Julian originally ran his car with a homebuilt chassis, but after a few years away from the sport he decided to return with more power and a modern chassis. CIRC was tasked with constructing the complete vehicle around Julian's original bodyshell, starting with a new SFI 25.4 spec 7.50 legal chassis, including a 4" stretch ahead of the firewall for a 94" wheelbase.
The body is fixed to the chassis jig and the first tubes are laid down.
Due to the tight space constraints in such a small car, the rear anti-roll bar mount has been fabricated as an integral part of the rear chassis rather than an add-on which would have compromised the chassis depth in this important, highly stressed area.
Julian's 5-speed Doug Nash transmission is mounted on sliders to facilitate easy clutch maintenance.
The 4-link is quite narrow out of necessity for tyre clearance, hence the need for the anti-roll bar.
A sliding A-frame track locator is used for ease of 4-link adjustment.
This custom fabricated CIRC aluminium seat is shaped to allow the transmission to slide back right past it with the Long shifter still attached, reducing between-round maintenance time.
To create more interior space, CIRC-fabricated inner doorskins were fitted to Julian's fibreglass doors. When painted these will look quite standard at first glance...
...but a comparison to a standard 100E door shows a width reduction of around 1" at the window frame and nearly 2" at shoulder level, allowing the roll cage to be wider and give that extra room to the driver.
Fabricated pedals, linkages and master cylinder mount, plus a sneak preview of the car on the right! The current engine is Julian's 5-litre nitrous-fed Rover unit and should be good for 9's, however the front motorplate chassis mounts are set to also take the all aluminium smallblock Chevy which Julian will eventually install for Super Comp/Super Pro action.
Tinwork is well under way here. All the bead-rolling follows and complements the lines of the tubes. This car uses a steel driver's side floor and bulkhead, with removable aluminium passenger side and central floorpans similar to a Pro Stock or Pro Mod car, for ease of transmission removal.
More tinwork details, including a view of the demountable belly pan.
Nearing completion. The propshaft tunnel un-Dzuses to gain access to the quick-release propshaft loop, enabling the prop to be quickly removed for transmission or clutch mainenance.
The lower rear quarterpanels have been converted to Dzus-on fitment, enabling quick wheel removal...
...and will look subtly standard when re-installed, once everything is back to one colour again.
Ready to leave the shop, for Julian to take over and complete the painting, wiring, plumbing and assembly. On track, with the same engine as before, the new car has now run almost a second quicker than it did in its previous guise and is running in the very low 9 second range - looking for 8's soon.
