the goal short and simple, if we achieve that we have achieved everything else.
After WTAC whether that be 12 or 13 we want to do some of the most iconic tracks around the world. Bathurst, Philip Island, Tuskuba, Fuji Raceway, Button Willow, Laguna Seca, Pikes Peak, even travelling to Europe would be great. But we built Nemo for WTAC so that is our Goal. With the people involved in her I have a lot of confidence we can achieve these goals and my sons will be happy.
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