[1]Photo Credit: Carsales.com.au [2]
Australian car nut Paul Halstead is our kind of guy. Involved in various tuner and specialty car projects for the last three decades (with varying degrees of success), his latest effort revolves around what just might be the craziest LS application we’ve seen so far. Carsales.com.au chronicles [2] how the 67-year-old and his hobby/business HAL [3] are working on a mid-engined supercar design that they hope to have ready in three years.
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The car will feature carbon fiber/Kevlar body tub construction, a fighter-jet style canopy, no doors, and of course, an estimated 1,200 horsepower from a pair of 7-liter LS engines yoked together through a custom transfer case and bolted to a 6-speed sequential transaxle. The engines are rolled over at a 45 degree angle to bring them closer together and keep the power pack’s width acceptable, necessitating a bespoke dry sump oiling system and a host of other modifications. Eagle-eyed EngineLabs.com [5] editor Mike Magda has tentatively identified the castings in the photo as the Bill Mitchell Products aluminum LS block [6].
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Barry Lock, a former McLaren F1 engineer, and partner on some of Halstead’s previous projects, is handling suspension design, and in another nod to McLaren, the car will feature “one plus two” seating for the driver and passengers. Halstead says he is $100k (AU) into the project already, and has set a self-imposed budget cap of $1 million. With the next step being the creation of the body tub mockup, there’s a long way to go before those 16 cylinders fire, but we’ll keep an eye out to see if this ambitious project sees the light of day.
Thanks to Autoholics.com [8] for the link!