Kraft Haus Technik [1984 KHT Nemesis]

[Awildgermanappears]

Well this is unfortunate.
While I always had that sneaky suspicion my V12 was only suited to big limousines, it would have been fascinating to see what a group of skilled engineers could achieve when they got hold of it. I guess it was too insane for its own good :'(

[squidhead]

Well this is unfortunate.
While I always had that sneaky suspicion my V12 was only suited to big limousines, it would have been fascinating to see what a group of skilled engineers could achieve when they got hold of it. I guess it was too insane for its own good :'(

I'm not about to shelf an opportunity to run a 7.3 in my car I'll find one. (P.S: the early coupe, MG looking thing, that one can have a v12 actually,but Im not feeling the design of the thing)

[Awildgermanappears]

Well this is unfortunate.
While I always had that sneaky suspicion my V12 was only suited to big limousines, it would have been fascinating to see what a group of skilled engineers could achieve when they got hold of it. I guess it was too insane for its own good :'(

I'm not about to shelf an opportunity to run a 7.3 in my car I'll find one. (P.S: the early coupe, MG looking thing, that one can have a v12 actually,but Im not feeling the design of the thing)

Do as you please, but I am not certain if we are going to make another engine of this caliber for quite some time...

[squidhead]

It's been some time since I actually "factory tuned" a car, so heres' one for you!
Credit to CPUFreak101 for original car.

1960 AlpenStrasse

The Monaco fiasco took it's toll on Kraft Haus Technik, but it taught the company not to bite off more than they can chew. Next projects were to be less ambitious, but the problem was the company had no engines and too little finance to create a new one. 1958 - 1960 were trying times, with most income being generated by the Kraft Haus Technic repair shop, fixing up other people's cars. It was at this moment glorious Galt motors introduced the Communitasia. Powered by a sinfully slow and inefficient 2.5 liter i4, chugging anything that burns for fuel, made of crude steel and sold for pocket change to the people with less money than they wished for. One of the first cars was bought and driven for a few short months by one of our mechanics. His hatred for the car left him thinking on how he can improve on it to make it at least bearable. Countless nights he spent in the KHT workshop with a small crew of friends modifying his wonder, it is that car that caught the attention of Ralf Hoch, chief designer at KHT, who was walking through the factory's parking lot and saw the curious little car. This got him thinking, and after a little bit of walking the streets with a survey team a verdict was reached - poor people who can't afford fancy cars actually want fancy cars.

4 Galt Communitasias were bought as test mules, and the KHT team set off on a new path for them - performance tuning. Most of the body panels were cut and modified using now common to the company fiberglass, design team inspired by the glory of the booming American car fashion. In a few short months a new front and rear ends were introduced, completed by an elaborate chrome trim. These modifications proved good idea, and allowed for the youngsters who really wanted to feel a bit of the Americana to live out their dreams a little. That was helped by a now available basic radio, which was a very popular option. Naturally the suspension was not changed apart from rear antiroll bar and wider tires, to save cost on heavy and unnecessary modifications, the brakes were also left standard with only brake pads replaced by sportier units. Most work was done under the hood.

As an original concept the car could run on the lowest quality of fuels, and changing that would result in many countries who could run Communitasia not being able to run the KHT modified version, so the low quality 80 petrol was left as a fuel of choice. With some tricky welding and grinding camshaft was changed to a more aggressive unit, with intake now working on dual carburettors, both stock Galt units. With some changes to the fuelling system and ignition, a better flowing exhaust and intake filters power output gained 90hp. The rear differential was also changed to work with the new found power. A resulting tiny runabout was put through it's paces on Germany's famous AlpenStrasse pass, to which it owes it's name now.



Not a single car was sold as a ready package, instead the customers drove in their stock Galt Communitasia's and approximately 2 weeks and $2,000 later left in a KHT AlpenStrasse. This meant that not a single car was left without it's owner sitting in a warehouse waiting for it's lucky day. It proved a sound strategy, as the kits have been sold up to 1975. Surprisingly, while not gaining a cult status, the popularity of the car was somewhat refreshed in early 2010's when modding communities started restomodding these cars, many using KHT kits, which they found second hand for sale. Initially being looked at like a comedy relief car among the Datsun 510's and KPGC Skylines AlpenStrasse held it's own and is still considered a true classic, although not as popular as a Mk1 escort or a Lotus Cortina. What this car however did do is pull KHT through a trying time, which was exactly what it needed to do.




Stats

0-100kph
Before - 23s / After - 13.4s

Top Speed
Before - 133kph / After - 144kph

Weight
Before - 1005kg / After - 899kg

Max G
Before - 0.72 / After - 0.87

Lap Time
Before - 3:20 / After - 3:00


Engine

Max power
Before - 66hp / After - 90hp

Max torque
Before - 130nm / After - 159nm

Responsiveness
Before - 11 / After - 19

Loudness
Before - 65 / After - 74

Smoothness
Before - 42 / After - 40

Reliability
Before - 47 / After - 44

Misc

Comfort
Before - 9 / After - 9

Driveability
Before - 27 / After - 32

Sportiness
Before - 1 / After - 8

Economy
Before - 31L/100km / After - 21L/100km

[squidhead]

In early september of 2016 a car was spotted in a reguar Youtube video by carspotter channel, that provoked a rumour mill to go haywire all over car websites. Multiple posts on Carthrottle and Jalopnik, all filled with theories. The video in question was just a compilation of cars going full blast on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Among the regular McLaren's and Lamborghinis a few rare examples, one of which seemed to be a freshly released Kraft Haus Technik Sepang. An AMWEC AP1 category prototype turned street car, but much has been known about the original car, this one was different. While the base model could keep pace with the top tier of supercars the one in the video has been seen humiliating the competition both in the straights and in the corners.



While only a cumulative of just over 30 seconds of car in action was shown, in it the weirdly winged and crudely modified supercar made easy work of a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, worked it's way around a Radical SR3 and outpaced a Ferrari F12 in a straight line. Not much has been known about the car, but most eagle eyed viewers have spotted the active aerodynamics and cooling on the car, as well as heard blow-off valves dumping much more air than standard units. Some have also spotted the pit crew, which was collectively recognized by the CarThrottle.com community to be Gerhard Wagner, the CEO of Kraft Haus Technik, Hannah Eynaud of Gryphon Gear fame, and GG test pilot - Kai Kristensen. Helping around with the car seemed to be about 12-14 KHT engineers.

The demand for answers was pretty high, but both GG and KHT kept their secrets close.

[Vri404]

Hype...

[squidhead]

Select quotes from the event

I don't get it, is the whole point of this car going around famous tracks and trolling Zonda R, or going around shows and trolling wealthy car collectors who know they can never own one?

...at the end of the day I can say the "holy trinity" is of course special, but this thing is the Devil itself

You go in to see a Kraft Haus Technik car expecting precision performance models, you go in to see a Gryphon Gear car to see complete lunacy. Diabolica is the world's most precise lunacy ever.

The shape is never fixed, it never stays the same, suspension leans and tilts, drops and rises. Active aero moving about re-routing air, going into low-drag or high downforce modes. The cooling vents closing for the straight line and releasing the air melting heat as the braking commences. The transformation of car's shape is so complex and natural, it's almost organic. They say it took Gryphon Gear's software boffins over 14 thousand man hours just to program actions for every possible scenario. It's so complex that it was probably easier to crate an AI and task it with that car's body, on the other hand it might be exactly what they did, we won't know unless Diabolica starts singing Daisy at us

In october 2016 KHT held a closed presentation of the GG modified Sepang to a selection of motoring journalists from all over the world at the Nurburgring racetrack, which sadly for most did not include the Nordschleife, only limiting them to the GP circuit.

Most of the car facts were covered by the NDA, with the magazines being only allowed to post pictures they were provided until the time of official reveal in September. The event did, however, shed a lot of light on the project. Most noticeably, that this was not, in fact a Sepang. The car spotted earlier was just a test-mule used by Gryphon Gear to test the technical solutions, which explained the modifications. The car's name was revealed to be "Diabolica".

The finished product looked quite different from the Sepang it was based off. Underneath it was still the Karion v8 with the help of forced induction, it was heavily modified though, producing well over 400hp over stock form for the Sepang and over 400 again for the Diabolica. Car featured advanced active aerodynamics, which featured active splitter, canards, aerobrake and rear wing planes, and just as advanced active cooling flaps all over the car, helping around corners was active suspension.

Finished in unpainted carbon fiber outside and in, the lightweight RWD hypercar seriously impressed the journalists who had only been given the chance to be driven around the track by GG's Kai Kristensen and KHT's Miles Phillips test drivers.
A quick press conference was also conducted at which the question of "How did two rivalring AMWEC teams get to gether to build a car" was answered with "We just thought it would be cool." The following question of "Yes, it is, but how did the conversation about it even begin?" got a reply of "I think somebody threw a hot dog at GG pilot at lunch time, and he put a barn lock on our team's lavatory as revenge, so then we had to use theirs. I am still not 100% clear on how that happened". It was then clear that a serious answer about the exact nature of this collaboration was not to be revealed that day.

[squidhead]

1962 Adenauer

(yes, this is trying times with me juggling an unreleased hypercar, BRC 66 entry, and BRC tie-in history in here, so it's going to be all over the years for a bit)

By the year 1961 it was clear to Kraft Haus Technik that surviving on cheap modifications and repair shop is not a viable solution, and a new daring project was taken on. The next car had to be done quickly and on a tight budget, so this called for some re-think of the company's regular strategy of inventing new technologies. Viktor and Kaspar started out working on their own project, using the only car available to them at the moment - the lowly Communitasia. A few Alpenstrasse versions were taken as a basis for the chassis of the test mule, while Viktor set of on another venture of joining 2 inline blocks together. By late 1961 the modifications to the chassis were done, and a new 5 liter v8 engine was created, using previous experiences, it was put through it's paces in the Alpenstrasse test mule. The car was noticed many times on the autobahn by the general public, starting a cafe-racer legend about the "Rot blitz" or "red lighning". After all it was uncanny to see a communitasia pushing past 220 kph with relative ease. As the final engine tuning and troubleshooting was in progress Ralf was tasked with creating a new body for the car.



The 1962 resulted in all of parts of the car coming together to form the Adenauer. Running Communitasias solid rear axle and MacPherson front end cheapened production, now it utilized coil springs and disc brakes were responsible for stopping the car. A much bespoke V8 engine shared only the blocks with the communitasia units. The "Typ 850" produced 245hp, pushed to the rear wheels through a custom 4 speed getrag gearbox, set off a 1 ton sports coupe to 100kph in 7 seconds flat, and reached 225kph. The design was heavily influenced by the Monaco, but as the car was smaller, it no longer appealed as a GT but as a sportscar.

At the price of $27,000 the car included a sporty interior, sports wheels, sports tires, standard radio and a selection of leather and wood trim on the interior. Sales were pretty good with KHT selling almost 6000 units by the time production halted in 1966. This was the first massive success for KHT that paved the way forwards for the tiny company.

[Fazer600]

Did you study photoshop? your photoshop are great af

[Sillyworld]

Damn, those are some fine cars. I like the use of the chrome strips, and obviously the photoshoped wheels.
You should do a pic like a "KHT old cars convention" type, with all your 60s cars on a green grass, like this:

[squidhead]

Damn, those are some fine cars. I like the use of the chrome strips, and obviously the photoshoped wheels.
You should do a pic like a "KHT old cars convention" type, with all your 60s cars on a green grass, like this:

Thanks! Also this is such a cool idea! I love it!

Did you study photoshop? your photoshop are great af

Thanks and no, I'm a 100% self taught.

[Oskiinus]

27k for Adenauer? Holy sh.t, 250 GTO was costing 30k when It was brand new

[squidhead]

27k for Adenauer? Holy sh.t, 250 GTO was costing 30k when It was brand new

As far as I know the game does not correct for inflation, so the GTO pricetag is from 62, while Adenauer's is from 2016
250 if made today would cost $234,812, meaning Adenauer is approximately 8.5 times cheaper. If anything it's Civic 1.6 money for a Hyundai Genesis of it's day.

[squidhead]

1966 Brooklands

By the year 1965 Kraft Haus was doing well, epanding it's facilities and improving on the assembly line. The next logical step was to finally try themselves out in motorsport. Research was quickly done, and the upcoming 1966 BRC season in Britain was chosen as the debut venue. Kaspar Becker, one of company's founders and test driver, was chosen to be the representing pilot, and the build commenced. None of the cars KHT produced at the time were a viable option, so a brand new chassis, now a monocoque type was created. Power was supplied by the now proven reliable Typ 850 5 liter V8, modified and finetuned, coupled with a new Getrag supplied 5 speed manual transmission. Materials specialist Claus Hoch insisted on a full aluminium body, instead of the preferred fiberglass before it, and working together with chief designer Viktor came up with a MR body. The MR layout was chosen seeing great success of Colin Chapman's team lotus racecars, and despite company's lack of experience in building MR cars, the result pleased everybody. At the same time the race car was built, it was deemed wasteful to build a racecar exclusively for the track, so at the the facilities were also modified to mass produce the road going version. The name Brooklands and the racecars' British Racing Green colour were chosen in respect of the country that hosted the championship.


A fully restored road going Brooklands at a classic car meet in 2015


The road going version hit the market at the same time the BRC season started, powered by the same v8, although slightly de-tuned to run on lower octane fuel, it still produced 250 hp, which was good enough to propel a 1.150 kg car to 100km in 5.3 seconds and top out at 245kph. Returning a 15 liter / 100km fuel consumption. Priced at $46,000 it was still selling extremely well, and is now regarded as the car that really shaped the Kraft Haus Technik into the company it is today. Unlike the racing version the road going car had aerodynamic enhancements front and back, better cooling, wider tires, comfortable sporty interior and highly improved safety, re-worked design, although, still no in car entertainment. This was explained as "All the entertainment you will need is the driving experience". Also for no apparent reason, the British Racing Green used by the racing version was not available as a colour for the road cars.


Private owned road going Brooklands, used in vintage racing events regulary. 2012

Exposure gained in the BRC proved a successful marketing strategy, as this put Kraft Haus Technik on the map and right into crosshairs of bigger car companies.

[Oskiinus]

Can I roleplay that KHT Brooklands in street-legal spec is in Airborne's car collection? (placed at museum in "Collector's Base", which is another addition to main building, features for example AMW Vulture V8)