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Ooohhh... Classy stuff! I love how you have an elegant, clean version of the Parabolica and another fire-breathing beast version.

Also so nice to see my customer engines have found a home in high quality sports cars! It seems light weight is the key again
as even with the more modest outputs of the smaller engines you are able to extract a lot of performance out of those cars.
I'm not sure if you guessed it but there was a J.S.C marketing manager knocking on KHT's door on Parabolica launch day
insisting on buying one of the first cars for their Turin dealership - a fitting show piece for our enginers for sure!

I love the rear of the mk2. The Ferrari style rear lights caught my eye with it. Great work!

Gosh. That would have blew the minds of most motoring journalists at the time. Excellent work.

Thanks!
We are here at Kraft Haus like



And yeah, the design imo is the car's selling point, it's decent, but nothing out of this world fantastic that could sell it, so I've bet on the looks that would shock.

What image hosting service are you using? You seem to lose a lot less image quality than I do with Photobucket.

Yeah, photobucket is dead to me for some reason. The loading times and the non-responses etc. I just facebook logged myself into imgur. works much faster and pretty much one button registration.

OK, thanks for the info!

1977 Keimola

With the change in leadership of Kraft Haus Technik in 1976, the newly appointed director Claus Hoch has decided that it was time to take KHT on-to a new level. The constant problems with sourcing parts and components has been a burden on KHT since day 1, so he addressed that problem in the only way he thought possible. As the new chassis was designed by a new chassis specialist Hugh Reid, fresh out of engineering school, a plan has been put in motion. Using the not so endless funds gathered by a moderately successful Mulsanne and Parabolica, new machinery has been acquired second hand, fit to produce engine blocks and engine components. These were to be put to use on creating Kraft Haus Technik's fist ever bespoke engine from scratch. With the very talented engine designer Viktor Kruger gone to Flug automotive, the spot was filled by many less talented people working together. This was the beginning of a disaster.

While the chassis was mostly old technology, it was also a proven techology with corrosion resistant steel monocoque as base. The body itself was made of fiberglass, material that Claus Hoch had many years of experience with, and he knew how to produce it cheaply and efficiently, while leaving the construction as lightweight as possible. The gearboxes were once again outsourced, as were the brakes and many other components, but this was considered a stepping stone for KHT, as the introduction of their own engine was surely to put KHT into the next decade on the front foot.



Resulted in 1977 was the Kraft Haus Technik Keimola. A 950 kilogram mid engined sportscar. Powered by a 2.7 liter twinturbo 6 cylinder engine. Looking at the units used in the Parabolica GT-T, the engineers found it to be a bit too complex for them to manufacture on a large scale, so a derivative, engine was created. The engine however had quite a few drawbacks. The turbochargers running at 1.3 bar of boost allowed for 270hp and 350nm of torque, which was enough to propell the car to 100kph in 4.8 seconds, with top speed scratching at 240kph. The problem, however lied in several design flaws. First of which were the internals which were of high enough standards to hold in a N/A engine, but under boost, stories of engine throwing a rod or melting a piston were quite common. Some examples had terminal engine damage within weeks of first rolling off the factory floor. The other problem was the fact that the engine needed to be flooded with fuel to keep the mixture rich enough, so the thing would not detonate. A high performance fuel pumps were used in tandem to provide for high enough pressure. This, however, was a problem, since the engine was carburetted. The overflowing of the carburetors meant that on (a regular) occasion of high speed driving the fuel would be spat out of the intake and land on the hot engine and catch fire. The use of fiberglass, helped, since it was a material that did not burn, but news of Keimolas being burned to the ground with a melted body covering the smouldering remains of the car soon spread.



The factory did take full responsibility for the disasterous design flaws and started at first replacing engines free of charge as a warrantied, but soon it became clear - KHT has had no means to fix or replace or even pay back all the unhappy customers. In 1978 Kraft Haus filed for bankrupcy and closed factory doors. Not before, however, helping the very talented team to open a small design studio, headed by Marco Noto, the chief designer, and Claus Hoch as his materials specialist. Their teams were also transferred to the new company called "Noto Design", as well as some machinery that got stashed away in the company's warehouse. All that hasn't been saved was later auctioned off in early 1979.

A nice original design. Also a touching story. Ambitious plan and execution, eventual downfall just like the namesake race track Keimola
Photoshop work is first grade as usual. Those interiors must be a pain to do....

BTW, this car isn't too far from my "Turboverde" performance-wise. A comparison test would be very interesting

I have heard that some magazine tried that in the late 70's. They couldn't really finish it as the car burned down on it's way to the test site

Thanks, I'm trying my best to provide you with some competition in design. There has actually been a boom in seriously cool design works all around the forums, which is always so nice to see. One problem - competition is so stiff that you go through 4-5 prototype designs before finishing one off

The influx of even better designs of late I have certainly noticed. Your pioneering work must have been one cause for it seeing as you have been doing high quality work from day one.

As for me, I spend far too much time on my designs... When I started Automation last summer I used to do a design in an hour. Now it's about 8-10 hours per design not even including post-editing And a single rear light cluster of my latest design has 20+ fixtures on it (crazy crazy stuff). I just wish I had even the slightest bit of your photoshop talent.

BTW, did you already tell the story about how KHT name was resurrected in the modern times?

Nope, not yet

2016 Mistral

As 2015 AMWEC season came to a close, the vicorious Sepang claimed it's rightful place among the hypercar market, the same could be not said about the Adelaide. The shortcomings of the car were analyzed and as it was time to put the aging car to rest, KHT has taken all it's new found information and experience to build a new car. The chassis was derivative of the Adelaide, but this time with enough breathing room to spec the car to pretty much any changes to be made to officially homologate it to the next racing season. First glimpse of the car has been seen on racetracks being perfected and tested under the name of Mistral.


Mistral in 2015 AMWEC spec.

The preliminary test have shown the potential of the chassis. Powered by the last years AMWEC spec engine, the lighter car was initially built to 2015 AP1 specificaitons. The results pleased the KHT CEO, as the car was on average 2 seconds faster around the test track than the last year winning AP1 spec Sepang. The tamer, closer to street spec version of the car could later be seen at a press event at Laguna Seca, racing against an array of cars including ManHell 1k76 and Auxuras CZ6-R, proving that a street legal version would a bit extreme to be a real successor to the i4 powered Adelaide.


Exclusive press event photo, including the Mistral prototype, Auxuras CZ6-R and a Manhell 1k76 supercar

The public first saw the Mistral in AMWEC spec at Chicago motor show, where it was presented alongside with it's bigger brother - the Sepang, also in AMWEC AP1 trim, fresh from 24h race at Le Mans, still bearing dirt, scuffs and signs of battle damage received at the track. This was a good move for some attention on behalf of the marketing department, as KHT went into the the motor show victorious in it's class, and reaped the benefits of fresh hype created by Sepang AP1 to introduce the Mistral.


Chicago Motor Show display of KHT

In early 2016 the search of a suitable engine began, since the racing unit in the prototype was for all intents and purposes a racing engine that could never be reliable driven on the streets. A partnership with the JSC company soon was formed, and a bespoke 3.2 liter v6 unit was created for the chassis in 350 and 400hp trims. Taking full advantage of carbon fiber chassis and body, the lightweight car proved an excellent match for the high revving v6 supplied by JSC. The new market was researched and new competitors were analyzed, coming to a conclusion that the chassis could easily multi-task covering the most of the sector in 3 varying trims.

S350
The s350 is the entry level comfort oriented sportscar, aimed at slicing a bit of Porsche 911 Carrera and Carrera S clientele. A 350 horsepower engine propelled the car to 100kph in 3.8 seconds, with the use of a 6 speed manual transmission, and topped out at exactly 300kph. Inside a very high quality sports interior was complimented by a premium level infotainment system and an array of driver aids that could be turned off completely shall the driver wish to. The S350 is priced at $104,000

RS350
The RS350 is a variation of the S350, but lighter, faster and more capable. This car was aimed at the "superlight" market, as none of the supercars branded so were actually super light. KHT Mistral on the other hand is. Losing almost 200 kilograms of the S350 weight, and weighing in at just 900kg, the RS350 features the same engine and transmission as the entry level car, but sporting an electric LSD instead of a geared unit. The exterior is more aggressive, featuring canards and air ducts, optimizing the aerodynamics to produce actual downforce, now also featuring magnesium wheels. The interior is where most of the changes are apparent, as it lacks any sort of infotainment and does not feature much more than a couple of bucket seats, lots of open carbon fiber, and a digital dash with a data logger function. The crash diet allows the RS350 to accelerate to 100kph in 3.2 seconds and the new aero restricts its top speed to 285kph. Unlike most competitors in the market, however, KHT has gone for the honest pricetag of $100,000, not asking extra cash for not giving the client less kit.

RS400
The extreme RS400 represents all the KHT racing experience. Featuring the mostly same interior and a crash diet as the RS350, the RS400 goes even further. A 6 speed sequential gearbox is only available with the RS400, as well as exclusive for RS400 - the Carbon Fiber wheels and carbon ceramic brakes, along with active aerodynamics and cooling. The interior features extra light carbon fiber bucketseats, and loses all the sound damping materials for extra weight loss, while the interior sports wing and a bodykit much reminiscent of the AP1 prototype and Michelin semi slick street legal tires. The JSC engine is tweaked and tuned to reach 400hp, which is also only available in this track spec version. This allows the 800 kilogram car to accelerate to 100kph in just 2.8 seconds, on par with the most extreme cars, and the top speed is 290kph, providing for closer gear ratios through out the acceleration of the car. The really impressive figure is the 1.55G the car can sustain through a corner. The car is recommended to be used on a racetrack, however KHT went through a lot of trouble to make sure it is also street legal in every country it would be sold in, including Europe, USA and Japan. RS400 is priced at $127,000.


Mistral S350


Mistral RS400

I know which I'd own...


Gimmie dat dere RS400.... >:D

Like I already said before, the Mistral is a lovely looking sports car and not only because of the high quality photoshopping.
It has great proportions, nicely understated styling details and overall a very purposeful, sporty air to it. Somehow it also
manages to have a real brand personality which is always nice.

Again thumbs up for the storyline too! Hmm...I would really like a lightweight mid engined sports car like that IRL, and the fact it
has a N/A V6 should make it really friendly to drive quickly.


edit. same acceleration for S350 and RS400?