Clayton Bodywork

C & D Sports Racer

March 18, 2007 update

See the Dauntless Racing images for the display of the first actual P2007.d body to come out of the molds.

For 1st Gen Stohr

Rennie Clayton reports, "The project did get started with a big wreck - a rear suspension failure which lead to a massive Mercedes-style blowover at Buttonwillow, CA, last year [2005]. The nose was the only bodywork casualty really, and so we started with this wrecked nose and built a new body around it. We were going to cut up the rest of the bodywork too, and make subtle changes to it, but then we figured that it would be best to simply start from scratch and go with what we felt would work best, rather than just doing a cheap mod-job. Hence the all-new construction you see here.

We did borrow the basic radiator intake treatment from the Swift 014.a though, but in essence all you're looking at is a rectangular hole cut into it from the front, nothing special there.

While we share some aspects of the Ralt FA tunnel profile, in our efforts to optimise things it actually ended up being quite different. Our approach to air management at the front of the car is much more proactive than what appears on a typical Ralt FA, as we are essentially guiding the air where we want it starting from the nose.

With the exception of the donor wrecked nose and some other donated bits, all of the funding for this project has come out of our pocket."

January 24, 2007

Stan Clayton reported, "here (the photo on the top right) is what our buck looked like after being sanded to 220, then primered and painted (gloss black), followed by buffing out. The surface was like a mirror. BTW, a paint-n-body shop did the final primering, painting and buffing out in two days for $260, plus $27 in fees, for a total of $287.

The buck was finished though primer and 220-grit sanding. We delivered it on a Tuesday morning and picked it up 48 hours later. The paint was perfect, with a high gloss mirror finish. This approach will save you a TON of time in finishing work at a very reasonable cost, but is not compatible with all pattern making materials. Two-part foam with FRP or 2-part body filler outer coat works great, but you must stay away from any hydrophilic materials such as spackling."