You should definitely be proud! Not only does it appear to be a pretty serious contender, amazing for a literal DIY race car of any kind (and props to the driver ;)), but it is honestly really nice looking with the combination of styling from you and aero from Kyle. As always, well done and can't wait to see more!
Hey I just wanted to thank you for making this series, your perspective and the depth of your videos were really inspiring to me. Also I was pleasantly surprised with the way you decided to make the car different from all the others with the aero kit and custom chassis, panels, suspension, etc. I hope you are enjoying yourself in Europe. I understand racing is a hobby you need time , money and space for and it's totally reasonable to step back from it to pursue a professional career. Lastly, I recommend you watch SK8215's videos on his custom chassis racecar build, he too took a 'regular guy' approach to building a racecar out of his garage. I'm sure you'll enjoy his videos.
Yes. The tray was a better compromise in terms of drag and downforce. More downforce is available by adding wings to this but the drag penalty would be greater than it was for the tray and so the payoff would be less worth it.
Nothing like sitting back and watch months or years of work come to fruition and go around the track. My experience with this is unfortunately limited to karts and the grandstands as my dad was the car driver. Although, 10 years have passed and hopefully soon I'll get my chance behind the wheel of my own car. Might even do a UA-cam channel on the build to get viewer input and advice.
i've seen all your videos. what can i say?!... amazing-beautiful work, amazing!! everything is so so impressive!! big big congratulations!! you are a true inspiration to me ;-) best regards, M
Really nice video series. I have been wondering that if underbody/diffuser would have smoother surface the air would stay better attached that might help with performance.
Hi Simon, Just binge watched all 32 vids. Very interesting. Really cool project and a big congratulations for the result! I can think of a few F1 teams that would be green from jealousy if the would watch you ;-) Kyle must have had some commentary/ tips about your suspension setup. Can you still remember? (Just curious) Even more just curious: what kind of work are you doing now? Anything to do with automotive? Cheers!
Thanks. Kyle spend most of the day getting comfortable in the car, there were some things that needed fixing around the seat and gearshift that meant he could only start pushing towards the end. He improved quickly though and with another day would probably have been making changes to suit him. I'm an engineer working on a couple of projects in Europe related to carbon capture and energy storage. This project was more of a hobby I could use to learn from and a way to get racing again, I don't have any real interest in getting into the automotive sector. Though having said that I do find what Tesla is doing now to be very interesting, but in more of a big picture sort of way. Anyway, glad to hear you enjoyed these videos, thanks. Simon
Or you can just wait save your money and be Patient just bought my first tig welder i still need a space to work all the alloy steel the tools and ive been dreaming about this kind of project since i was 14 so exited and ready to prove everyone wrong including you @irish eyes mine will take longer and much more work and money but in the end youre poor kid will be riding in something youre poor boy wish he had thanks for all the support!
When does the 2018 formula vee season start and when will we see more of your content? I have really missed the race reports hope you start to upload soon.
Hi Justin, the 2018 season has started. Unfortunately I'm living and working in Europe now. The car is racing this year but with another driver. Glad you enjoyed it though.
Sad one mate, but hope you have fun in europe, your videos were inspiring for me and are literally the stuff of dreams for me, you will never see this comment but still, writing it cuz I mean it mate
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 Man I gotta say I really enjoyed your videos and my team(uni fsae) has enjoyed it as well. I guess being in fsae at uni AND then making your own racecar is enough haha
ThomsenMotorsport That's unfortunate, this is my favorite series i've seen on youtube. I hope things are going great for you though, and if you were to start making videos again, I would 100% support you!!
Yeah I'm trying to get in it their are a good number of events but they are far apart I can make three this year but those plus a few track days and a lot of autocross if you want to own one their is enough events to drive it and justify it but they are not all going to be in a league or wheel to wheel races unless you live in New England
Hi Simon - sorry to see you are out of racing but glad to see you doing something you like. I race karts and use straight vertical sides that are the same width apart front to back. To reduce the boundary layer buildup would you recommend putting some curvature in the sides similar to what you did with your Formula V? If so, should we use one of the standard airfoil shapes for minimum drag? Other recommendation for minimizing boundary layer at the rear? What type and brand of camera did you use when your dad and Kyle drove your car? It gives good video and you are able to turn it to track cars as you pass them. Thanks for your help and best of luck to you. Team Yellow
I'm not the best person to ask on aerodynamics I'm afraid, I really deferred to Kyle for that. I used a Samsung Gear 360, the first one that looked like a ball. The framerate was only 30 but the resolution (and so picture quality) was slightly better than the second. Sound quality was so horrific I had to use another device to record sound. These days I'm sure there are better options, I did this while 360 cameras were still quite new.
Thanks for your reply Simon. I really enjoyed watching the videos you made when you were building your car. There is a lot of good information that my son and I can apply to our race kart. Best of luck to you.
Hello Simon, can we please get any update? It's been a while. Are you ok? Is car ok? Are you both still racing? I know there nothing to build anymore, but what about setups and racing reports? :-) Anyway any information would be nice.
Hi Nesto, I moved to Europe at the end of 2017 and have since left motorsport behind. My car is still racing in Australia within the NSW state championship though, just with another driver.
I didn't do much on either, I didn't do any real work on them so not much to create a video on. The dyno video is about as much as I have to show on the engine.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 where have you been working. Also wanted to know how did you simulate your suspension before the build. Seems it can be made a little more stiffer. Insane build btw considering number of people involved. Probably best I've seen on this site
Hey Simon, do you have any plans of coming back to motorsports and building another car maybe in the next few years? Maybe something cheaper, simpler, because for me at least the main appeal of your videos is the exceptional quality and the amount of work put into them rather than the quality and engineering of the car. Whatever your decision is I wish you the best!
No plans no - if I did I would develop an electric car. I think it would suit grassroots motorsports well - quiet so less public complaints against circuits, only needs to last ~15 minutes, easier to achieve parity so discourages competitors throwing fistfuls of cash chasing tenths... Long term I think it could be cheaper than running an IC engine car. I did look at it in some depth but at the moment I'm not in a position to make it happen.
So, Thomsen, how much money did you put into this DIY project from start to now (not counting consumables such as tyres and oil, etc. Just build) ? My brother really likes motorsports and he asked my father for a Kart which is 5.500€ and I told him why not instead of purchasing a car, build one ourselves. So i started searching for DIY projects and just found you! And i have to say: what an awesome job you did there buddy! Im really impressed.
Thanks. It was about 25k AUD for the car itself, closer to 35k AUD with other things like the tow car and trailer costs. Building your own car reduces the cost certainly but you won't get it under €5500, unless it's very bare bones and not designed for a specific racing category. Depends what your aim is really, if it's purely to race then a kart is a sensible choice. For me I couldn't get a (decent) second hand car for the same money and I'd need to wait a year or so to be able to afford it, so time and money wise it made sense.
Hey Simon! Just here to say that it might be a good idea to make an update video and just generally say that you're living overseas and the car is sold
How tall is your dad? I occasionally think that building a race car might be fun, but it always seems that I am too tall (6'3) to fit in any open wheel style car
He's probably only 100mm or so taller than me, but this car was designed very specifically around my size. For me it's snug but for anyone taller it's too small. There are people much taller than myself racing vees, around your height. Just need to find a suitable car.
Well If you make the car longer and lie down more you can fit Or you can make it slightly taller When you build a open wheel racecar you often build it around the driver, not the other way around
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 Thanks for letting me know. Just so you know I loved these videos and you did some amazing work in my book. Thanks for sharing them. Best Matt
Get back into designing and filming motorsport related stuff, if yo have the time. I really enjoyed your how to design a race car series, and sad you are not posting more videos.@@thomsenmotorsport7201
Thanks, good to hear you enjoyed it that much. I'm too separated from what's going on with my car to do any content on it. I'm also not looking to get into motorsport here in France - I think I've done what I hoped to accomplish in that space!
I know I'm VERY late to the game and don't know the build rules but is there a reason you didn't install a small (2 or 3 inch) windscreen? As we say on the push bike scene "Marginal gaines." That little extra smoothed airflow might pay off. Also go weight weenie and pull the weight were you can as you can afford to replace parts like steel bolts for Ti. This is one hell of an awesome build dude!!
This was one of Kyles suggestions actually, just one I never got around to. I was comfortably under weight before I installed the undertray so had that freedom to move the ballast. But with the tray I was bang on so just had to live with it as it was.
I'm working for a company that is developing technology to greatly reduce carbon emissions in the cement and lime industries, far removed from motorsport.
Simon, how was your 2019 season? I'd love to see the working out of the final details. I would also like to jet that carburetor if I was around. A Dyno and some toying with the ignition advance weights and limits as well as spot on jetting is good for probably 15-20% power increase.
You should definitely be proud! Not only does it appear to be a pretty serious contender, amazing for a literal DIY race car of any kind (and props to the driver ;)), but it is honestly really nice looking with the combination of styling from you and aero from Kyle. As always, well done and can't wait to see more!
too bad you moved i really enjoyed watching the journey
I love your project and hope to do the same when I get the money to, you do a great job informing me of how to go about this.
I miss these videos
yours is one of the best looking Vees I've seen.
Are you going to keep uploading? I was looking forward to future seasons
He moved and didn't brought the car
Keep making videos it encourages all of us
Hey I just wanted to thank you for making this series, your perspective and the depth of your videos were really inspiring to me. Also I was pleasantly surprised with the way you decided to make the car different from all the others with the aero kit and custom chassis, panels, suspension, etc. I hope you are enjoying yourself in Europe. I understand racing is a hobby you need time , money and space for and it's totally reasonable to step back from it to pursue a professional career. Lastly, I recommend you watch SK8215's videos on his custom chassis racecar build, he too took a 'regular guy' approach to building a racecar out of his garage. I'm sure you'll enjoy his videos.
Thank you. It wouldn't have been worth doing if I didn't think I had something different to contribute, I wasn't just doing it for the sake of it.
Glad you're back
Are you allawed to make a frony wing and a spoiler in your class? If it iss, are you going to maken one?
Yes. The tray was a better compromise in terms of drag and downforce. More downforce is available by adding wings to this but the drag penalty would be greater than it was for the tray and so the payoff would be less worth it.
Wonderful project 👌
realmente son asombrosos tus videos
Nothing like sitting back and watch months or years of work come to fruition and go around the track. My experience with this is unfortunately limited to karts and the grandstands as my dad was the car driver. Although, 10 years have passed and hopefully soon I'll get my chance behind the wheel of my own car.
Might even do a UA-cam channel on the build to get viewer input and advice.
Years, not months :P Good luck.
Hey man, any idea if you’re going to be in the 2019 season or even back for the rest of the 2018 one?
Probably not, I'm living and working in Europe.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 what happened to the car?
@@Kasmuller probably sold
@@frostbytes5718 that's sad
Does the flexibility in the tray negate the benefits? Are you losing some ground effect with it wobbling over bumps?
Wobbling shouldn't be too bad as long as it doesn't touch the ground for any sustained period of time. But it should be eliminated.
hey could you do a short overview of the cad techniques you use? or some time lapses of you doing cad on the car
simon, we miss you dude, please come back!
Unlikely I'm afraid, but glad to hear you've enjoyed it.
ThomsenMotorsport Can you give us an update? Please?
i've seen all your videos. what can i say?!... amazing-beautiful work, amazing!! everything is so so impressive!! big big congratulations!! you are a true inspiration to me ;-) best regards, M
Car looks beautiful in profile!
I miss your videos, I wish you will come back with some new videos from races and maybe a version 2🙂
Thanks - I've moved to France for work and unfortunately for this channel, won't be returning to compete again.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 😥
Really nice video series. I have been wondering that if underbody/diffuser would have smoother surface the air would stay better attached that might help with performance.
Damn, love the videos and sad to hear you moved away and are not with the car anymore.
can you make an update for the channel?
Hi Simon,
Just binge watched all 32 vids. Very interesting. Really cool project and a big congratulations for the result! I can think of a few F1 teams that would be green from jealousy if the would watch you ;-)
Kyle must have had some commentary/ tips about your suspension setup. Can you still remember? (Just curious)
Even more just curious: what kind of work are you doing now? Anything to do with automotive?
Cheers!
Thanks. Kyle spend most of the day getting comfortable in the car, there were some things that needed fixing around the seat and gearshift that meant he could only start pushing towards the end. He improved quickly though and with another day would probably have been making changes to suit him.
I'm an engineer working on a couple of projects in Europe related to carbon capture and energy storage. This project was more of a hobby I could use to learn from and a way to get racing again, I don't have any real interest in getting into the automotive sector. Though having said that I do find what Tesla is doing now to be very interesting, but in more of a big picture sort of way.
Anyway, glad to hear you enjoyed these videos, thanks.
Simon
ThomsenMotorsport Tx, all the best!
An _epic_ series. You can see why poor kids don't become race car drivers and why rich kids become poor after taking up racing!
Or you can just wait save your money and be Patient just bought my first tig welder i still need a space to work all the alloy steel the tools and ive been dreaming about this kind of project since i was 14 so exited and ready to prove everyone wrong including you @irish eyes mine will take longer and much more work and money but in the end youre poor kid will be riding in something youre poor boy wish he had thanks for all the support!
@@fishingarizona5053 Good luck dude and all the best!
When does the 2018 formula vee season start and when will we see more of your content? I have really missed the race reports hope you start to upload soon.
Hi Justin, the 2018 season has started. Unfortunately I'm living and working in Europe now. The car is racing this year but with another driver. Glad you enjoyed it though.
@thomsenmotorsport any updates?
I'm in Europe now, left motorsport far behind me.
Sad one mate, but hope you have fun in europe, your videos were inspiring for me and are literally the stuff of dreams for me, you will never see this comment but still, writing it cuz I mean it mate
You should do some more videos
I was wondering, why does your car not have a shark fin? it should help when turning etc. right?
A shark fin helps with stability, whether it helps or not would depend on the car. Kyle didn't feel the need for one during design.
This is why I love engineering
Have you thought about building and exotic supercar for the street?
No, building one car in a lifetime is enough for me, haha.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 Man I gotta say I really enjoyed your videos and my team(uni fsae) has enjoyed it as well. I guess being in fsae at uni AND then making your own racecar is enough haha
Hey Simon, i have a suggestion.
Since you need more engine performance, what do you think about a ram air intake?
Technically we aren't allowed to do anything that may pressurize the inlet. But there are cars out there that I reckon do attempt to.
Hey Thomsen, do you plan on doing another video?
Not in the near future, I'm in Europe for work so not racing the car.
Do you think your ever going to continue making these videos?
I've moved away from Australia for work, so unfortunately not.
ThomsenMotorsport That's unfortunate, this is my favorite series i've seen on youtube. I hope things are going great for you though, and if you were to start making videos again, I would 100% support you!!
Thanks, appreciate the kind feedback.
I wish they had the VW racing in America.. That's a great affordable way to race..
The SCCA has a Formula V class, doesn't it?
Yeah I'm trying to get in it their are a good number of events but they are far apart I can make three this year but those plus a few track days and a lot of autocross if you want to own one their is enough events to drive it and justify it but they are not all going to be in a league or wheel to wheel races unless you live in New England
How much did the car cost you in the end?
Around 25k AUD.
Can you put in a big motorbike engine or do you have to drive on a beetle engine ?
Has to be a specific Volkswagen Beetle engine according to our rules.
Cool vid
awesome project =)
Hi Simon - sorry to see you are out of racing but glad to see you doing something you like. I race karts and use straight vertical sides that are the same width apart front to back. To reduce the boundary layer buildup would you recommend putting some curvature in the sides similar to what you did with your Formula V? If so, should we use one of the standard airfoil shapes for minimum drag? Other recommendation for minimizing boundary layer at the rear?
What type and brand of camera did you use when your dad and Kyle drove your car? It gives good video and you are able to turn it to track cars as you pass them.
Thanks for your help and best of luck to you.
Team Yellow
I'm not the best person to ask on aerodynamics I'm afraid, I really deferred to Kyle for that.
I used a Samsung Gear 360, the first one that looked like a ball. The framerate was only 30 but the resolution (and so picture quality) was slightly better than the second. Sound quality was so horrific I had to use another device to record sound. These days I'm sure there are better options, I did this while 360 cameras were still quite new.
Thanks for your reply Simon. I really enjoyed watching the videos you made when you were building your car. There is a lot of good information that my son and I can apply to our race kart. Best of luck to you.
where are you man i miss your vids
He sold his car and moved to europe
Hello Simon, can we please get any update? It's been a while. Are you ok? Is car ok? Are you both still racing? I know there nothing to build anymore, but what about setups and racing reports? :-) Anyway any information would be nice.
Hi Nesto, I moved to Europe at the end of 2017 and have since left motorsport behind. My car is still racing in Australia within the NSW state championship though, just with another driver.
Hej! I have watch you building tour race car. I can’t found anything about engine and gearbox
I didn't do much on either, I didn't do any real work on them so not much to create a video on. The dyno video is about as much as I have to show on the engine.
Any updates? Missing seeing the videos.
I've moved to Europe for my work - someone else is driving the car but isn't uploading videos.
Oh, good luck with the Job!
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 where have you been working. Also wanted to know how did you simulate your suspension before the build. Seems it can be made a little more stiffer. Insane build btw considering number of people involved. Probably best I've seen on this site
I think the rear could have been stiffer - the guy who's racing it now put stiffer springs onto it. I had to soften the front to improve the balance.
Where the hell have you gone ???
France.
What happened to the car now? Why did you stop uploading?
Not doing this series anymore unfortunately, I moved to Europe for my work.
Are you coming back ?
No, staying in Europe.
Hey Simon, been enjoying your videos but we're you ever with Redback racing at uni?
Yeah in 2011 I was part of that team.
Where Are You?
Not doing this series anymore unfortunately, I moved to Europe for my work.
Hey Simon, do you have any plans of coming back to motorsports and building another car maybe in the next few years? Maybe something cheaper, simpler, because for me at least the main appeal of your videos is the exceptional quality and the amount of work put into them rather than the quality and engineering of the car. Whatever your decision is I wish you the best!
No plans no - if I did I would develop an electric car. I think it would suit grassroots motorsports well - quiet so less public complaints against circuits, only needs to last ~15 minutes, easier to achieve parity so discourages competitors throwing fistfuls of cash chasing tenths... Long term I think it could be cheaper than running an IC engine car. I did look at it in some depth but at the moment I'm not in a position to make it happen.
So, Thomsen, how much money did you put into this DIY project from start to now (not counting consumables such as tyres and oil, etc. Just build) ?
My brother really likes motorsports and he asked my father for a Kart which is 5.500€ and I told him why not instead of purchasing a car, build one ourselves. So i started searching for DIY projects and just found you!
And i have to say: what an awesome job you did there buddy! Im really impressed.
Thanks. It was about 25k AUD for the car itself, closer to 35k AUD with other things like the tow car and trailer costs. Building your own car reduces the cost certainly but you won't get it under €5500, unless it's very bare bones and not designed for a specific racing category. Depends what your aim is really, if it's purely to race then a kart is a sensible choice. For me I couldn't get a (decent) second hand car for the same money and I'd need to wait a year or so to be able to afford it, so time and money wise it made sense.
I miss your videos. Hope all is well. BTW: What 360 camera are you using?
Thanks. The camera was a Samsung Gear 360.
Hey Simon! Just here to say that it might be a good idea to make an update video and just generally say that you're living overseas and the car is sold
I've been meaning to get around to it for the last two years.
ThomsenMotorsport please do it.
How tall is your dad? I occasionally think that building a race car might be fun, but it always seems that I am too tall (6'3) to fit in any open wheel style car
He's probably only 100mm or so taller than me, but this car was designed very specifically around my size. For me it's snug but for anyone taller it's too small. There are people much taller than myself racing vees, around your height. Just need to find a suitable car.
Well
If you make the car longer and lie down more you can fit
Or you can make it slightly taller
When you build a open wheel racecar you often build it around the driver, not the other way around
I still remember when you first released this 😢
Seems like a lifetime ago for me.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 what happened to the car?
Please make videos on the new season
I moved to Europe for work. The car is still being raced but by someone else. So I've no content to make videos on I'm afraid.
Waiting for a new video now
As alway,s enjoyed the commentary.
I've been wondering whats going on? Are things ok?
Best Matt
I live in Europe now, moved across for work. So unfortunately that's it for these videos - though someone else is still racing my car.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 Thanks for letting me know. Just so you know I loved these videos and you did some amazing work in my book. Thanks for sharing them.
Best Matt
Thanks for the feedback!
Get back into designing and filming motorsport related stuff, if yo have the time. I really enjoyed your how to design a race car series, and sad you are not posting more videos.@@thomsenmotorsport7201
Thanks, good to hear you enjoyed it that much. I'm too separated from what's going on with my car to do any content on it. I'm also not looking to get into motorsport here in France - I think I've done what I hoped to accomplish in that space!
I know I'm VERY late to the game and don't know the build rules but is there a reason you didn't install a small (2 or 3 inch) windscreen? As we say on the push bike scene "Marginal gaines." That little extra smoothed airflow might pay off. Also go weight weenie and pull the weight were you can as you can afford to replace parts like steel bolts for Ti. This is one hell of an awesome build dude!!
This was one of Kyles suggestions actually, just one I never got around to. I was comfortably under weight before I installed the undertray so had that freedom to move the ballast. But with the tray I was bang on so just had to live with it as it was.
It's been about 2 years. Whats been happening? You around?
Living and working in Europe now, not racing anymore unfortunately.
why no new content?
I've moved overseas for work.
Yoo, where ya at?
Living and working in Europe now.
If you guys need to scratch that DIY open-wheel race car itch, check out SK8215.
An entire year without a single video =(
Soz, I've moved overseas for work so don't have any content to make anything new.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 so no new racing video ever?
And what happened to the car?
are you going to continue the series or start on a fresh car?
Not sure exactly what the future will be but I don't plan on retreading what I've done before.
So... what happened to this channel?
I don't live in Australia anymore, so am no longer involved in Formula Vee with my car.
Next video????
I'm living in France now, no more videos I'm afraid.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 oh man , did you get a job down there? Or did you shift for motorsports?
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 will we get too see "How to build a Racing Car (The European version)"
I'm working for a company that is developing technology to greatly reduce carbon emissions in the cement and lime industries, far removed from motorsport.
@@thomsenmotorsport7201 Good luck brother. Top lad.
You could make it a bit more shiny...:)
I didn't have the patience for that, the guy that's racing it now has put the time in though. Looks much better these days.
🥺
Make a new video
Samaa mieltä
is he dead
@@kcbicyclist5073 hey don't say that
Hello Simon my dad is Mathew pound and I will meet you soon because I'm a petrol head like my dad
Maybe a f1 driver
Simon, how was your 2019 season? I'd love to see the working out of the final details. I would also like to jet that carburetor if I was around. A Dyno and some toying with the ignition advance weights and limits as well as spot on jetting is good for probably 15-20% power increase.
I've not been racing since this video, I moved to France for work and left it behind.
make a new video
No!