Test driving the world's fastest autocross car, circa 1999 | #TBT

Story by Cliff Ioh

The world of autocrossing is already well­ acquainted with the name Phantom, as the mere mention of it has become syn­onymous with blinding speed. After three years of painstaking development, many broken parts, hours of tuning, and megabytes of data gathering, the car earned its third consecutive SCCA Solo II national title in 1998. 

Since the goal …

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So, a little behind the scenes–or #BTS as cool kids say. 

Colin asked if I had the original images from this story. 

This is from the days of film. Back then, I’d send JG the story text as a digital file. Back then it might have been Clarisworks or whatever Apple was using. (We now use Word.)

Then I’d walk a folder over to his office. Inside that manila folder: the slides and prints needed for the story. He’d scan them and, eventually and theoretically, those images would get filed away. We still have much of those files, but now they’re stored away in banker boxes. 

Anyway, hope everyone’s enjoying the trips back into the GRM archives. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Wait, you're telling me the folder icons on my desktop are based on a real-life thing? 

Next you are going to tell me the funny-looking save icon is a real thing, too. 

Hey, there was a time when we’d move text between each other via actual discs. I believe it was called sneakernet. 

That looks like a wild car for even today, despite being 25 years old.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/

In reply to BA5 :

Exactly. 

Also, back in the day, we used to make magazines on Mac Pluses. 

J.A. Ackley said:

That looks like a wild car for even today, despite being 25 years old.

700 lbs and 220 hp gives it a power to weight of .314 hp/ton. A 2020 911 turbo has a ratio of .156 hp/ton. Seems fast!

David S. Wallens  said:

Hey, there was a time when we’d move text between each other via actual discs. I believe it was called sneakernet.

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with backup tapes!

The Phantom was ridiculously quick. Like, "holy carp!" fast.  And apparently really easy to drive, too.

Joe Cheng taught me everything I know about suspension design, which is still just a fraction of what he knows about suspension design.

I believe The Phantom got sold and is now in the states.

Joe & Gary's new/current (?? I'm out of the scene now) car is the "Vancouver Special" (article: Trip to the 2010 Nationals)

I wonder how it holds up to the current crop of A mod cars?

I got to witness the birth of A-Mod winged wonders and snowmobile/CVTs first-hand with the Bowland Boys doing winter testing at the Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach.  Tidewater Sports Car Club offered a winter competition series there which drew from serious folks all around the mid-Atlantic area.  More importantly, they had a TON of available concrete and would allow a select few national competitors access to a separate area to setup our own test and tune course for unlimited use.  We'd skip the competition and just test all day.  It was glorious.

This was when Todd was still a college student in the early days of FSAE.  Most of the car's design were his ideas, including the big wings.  They tested them by hauling around at highway speeds in clean air mounted above their trailer with pressure sensors.  Once they narrowed in on a design, they were built and mounted to the car.  Watching that thing was like a sped-up movie.  And the CVT allowed for way better driveability than the previous gearbox setups most AM's used.  It was clearly revolutionary.  They proceeded to clean house nationally...until the Phantom arrived to up the ante.

I wonder how practical an Amod with active downforce like the McMurtry Speirling would be? I know some of the FSAE cars are working on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1yk_068Kc

In reply to Guest Writer :

I remember reading that story. I can't be from 25 years ago. 

David S. Wallens said:

Hey, there was a time when we’d move text between each other via actual discs. I believe it was called sneakernet. 

Uh, you are barely old enough to move text via pieces of paper where the "printer" was directly moved from your finger tips. 
 

THEN was the era when the disks were actually floppy. 

I do remember working with galleys. Somewhere on my desk is a proportion wheel. Wish I had kept a waxer. 

Andy Hollis said:

 We'd skip the competition and just test all day.  It was glorious.

Competitions are actually just giant parades where you find out who did a better job of testing. CMV!

theruleslawyer said:

I wonder how practical an Amod with active downforce like the McMurtry Speirling would be? I know some of the FSAE cars are working on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1yk_068Kc

 

Bowland built a sucker car for autocross but SCCA banned it from Solo II before he ever got a chance to run it there.  I believe he did run it in one of Skid Pad Challenge events - which it won.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Ah yes, the Zip Drive days. 

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Ah yes, the Zip Drive days. 

Zip drives! Those were for bigger backups. 

A friend once drove someone's A-mod and his comment was

"It goes as fast as you can steer"

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Oh man, Iomega ZIP drives. Click, click, click. Fun fact, I sued Iomega in 1997. I was 15 years old. It was a weird time. 

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to BA5 :

Exactly. 

Also, back in the day, we used to make magazines on Mac Pluses. 

Hey, they're still out there.

In reply to BA5 :

https://aws.amazon.com/snowball/

That was also the very first issue of GRM I ever bought.

Tyler H said:

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to BA5 :

Exactly. 

Also, back in the day, we used to make magazines on Mac Pluses. 

Hey, they're still out there.

Love it! Wish we had kept come.