America's Fastest Seven

[geewiz1]

Hey Meyers

Now that you have sold your Mega Stalker and a few months have passed have you made up your mind on a new project - will it be faster than a speeding bullet or at least faster than the last one?

Best

Graeme

[shark]

Rumor has it that John has ordered a Palatov D2 and might use an H1V8 engine from John Hartley for power. See http://www.dpcars.net then D2 and http://www.h1V8.com

[Z3 Stalker]

Yerrrr! I was wondering what mischief John was going to get into as well

[midgetracr]

My new car will be a Palatov D2. Check out http://www.dpcars.net then click on "D2" for a blog of how Dennis Palatov has progressed with the CAD design and constuction of his prototype.

 

The D2 is a mid engine two seat car loosely based on a cross between a 7 and a Lotus 20. Lotus 13.5 ?

 

Not yet sure what engine will be used but it may be GM LS based or a Hartley H1V8. Same story re the transaxle, there are several choices but no decision has been made.

 

I've been without a toy since selling my V8 Stalker in August. Let the fun begin again.

 

John Meyers

Edited December 5, 2012 by midgetracr
fix typo

[geewiz1]

Will this be another 180 mph or something close to 200 mph?

Any thoughts?

Graeme

[midgetracr]

One of many goals I have for this car is to exceed 200 MPH at a place like the Ohio Mile or Bonneville. Top gear will be set to allow 200 MPH +. My Stalker exceeded 170 but would have hit its rev limiter by 180. I think it could have done 200 with the right gear but will never know. I plan to find the answer to that question with the Palatov D2.

 

Based upon the D2's better front to rear weight distribution vs my Stalker (40/60 vs 50/50) and slightly better power to weight ratio, I am pretty confident that it will beat the Stalker's 9.94/141.5 MPH 1/4 mile.

 

Better aero and wing configurations should allow it to easliy improve on the Stalker's road race performance.

 

All the above is speculation and not yet proven. We are not racing "specs" or specultaion. The comparison bar was set pretty high by my highly modified 530 HP V8 Stalker. The challenge for me will be to exceed the above performances.

 

Don't know about "faster than a speeding bullet". The answer is kind of like the answer to "does it have enough HP?". I've always said the Stalker had "almost enough HP". Maybe the D2 will be "almost as fast as a speeding bullet" or at least "as fast as a slow bullet".

 

Anyone know how SLOW a bullet can go?

 

John

 

Should be fun.

 

John

[Mondo]

Man, I spent over a hour going thru that site. Cool stuff

[danilo]

Anyone know how SLOW a bullet can go?

For some reason 500 feet/second comes to mind.. Good luck with that :-)

[midgetracr]

For some reason 500 feet/second comes to mind.. Good luck with that :-)

 

Hmmm. I don't think 340 mph is realistic. Looks like the D2 will not be as fast as a slow bullet. Should be pretty quick though. Might be "Almost fast enough"

[supersportsp]

Really cool on the D2. I have been following Dennis since he built his Megabusa way back when.

 

With the relative spaciousness (by Palatov standards anyway) of the D2 engine bay, why are you looking at the Hartley?

[m wirth]

I had to go into Portland today, so stopped by Palatov to see if they were around and got a quick look at their operation, very nice, and saw John's car,WOW, it is beautiful, just like the pic on the site but in person the workmanship is even more impressive.

[MightyMike]

That's an awesome car. What would it take to make something like that street legal?

[midgetracr]

That's an awesome car. What would it take to make something like that street legal?

 

The Palatov D2 will be street legal! Headlites, brakelites, window wiper, quiet mufflers, horn, emmisions legal and all. Done.

 

The Hartley H1V8 has almost the power of an LS engine with even less weight. It would also allow a lighter transaxle because of much higher revs and less torque. Net savings of weight could exceed 200 lbs. The performance benefit could be significant.

 

The downside of the H1V8 would be a higher cost and a much narrower power band. Hartley has had excellent reliability but the GM LS crate engines come with a 50,000 mile warranty. That warranty is hard to beat.

[Croc]

The downside of the H1V8 would be a higher cost and a much narrower power band. Hartley has had excellent reliability but the GM LS crate engines come with a 50,000 mile warranty. That warranty is hard to beat.

 

What is the refresh mileage for these engines when doing track work? Clearly the GM LS is min 50000 miles given the warranty but what is the Hartley? Its a little more highly strung and I bet a refresh would not be cheap! (but it is so gorgeous!)

[midgetracr]

What is the refresh mileage for these engines when doing track work? Clearly the GM LS is min 50000 miles given the warranty but what is the Hartley? Its a little more highly strung and I bet a refresh would not be cheap! (but it is so gorgeous!)

 

The H1 is absolutely gorgeous!

 

Certainly I don't think the H1 would be as long lived as the LS but I don't think an LS3 or LS7 would last for 50K race track miles either. My LS376 engine had around 15K miles on it when sold but most of those miles were easy street miles.

 

The best indication of the H1 longevity would probably come from a bike road racer running a Busa. But I don't know any of those guys. My guess is that valve springs and lifter buckets would be the weak point but I don't really know.

 

I did replace my LS376's valve springs and rod bolts with high $ race parts and never had a problem. Interesting question.

[Kitcat]

Hartley's website says it has been sold, no new engines for now, etc.

[supersportsp]

The best indication of the H1 longevity would probably come from a bike road racer running a Busa. But I don't know any of those guys. My guess is that valve springs and lifter buckets would be the weak point but I don't really know.

 

No bike road racers run a Busa engine. The Hayabusa is a relatively huge bike by sportbike standards, and is designed more for straight line speed and acceleration. It was designed to compete with the Honda Blackbird for production motorcycle top speed honors.

 

Now drag racing is a different story...

[rnr]

The Radical guys run the Hayabusa motors and typically have a rebuild every 30-50 hours.

 

The Radical SR8 uses the RPE V8 which is also two Hayabusa heads over a bespoke block: http://www.radicalperformanceengines.com/Powertec-Macroblock-v8/

[MightyMike]

The Palatov D2 will be street legal! Headlites, brakelites, window wiper, quiet mufflers, horn, emmisions legal and all. Done.

 

The Hartley H1V8 has almost the power of an LS engine with even less weight. It would also allow a lighter transaxle because of much higher revs and less torque. Net savings of weight could exceed 200 lbs. The performance benefit could be significant.

 

The downside of the H1V8 would be a higher cost and a much narrower power band. Hartley has had excellent reliability but the GM LS crate engines come with a 50,000 mile warranty. That warranty is hard to beat.

 

Wow! Perhaps one of these gems will be my next project. I cannot wait to see photos.

[Z3 Stalker]

John,

 

I think I have found an engine that may just have enough power for your new project

 

Alan Bond Interview on Vimeo

 

Stewart