http://aada-african-car.blogspot.com/2009/04/shaka.html
I was at my friend's business (Competition Cycle Center, 1001 Old Griffin Rd. Dania Beach FL 33004 [email protected] ) and the guy who made this car arrived. He's a South African and designed this and built the prototypes. At this point, there's not much for stock on-hand, but it sure is an interesting ride! You notice no doors, no top, it's not really a practical everyday car, or a rainy-day car. What it is, is a highly entertaining hand-crafted auto. It is NOT a 'kit car!'
It uses coil-over shocks at all four corners, and a BMW M3 IRS rear end, w/4-wheel discs, of-course. The body is hand-laid fiberglas, no 'chop-gun' production here. It has a steel space-frame 3 mm wall thickness & round stock, triangulated design.
OK, OK, I haven't named the motivating power-what is it?
It's an LT-1 (the one I saw today) but he says he also has built it w/an LS-2 Chevy. When he told me it was an LT-1, my first thought was, 'why not an aluminum block and heads, much less weight!' That would be important, as the car has neither power steering nor power brakes. It uses a T-56 manual tranny.
'Wow, what a chore to drive and park!,' you might think. Well it would be if you were driving a 3600 lb. car, but since this weighs a bit more than half that, you can see that maybe lightness isn't a bad thing after-all. He claims it weighs < 1900 lbs. on-the-road.
ENGINE: 405 HP All Aluminum 6.0 Liter V8
TRANSMISSION: 6 speed manual
FRONT SUSPENSION:
Oval tube A arms; Push rod operated inboard
coil/over shocks; rack and pinion steering (2.5:1 ratio).
REAR SUSPENSION:
Round tube A arms
coil/over shocks 8" 3.64:1 limited slip differential
CHASSIS: Triangulated, round tube space frame.
BODY:
Hand Laminated glass reinforced Polyester resin (G.R.P)
Riveted and bonded to chassis.
BRAKES:
Front: 12.75" rotors with two piston calipers.
Rear:12"rotors with two piston calipers.
WHEEL BASE: 94"
WEIGHT: 1875 lbs.
PERFORMANCE:
0-60 MPH IN 3.7 seconds;
60-0 MPH in 100 feet;
1/4 mile in 11.2 seconds at 132mph;
lateral cornering force, 1.1G.
Top speed: electronically limited to 135mph.
South Africa seems to have a lot of talent and fabrication shops capable of turning out some jaw-dropping stuff (see Superamerica Performance Coupe, a Shelby Cobra Coupe tribute, or the Shelby Roadster version, http://www.superformance.com/factory.aspx ) which I have seen at the Superperformance distributorship in FL. Last time I was there, they had a string of Rousch-built Ford engines sitting in cradles, waiting to be installed in Superperformance cars. The cars are shipped to customers w/o engines/trannys, as 'rollers,' awaiting the installation of an engine spec'ed by the buyer.
From perusing the spec's you will notice it is one of the few street cars which could beat a stock Gen 1 VMax, no-excuses.
So, if you want to get one of these cars, FL is a good place to come to see them!
