We made it. We have stand 125 at the Speed Show which is open this weekend (the 2oth and 21st September at the ASB Show Grounds in Greenlane, Auckland).

This morning we were busy setting up and this afternoon from 2pm we were open for the trade, sponsor and media only preview. I didn’t manage to get any photos of the completed stand, but I promise to get some for tomorrow. To whet your appetite, here are a few photos of the car which we captured over the last week while we have been working on it. The picture of the dash shows the EVision fired up and connected to the test pack.

It has taken many late nights by a number of people to achieve this and the result is well worth it. Special thanks to Bruce, Paul, Tom, Ed, Vik and Michael. It takes amazing people to produce amazing results and we are well on the way.

The decision to go public with this project at the speed show has been a good one. We have already established a number of personal and business level contacts which will be useful now and in the future and I’m sure in return we will be just as useful as a resource and motivational example for many of the people that stopped to have a look.

Team Greenstage

We are proud to announce that A1Grand Prix Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen has become the official ambassador of Saker Sportscar Europe. As from next weekend, when the next A1GP season will kick off, Jeroen will be competing with Saker Europe backing.

Laurens Meyer, CEO of Saker Sportscars Europe:”I am very proud that Jeroen will represent us in the International Motorsport. For me, Jeroen has always been the perfect example of a complete driver being able to win in all sorts of race cars, including GT’s. Jeroen will in return put a lot of effort in promoting the Saker. Next A1GP weekend, there will therefore be a Saker Sportscar GT at the circuit in order to let the people get acquainted with this great brand.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “The Saker Sportscar is a very fast and interesting racecar, which has made driving a real sportscar within many driver’s reach. I am therefore proud to represent this young brand”.

Saker Sportscar Europe is looking forward to this cooperation with Jeroen on our joint way to the top!

Saker Sportscars Europe

Over the last 100 years we have seen amazing advances in technology and business capabilities. Here at Greenstage we think there is room for improvement. We are looking outside the square to prepare for the next 100 years and we will not be holding back.

First up we have a no compromise electric race car. In every aspect we are looking to use the best technology available. Where possible we are using Open Source technologies to satisfy this requirement. We are also using proprietary components where they meet the need. This allows us to create the best car possible with currently available human knowledge (open or otherwise).

On paper this car has the potential to be the fastest car in the NZSC series with torque and power curves that outshine the competition. It will be the cleanest, greenest and possibly quickest car on the track. Emitting zero harmful gases aside from the occasional bit of burnt rubber, this car will be like nothing else. Plant your foot and hold on!

Our first project is the GS750V. By combining the amazing Saker GT chassis with the latest EV technology, this car is a no compromises electric race car. It’s purpose? To beat the competition.

Team Greenstage

Hugh Allan, Saker Sprint, leads Thomas Good’s Saker Sprint and Ian Slight’s Juno at the Taupo A1 circuit, May 2008. Thomas Good went on to win his class and outright Sportscar Championship for the 2007-08 series. Hugh finished 2nd in his class and 4th outright.

Calder Park Raceway was the venue for the second round of the AMRC over the Anzac weekend, which saw the debut of Michael Gibson’s Saker Sprint in the ProtoSports class. The first practice session on Friday showed plenty of promise, although it soon became obvious that the car’s gearing was too low for the long Calder straights. The Saker Sprint was hitting the rev limiter in top gear around the start finish line, and without more suitable ratios, Gibson had to drive around the problem for the whole weekend. Nevertheless, Gibson was on the pace sitting mid field in qualifying and getting into the low 61s. With the correct gear ratios, times are expected to be well under a minute.

Race 1 saw some great racing with Gibson placing 4th and the car not missing a beat. Race 2 was a somewhat different story with two competitors coming into contact and spinning in front of Gibson on the first lap. While attempting to avoid the incident, the Saker received some minor contact from one of the cars and ended up well behind the field by the time he got going again. After chasing the field for 8 laps, Gibson pulled off the main straight with an apparent engine failure which then escalated into a minor fire. Quick action by Gibson and the marshalls got the fire extinguished before any major damage occurred.

It was a tough way for the Gibson team to end their debut weekend, but plans are already underway for a newer, stronger engine, and a solid performance at the next round of the AMRC at their home circuit, Winton Raceway.

March 1 & 2 saw the opening round of the newly restructured Australian Motor Racing Championship (AMRC). With a shuffle of categories, the Saker GT Special of John Biddlecombe is now running in the newly formed ProtoSports category along with other prototype sportscars. With new livery on board, Biddlecombe consistently placed the Saker mid field amid some close racing until a misfire developed in the last race, resulting in a DNF.

Followers of ProtoSports in the previous incarnation within the Thunder Sports category will be familiar with the Saker make of sports car, with John Biddlecombe’s example racing during 2007. In 2008 though, a different variant of Saker will join the field, with the open-top version making its debut in the hands of new driver to the series – Michael Gibson.

Whilst the car will be brand new, the driver has a level of experience that belies his age. 24 year old Gibson started out in Go Karts at age 12. He made his circuit racing debut at Winton Raceway in 2002, and lists his best result to date as coming two years later, at a 2004 Winton Historic meeting, where he took his Clubman to victory in all three races, and broke the class lap record.

Gibson’s steed should see him have an excellent chance to continue his success, as he moves into the ProtoSports ranks. The car features a 400 horsepower Mitsubishi V6 Twin Turbo, a 6 speed Hewland transmission, and a proven chassis package.

Gibson is sponsored by ACS Devco Group, and Deniliquin Infotech Solutions. More information on Saker Sports Cars is available from their website.

Gibson’s hometown is Benalla, making his home track Winton Raceway, but he’ll have to wait until the third round of the ProtoSports championship makes it there. The first round is at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park, 1-2 March 2008. The rest of the calendar can be viewed by clicking here.

We have had some unique cars here at Imagine, but the Saker GT is more than unique. For those who may not know exactly what a Saker GT is I have one way of putting it into perspective for you: 1700lb. street-legal race car. This mid-engined monster is far from civilized and carries only the minimum requirements of a street car. No power windows, no heated seats, just a tube frame, four wheels, and a turbo boxer engine.

The Saker, available in both closed cockpit & open air configurations, is built around Subaru’s superbly engineered, race proven EJ257 single-turbo boxer-4 engine. This dual overhead cam, semi-closed deck four is designed for full range power delivery. Lengthy intake runners and a long stroke provide ample torque for low end power and throttle response. High RPM power is provided by a single VF39 turbo and an efficient plumbing system. Using a top-mount intercooler, pressurized air travels a short path (about two feet) from the compressor housing, through the intercooler, and into the throttle body. This optimizes responsiveness and provides a compact, balanced power plant perfect for a race car. Backing the design of this motor is a huge after market, catering to any high horsepower needs. For example Cosworth, a major name in racing and performance engines, has an entire line of internal components, cylinder heads, and blocks for these motors.

The Saker’s chassis consists of a square tubing frame making creative use of triangulation and space. However sheet metal and fiberglass air dams cover most everything when on the road. Suspension is comprised of double “A” arm style aluminum control arms following the “short-arm, long-arm” design providing camber gain under hard cornering loads. By having a shorter length control arm on top at a slightly different angle from the lower control arm, negative camber is increased under cornering loads.

This particular Saker GT pictured above less nose and tail body work came to us under unusual circumstances. Our friends over at Rosso Motors brought the car to us one morning on a trailer. The owner of the car, who races often, complained of a serious lack of power. Particularly at high RPM. Having had quite a bit of experience with these motors and other Subaru EJ-series engines, I was naturally drawn to the car. Steven D and myself set the car up on the dyno first, which was a task in itself (note the ground clearance in comparison to our dyno ramps). On the dyno the car made over 400hp to the wheels but we determined that boost was erratic and trailed off at high rpm. A little digging around and we discovered the factory VF39 turbo had a substantial amount of shaft play, which led to the compressor wheel making contact with the inside of the housing, wearing down the wheel’s blades. Unfortunately we only got to diagnose the problem. The guys at Rosso Motors returned and took the car back to their shop to replace the turbo themselves, though it is a very simple installation.

Much more can be said about the Saker Sportscars but perhaps the most intriguing thing about these cars is the fact that they are designed to be an affordable race car. A turn-key GT bought directly from Saker Europe costs 43,950 Euro.

Illinois-based Saker Motorsports LLC has just announced that it is working with Michigan’s Autosport Development to help market New Zealand’s Saker SVS GTA. The Kiwi-developed racer openly apes the spirit and shape of Daytona and Le Mans racers and is pitched at those who want to go racing without going broke.

Saker’s mid-engined, closed-cockpit cars are hand-assembled to order and powered by Subaru drivetrains. The SVS GTA is said to work well for everything from sprint to endurance racing. With a weight of less than 1700 pounds, the ‘base’ model starts with 300 turbocharged horses and looks to be just the thing to mix it up with Ultimas and Nobles on weekends.

Scalable upgrading means that Saker will happily imbue customers’ cars with “…well over 400″ horsepower, though presently the car is geared toward amateur racing, track days, and club events. Still, those involved have designs on going professional racing, too.

To date, four Sakers have been built in North America (three racers and a street car), and there are hopes for 40-50 units annually at Autosport Development’s facility in Trenton, Michigan.

Saker RSC Extreme

Cars are sometimes named after animals – AC’s Cobra, Plymouth’s Roadrunner and Barracuda, Ford’s Puma and the Dodge Viper. This car is the Saker – the name for the Eurasian Falcon. It was cruelly ironic that as I fired up the engine and let its torque pull me gently up the driveway that the small flock of white pigeons blocking my path didn’t panic and take flight in fear; they merely shuffled aside, seemingly unconcerned at this bird of prey.

This bird has got razor sharp talons, though, and is a reasonably scary proposition for all manner of roadside wildlife. I picked it up from Extreme Cars’ Manukau, Auckland base and headed out into the rolling rural hills to the east. There are three variants of the Saker, each sporting a modified Subaru three-litre, six-cylinder boxer engine. The first, which I’m piloting today, packs 240bhp to launch its 900kg frame to 60mph somewhere a shade under five seconds. The second ups the ante with 340bhp of chiropractic ability, while the ruler of the roost packs 500 horses capable of bending the space-time continuum, as it would with a power-to-weight ratio of 115bhp more per metric tonne than the Zonda.

Back to my reality: I’m sat in the road-going RSC – not the first Saker road car, but the first one based on the current race car that already has a successful one-make series in Holland, Belgium and Germany. Hence, it’s still a bit ‘in-development’ as far as comfort goes – the pedals need adjusting, the seat is most definitely not right for my boniness, and there are numerous rattles that need to be fixed. I don’t care, though, as it’s bright yellow and no one else has an RSC; not even the guy in the Enzo I passed on the way to pick it up.

And if I told you where it was made, you wouldn’t believe me. Not far from Palmerston North in New Zealand, in a small town called Bunnythorpe, Bruce Turnbull has been building Sakers for 12 years, and recently the world discovered that, with only a paltry 280bhp, this car could run rings around a GT3 on the track. An order for 50 cars in the last 12 months has kept Bruce busy, as did preparing a car for the Bathurst 24-hour race in Australia and another car for the Thunder hills 25-hour endurance race in California in December. Bruce’s 23-year history is steeped in open-wheeler success, particularly with Formula Ford.

The first Saker hatched in 1992 with a 3.8-litre Ford V6 and it went on to win numerous New Zealand events. Solidly visually placed in that era, it shares similar lines with Group C-style racers of the time, such as the Dauer Le Mans 962LM or the Ultima Sports. At the first race in Germany in October, the Sakers qualified 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, and they finished 1st, 2nd and 5th against 911 Turbos, GT3s, BMW E30s, etc. Getting in, the doors are McLaren SLR-style, easily opening with the assistance of gas struts. In the cockpit the integrated rollcage is very much in evidence, forming part of the bubble canopy, the dashboard, and the floor pan just in front of the seat, and creating a blind spot that took a few kilometres to get used to. This feels like a racing car and it reminds you all the time: instant throttle response, the front splitter catching occasionally on the less-than-perfect rural roads, and more grip than I dared explore. But let me get to the grin-inducing part first: it is an arresting shade of yellow, so vivid that it slaps people in the face. If they weren’t looking in the direction of the Saker to start with and had no interest in cars, they still looked – even elderly Polynesian ladies in Nissan Prairies. People waved, people smiled, people pulled over to let me past then followed me (while they could keep up). I’m not an outgoing sanguine kind of guy, but this car converted me into the life and soul of the tarmac party.

Mincing across the tarmac dance floor, I’m grasping a really nice Momo steering wheel; behind it the dials (including a 300kph — that’s 187mph — speedo) are supported by a carbon fibre dash. There’s a stereo, but who the hell wants to listen to music in a car like this? I listened to the exhaust note. I can’t put my finger on it, though — it’s a six-cylinder boxer engine, but it doesn’t give out the usual Subaru thwop-thwop-thwop from its two harmonically tuned exhausts. It’s more of an erratic growl which shrieks blue murder up towards 6000 revs and beyond. The five-speed Subaru gearbox sits off the back of the engine, and as with most of the specifications of this car, it can be changed – you can put a heavy-duty six-speed or sequential ‘box in. The engine sits in close proximity to your kidneys. Tony Waterman of Extreme Vehicles assures me this is the world’s first hard-top, mid-mounted, flat six-engined road sports car since around 1962. The engine in this model is designed to be extremely docile around town. Keep it in a high gear and it’ll amble around like a Mondeo. Get it above 3,000rpm, though, and it’s like you’re caught in a very strong tractor beam originating from the corner ahead. It has a definite area where it comes on cam. While I couldn’t test the brakes thoroughly (they hadn’t been bedded in), the four-pot callipers on the front and two-pot on the rear, both gripping 300mm ventilated disks, should shed speed like becoming an Amway salesperson sheds friends. Six-pots are available if you use 17-inch wheels as opposed to the 16s currently fitted. 225-width tyres on the front and 255s on the rear ensure plenty of contact patch on the road for both cornering and braking, and the Spax suspension is fully adjustable.

Tony even explained the manual wiper should be left vertical if I’m planning to do more than 200kph as it ‘flaps around a bit’. OK. One of the nicest features of the car are the three-piece lightweight wheels, made in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their height fills the wheel arches perfectly, though they could do with being spaced out half an inch as the body has a bit too much overhang. Being a full-on racing car, the design is specifically for the track. The engine has a low centre of gravity, the wing is like a banquet table and its height, at 1050mm, is only an inch taller than a GT40. Options abound for the discerning owner. You can have crocodile skin floor and snakeskin trim (very ‘Texas’), a rear vision video system, remote auto-rise doors, electronically adjustable suspension and internal fittings changed from the standard carbon fibre to alloy or wood. This isn’t a car for taking shopping. There are no cubby holes at all (though they could quite easily be made in the side-pods, á la Ultima GTR). It’s got the rearwards visibility of a Countach – backing using extra-sensory perception is essential. But I feel at home in these types of cars. I have a mild distain for the numbness of most road cars that remove you from the very activity of ‘driving’ and cosset you from imperfections in the road. I like to feel through my butt cheeks that the New Zealand government under-funds the roads. Oh, and did I mention it’s yellow. As there are only going to be 150 of the road cars, you’ll probably be assured a level of exclusivity, even if you get another yellow one. This is a ‘wow’ car for any schoolboy. It’s not the most modern design, but it doesn’t purport to be. It is a functional and fast race car that just happens to have indicators and a registration. I’ll have one in yellow.