Project Gallery: Making the Bodies for NovaKar Racecars
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New NovaKar J10 (a.k.a. Rakavon) Formula 500 / Formula 600 bodies
Brian Novak in the first NovaKar J10 chassis.
The very first NovaKar J10 body.
This body was taken off and shipped to SCCA for approval.
A great big NACA duct sucks airflow into a sidepod mounted radiator.
Brian Novak has collected many checkered flags with this car.
Brad Hewlings, Jay Novak, and Dave Craddock with driver Brian Novak
at Gratten Raceway in Michigan.
Glenn Cooper winning the ARRC race at Road Atlanta in November 2010.
Besides the class-number stickers on the side of the bodywork, you can tell
this is an F600 racecar by its air filters. F600 racecars use motorcycle engines.
(left to right) Tom Shaver, Jay Novak, Glenn Cooper, and Glenn's girlfriend
at the ARRC race, Road Atlanta in 2010.
The SCCA had dragged its feet about recognizing F600 as a national class, but
there's strong support for F600 at a regional level though much of the country.
Old Model NovaKar Formula 440 / Formula 500 bodies
Calvin Stewart at Watkins Glen with his NovaKar J7 - one of the first three
NovaKars ever built! Jeff Layson in purple shirt is the car owner and crew chief)
Paul Shipp in a NovaKar J9 at Waterford Hills in 2002.
Brian Novak in a NovaKar J9 at the SCCA runoffs in 2003.
Don Hamilton in a NovaKar J9H at Waterford Hills in 2003.
(This car was built special to accommodate Don's height.)
Brian Novak at Mid-Ohio contesting the 2004 SCCA runoffs.
(He lost an engine while leading the race.)
Making the molds to build the NovaKar body.
Bodies ready to ship to Don Clar in California.
NovaKar D Sports Racer body kit
Jay Novak in a NovaKar J9 chassis, at the start of the J9-DSR project.
The idea was to use the basic NovaKar D9 chassis and body design, but with an
800cc motor, 13 inch wheels, and some new bodywork to meet DSR requirements.
Tire selection is the starting point for all good racecar design work. Once you've
chosen tires (and determined their width, etc.) you can move forward.
The regular J9 body is a bit narrow, so the DSR kit had to flare outward at the wheels.
Clay modeling in process...
When the clay was done, it became the plug from which molds were made.
Fast forward to when... the first fiberglass parts were pulled from the
molds, and were placed back up against the basic J9 body. Looking good!
Here's the problem: that NACA duct in the side fairing no longer functions properly
because airflow across it isn't laminer. Turbulance behind the front fender flares!
It's a setback. More work will be required to achieve the necessary cooling capacity.
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