The Exocet is now available from Flyin' Miata!
11-09-2013, 07:17 PM
#121
There were, unfortunately, some very real constraints on the design in order to keep it affordable to produce. Here's what Warren, the production engineer, has to say.
We'll see how it looks in person. As someone who's held the previous design in his hands and tried to figure out how to make it work, the previous design was actually pretty non-functional. Nowhere to put a fuel filler (unless you want to be limited to 8 gallons), very few options for lights, etc.
I'm away from my desktop, but the rear cover looks a bit more complete with the rear wing, fuel cap, and maybe possibly a secret rear double diffuser (you didn't hear that from me). You guys are right, there were a lot of constrains on that rear cover. It had to cover all the emissions crap from the '01+, a motorcycle battery, allow for proper fuel filler neck routing, have space for harness-bar-mount seatback braces, fit on the rear deck without trimming and within the constraints of the downtubes, allow for various types of rear license plates, allow a wide variety of lighting choices, generate zero lift if not downforce, reduce the trailing wake, and clean up the flow under the wing. The biggest constraint: it had to be a single-piece mold. That's right, that rear cover actually has healthy draft angles. Any undercuts would increase the cost of the kit by at least $500 due to extra tooling, maintanence, post-mold sanding and polishing, and a longer layup process. Every part of the new bodywork is single-piece, keeping with the project mission of low cost without sacrificing quality.
Another fun fact: every surface you see except for the (bolt frenches on the cowl) is single curvature, which means you could form each surface's shape with a sheet of paper. This will let me cheaply CNC-cut the plugs without requiring the use of a CNC-router. I'll explain later, but it's basically all a giant origami structure. I haven't seen this particular method done before, but if it works half as well as the Exocet's self-fixturing, it'll be pretty fun. Doing this the lazy way (5-axis CNC router) would cost us about $40k-60k and would require the kits to go up to around $10k.
My workstation is making a spinny video for you guys to show off the rear. The whole design went through many iterations and was reviewed by many designers. The "boxy" comments were made by the designers I worked with until they saw the live 3D model. There's more shape in there than you realize, and it really looks complete with a rear wing.
Another fun fact: every surface you see except for the (bolt frenches on the cowl) is single curvature, which means you could form each surface's shape with a sheet of paper. This will let me cheaply CNC-cut the plugs without requiring the use of a CNC-router. I'll explain later, but it's basically all a giant origami structure. I haven't seen this particular method done before, but if it works half as well as the Exocet's self-fixturing, it'll be pretty fun. Doing this the lazy way (5-axis CNC router) would cost us about $40k-60k and would require the kits to go up to around $10k.
My workstation is making a spinny video for you guys to show off the rear. The whole design went through many iterations and was reviewed by many designers. The "boxy" comments were made by the designers I worked with until they saw the live 3D model. There's more shape in there than you realize, and it really looks complete with a rear wing.
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11-10-2013, 02:42 AM
#122
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The Race Track & St Pete FL
Posts: 638
Total Cats: 57
This is a little something I found on the internet
RE雨宮
ADVAN / GALLERY / ADVAN MATCHING GALLERY / WESTFIELD ? [SGC?] / RE??
RE雨宮
ADVAN / GALLERY / ADVAN MATCHING GALLERY / WESTFIELD ? [SGC?] / RE??
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11-13-2013, 08:33 PM
#125
Elite Member
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Cromwell, Connecticut
Posts: 2,604
Total Cats: 16
What software are they using for the renderings? It makes me want to cry it's so bad. I did renderings for an industrial trade show this year showing my companies new machine (assembly with THOUSANDS of components) and it looked very realistic. It took 8 hours to render w/ my quad core 24gig/ram work station. This on the other hand looks like they took a screen shot of the CAD.
I would love to see some better art work (or the real thing). This chassis is my long term goal for the car.
I would love to see some better art work (or the real thing). This chassis is my long term goal for the car.
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11-14-2013, 08:21 AM
#128
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 35
Total Cats: 9
What software are they using for the renderings? It makes me want to cry it's so bad. I did renderings for an industrial trade show this year showing my companies new machine (assembly with THOUSANDS of components) and it looked very realistic. It took 8 hours to render w/ my quad core 24gig/ram work station. This on the other hand looks like they took a screen shot of the CAD.
I would love to see some better art work (or the real thing). This chassis is my long term goal for the car.
I would love to see some better art work (or the real thing). This chassis is my long term goal for the car.
https://i.imgur.com/HpSti88.png
If you would like to tip us $2500 on your next Exocet order, I will happily buy Keyshot Pro!
Full_Tily_Boogie, indeed, the aerodynamic basis was a Kammback. The rear was designed with packaging the first concern, then aero, then mounting, while keeping in place our single-curvature manufacturing constraint. It's purely functional, and generates downforce. Rounding it out would require much more expensive lights (increasing the customer build cost) and cause quite a bit of drag and lift. Much of the Miata's bad aero stems from the rounded rear.
Last edited by sixshooter; 11-14-2013 at 09:03 AM.
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11-14-2013, 10:00 AM
#129
Sport model starts at $6699.
Flyin' Miata : Exocet kits
Man, I remember playing with POV-ray back in about 1996. I think I was hand-coding the models.
Flyin' Miata : Exocet kits
Man, I remember playing with POV-ray back in about 1996. I think I was hand-coding the models.
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11-25-2014, 10:13 AM
#136
Yup, it's been tested by TopSpeed, run at the MRLS event as well as the Summer Camp, is the focus of an upcoming Mazda USA and Zoom Zoom magazine feature and has spawned a supercharged V8 variant.
That's WTF has happened. Best place for updates is either our FB page or the FM website.
That's WTF has happened. Best place for updates is either our FB page or the FM website.
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11-25-2014, 10:27 PM
#138
The FM website hasn't been updated since August. I just want to see one with full heads/tails/fenders etc and the new bodywork to see what it all looks like. FM is way closer to me than Exo is Atlanta, so I am waiting for a ready to go version to appear to see if I want to get one or not. I also have seen mentions that normal Miata offsets for wide wheels don't work on the Exocet because they hit the frame? There is also the issue of Xidas not working properly with it? Yet FM has their Vmaxxs on there.
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11-25-2014, 11:25 PM
#140
The best way to get answers on products we carry is to ask us directly via email or phone. FYI.
The reason you haven't seen pictures with full heads/tails/fenders etc is that there have been massive, ridiculous delays in the body production. We don't even have a set of fenders yet. Thankfully, it's looking as if that wait is over. Downing has taken over bodywork production and they're starting to hit customers. We're expecting our new body to ship this week.
New body? Yes. Only a few copies of the US-styled nose and hood were made before Downing took over, and they combined the parts into a single piece. Makes for easier alignment on the part of the builder. Our car has a two-piece nose and hood in the photos above. We haven't installed the headlights yet because, well, we just haven't managed to.
Here's one with the new body (no fenders on this car yet) that just got through BAR inspection in California. Keep in mind that there are a bunch of options for headlights, which will affect the look fairly dramatically. I'm going to be playing with headlight style and location on a our car. We used some motorcycle mirrors with built-in LED turn signals on the V8 Exocet, they look good.
A windshield is coming. I'm hoping to see parts in a couple of weeks. The one on the white car is a one-off put together by the builder.
The car does need a lower offset than a Miata, mostly due to that big arcing side bar. We were running an effective +20 offset with a 15x7 and 225/45-15 tire (IIRC) at MRLS. A car we're building for a customer has an oddball 235/50-15 tire size and it needed a +10 offset in the rear with 15x9s. It's a surmountable problem. Traklite makes a +0 15x9 that's flow formed, I think we'll be seeing a number of them.
There's one weird thing about the frame that is a holdover from the original UK design, and that's the location of the upper shock mounting points. They're higher than they should be by a fairly considerable amount. If you have shocks with limited droop travel, that's a big problem. We've found that both AFCOs and V-Maxx work. There are some spacers in production right now (the first ones were cut today) that should address this. We found the car worked very well at MRLS without them.
If you've been trolling YouTube, you've seen our 556 hp supercharged V8 beastie in testing. Don't mind the first corner after the straight, I was taken by surprise by the weight of my passenger and went a little deep on braking...
The reason you haven't seen pictures with full heads/tails/fenders etc is that there have been massive, ridiculous delays in the body production. We don't even have a set of fenders yet. Thankfully, it's looking as if that wait is over. Downing has taken over bodywork production and they're starting to hit customers. We're expecting our new body to ship this week.
New body? Yes. Only a few copies of the US-styled nose and hood were made before Downing took over, and they combined the parts into a single piece. Makes for easier alignment on the part of the builder. Our car has a two-piece nose and hood in the photos above. We haven't installed the headlights yet because, well, we just haven't managed to.
Here's one with the new body (no fenders on this car yet) that just got through BAR inspection in California. Keep in mind that there are a bunch of options for headlights, which will affect the look fairly dramatically. I'm going to be playing with headlight style and location on a our car. We used some motorcycle mirrors with built-in LED turn signals on the V8 Exocet, they look good.
A windshield is coming. I'm hoping to see parts in a couple of weeks. The one on the white car is a one-off put together by the builder.
The car does need a lower offset than a Miata, mostly due to that big arcing side bar. We were running an effective +20 offset with a 15x7 and 225/45-15 tire (IIRC) at MRLS. A car we're building for a customer has an oddball 235/50-15 tire size and it needed a +10 offset in the rear with 15x9s. It's a surmountable problem. Traklite makes a +0 15x9 that's flow formed, I think we'll be seeing a number of them.
There's one weird thing about the frame that is a holdover from the original UK design, and that's the location of the upper shock mounting points. They're higher than they should be by a fairly considerable amount. If you have shocks with limited droop travel, that's a big problem. We've found that both AFCOs and V-Maxx work. There are some spacers in production right now (the first ones were cut today) that should address this. We found the car worked very well at MRLS without them.
If you've been trolling YouTube, you've seen our 556 hp supercharged V8 beastie in testing. Don't mind the first corner after the straight, I was taken by surprise by the weight of my passenger and went a little deep on braking...
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