What are little Porsche Fabcars made of?

[Wrecked944]

Sugar and spice and everything nice?

Okay, seriously, when I see a "Porsche Fabcar" racing at Daytona I think I understand that it was not built by Porsche, right? So why is it called a "porsche"? How much of it is actually from Stuttgart? Porsche motor? Porsche Transmission? Suspension bits? Brakes? But not the chassis and bodywork? Is the factory involved in any way in developing or building these cars or can anyone weld together a tube frame, throw some bodywork on it and call it a "Porsche Fabcar"?

[htron435]

When I see body lines like that, my mind immediately goes to the company that brought us such timeless classics as the Matador, the Javelin, the Gremlin, and the Pacer -- the now defunct American Motors (not to slight Chris Bangle, he's certainly capable of this sort of "timeless" style). I'm not sure about rest, but I believe that it's the engine that makes it a Porsche. Others?

[Paulporsche]

Janus,

You have identified one of the problems of this series. Another is the ridiculously stringent grandstand seating restrictions @ Daytona for the 24 hr, but's that's another rant. The France family, who own the tracks and the series, just as they do Nascar, have followed the same formula they have there: the engine from the marque, and the body from chassis fabricators, built to strict regs.

On the plus side, they have done what they do in Nascar: bring in lots of manufacturers, privateers, and fabricators who can compete at lower costs than the LeMans prototype series, and put on an entertaining show. They also seem to be trying to equalize things among the various engines. They have also attracted a lot of well known drivers from other series , at least for the 24.

I have read recently that Brumos and Fabcar took their car to the Porsche factory for some engine mods and some aero work. That seems to be the only factory involvement, which was not undertaken until recently.

For more specific info, visit Brumos Porsche's website for their approach to this. You can also find internet info on the series on the Daytona 24, rolex 24, Grand Am racing and other websites.

I guess we will just have to see how this shakes out. I don't like the huge greenhouses of the cars, and the lap times at Daytona are about 7 sec slower than they were for the old prototypes, but this series is on the rise, while Don Panoz' seems to be slipping. They have also consolidated the GT categories into a single one, so we will also have to wait and see.

[TRE Cup]

OOPS! you were talking about current Fabcars- okay see this for a little history:
Dave Klym is Fabcar's owner / engineer/ car fabrication wizard. Amiable man that has paid his dues in the world of producing Porsche powered racers. So much so , the Porsche AG appointed him the official manufacturer of the 944 GTR trans am / imsa car. His "little" 962 is actually all made up with real 962 pieces attached to his chassis.
In a brief conversation - he told me the "little" car had the same overall dimensions of the short tail 962. I never took a measuring tape to either the real one or his RSR engine powered version, so who am i to argue. ( I thought it looks smaller too- maybe the red with white pin stripes made it look smaller?) The few built are nice building blocks in the history of Porsche racing. You bet that Porsche would have never allowed their name on Dave's cars unless he had a winning combination to offer I look at them as the "affordable to run" 962- almost any off the shelf normally aspirated 911 motor would bolt in.

[Wrecked944]

AHA!! Now I'm really glad I asked. I had no idea "fabcar" was a company. I saw the word used to describe various prototypes in the Daytona series and so I assumed it referred to a "type" or "formula" of car. But after reading TRE's post I googled them and found their website and it seems they build cars representing various marques. Well that makes it much more interesting. Thanks for making that connection for me. So if they base the "porsche" fabcar on a 962, do they base the Lexus or Toyota cars on existing prototype designs by those manufacturers as well? Like, are they trying to model each car on the design "style" (for lack of a better word) of each marque?

EDIT: Oh wait, now that I look at their website, all of the versions look sort of the same. So do they build a standard chassis and then outfit it differently for different teams?

Oh and now that I see their website, the give a detailed set of specs for the Porsche Fabcar. Interesting mixture of parts. Porsche flat six motor, custom chassis, Porsche headlights and taillights, Brembo calipers, Tilton clutch, EMCO tranny...

[911pcars]

Dave,
Do you know the whereabouts of Klym's short-lived 911-based IMSA mid-engine car? (911 as in silouette-like)

Sherwood

[Carrera3.5L]

The motors in the Brumos Daytona prototypes are essentially GT3R/RS/RSR motors.

They are down in horsepower quite a bit over all of the other V8 engines out there, even though they are restricted.

While Brumos says their testing at the factory in Germany was successful and will make for a more competitive car in 2005, I have heard from well-placed sources inside PMNA that Norbert Singer threw up his hands and asked if he is supposed to turn water into wine.

Dave Klym and Fabcar have been tweaking the 962 since the IMSA GTP days. Look at Jim Busby's 962 that won Daytona in 1989 and also the last versions that were run in GTP by Rob Dyson in 1991 and 1992. These were heavily modifed aerodynamically by Fabcar and others and bear little resemblance to the original cars produced in the mid-80's.

Ralph

[TRE Cup]

The 911 - i think two were built- one was SI Valves and later a blue one for Charlie Slater- then owner of imsa. The yellow and black car went back to klym's. The rules were heavy on these mid engine proto 911s- making them uncompetitive. We have the yellow back section of the carbon/kevlar roof hanging here at the shop . The forward section went to Monster House for a frat dorm room makeover that looked like half a 911 !!!

[Wrecked944]

TRE, thanks for filling me in. I am watching the race now and it all makes a lot more sense when they talk about chassis builders, engine manufacturers and such.

[TimT]

There was a car entered at the Roebling Road club race as a "Fabcar 911" the car did very well finished 3rd

[67nin11]

too bad the CGT doesnt look more like a fabcar.... or a 962, or a GT1, or a 917, or a...oh nevermind, i'll stop now.