SuperCar Lites is becoming a brand which may be seen at four different international championships in the year 2017. On the fifth year of its launch, there are more than ten dozens of names who already had the taste of its abilities. From motorsports celebrities to rookies, teenagers to legends there were many people who interested in SuperCar Lites in the past years. Some of them are already stepped up to world arena and even some of them had titles which will be marked in motorsports history with golden letters.
We wanted to have a visit to its birth place and meet the people at the kitchen. Thanks to their great hospitality, we had an unfogetable time at Avitas Motorsport Headquarters. These two men are taking an important role at SuperCar Lites project since it was just an idea. Avitas Motorpsort Business Unit Director Halid Avdagic relies on these names for both design and manufacturing processes.
Enes Elver; who has many years of experience on designing cars. He still uses pencils and has an amazing talent on drawing. His knowledge of both industry and car designing helped the team a lot at the beginning periods. He also has many miles behind the wheel at rally stages. As a Design Manager his resonsibilities were too high but his experience let him to succeed.
Kerem Orak; who is a mechatronic engineer and the manager of Research and Development Unit of Avitas. He has an unbelievable skills on computerizing the ideas and engineering the components. He makes sure of each and every part works properly on virtual environement and then he lets the production begin. He is passionate about motorsports and a succesfull driver at Rallycross Championship as he finished the Turkish Rallycross Championship at 2nd position overall.
It was really an interesting interview to witness how the old and the new, traditional and modern, manual and electronic can work together in harmony and create such a successful motorsports story.
Supercar Lites:You both are coming from different backgrounds, different educations. How you used these backgrounds during the design and production phases of SuperCar Lites?
Enes Elver: First of all you need to have an industrial education for this and you must love it so much. You need to have a knowledge of automobiles. I use more of my senses but the engineering part is belong to engineers. As a matter of fact, it is a combination of all.
Kerem Orak: I was one of the youngest members of the team. I always had this passion for motorsports in my life and had the opportunity to use all my engineering background for this project. It was a matter of being at the right placeat the right time. I have used the ability to operate digital instruments during engineering the car after its creativity phases. I was also lucky to witness these creative sessions which was run by Enes Elver who has years of experience on designing not only the car’s outer look but also the mechanic parts and systems of it.
SCL: How many people involved in this process?
KO: Desginers, engineers and production core team was made of 16 people. Plus, from Avitas composite production and paintig team also worked for the project from time to time which may raised up the number up to 30 people.
SCL: What is the strenghts or weaknesses of SuperCarL ites?
KO : In the beginning we had no limitations to create such a car, except FIA safety regulations. This gave us unlimited opportunities to work on and in the end we coulddesign a thoroughbred rallycross car. There were no restricitions from an existing brand or a model, so mechanically and geomatrically we were able to combine all the superior specifiations under SuperCar Lites. Not converting a roadcar to a racecar was the biggest issue for us, i.e., we could place the center of gravity, or weight distribution as we like. On the other hand, it was our weakness to start from a scratch since we had no idea where this would end. We had to prove ourselves to succeed.
EE : We had only basics in our hand; space-frame chassis and a composite body. It was known that there was an interest for such a race car in the market and Halid (Avdagic) had the courage to evaluate this need and act.
SCL: Currently SuperCar Lites is racing at four different international championships worldwide. How this effects you? How do you feel about that?
KO: It’s an enormous motivation for us all. I can’t find words to describe how proud and lucky I am to be a part of such a team and such a successful project which provides SuperCar Lites to Rallycross enthusiasts all over the world who follow its races with a passion or even dream about it to drive someday.This motivates us to do better, to improve the car into a something even better for its fans.
SCL: SuperCar Lites is not only a racecar but also the name of a series standard, a one-make racing series which enables future rallycross stars to improve themselves and as well as a profitable investment for teams or companies. What would you suggest to newcomers?
KO: The car itself allows the drivers to adjust various parameters according to their needs or driving styles and due to its design, when you change these parameters, it’s comparatively easier to feel the feedbacks. Since it has an atmospheric engine, drivers must learn to keep the revs at the right points, in to or out from the corners or straights during the race. They don’t have an instrument such as a turbo to help them. So, under equal conditions at the races, even a little mistake makes a big difference on lap times among their rivals. These are all improve the driving skills while driving a 4WD proper rallycross racecar. For the teams and companies who are willing to take part in rallycross, this is the best solution for their future plans. SuperCar Lites is an extremely easy to fix or repair racecar, thanks to its spaceframe chassis and modular structure. Plus, at every race Spare Parts Truck delivers whatever parts they need so the teams must not stock for season which helps them to reduce their budgets. Engine, suspension and design engineers also are available to serve for the teams at the races.
EE: I’m not much into the field, I’m more on the design and production side. I may not know how the dynamics of the bussiness are. But I do know that this car is relatively expensive car, unfortunately the components and their quality raises its price a bit high. But also, it is relatively and competetitively cheap car to run all season. Thanks to its modular structure and the bussiness models they create, allows it to run cheaper than any rival on the market. I find this the most important key for the bussiness side!
Thank you for your time and sincere answers, comments on SuperCar Lites.