Sharango Kundu, Kevin Dinicola, and Adam Cepero are young engineers with previous collegiate experience in Formula SAE and Formula Electric racing from the University of California, Irvine. Now working as practicing engineers they wanted to build a vehicle that could give a race car experience while still being legal to drive as a personal vehicle. Traction control, ABS, smart suspension and power steering all create a smoother sports car experience but can desensitize the driver from the act of driving.
The team is running a Kickstarter campaign for their first Specter production vehicle. Specter will be produced in California and street legal, smog ready in all fifty states. The car will weigh 1,300 pounds and sit 4.5 inches off of the ground with a fully mechanical steering system.
The system will use engine, wiring harness, ECU and transmission from Ford and the majority of the development and engineering work is focused on the frame and carbon fiber body panels. The frame is built from both round and rectangular tubing to dial in a high torsional rigidity and bending resistance. Bushings, bearings and linkages are purchased from current automotive part manufacturers with the intent that the components will last for the life of the vehicle.
Specter is an incredibly ambitious project. The team has logged in over 10,000 miles of driving time in the prototype and the first ten production vehicles are intended to be built during 2016. The practice of using currently available components and adding your own style and signature to a vehicle is a smart way to launch a vehicle. Elio Motors also uses this strategy to keep risk low and the focus on engineering the system instead of components. This dedicated team of engineers and their vehicle is definitely worth watching in the coming years.