Skelta racecars arrive in Europe

It’s been competing and winning races in its Australian homeland for over 6 years, proving itself adept in sprints and hillclimbs, GT Racing or simply track days. But it’s a road going car first and foremost and that’s how it will arrive in the UK during 2010.

Most road-going competition cars require a myriad of costly upgrades to make them fully competitive. The super-light, ultra-tough Skeltas on the other hand leave the factory with all the power, handling and braking they require to win out of the box.

Lightness
The chrome molybdenum steel spaceframe is reinforced with a centre tunnel and sidepods made of carbonfibre/aluminium sandwich, while the body is crafted entirely from carbonfibre composite. This extensive use of strong but lightweight materials results in a dry weight of just 720kg.

Power
Power comes from either a supercharged 2.0-litre 4-cylinder Honda unit producing 340bhp or the 3.0-litre V8 Hartley engine kicking out 460bhp – both engines drive through a Honda six-speed manual transmission. The suspension comprises rose-jointed double wishbones front and rear, linked to inboard MCA Proflex spring and damper units – the set-up is fully adjustable for track, camber, caster and toe. Powerful braking emanates from ventilated discs and four-pot callipers front and rear.

Aerodynamics
The heavily finned front air intakes, sizeable rear wing and diffuser are a clue to the aerodynamic package designed for the Skelat, combined they exert 200kg of downforce at 90mph. Small wonder it is so competitive on the track.

The Skelta is available in two styles:

– Spyder: a wide-bodied, open-topped two-seater
– G-Force: a two-seater with detachable gull-wing targa top

The Skelta was born out of one man’s obsession to win the 2000km Targa Tasmania road rally. A former Australian rally champion, Ray Vandersee began his determined assault on the Targa with a re-engineered Westfield. His ingenious modifications brought it closer to the Porsches, Nissan GTRs etc that were dominating such events, but it was clear that something fresh was needed to ensure him of outright victory. Starting with a clean sheet of paper, and incorporating all the attributes his extensive competition career told him were required, he designed his own creation from scratch – the Skelta.

Thanks to Skelta, Vandersee and his customers have now won countless events throughout Australia and New Zealand and Vandersee himself has come agonisingly close to realising his dream of wining Targa Tasmania outright. With a string of class wins and quickest stage times to his credit, plus the fastest Skelta yet under constant development, 2010 can’t come soon enough for him. Skelta Racecars Europe has been formed to give UK and European drivers the chance of similar success and enjoyment.

If you’d like to see the Skelta for yourself then both body styles will be on display at the Autosport International Show at the NEC, January 14-17. In the meantime, further details of the cars are available at www.skeltaracecars.com.