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| This is where I came up with the name “Enviate”. NSX + V8 = “NV8”, get it? I decided to spell it out, and multiple meanings could be gathered by that name so it stuck. |
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| Obviously, the V8 was to be turbocharged, and with more than twice the available torque than 2012, the Enviate would be insanely quick out of the corners. However, it would still be relatively porky at ~2500lbs. With other Unlimited Class cars weighing in at well under 2000lbs (some as little as 1200lbs!), we needed to shed weight to be remotely competitive. When Garrett pledged their support, we upped the ante. |
Watch this time lapse video detailing the birth of the World's first tube chassis NSX.
We weighed the NSX cage and tub, and came up with 680lbs and 1215lbs as a rolling chassis, with no drivetrain. Add up the 750lbs of engine/transmission, 200lbs of tires/wheels, 250lbs of suspension, then the body, fluids, and aero, and we would've been back to 2500lbs, which was the starting line weight (without drivers) in 2012. Not good. So, I decided to embark on a dream of mine that was spawned back in 2003 – Build a jig out of a production car's tub, and re-use all of the subframes and suspension, so that way the suspension and geometry could still be retained. So, my team and I went to work on March 13th.
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| The jig, which replicated all of the NSX's subframe pickup points, was built in a single evening. 1-3/8″ Chromoly has a weight of 1.3lbs per foot, and we figured it would take 168ft of Chromoly to build the chassis, which came out to ~218lbs. Add-in miscellaneous items at 100lbs, this should save almost 400lbs! |
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| With the jig complete, we began construction of all of the subframe bolt locations which was the most tedious part of the build. Five days later, we received our first stick of chromoly, which was the only length of the size we required available on this side of the Mississippi. |
