I would have LOVED to have been at MRLS today rather than go back to the office. I friggin' hate days like this.

Attachment 82899

I'm visiting with my exhaust suppliers at Competition Werkes. A carbon Catfish exhaust would be over the top, no?

no

Of course not! Nothing is over the top!

Attachment 82999

Moar welds? :)

looks like a rocketship

A classy one!

Who needs rounds when you can have 26 straights?

Technical Screen Shots
 

I posted some of these up on the website. We're waiting on the final aluminum interior panels for a fitment check. Once we've proven that the real thing acts like the computer simulation, we'll start real production on the first two cars.

We've come a long way from the start of this project; the frame alone is made of over 100 individual tubes and brackets. Our game plan for the interior is solid, and I think the car is progressing on the right track.

GP exhaust
 

The whole idea for the exhaust--besides showing off--is to make it like the two stroke GP bikes of old. They used to have expansion chambers made from paper-thin titanium, which required truly intricate hand-crafted welds in order to pull the most power from the engine.

Competition Werkes uses very thin-wall stainless that doesn't take kindly to mandrel bends. Even if it did, it's worth it to see the beautiful hand-welded TIG connections.

Perspective
 

I'm back from a little vacation to Tahoe Donner with the family last week.

This is one of those weeks that helps put life in perspective; I missed a stair on Wednesday night, and ended up breaking one ankle and spraining the other. This is my first broken bone EVER. Somehow with things speeding up with the car, I doubt a broken bone will be able to slow me down.

Then on Friday something bizarre happened; my wife was spraying the kids with sun screen prior to taking them to camp. She looked over and 20' away a black bear was watching their antics from the bushes. They got in the garage PRONTO, and I watched as he wandered off behind the house. My 8 year old had been outside by himself five minutes earlier...bear food.

Sometimes little setbacks can appear big, until something comes along to make it look pretty trivial. We're chuckling about the bear episode now, but it could have turned out much differently.

Oh yeah, I do other stuff too...
 

Sometimes I forget about a product that I made 13 years ago. It's nice to see that it still gets some recognition...

Best Motorcycle Product of 2013

new render
 

What do you think?

I think it looks great! I'd buy one once I'm bored of my Miata's tired chassis.

Personally i dont like the orange on the bottom. Just doesnt flow with the rest of the car. IMO it would be a lot better if the grille it self was orange (and burried in the back) while the rest of the front end was the carbon fiber color.

Pretty, but I am partial to white.;)

cool rendering; would be better if real thing in my garage.

Yeah but only if its trubod. :party:

The orange accent on the grill can be made smaller. However, take a look at the white car to the left. That grill is grey, not black, and it can hardly be seen. THAT is the main reason for accentuating the grill openings.

While assembling Bill's interior in his frame yesterday, we put a stock Miata windshield on the frame, just to see how it would look. Honestly, I'd say it looks better than this rendering.

The windshield in this render is custom made for the car, and it fairly "square". It also stands up like the stock shield. We took the stock shield and gave it quite a Lamborghini-style rake, and it just looked spectacular. :) I know what our next project is next year...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1377227040

How high are the door sills? Perhaps it might not be a bad idea to design doors?

I think it really looks great with the windshield. I'd be interested in seeing the mock-up of what you were talking about...

I am super-on-board with this project, but I still can't get around the name. It's like Megasquirt. When I tell people my car runs Megasquirt, they giggle. I just say MS3 now, and sound like a grown up.

To people in the know, a "Catfish running Megasquirt" is an awesome thing. It will conjure up strange images for those who don't.

Typing this just reminded me of my sister driving her company truck through a tool booth and the horrified look on the booth ladies' face: "What... is in that truck???" The truck said 'RabbitParts.Com' on the side. Makes sense to car guys. :)

The first joke I heard about Miatas was, "What's the worst thing about driving a Miata? Having to tell your dad you are gay." :)

If you can get past the "stigma" of owning a Miata, you should certainly not care what people think about the name "Catfish". That said, you've got a good point. I'm sure that when the cars start rolling out we can call them CF or "CFR", and owners will gladly comply with that name.

Hey, I've got guys still questioning the lack of doors! Get in the car and realize that you'll be one of a VERY few that own the car, and that bought it--warts and all--because it's distilled down to what I consider a pure sports car. Then recalibrate your senses and go have fun!

Doors?, Doors?

If you don't have the coordination to get in and out of it, you shouldn't be driving it.

Actually its because i'm thinking of solutions for possible DD.

lol.
I subconsciously crave my peers approval. I was never as punk rock as I thought I was.
:hahano:
Don't put doors on it.

Gotta give it some name with X in it. Like DTX 78124 or some shit. We all know cars with random letters and numbers are a lot cooler than cars with names.

yes, like "gay seX"

Gay SeXX XXtreme

Yes but you gotta have numbers in it like 18.

C'mon, If I call it the "CFR" or "CFS", can't you think of some nasty names for it other than Cat Fish Roadster or Cat Fish Speedster? I'll bet you can. :facepalm:

You can get Hustler nasty, or just keep it simple like "Cool Fookin' Racer".

If you run it on e85 you can add "Corn burner" to the name too.

Yep, that's the "CB" on the hood. Not Cord Bauer, "Corn Burner". :) Frankly, I really like the "CB" logo but I always feel like it should be "CF" or something else less....ego. Shawn at Zukun put it there and I'm still getting used to it.

Any more names? Seeing as we started with a British theme, I wanted to stay away from something Italian (Barchetta, Spyder, etceteras). Aston Martin called theirs the CC100...original.

Speedster is a term that's been stolen by Porsche, just like Aretha Franklin stole the song RESPECT from Otis Redding.

Catfish could easily just be shortened to Cat. Sorry Jaguar. CFR still works for me.

GrabCAD challenge...small race trailer
 

I'm sponsoring an engineering challenge at GrabCAD for something that a lot of us need--a good trailer for our track car that's small enough to be stored in a one car garage. Engineers from all over the world go to GrabCAD, so I hope we see some interesting designs, and one we can build for the Catfish.

Check it out at:

Lightweight Portable Trailer Challenge - GrabCAD

KatFixx69

TKRR -- Turbo Kitty Road Racer

Just went through all 41 pages of this glorious build. Amazing work doing something many dream of but few ever accomplish. I hope to see this in person at a so cal track event soon! Keep it up.

I remember when I first discovered this thread; it was already on page 35. It consumed the better part of the day. :D

We're finding out the hard way that to build a single car is one thing...to PRODUCE a car is entirely different. However, we're almost there. :)

Thanks for the encouragement...it helps. :party:

Notice of Allowance
 

I just received some good news in the form of an invoice from my patent attorney. The car has received a "Notice of Allowance" from the patent office, meaning that we should be expecting a design patent on our doorstep fairly soon. :)

The impetus for this really was talking to my frame designer who is friends with Bruce Myers. Bruce is the designer of the iconic Myers Manx dune buggy. Nowadays if you see a Manx on Craigslist, the inevitable question is "Is it a real or a copy?" I didn't want to go through all the work and hassle of building this car, only to have some jackass splash molds off it and start selling his own second-class copies.

Interesting side story---Bruce Myers still goes down to San Onofre State beach every week at the same time with his beach buddies, rain or shine, guitar in hand. His dune buggy is an icon, built by an icon. :)

Below are the pictures submitted to the patent office.

Are you fucking kidding me? I find this out AFTER I leave?

Hi Cordy,

I spread the news of the Catfish at TIDM (Treffen In Der Mitte - something like "meeting in the middle") - Germanys biggest MX-5/Miata meet of the year 2013 with ~400 MX-5 around...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1378109816

REPRESENT!

Perfect, thanks! I think IL Motorsport needs one to show off their product. :)

Pre-update update
 

There's lots of stuff going on, from my visit to Competition Werkes in Oregon, to some recent CFD data generated by Creaform. I need to sift through it all before putting it in a cogent form. Until then, here's a teaser rendering generated by the engineers at Creaform. Teaser alert: with our most street-oriented layout, the Catfish generates negative downforce. :bigtu:

Hmm something doesnt seem right. Low pressure right at the front where the flat wall is? No way.

Don't chime in just yet...lots of pictures and explanations to follow...

Negative lift?

Okay, I finished the back end of a double root canal yesterday...PAIN. And pain medication. If I'm slurring my words in real life, then my written word is going to suffer a bit too. :drool:

The most basic Catfish street platform would include a windshield, no splitter, no canards and even no rear diffuser, the Catfish generates downforce.

I need to discuss the findings much more with the Creaform engineers before adapting them to any physical changes. Our goals were to a) establish a baseline and b) make sure that there were no unexpected or dangerous aerodynamic issues. No and no means win and win.

The colors represent velocities and not pressure.

Oh that makes sense.

aka lift, but i dont think you meant that :D

Did I mention the pain pills I'm on? :)

NEW Trailer design for the Miata....lots of 'em :)
 

I've got some good news...I've got a design challenge contest happening now at GrabCAD. It's a source for industrial engineers, designers, scientists, and all-around geeks. LOVE the site.

The challenge is to create a Catfish trailer design that not only is light and easy to use, but will fit inside a single car garage.

The result so far has been some really cool, really innovative trailers. Some of these trailer designs even lower the car to ground level, so there's no need to mess with ramps, etceteras. I'm hoping that the results will help create a trailer that the Spec Miata and track enthusiast community can use for their cars (Catfish and Miata = same size).

I've noted on the challenge that after the wheel was invented, the trailer soon followed. That's probably wrong, as cavemen were probably dragging deer on improvised tree/trailers before the wheel was ever around. Therefore, we're solving an age-old design and focusing the result on the Catfish-Miata.

If you have the skills--or know someone who does--there are already some really cool designs that can be downloaded and made. Just sign up with GrabCAD (free) and download what you like. I'm spending some cash for the contest, but I really hope it comes back to the community in the form of a useful trailer design. :)

I like the one that lowers a-lot. Just remember, that if you want it to be miata workable you need to be able to open the door once its on the trailer. I have yet to figure out how to drive on, get out, close the top and close all the windows without having the door at least a little open. Or it just needs to be able to mount a winch.

Good point. That's not something I'd considered on door-less Catfish. :)

New Catfish Color Renders
 

Attachment 89374

Attachment 89375

Attachment 89376

Attachment 89377

Attachment 89378See all of them at the site, but here are some of my favorites. We finally have a red Catfish render. :party:

New Wilwood setup, New Infinit-Fab
 

Attachment 91709

Attachment 91710

We've gotten lots of goodies prior to the SEMA show in November. A new Wilwood front rotor set with Dynapro Powerlite calipers is matched with sport rotors and Wilwood rear calipers from Flyin' Miata out back. These are the proprietary rear calipers with the built-in mechanical emergency brake levers. I'm happy to not have the clunky stock e-brake caliper hangin' out back.

I also dipped into the pocketbook for a set of Infinit-Fab seats and their seat brackets. I love these seats, and the fact that they support 4-5-6 point harnesses. I'd recommend them to anyone.

Crazy build, amazing work!

Your stuff is always awesome but that seat does not look great, especially for us track guys.

the various color options look amazing

Those seats are Lotus copies, which are a great design that fits 28-40 waist sizes some how.