RE: Melling's Hellcat has surfaced
Discussion
The guy seems to specialise in engines, with varying degrees of success judging by earlier comments. If that's his forte, why not design and sell an engine rather than attempting a whole car? Look at Pagani - a relative newcomer with a world-class product. The Hellcat could never hope to compete with a Zonda in most respects. Rather than spend all the development money on an engine, Pagani bought one in and spent time and effort getting the rest of the package right. The Hellcat, from what I've heard, seems to be the wrong way round - all the money's gone on the engine and the rest of the car was thrown together with the little that was left over.
havoc said:
I would be very surprised that Honda needed AM's involvement with VTEC...they've been tinkering with it for getting on for 2 decades, and it's always worked very well, thankyou very much.
Al Melling has been designing engines and assisting other companies for more than 20 years as far as I know, so maybe he was the original designer, and has been the tinkerer for it... As I said before, he has pretty strict confidentiality agreements with many companies, so it is possible (but I have no inside info so can't comment specifically).
It certainly has been superb entertainment reading this thread. I cannot believe that anybody looking at the vast array of exotica on offer, such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Ford GTs, Koenigsegg, Zondas etc would say "No! I don't want a beautiful, well engineered car with the engine behind me. Instead I want to buy an exceedingly ugly car that will have the reliability of a TVR." This car is going to make an awful lot of press, but very few sales.
TT Tim said:
Lutz said:
So let's see: someone takes a viper engine, slaps on a quad turbos....
Yea, shame he designed the engine as well isn't it? I think your comments are somewhat flawed.
We should be praising Al Melling, not, as is the UK way, damning him!
I hope this beast gets built, I also hope it kicks the Russains arse if he ever builds the Typhoon!
Tim
Some may find this car ugly, others seem to think that the engine is at the wrong end the car yada yada whatever. Here we have an Englishman (not to mention a damn fine engineer and life long contributor to the motor industry) putting his neck on the line and trying to do something great. Instead of patting him on the back and giving him encouragement most seem keen to kick the fella in the nuts and see him fail. SHAME ON YOU
Oh dear....That wouldn't be the same Al Melling who did a V8 engine foe the Norton Nemesis hyperbike that was going to relaunch Norton back in the '90s would it ?
There are some worrying similarities - ignoring the fact that Honda, Kawasaki, Ducati et al had had a spot of practise at this sort of thing the Norton claimed more power than all the other established manufacturers.....the Norton was going to go much faster than all the other established manufacturers....the Norton was about eight feet longer than bikes from all the other established manufacturers (and pig-ugly)....and after a few bike show appearances and a load of hot air the Norton vanished up its own back passage.
Engineering cars is actually a bit tricky. Please don't waste space on drivel from marketing suits like this. When the thing moves reliably, let's hear about it: until then, stick to Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini etc who've been there, done it and even got some of the T-shirts.
There are some worrying similarities - ignoring the fact that Honda, Kawasaki, Ducati et al had had a spot of practise at this sort of thing the Norton claimed more power than all the other established manufacturers.....the Norton was going to go much faster than all the other established manufacturers....the Norton was about eight feet longer than bikes from all the other established manufacturers (and pig-ugly)....and after a few bike show appearances and a load of hot air the Norton vanished up its own back passage.
Engineering cars is actually a bit tricky. Please don't waste space on drivel from marketing suits like this. When the thing moves reliably, let's hear about it: until then, stick to Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini etc who've been there, done it and even got some of the T-shirts.
Ignoring comments about styling ! There's a lot being said on here against A Melling Esq & his engineering abilities. Can somebody tell me-'cos I genuinely don't know-if he's not been as successful as some suggest then:
a)how come he's been doing it for 20 yrs+ (allegedly)
b)how come he's supposedly worth a bob or two
c)where has the finance come from for this project.(no hint of sponsors & after all you don't attract them if you're crap & unlikely to succeed)
He was probably working on engines while some of the contributors on here were filling their nappies as far as I can see. Sorry if that means you.
a)how come he's been doing it for 20 yrs+ (allegedly)
b)how come he's supposedly worth a bob or two
c)where has the finance come from for this project.(no hint of sponsors & after all you don't attract them if you're crap & unlikely to succeed)
He was probably working on engines while some of the contributors on here were filling their nappies as far as I can see. Sorry if that means you.
andyps said:
havoc said:
I would be very surprised that Honda needed AM's involvement with VTEC...they've been tinkering with it for getting on for 2 decades, and it's always worked very well, thankyou very much.
Al Melling has been designing engines and assisting other companies for more than 20 years as far as I know, so maybe he was the original designer, and has been the tinkerer for it... As I said before, he has pretty strict confidentiality agreements with many companies, so it is possible (but I have no inside info so can't comment specifically).
I for one would be VERY surprised. Honda have been reknowned as engine builders for decades (longer than Melling's been in the industry), and have always been innovative. I'd be VERY surprised if they saw ANY need to bring a (then-unproven) outsider in back in the late-80s when VTEC was being designed. Hell, ANY outsider.
GTWayne said:
Here we have an Englishman (not to mention a damn fine engineer and life long contributor to the motor industry) putting his neck on the line and trying to do something great. Instead of patting him on the back and giving him encouragement most seem keen to kick the fella in the nuts and see him fail. SHAME ON YOU
I think you'll find the majority of this forum have been VERY supportive of UK industry projects and low-volume mfrs (TVR, Noble, Ultima, Marcos, Bristol etc. etc.). But a company needs to have a worthwhile product to deserve support, and that is one of the worst-resolved designs I've ever seen (including Chinese cars!). Plus there's currently little testing been done to (a) prove the claimed figures; (b) prove the reliability; or (c) assess
the chassis ability, handling, high-speed stability, etc. etc.
All we have is a claim about a bleedin' big engine in an ugly car. For hypercar money.
Does anyone else think the power race is going a bit crazy? Maybe I'm just timid, but I can't immagine using a car on any road at much more than 150mph. We've seen atleast 3 1000+bhp monsters in the last 12 months! I'm slightly worried that this will create a void where we currently have supercars, because Ferrari et al wouldn't be seen dead producing anything with less than 800hp and the cost and useability is going to be far worse than a current F430 or 911 turbo. Leaving you with a huge gap between elise style sportscars and 250mph hypercars?
I've a suspicion that "extreme" cars in power or price will always find a (limited) market for those who are sufficiently well-loaded to own just to look at & use v. rarely. Look at the take up of fully-loaded Bentleys, Rollers, Ferraris etc to the Middle East & elsewhere. I agree though that with a few exceptions they may well not be especially driveable on our wonderfully maintained (sic) roads & indeed not suited to them.
Well the doomsayers can go and hide as far as I'm concerned.
I applaud the efforts of a man who wants to build fast cars. The bad critisism isn't really warranted. How many people here build engines and try to release supercars?
Some of you sound like the man who looks at somebody else's nice car and takes the piss, later driving home in his B-reg Fiesta.
I applaud the efforts of a man who wants to build fast cars. The bad critisism isn't really warranted. How many people here build engines and try to release supercars?
Some of you sound like the man who looks at somebody else's nice car and takes the piss, later driving home in his B-reg Fiesta.
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