Finally some solid news has come through the office! Contrary to appearances, it turns out that the team has been very busy indeed:
Gryphon Gear Teams Up to Form Supergroup World Rally Team
A few weeks ago,
Gryphon Gear joined forces with powerhouses
Smolensk Tuning,
Stryker, and
DQE Speed Academy to form the
World Rally Team. In a combined effort, the WRT (split into Turbo and Naturally Aspirated divisions) had some success in the recent Bavarian Rallye Challenge, winning the tournament with both their Turbo cars (the NA cars, while further adrift, were the fastest NA cars overall).
The win was not without controversy, as inspection of the winning car revealed a very unorthodox suspension setup, which, while perfectly compliant with the regulations, was entirely counterintuitive in that the car would have spent most of the time in the corners riding on the front bump stops as the car completely lacked front sway bars.
The engineers at Gryphon Gear immediately analysed the data gained from the rally and applied it to the tuning of GG's debut track prototype, the
Nightfury, resulting in a more stable (yes, more stable, read below) ride and, most importantly, better times around the track.
We are deeply appreciative of the time and effort that went into organising the tournament, as well as the community spirit displayed throughout. Given our wholly positive experience and valuable lessons gained, GG is pleased to continue its involvement in WRT, which is currently planning to host a successive event.
Stay tuned for the next Rallye!
It's Official: Nightfury Track Day Special Announced For Public Sale
The conception of such a company as Gryphon Gear is fraught with danger: many an aspiring supercar company starts with a significant initial investment of capital, and a lofty idea that causes a fluttering among the world of auto journalism and eager onlookers... only for the company to fold and disappears without a trace, often without even building their concept. Of those that have survived the test of time, many start out as being performance tuning houses that go on to create their own models that are based upon an existing model... and still most of them continuously teeter on the verge of bankruptcy.
What's more, GG has opted to take an even more dangerous route, attempting to open up a market in those who are not just wealthy and want to drive fast, but wealthy
and hardcore enough to forgo everything in the pursuit of speed. This market is usually only populated by those who want to get into serious competition, who have some funds and maybe sponsorship but don't have the means to take it to the larger corporate teams. What this means is that to attract attention of eager punters, one has to build a car that doesn't just promise to blow rivals away, but to deliver.
For all these reasons, GG started out as a super-specialised original concept car manufacturer, and providing performance solutions to race teams. We're very pleased to announce that our mad creations have debuted with such strong response that we have secured the sponsorship, which, coupled with our alliance that brings considerable expertise and resources to the table, will help take this company to the next stage of producing road-legal track monsters unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
Which brings us to the
Nightfury Track Day Special. As soon as the prototype had been built and driven, the idea was floated by the test drivers as they emerged from the prototype, sweaty, wobbly at the knees and looking like they had seen a glimpse of the afterlife, which is understandable given they had just rocketed around Nordschleife in 6:13 from a standing start and taken every corner at speeds approaching that of an F1 car. We've handed the keys to the journalist, and await their verdict, but needless to say we're confident that it'll blow him away...
What will follow below is our official press release and the spec sheet for the car, but first, the final segment in this update:
Why Have a Supercar or a Hypercar When You Can Get a Megacar?
It seems that performance in supercars (and hypercars) "divided" into two streams for a while: things that go fast in a straight line, and things that go fast around a track (which still go fast in a straight line but nowhere near as fast, and may have tricks like active aero). The Nightfury itself is an example of the latter, taken to the ultimate extreme, for it generates
over 2 tons of downforce @ 200km/h, but the resulting drag is so high it can't even reach 300km/h despite having nearly 1400hp.
Let us then consider for a moment that a Bugatti Veyron SuperSport can hit 431km/h, but it can "only" pull 0.99g around a corner. Meanwhile, it's expected that the new hypercars can easily blitz around Nordschleife in under seven minutes, but their top speeds are more in the ballpark of 350km/h. The one car that seeks to rule them all is the Koenigsegg Agera One:1, with a million tricks up its sleeve (including a
variable geometry turbo and
active undertray aero, bespoke Michelin tyres with a
rear width of 345mm, and a monocoque carbon fibre chassis that
weighs just 60kg)... and wishes to be referred to as a Megacar, because it has a megawatt of power.
...well you know what? Gryphon Gear specialises in producing MegaCars. So we're going back to the old school with no active aero and funky turbo bells and whistles, and we'll show you how to turn a regular chassis into a Megacar that will out-drag
absolutely everything road-legal* and still do the 'Ring in less than seven minutes,
and probably give you an involuntary bowel motion in the process.
*
Wouldn't bet on actually using this for your daily drive though, with a fuel economy of 45L/100km...Onward we go! Until next time.