Post by Stiggy on Oct 13, 2016 10:33:50 GMT
Back in 2007 the Rocket was new and it had hit the market running but some potential customers were seeking more weather protection and others were looking for better aerodynamics.
We looked long and hard at the Rocket and experimented with various clingons that could answer customer requests. We offered thin flexply panels to the sides of a Rocket chassis and it became obvious that Rocket would be the perfect base frame for a streamlined contemporary panel set.
We made the Sonic 7 buck on a Rocket chassis, as you can see below there are obvious similarities that have not always been spotted.
Note the driver and steering wheel position, the engine and rear bulkhead position and the track width and wheel base. All are the same on both cars.
The most obvious similarity being the slow curve that runs front to back. I always wanted to run this curve from tip to toe on Rocket but only my 2016 prototype features the flow line which is easy on the eye.
Of course under the skin we have cross over components too, such as suspension, uprights, steering, brakes, engine and tank.
The buck itself was a huge task as the shape of the indents for the wheels was causing release issues. Looking back it was tough as the areas that look flat are not. All ply panels finished up with slight curves to reflect the light and enhance the visuals. The front grille was difficult too as it comprised of large louvres, this was whittled from a block of Jelutong timber. My old school mate Paul (Fill) Newbold was drafted in to help, he is a brilliant pattern maker. It had started to become a major investment for our small firm but everyone that had seen the progress was impressed so we carried on regardless.
We also made new wings with a distinct edge to draw cohesion to the main body.
Having got covered in filler dust and wood shavings for over 9 months whilst making the pattern, we finally took our first casts out of the moulds towards the end of 2007. I had been beavering away in the background whilst my laminator Alan (Smoothy) White was mould making and I had made a chassis for Sonic without curves so that there was no chance of a mismatch when fitting panels. Our first car was ready early 2008. It was an orange and black one. I joined the front and rear black inset panels behind the wheels with a black stripe and graphics influenced by the GT40.
It was 2008 when we launched the car at the Stafford kit car show and later that year our first kit was collected from the Exeter kit car show.
It was a great car from scratch but we had issues with an after market ecu so resorted back to the Rocket approach of using the Focus unit.
When hitting it hard during track testing it was possible to boil it over so we later fitted the full size twin grille radiator, a must for Sonics that are driven in anger.
It's hard to believe that almost a decade has passed since this chiselled car first came to mind, what I am delighted about is how well it looks compared to today's mainstream offerings. I have to admit that the styling came about as a fairly easy solution compared to making compound curves all over the surface but in hindsight it was the way to go. Origami is the way the the big boys seem to style cars these days, with a ruler not a compass.
The name came about as we seemed to have adopted "weapons" as our car name theme. Sonic 7 was chosen but we quickly came under fire from Caterhams solicitors as they held the IP for 7. It turns out that this was BS as they had rights to the word Seven and rights to a particular font with the number 7. I told them to sue us if they wished to pay out compensation.
Its been a great story so far, long may it continue, I am always delighted to see them out and about, they look very cool on the road, the future is available now.
We looked long and hard at the Rocket and experimented with various clingons that could answer customer requests. We offered thin flexply panels to the sides of a Rocket chassis and it became obvious that Rocket would be the perfect base frame for a streamlined contemporary panel set.
We made the Sonic 7 buck on a Rocket chassis, as you can see below there are obvious similarities that have not always been spotted.
Note the driver and steering wheel position, the engine and rear bulkhead position and the track width and wheel base. All are the same on both cars.
The most obvious similarity being the slow curve that runs front to back. I always wanted to run this curve from tip to toe on Rocket but only my 2016 prototype features the flow line which is easy on the eye.
Of course under the skin we have cross over components too, such as suspension, uprights, steering, brakes, engine and tank.
The buck itself was a huge task as the shape of the indents for the wheels was causing release issues. Looking back it was tough as the areas that look flat are not. All ply panels finished up with slight curves to reflect the light and enhance the visuals. The front grille was difficult too as it comprised of large louvres, this was whittled from a block of Jelutong timber. My old school mate Paul (Fill) Newbold was drafted in to help, he is a brilliant pattern maker. It had started to become a major investment for our small firm but everyone that had seen the progress was impressed so we carried on regardless.
We also made new wings with a distinct edge to draw cohesion to the main body.
Having got covered in filler dust and wood shavings for over 9 months whilst making the pattern, we finally took our first casts out of the moulds towards the end of 2007. I had been beavering away in the background whilst my laminator Alan (Smoothy) White was mould making and I had made a chassis for Sonic without curves so that there was no chance of a mismatch when fitting panels. Our first car was ready early 2008. It was an orange and black one. I joined the front and rear black inset panels behind the wheels with a black stripe and graphics influenced by the GT40.
It was 2008 when we launched the car at the Stafford kit car show and later that year our first kit was collected from the Exeter kit car show.
It was a great car from scratch but we had issues with an after market ecu so resorted back to the Rocket approach of using the Focus unit.
When hitting it hard during track testing it was possible to boil it over so we later fitted the full size twin grille radiator, a must for Sonics that are driven in anger.
It's hard to believe that almost a decade has passed since this chiselled car first came to mind, what I am delighted about is how well it looks compared to today's mainstream offerings. I have to admit that the styling came about as a fairly easy solution compared to making compound curves all over the surface but in hindsight it was the way to go. Origami is the way the the big boys seem to style cars these days, with a ruler not a compass.
The name came about as we seemed to have adopted "weapons" as our car name theme. Sonic 7 was chosen but we quickly came under fire from Caterhams solicitors as they held the IP for 7. It turns out that this was BS as they had rights to the word Seven and rights to a particular font with the number 7. I told them to sue us if they wished to pay out compensation.
Its been a great story so far, long may it continue, I am always delighted to see them out and about, they look very cool on the road, the future is available now.
oh, they are seen on a few caravans too!
