I Built A Hypercar In My Shed
A TALENTED mechanic has built Australia’s first 'hyper car' – in his shed. The Quantum GP700 was born out of the seven-year passion project of its creator, Jeff David. Aimed at producing breathtaking performance in a road legal car – the Quantum can reach 0-60mph in a staggering 2.6 seconds. Jeff, who resides in Victoria, Australia, worked for around 1,800 hours to develop his masterpiece that is now worth approximately $700,000.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 The Quantum is the culmination of my lifelong dream to build a supercar.
00:26 This is the Quantum GP700 and that 700 stands for both the 700 horsepower it produces and
00:34 the incredibly low 700 kilos it weighs.
00:37 That's an incredible one to one power to weight ratio.
00:48 It might look like a track car and it does 0-60mph in just 2.6 seconds.
00:59 That's only a fraction slower than a Formula One car.
01:02 While you might think it took a whole Formula One sized team to put it together, it was
01:07 in fact built by one man, Jeff David.
01:11 And perhaps most incredibly of all, not only did Jeff build this car himself, he built
01:16 it in his shed.
01:19 So my dream was to always build the Quantum.
01:22 So I thought I would start with the best car at the time, the best roadster that I could
01:26 buy and that was an Ariel Atom.
01:31 So I bought one and I dismantled it and then started modifying it.
01:36 So I progressively altered the engine and the chassis and the drivetrain and the brakes
01:41 to improve the performance, eventually culminating in a car that weighed 700 kilos and had 600
01:48 brake horsepower.
01:49 Having modified the Atom, Jeff used his knowledge to set about building the Quantum from scratch.
01:55 Starting at the nose, we've got the hand fabricated front wing that I made.
02:06 The design was based on a Formula Three wing and I shaped it to try and give a really narrow
02:13 front nose.
02:14 Come around here and you can see all the moulds.
02:19 I made all the original panels for the Quantum in carbon fibre.
02:24 As we've all seen in Formula One cars when they have an accident and the track's strewn
02:28 with carbon fibre all over, it shatters.
02:32 So I experimented with various ballistics grade Kevlar weaves and aramid cloth and carbon
02:38 fibre mixtures.
02:40 This is the result.
02:41 If Biz pants down to the ground and I throw this, it's unbelievably robust for carbon
02:49 fibre Kevlar aramid cloth.
02:53 The tyres are road legal, semi-slick.
02:56 The steering wheel is custom made.
02:59 Jeff's talent for custom making even extended to creating a bespoke engine for the car.
03:05 The engine's evolved over many different versions.
03:09 The overall result has been it's progressive increasing power from the 300 brake horsepower
03:15 where we started to 700 horsepower now.
03:20 It's probably the highest powered supercharged engine in the world of that style, which is
03:27 emission compliant and road legal.
03:31 And Jeff even made sure the car was comfortable to drive.
03:39 During the design process of the car, it was really important to me that the car was comfortable
03:44 to drive on the road.
03:47 And I applied suspension that I'd developed over 30 years into shock absorber concept
03:53 on the Quonset and that's actually worked much better than I ever expected it might
04:00 have.
04:01 It provides a comfortable, compliant ride on our very rough roads.
04:13 The whole process was enormous time consuming.
04:17 Get up at 5.30 in the morning and curfew was enforced by my wife at 7 o'clock at night
04:24 and that was seven days a week.
04:25 My wife was really lovely and she offered to provide the financial support for the family.
04:31 She gave me a two year deadline so I was able to work full time for two years uninterrupted
04:37 and to try and get the car finished.
04:41 Component cost was about just over $300,000 US three years ago when the car was built
04:47 and it's approximately 1,800 hours to build the car.
04:51 With a price tag that has definitely exceeded $300,000, Jeff's masterpiece isn't for
04:58 sale.
04:59 Although he hasn't ruled out the possibility of building a new model if he found an eager
05:03 customer.
05:04 I just love the look of the car and the way it's turned out, the handling, the performance,
05:10 the exhilaration.
05:11 Every aspect of the car I really enjoy it and I really love it.
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