Factory Five Racing - GTM Mulsanne

[jmg944t]

Originally Posted by No Lotus

There are clearly important differences in the suspension between this car and a C5 Corvette, whether or not it uses many of the same components. From the photo it looks like it has fully independent suspension with coil over springs, as opposed to the leaf springs and anti-sway bars of the Corvette.

I think the parts from the corvette that are used are most likely the control arms and hubs. Other than hat the car deviates from FFR's "donor car" practice. With the Cobra's you use damn near everything from a 5.0 mustang unless you chose to upgrade. The "upgrades" are almost required unless you want a cobra with mustang wheels and light switchs'. I have seen one and it looks horrible.

[dino]

Good point

[Paul Cundy]

I had no idea the current Corvette used leaf springs!

From its looks it ought to be able to be made to handle.
Regards
Paul C

[Joel]

A bit of a misnomer, Paul--the single leaf spring in the Corvette is a hi-tech, transverse, composite spring used at the rear transaxle. It has proven to be extremely effective as a very low mass suspension component for many years.

[OnyxM400]

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...7000c7772f.htm

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...86009b8725.htm

[caccobra]

The FFR GTM looks great, but I was never a big fan of the FFR Cobra's (external hinges on the trunk, wrong shape of the trunk, too thick around the side louvers, dash layout is wrong, wrong shifter, wrong taillights for a '65 Cobra, Mustang suspension, etc.....just too many differences from the original and too easy to tell it was a kit car). Seems like most of them ended up with Mustang 5.0 engines in them (Yuk! in a 427 body?). It was always middle of the pack as far as Cobra replicas went in my mind. Better than some, but not in the same league as ERA or Contemporary (before Superformance). Then along came Superformance and it became a lot easier to own a very close replication of the original Cobra. It has to be tough for the home-built replica companies like FFR to compete with Superformance. I remember talking to Ron Rosen when I first met him. At the time they were operating out of a much smaller location and they were just starting to sell the Cobra's. I asked him how they could sell such high quality cars so cheap (I think the base car minus engine and trans was like $32,000 then). He told me the plan was to flood the market with Superformance Cobra's and increase the price after some of the other companies were out of business. They did exactly that.

The FFR GTM may be a good move for FFR. It gets them out of the tough business of relying on their Cobra to survive in a market where Superformance knocks their socks off. Having been there and done it on a home build Cobra replica, I know it is not the simple task that companies like FFR would like their customers to believe. Many of them get sold a few times before they are finally finished. And many of them are crap when they are done. I think if I were them I'd be talking to Hi Tech about building the GTM and shipping them here minus the drivetrain like Noble does. It probably won't increase the end cost to their buyers and it would make it a lot easier to get them on the road, IMHO. Plus it would mean consistent quality of the cars and they would no longer have to be in the chassis/pieces/parts making business. I do know this, if Superformance had been around when I was looking to get a Cobra replica in 1992, I could have saved myself from working on it in my garage every evening (4 hrs.) and every weekend (8-16 hrs.) for over a year. I would have been driving the damn thing as soon as it arrived in my driveway (just like I did with the Noble).

[S.J.Morgan]

I was asked by a neighbor to help with the build of his FFR Coupe. What I found was a heavy tube frame of less than average quality, and a bunch of parts that didn't fit.

The builder had already cut a bunch of aluminum for bulkheads, badly. The battery would not fit in its specific location in the rear. It had IRS, but I wonder about how it might handle, and how much sorting would have to be done with the springs and dampers.

Of course, the kit was delivered incomplete, and many parts had to be exchanged. It took months to get the correct headers.

The build manual sucks.

Fortunately, the owner's brother came into town, and decided to wire the car, so I didn't have to tell him that I couldn't help, as my plate was full of projects.

[S.J.Morgan]

Originally Posted by Joel

A bit of a misnomer, Paul--the single leaf spring in the Corvette is a hi-tech, transverse, composite spring used at the rear transaxle. It has proven to be extremely effective as a very low mass suspension component for many years.

Transverse leaf spring suspension has been with the Corvette since it adopted IRS with the first Stingray in '63.

It also uses a leaf spring in front as well (starting with the C5). This also allows for some adjustment in ride height, and corner weighting.

Hard core Corvette owners also have the option of Coil Overs from several aftermarket suppliers.

The leaf spring Corvette rear is a popular suspension setup for hot rodders and some "resto mod" builders as well.

[caccobra]

Hey, Paul! It looks like we were right!