Analyzing and Driving the NASA/Elan NP01: The Ultimate Affordable Prototype

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The custom 11 gallon Pyrotect fuel cell sits behind the driver in a well protected position.  The NP01 was designed to maximize safety. 
The car with the bodywork off shows the huge front crash attenuator structure in the aluminum box before the splitter. This is a crushable structure that will absorb much of the energy in a front end collision. It is one of the biggest ones I have seen on any race car and should provide plenty of ride down time in a severe crash.
The rear suspension at ride height with the transaxle drysump system and rear wing mounts are shown here. The rear wing mounts support the rear bodywork and also serve as a rear crash structure.  As we said before, the car has a flat undertray/main floor which is made out of marine grade plywood instead of an expensive more exotic material.  The plywood is very strong and inexpensive to replace in case you go off hard or do a grinder on a FIA curb. I like honeycomb carbon nomex, but for my car I will take the plywood if I had to pay for replacing it!
Here is the rear upright, a bespoke casting that is the same front and rear.  Note the dual brake mounts indicating that it can be reversed so the same part will work on the right or left side of the car as well.  Throughout the car, rod ends and even nuts and bolts have been standardized and made common so you won't have to pack a whole bunch of different size tools or need tons of different fasteners as spares.  One upright, one hub, one upper and lower control arm, a few bearings, bolts and nuts can cover the entire car for chassis spares!
OZ will provide a relatively inexpensive and light weight 17×9 wheel which is the same on the front and rear of the car. The same wheel and same tire at each corner means the tires can be rotated around to get the most out of them.  It also means having a set of spare wheels and tires is more versatile. 
Big forged ST40 4 piston StopTech calipers with huge vented 315mm two piece rotors are probably technically too much brake for the car but this was done so long brake life could be expected. It could be possible to go an entire season on one set of pads. The front and rear brakes take the same pad and rotors, again to simplify the spares situation. 

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