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Introducing the Berzerkeley Nov 13, 2006

OK, it doesn't look like much, yet.

He also has a thing for GRM’s signature event; the annual low-budget, go-fast GRM Challenges.

So he decided that he wanted chocolate with his peanut butter and enlisted GRM Challenge engineer extraordinaire Denny Crabill to turn his dream into reality for the next Challenge in October of $2006: a wicked little Berkeley that will continue the Challenge tradition of low-budget Classics that run with the fastest modern cars.

So, can we turn a tiny 46 year old FWD British sports car chassis into a fire breathing rocket? Stay tuned for further installments, and find out. 

Berzerkley Workley Nov 29, 2006

The original build plate Meet the new engine This is just evil

Now that we have the Berzerkeley back at Denny Crabill’s garage, it’s time to assess exactly what we’ve got, and what we can do with it.

What we’ve got is a car that would weigh around 800 lb. if it were complete with it’s 30 HP 492cc Excelsior aircooled engine. It’s a rather small 10’ 3” of fiberglass bodywork reinforced with aluminum bulkheads, and steel subframes for the drivetrain, front and rear suspensions. The wheelbase is a short 70”, with the front and rear tracks at 42”.

We want a fast little car, even with these tiny dimensions, so Denny located a slightly used but Challenge budget-friendly 140 HP 750 cc Suzuki GSX-R drivetrain that was only a few minutes from his house.

Publisher Tim Suddard stopped in to work on the Berzerkeley for a couple of days on his way to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, and together we tried out a few engine locations to see what would work best. After a lot of deliberations, discussion, measuring, cutting, and test fitting, we arrived at a front-mid engine drivetrain location and a monoposto seating arrangement.

Cool? Yes, but arranging the driveline and front suspension is going to take some thoughtful engineering. 

Give a mad scientist a project and what do you know, he goes mad! Feb 13, 2007

Denny Crabill (right) explains his rear suspension design and discs to publisher Tim Suddard. The deal they made is that Crabill would engineer the beast and Suddard would use his fiberglass repair and restoration skills to make it pretty. Tight fit, but Suddard is in and has room to work the controls. Originally a two seater, our Berzerkeley is now a single seater in true Funny Car tradition. Crabill had to engineer a differential that also made a reverse gear possible. Designed from scratch, this homemade dif is made from scraps, and uses a Torsen Gleason torque sensing dif from Toyota Rav 4. A provision for a reverse gear was also added. More detail on our rear brakes. The bolt pattern is 4x100mm to make common cheap wheels an easy fitment. Some $100 aftermarket 2002 BMW wheels are being used, at least during the testing stage. Even more detail on the rear brakes and a shot of how simple the car will be to align.

Denny Crabill is not known for taking the easy way out and when we came back to check on our Berzerkeley project we were freaked out by the level of complexity and engineering Crabill has brought to this project. 

Will the Berzerkeley Make Carlisle? May 13, 2007

The Berzerkeley’s drivetrain is almost finished. Add some half shafts and it’ll be moving under its own power.

Our Berzerkeley project is nearing completion (at least mechanically). The engine and transmission is now mounted in the newly designed and fabricated front frame section. Steering is sprint-car style and front hubs use 4x100mm bolt pattern. The half shafts are now being fabricated out of Honda CR-X parts. Look for this project car this weekend (May 18-20,2007) as we display it in raw, unfinished form at Carlisle, Pa. 

Closer to Paint Aug 13, 2007

Denny, master fabricator, worked his magic on the Berzerkeley header. Here is the collector.

Denny Crabill keeps picking away at our Berzerkeley project car. With the car now a roller and the engine and transmission permanently mounted, it is time to button up all the systems. We tackled the exhaust system first.

We used the original header from the Suzuki GSX-R 750 motorcycle for power, we just needed to change it. The way it was originally designed, the header would come straight back on to our feet and thus the pedal assembly. Denny completely rebuilt the header into this work of art. 

 

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