Okrasa Special

[andytat]

Absolutely stunning. I'd say that they have definitely done this sort of thing before!
Everybody who has had a hand in this project, right back from the word go can feel extremely proud of how it's turning out.
Craftsmanship at its finest!

Andy

[Gary71]

It’s art. That you intend to race it as well is huge.

No one would think badly of you if you just left it unpainted and put it on your wall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[steve wright]

[quote="Gary71"]It’s art. That you intend to race it as well is huge.

No one would think badly of you if you just left it unpainted and put it on your wall.


Thanks Gary - that's probably the highest compliment I've had on the Special since we started this journey 10 years ago, much appreciated....

[keith fellowes]

Not on the wall, but in the lounge so you can admire the exquisite craftsmanship from every angle
Words do not do it justice

Customer of mine has a Harley in his lounge for the same reason

[Phil Parry]

Gosh Steve. Brought a constant smile to my face reading (and re-reading) the last few pages and seeing you and Ian working on the car together. Ian's such a lovely bloke. The car, the project, is amazing, but building it with great people must double the pleasure. I'm certainly enjoying it!

[sladey]

Amazing what a difference those headlamp bowls make - car looks great

[jury]

+1 ...bloody stunning !

[steve wright]

Well, another week and more great progress at the coach builders :


All the work this time has been focused on the front of the car. First up is the finished headlamp, complete with tabs to hold the Plexiglas in place as per the Porsche RSK. Ignore the washers, they're just holding the tab in place 3mm off the recessed lip...



Next up was the tricky job of deciding on the oil cooler shape, size and location. This is one of those jobs like headlamps, that if you screw up messes up the entire car. No pressure then. We made up a multitude of paper cutouts, none of which looked right, before realising that your eye is drawn down by the shut line of the bonnet to the nose of the car. We ran two lines of tape down the nose...



And hey presto, a oil cooler aperture that looks right to the eye...



It's smaller than intended but looks right. There's a separate solution for the brake ducts which I think is both ingenious, simple and elegant, so the aperture for the front is dedicated only to the oil cooler itself. Speaking of which, we got the positioning of the cooler sorted today...



The oil lines will run through the centre tunnel to the middle of the car, avoiding the need to run them underneath along a sill - a much neater solution that doesn't seem so much of an after thought.

There's only one concession to the modern world with this car and that's the battery (if you overlook the roll cage and fire extinguisher!). The car originally ran a six volt battery, but there's no way we wanted to risk the chunter of a slow winding, high compression motor in the pits when you're trying to fire up a hot motor and wanting to get back onto the circuit. So we've plumbed for an Optima25 in the front left corner of the car...



And here's design as it happens! a brief discussion, a few ideas, a drawing and hey presto, the boys from M&Y just magic it up from there!



Speaking of magic, we deliberated for quite some time on the need for a towing eye. It obviously needs one, but there's no way I'm putting something horrible and modern on the car, and we decided after much discussion to do away with the original sub-frame to put it right in the nose. Instead we plumbed for something more in period and likely as it would've been; an after thought! Again drawn out on cardboard after a few minutes discussion, to be mounted under the car to the front of the main subframe...



Next up wipers. Or more correctly, the trailing edge of the bodywork. The challenge with a steel roof and scuttle, and an aluminium body was always how to join them. Again we decided to make the problem a design feature, with the aluminium sitting slightly proud (about an inch) to vent hot air from the oil cooler out over the windscreen instead of under the car (creating lift) and leaving a neat gap that could be flared, to also create a slight air screen for the wipers much like the Porsche Abarth GTL. The 10mm return will be used to wire roll the edge of the ally, so we'll end up with about a 1 inch gap all the way along the bonnet edge...



Finally a major design flaw with the owner of the car: at six foot four inches (191cm) I'm no dwarf, so goodness knows why I love racing small cars. Anyway, we had already put the seat base almost as close to the floor as we dare, without putting it directly on the floor. If we had done that a steel insert would've been prudent in the event of an accident. With a helmet on I needed another 3/4 of an inch in roof height - bugger! So we have opted for a Gurney Bubble, named after Dan Gurney who needed a bubble put into all his closed cars. Here we're measuring up...



Before decided on the profile for the bubble itself, which will be a teardrop. I've been told not to turn up when they do this job as the roof needs to be heated up and bashed with a very big hammer...





And finally the big news of the week. The car (at least the bodywork) will be finished next month. M&Y need the space for the next car so the pace will be upped for the final push in March. More updates next time...

Cheers, Steve

[inaglasshouse]

Thanks for posting, it’s such a proper project! Very interesting to spectate.
Gurney bubble surely no disappointment? Cool!

[Pandora]

being pedantic, it's a 'Gurney Bulge' (Zagato bodies had 'bubbles')

Looking amazing. Looking forward to the next update

Al

[steve wright]

Well here's something to warm your heart on these cold and bitter winters evenings... the latest instalment on the build of the Special. M&Y have like the rest of the country being battling Australian Flu (nasty thing especially the Australian variant ) and blizzards preventing travel to work. Despite this tremendous progress has been made over the past fortnight, so much so that I fear I'm going to be the bottleneck, unable to get down to them in time to provide input on design and problem solving.

Anyway. Something as simple as a battery case demonstrates the unbelievable skill, experience and craftsmanship the guys from M&Y put into absolutely everything they do. As you're no doubt aware the battery has to be secured well. For optimum weight distribution it's also best if it's as far forward in the car and over to the left (opposite side to the driver), but within the wheelbase of the car. Oh, and it's got to be easily accessible to put a charger on it or be inspected by a scrutineer. It's also got to be light and if possible, elegant. No point seeing an ugly old piece of angle iron holding down a battery.

So here we are...


We've gone with a modern battery as the power and light weight just can't be ignored. Nothing worse than an original six volt battery chuntering away slowly in the pits while a race slips away...


The finished product before installation...


And insitu.... Notice how the base has the lovely arc of ally the same radius as the lower torsion tube, to hold the battery against something substantial, rather than resting it on the ally floor, where it would inevitably fatigue the rivets and cause it to bump up and down over time...


Next up is the oil cooler installation. We've spent a LOT of time figuring out how to make the oil cooler work, and optimise the airflow over and out the oil cooler. Here's a series of photos to give a view on this. The first is the bulkhead that will support the nose of the car: it needs to maximise rigidity so the front bodywork doesn't flex...


Next up is the oil cooler itself installed...


Now the clever bit, creating all the panel work around the front of the car, firstly the panels that sit on top of the sides of the bonnet...


And here they are installed...


And then the liners are added...


Before it's all welded together...


And hey presto, the front of the car is tied together in one cohesive piece...


Now, onto a small but important detail on the headlights. In a slavish nod to the Porsche RSK we've copied the headlight cover fixtures. I can only justify this by claiming that it was in period; David Small would've been looking around for inspiration on how to attach the covers; it's an elegant engineering feature to solving the fixing problem; etc. etc. Or I could just admit that I thought it cool and wanted to add it to the car...


And finally, while we're talking of inspiration, the GTL has lovely 'shields' that reduce drag just a little more, for the wipers, so we've emulated this on the Okrasa Special...




More in a couple of weeks, where I've no doubt more progress will have been made. I don't know about you, but I can see the finishing line to the build of the car. In an interesting twist, I dug out the original letter I have from David Small: the build of the car was started in 1958, so it HAS to be finished this year, exactly 60 years later...

[smallspeed]

Absolutely stunning- the lovely little details just continue to stack up
For info- same battery in my track car, has no issues firing up an 11:1cr 3 litre six so should be ideal for your car

[steve wright]

thanks Smallspeed, great to know. we've used the Optima 25 in the 356 race car as well for a couple of seasons and had the same experience, so we should be good....

[911hillclimber]

Just love all those reveals, rebates and panel flanges that looks so production and not a whiff of crudeness.
I thought the helmet bubble would be a separate part, cut a big hole, and weld the bubble in.
Headlamp covers slotted under the tabs etc etc all a joy to see in metal

[steve wright]

Hi 911hillclimber. We did talk about the Gurney bubble construction and initial plans were to do as you describe, but M&Y have elected to heat up the roof and then beat the shape in with a very large hammer. That will be one part I won't go and watch!