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ZOLFE ORANGE GTC4
All New British Sports car makes production debut
Zolfe Orange, the latest all new British sports car, is making its production debut
at Autosports 2009 on the Evo Magazine stand. Combining stunning good looks
with lightweight design, the Zolfe is set to challenge more established
competitors in this market sector. The front engined rear wheel drive car will
provide vice free handling and astonishing performance. The fruits of a new
collaboration between Midlands business entrepreneur and car enthusiast Nic
Strong and former Caterham Technical Director, Jez Coates, the Zolfe will be
available to purchase at the show.
Assembling the Dream Team
Zolfe’s key partners include Sparlonz, Stadco, MTCe, Simpact, AP Racing, Avon
Tyres, Powertorque Engineering and KN Engineering.
Sparlonz Plasticz
Sparlonz Plasticz is a tier one supplier to the Automotive Industry whose
primary speciality is the niche vehicle sector.
It was Sparlonz personnel who originally created the Zolfe Orange. This was to
showcase the company's capabilities following the successful completion of the
first three electric vans for LTI, which later evolved to become the Modec Electric
Vehicles.
Stadco
Stadco are a tier one supplier to the high volume car industry with customers
that include Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Ford. Stadco have engineered
and set-up North American production of the Ford GT, the recent re-incarnation
of the multiple Le Man winning icon, the Ford GT40. The GT’s aluminium space
frame is testimony to Stadco’s wide ranging capability in vehicle structure
design.
Ergonomics
Zolfe has taken full advantage of Stadco’s extensive whole vehicle development
experience to engineer several critical aspects of the Orange. The original design
has been benchmarked against competitor vehicles including the Audi TT and
Porsche Boxster, to ensure the production version can accommodate a 95
percentile male complete with racing helmet. The seating position ergonomics
and relationships with steering wheel, gearstick etc. conforms to strict EEC
standards and all legal requirements in terms of vision angles.
Vehicle Package
Before any surfacing work could be carried out, Stadco had to create a ‘Hard
Point’ model of all the vehicle aggregates such as spaceframe, engine and
transmission, ergonomic package, wheel envelopes and approach angles, and
legal requirements including front and rear lamps. This was created in the digital
environment using Catia V5. This DMU (digital mock-up) helped Stadco define
the vehicle architecture and layout and provided Zolfe with a robust vehicle
package. The result of these studies also proved the need to increase the length
by 125mm and the width by 100mm over the original vehicle.
Styling
The need to build a bigger car presented Stadco’s aesthetic design team with
the challenge of increasing the dimensions of the car without losing the style of
the original
The results are stunning: Not only have all the technical and legal requirements
been met but the look of the re-engineered body has been significantly
enhanced. New features have been introduced to improve packaging,
aerodynamics and cooling performance. First of these is a bonnet bulge to
increase clearance to the engine and add an additional aggressive element to
the styling. Radiator outlet nostrils have also been added to the bonnet to
ensure bullet proof cooling performance under the most arduous race track
conditions. The front grilles are now stronger, tighter and more purposeful.
Management of the air flow through the radiator grille increases aerodynamic
downforce on the front axle and reduces engine bay temperatures to improve
engine power output. Wheel arches have been tailored to ensure the wheels fill
them, giving the revised Zolfe Orange a very purposeful stance.
All the body surfaces are completely new and have been painstakingly
developed to the automotive industry’s ‘A’ class surfacing standard using the
latest computer aided surface development using tools, Alias and IceM Surf. This
ensures that the Orange looks great from all angles and under a variety of
lighting conditions while meeting the rigorous engineering, ergonomic, legal
restrictions.
Styling review and sign-off has been completed digitally using Opticore, Stadco’s
virtual visualisation software which allowed us to proceed with a very high level
of confidence in the surfaces.
Opticore Visualisation Models
A fully machined quarter scale model was then produced to enable the team to
inspect a physical three dimensional representation and confirm final sign-off.
Body Engineering
By continuing the development in CAD, Stadco’s body engineers have been able
to develop a body solution with a high degree of manufacturing feasibility.
Particular attention has been paid to the door engineering and glasshouse
layout, these are highly complex systems and have been engineered by Stadco
to a level not usually associated with cars of this type.
For instance, the door system incorporating the drop glass mechanism, latch,
hinge mounting, internal/external handles and sealing have all been developed
together to mass production car standards. The whole body system including all
the closures and seals have been developed for manufacture and a high level of
quality fit and finish. This includes a sophisticated, highly detailed cowl and a
precision body mounting system. Finally, when the engineering surface model
was complete, Stadco’s modellers worked alongside the engineers to develop a
steel armature for the milled model, a mould split plan and mould designs in the
CAD environment allowing for a more efficient workflow downstream.
Body Manufacture
The final engineering surface model was then used to produce a hard stackable
model on Stadco’s high speed milling machine. This was the master model from
which all the moulds would be taken.
After milling, a degree of very fine hand finishing was undertaken in preparation
for hi-gloss painting in Stadco’s model shop. Stadco then painted the models in
a highly durable paint ready for mould preparation.
When the final stacked model had been reviewed and approved by Zolfe,
Stadco’s modellers created the mould split ‘shuttering’ on the model and from
there produced the composite mould tools.
These mould tools were then prepared for the manufacture of production body
parts. Finally, the body was assembled to the frame in Stadco’s dedicated builds
shop.
Stadco’s composite body facility will also provide Zolfe with body systems for all
its production cars.
MTCe
Multimatic Technology Centre Europe is a world class company specialising in
the area of suspension system development for road & race car. MTCe will
supply 4 Formula 1 teams will dampers in 2008 and worked with Jez Coates to
develop the fully independent all wishbone suspension version of the Caterham
Seven the CSR.
The History of Zolfe to date
The Orange GTC4 is the first product from Zolfe. Company founder Nic Strong
decided none of the low volume track cars available appealed to him so he
calmly decided to make his own. And so Zolfe Orange was born, with the
original concept shown at Autosports 2007. Interest was intense but the
packaging and drivetrain were immediately identified as issues which would limit
the cars sales potential.
By chance, long time Caterham Cars Technical Director, Jez Coates was looking
for a new challenge. The look, layout and size of the Orange mirrored the
specification of a car Jez had long harboured a desire to build. Jez immediately
joined Zolfe as Technical Director and started to call on the talents of World
Class Companies to help develop the Zolfe into a new class leading British sports
car.
A basic Sprintz entry level model will be available for just under £30,000.00!
Visit www.zolfe.com for more information.