Australia builds a sub 4 second supercar

[fpv_gtho]

A Victorian automotive designer from Warragul hopes to succeed where many have failed in being the first to bring an Australian designed and developed supercar to reality. Dubbed the Joss Supercar, this mid-engined two-seater capable of sub-4 second 100km/h passes will make its debut at this month's Melbourne motor show.

The car is the dream-child of Mathew Thomas, a 33-year-old graduate from RMIT's Automotive Design course, who currently works in the design department of Ford Australia.

Mr Thomas' credentials in the supercar arena come from work he has undertaken for the Stewart F1 team, Aston Martin, Bentley and Jaguar.

Much of this work has been translated into the aerodynamic design of the Joss Supercar, which uses a composite body over a space frame chassis to keep the weight of the car to an absolute minimum.

Driving the rear wheels is a 350kW 6.6-litre all-aluminium V8 mounted longitudinally behind the two-seat cabin that, in the production car, will drive through a Porsche six-speed transmission.

In its first testing at Melbourne's Calder Raceway last week, the car managed a 0-100km/h time of just 3.7 seconds and covered a standing 400m run in 11.9 seconds with a terminal speed of 203km/h.

This was, however, using a smaller 6.1-litre version of the engine and a five-speed gearbox without the limited slip diff that the production car will feature. The production car -- which is expected to hit the streets in 12-18 months time -- will also be about 40kg lighter.
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it may be a far cry from the likes of the SLR, Enzo and even the 360 and Gallardo, but i think its still something to be proud of. everyones guessing at what make engine's going to be used, based on his current job i'd say he'd use a ford engine, but its all alluminium alloy which sounds like an LS1 so im stumped.

[hsvman]

whats it called? is it going to be at the ford stand at melboure motor show im goin i really wanna see this thing is it gonna be a full production car or just limited number?

[fpv_gtho]

its called the Joss supercar. Although he works for Ford, i dont think anything is holding him to have the Joss on the Ford stand. more than likely he'll have a couple of square metres of space to himself next to ford or between ford and holden. as far as i know its just being regarded as an Australian attempt at a sub 4 second supercar.

[Falcon500]

Could be an SVO engine their all alloy and can come up to and even inexcess of 600 cubic inches so they could easily make smaller.
Itll be interesting to see if this ones lives as ive mentioned before we have had the chimera and the bolwell nagari and athe Gvang steam engined car just to name a small handfull.

[fpv_gtho]

well its 12-18 months off small scale production so i think its going to be a serious attempt. well its 6.6L and only 350kw so it could either be a pretty old style engine or something not highly strung, like i think an XR8 makes better hp per litre than that

[fpv_gtho]

this is probably the only pic available of the Joss Supercar. i think the designer is holding out till the show for the proper reveal

[HoldenHFV6]

If any of you guys come to the motor show, I have been offered to work at the holden stand on the last sunday and monday of the show. Come and see me and get some pics.

[fpv_gtho]

have a look at my location and you'll see my dilemma!

im not having a dig at holden in particular here, but i guess then that you'll be one of the only blokes there whos got a clue about the cars on the stand. my experience has been that for the whole space taken up by a manufacturer, they'd have say 3 or so experts and fill up the gaps with salesmen

[HoldenHFV6]

funny you should say that. We have been asked to make "idiot sheets" of all the cars that are going to be there. We have "training" for it tomorrow. Should be a laugh.

[fpv_gtho]

well i think it'll be worth a laugh, i think i'd fall asleep if i was subjected to something like that

[crisis]

funny you should say that. We have been asked to make "idiot sheets" of all the cars that are going to be there. We have "training" for it tomorrow. Should be a laugh.

Who gets to train the monkeys?

[fpv_gtho]

thats not a bad question actually, i'd more than likely expect someone trained in teaching the new salespeople would take the task

[aussie italian]

im an aussie myself and the guy lives in melbourne and he wants to beat the mighty mclaren f1, carrera gt and enzo, which i read in a car mag which had interviewed him.
his car was shown at a motor shot about 2yrs ago. I rekon its alrite the guy has copied like every best supercars and put it all together and it still isnt that great in performance.

[fpv_gtho]

It would help if it was a proper production car, of course a prototype isnt going to stand much of a chance against the "established" supercar makers

[clutch-monkey]

did it only achieve a top speed of 203 km/h because it was just testing?
i wonder how much it will cost, if its around $200k AUD that would be awesome