So just out of curiosity has any Exocet builder mounted a Miata body onto their car. My thinking is thus; the aero drag on an Exocet is huge, if you mounted fiberglass panels on to the chassis (using aluminum mounts to keep weight down) the speed increase from the better aero would offset the 50-100lbs of added weight or not..........
This thought was spawned because having driven a friend's Exocet I've noticed how it hits a wall at around 100mph.
Tom
Your friend's exocet needs more horsepower. The biggest drag areas on the car are the tires and upper frame tubes, neither of which are simple to build aero around. I've got some canards made up and am working on some rear wheel spats, but I don't even know where to start in the front.
Everyone's car needs more horsepower!
At the moment he has virtually no bodywork on the car; so it's a bit worse than most. I just got back from helping set up for tomorrows autocross and we were beating this up a bit, obviously the biggest gain is going to be getting the tires and suspension out of the airstream.
Tom
Im working on some rear wheel spats like these. Great idea, really.
That bodywork looks good, I've been joking if we can fit some light aircraft wheel fairings that would do the trick. Regardless of the aero still a great car. I was the second fastest car at autocross today, there were 3 Karts ahead of us but they are in such a different league (especially when you have national championship drivers in them).
Tom
All those tubes are dirty. Exposed wheels are dirty. The Exocet is pretty much a worst case scenario for aero. The photo above would do a lot better if the upper frame tubes were covered and the front fenders covered more of the front of the tires.
I know there's one running around with a Catfish body on it. Mounting the Miata body would be a challenge given the unibody aspect and the proportions of the car. Besides, it's not very slippery, so why not do something better?
Isn't putting a body on an Exocet redundant?
I would agree with Keith. Nothing about the Exocet is aerodynamic. All the exposed tubes and wheels are just not friendly to areo. Think of the Exocet as a naked sport bike. If I was looking to build a track car with good aero this would not be where I would start. The Catfish is a nice slippery shape or even a formula vee car ext.
Measure and try it!
That's what I would want to do if I were to get an Exocet, but with an older body which probably wouldn't me much more aerodynamic actually.
Does the DBR1 body fit an Exocet Chassis? How much of a style change would that be? Like going from punk rock to the Symphony!
I like everything about the Excocet except for it's hideousness. Would seriously consider buying and building if there was a reasonable cost beautification kit even if it was just made-to-order nose/fenders/pods/wing stuff.
Is the catfish body ordered to fit or is that an exercise in butchery? I don't image they are cheap - cutting it to pieces might be too rich for my blood.
For fairly low speed stuff like autocross, would the aero benefits justify the increased weight?
The DBR1 body might be like going from punk rock to a Legends Tribute show in Las Vegas 
Replicas are tricky, especially when you're constrained by the hard points of a different vehicle.
The Catfish body would be a DIY project. Obviously they're built around the same hard points, but Bauer does not make a Catfish body designed to fit over a non-Catfish frame directly. "Butchery" would be a strong term, I think you'd basically just have to come up with brackets. Or you just start with a Catfish in the first place.
For autocross, you can get some real benefit from downforce - ie, big wings. Drag from exposed tubes isn't a big factor.
When I say Miata body I don't mean the unibody; almost all of the panels are available in fiberglass and while a Miata is not an LSR car it's still better than the egg crate aero treament it's currently sporting.
Tom
Sounds like your friend picked the wrong kit car to start with
I've got a friend who has building what he calls "sand rails" but what are really exo cars for 15 years or so. (They're all made for the street, and usually sport V8s). I've asked him why he never puts a sexy skin on them. His answer is that then he'd be trying to be like the Miatas and S2000s of the world, and frankly they did it a lot better than him. I don't entirely agree, but can see where he's coming from as well. The Exocet is a polarizing car, but clearly it's really good at what it is. And while I thought that the early iterations were pretty ugly as well, it's grown on me - especially with the improved fiberglass. And the off-road version seems aesthetically spot-on, although a high-speed desert racer-esque car could use a lot more protection from rocks and mud.
Tom1200 wrote: So just out of curiosity has any Exocet builder mounted a Miata body onto their car.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that called... a Miata?
In reply to Dietcoke:
Every black car needs a gold JPS treatment. Starting with my civic.
@mr2peak most definitely he didn't buy the wrong kit car, the only issue and it isn't really an issue is that at around 95-100 mph it hits the aero wall. The lap times are at our local track are identical to a super Miata with the current un-bodied car. If he simply put the body kit on and faired the front wheels I'd expect to drop a couple of seconds a lap.
@duke not it's not a Miata, having driven both extensively I suspect the CG is lower in the Exocet than a race prepped Miata. (I could be wrong on this) while it is possible it would be very tough to get a Miata down to 15-1600lbs. I've autocrossed and road raced / tracked both Miata and Exocet there is a difference in what you can do with an Exocet.
If I new how to fab worth a poo I'd be tempted to make some composite panels and mount them up. My thought on the Miata body is that the panels are readily available so fabbing up the mounts is less work than making your own panels
Tom
Appleseed wrote: Isn't putting a body on an Exocet redundant?
This ....
Putting a body on it is far from redundant.
Lotus 7 & Formula Fords have a Cd of around .65 versus a Miata around .38 so I am assuming the Exo would be at least .65 or higher.
My Datsun 1200 that has a Cd of .42 manages to get up to 111 mph versus the Exocet's 102 mph at the same spot. Both cars weigh the same and have close to the same power output. The Datsun is putting out 105-110 to the wheels and the Exo might have 5-10 more.
Lap times are 2:54 for the Datsun, my friend turns 2:45 in the Exo and I tend to go quicker by a bit so let's 2:43 for me.
So if you managed to get the Cd down to .42 you'd pick up 10 mph in three different spots. I'd expect to drop the lap times quite bit, at least 2-3 seconds.
So if you got really aggressive and got the Cd down lower and traded some it off for downforce you'd pick up even more time.
Tom
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