Vector W8 Twin Turbo and other toys.

[Vectorw8015]

djt100 said:

Like other posters, I have Nothing to add, except

I don't care if it can do 99mph or 242mph, it's just a dam cool car, I remember these from magazines from being a kid. One until your thread I had forgotten about, but also at the time going back, I didn't realize they actually made any. So seeing one actually owned by one is amazing.

Like another poster has asked, If you would allow us Brits a moment to dribble on our keyboards, an Onboard video or walk around with a little throttle blip here and there would go down a storm I'm sure.

Thanks for posting

I will see what I can do about a video. There are several videos on my car currently on Youtube. If you look up Vector W8 they will pop up. I did shoot a quick video of an exterior walk around for a friend of mine. The audio on it is just me commenting to him.

Thank you for reading my posts. I appreciate everyone on here. We are all car guys.

Edited by Vectorw8015 on Tuesday 26th February 17:13

[Vectorw8015]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0XgJYS0KsU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxwfLkqx2dg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3iXs2zD7J0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQLIi09PIhw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jI6fTTjkA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyC3XEXuJRM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MoEVX4-fKs

Here are a few videos of my car 015 and one of 016 when she was on Top Gear America.

[Vectorw8015]

Du1point8 said:

Sweet... I love the Vector..

What stories can you tell us of the other models out there inc your W8?

Also do you have any nice pictures of the other models?

I have several photos of our days in production. I also have quite a few photos W2, AWX3 and AWX3R.
I will upload a few of them once I am back home.

[Vectorw8015]

pSyCoSiS said:

What an absolute honour and privilege it must be to have worked on and own one of the most iconic cars in automotive history.

A stunning looking, futuristic machine with some unbelievable stats to go with it.

Hats off to you OP!

Thank you.

[Vectorw8015]

Gary C said:

Tell us how it drives

Hi Gary,

The car drives very well. I have set the suspension up a little firmer than what was the factory set up. The suspension is fully adjustable. But it is very compliant over bumps. In its current configuration it pulls 1.25g on the skid pad, so it corners very well. The car is fairly light for its size, Just over 3200 lbs. The car is extremely wide and you are always conscientious of this when you drive her. And due to her tall gearing she is not as quick out of the hole as some of her contemporaries. With a 3 speed gear box first gear is good for over 80 mph so she is very long in the tooth, but with 650 ftlbs of torque she still gets up and goes. 2nd gear is good for 160+ mph. Her top end is rather boundless and she gets there rather quickly. Adding octane and boost helps a little but she can do it all at only 8lbs of boost. So the extra is just overkill for most.

I have driven McLaren F1's, which are a fun but dicey car to drive the rear end always wants to lead the way. She is more like a EB110 SS in the way she drives and handles. The Jag XJ220 feels a little more cumbersome just due to her length and the front end tends to load up in the corners.

But she is comparable to all of the above. She was the first supercar on the planet and was dubbed so back 20+ years ago as a way to separate her from the cars of the day. She is still very relevant today from a performance and handling perspective.

I still enjoy her after all this time. I still think she is one of the prettiest cars ever designed. Her body lines have held up well when you consider that they are over 35 years old.

[Vectorw8015]

W8 said:

They drive fantastic! The front is very light , with ultra responsive steering, and the ride is actually very compliant, not hard. A great exhaust note, and great sound when backing off the throttle and the wastegates kick in. Turbo lag is very low. Here’s a pic of another W8 in graphite gray at a recent Concours event.

Bill's car 001.

[Vectorw8015]

David Kostka and Derek with 016 at the Peterson Museum.

Edited by Vectorw8015 on Thursday 28th February 16:31

[Vectorw8015]

Hagerty the magazine has Vector W8 #001 featured in the new issue. Still finding her way in to magazine articles 26 years later.

Edited by Vectorw8015 on Friday 1st March 17:10

[Vectorw8015]

A set of photos from the W2 years, sorry for not publishing more, but I have not shown these to many people over the past 30+ years. I may want to write a book in the retirement years. So these photos are of 400 N Marine. The main assembly area. The reason I note this is because the next set of photos are from the same building as we were building the last W8, car 018 which is technically the 17th production car, which is a story for another time. But you will note how much the facilities had changed over the years.

[Vectorw8015]

Getting closer to the end of days at Vector. Car 018 being assembled. The last W8 ever built.

[Vectorw8015]

And for those of you who wondered how we transferred power to the ground. A very heavily modified TH425. The only stock part of it was the aluminium case. Everything beyond the case was completely custom. The drive belt was more than twice the size of the stock chain. Valve body, clutch packs. Input and output shafts, bands and drums etc all custom. The differential, our own design. A beast. Helical cut gears and a Gleason Torsen limited slip differential. It's own wet sump oil pump.

Edited by Vectorw8015 on Monday 4th March 10:14

[Vectorw8015]

A few shots of the differential in the car. You could lick the bottom of my car and you would get it dirty.

[Vectorw8015]

A few other images of my car.

[Vectorw8015]

[Vectorw8015]

A few interior photos

[Vectorw8015]

samoht said:

Thanks for the pics, very insightful - especially the gearbox and diff. Very clever to use the design of the transaxle gearbox from the Toronado, but without turning the drive through 90 degrees as it did - yielding a neat and compact drivetrain package, without sitting the engine right over the wheels a la Muira, or turning the drive through 90 degrees twice like the Cizeta.

Do you happen to know what the front/rear weight balance is?

45% Front
55% Rear

[Vectorw8015]

UnluckyTimmeh said:

What are the button all down the sill/side of the seat?

I’m guessing seat adjustment and it look like mirror adjustment? But what are the others?

Many thanks for all the info so far. It’s fascinating

Buttons on the sill side of the seat are for the mirrors and the windows.

[Vectorw8015]

RichardAJB said:

Great thread; thank you to the OP for taking the time & trouble to introduce us to his car & an event in automotive history.

I've been a fan for years since I first read about the W8 in CAR magazine & vividly remember the comments made about the comparative Italian & German "crap". Given the advanced aerospace technologies used by the car, I can see where Jerry was coming from now.

Although I'll never get to own a real one, the black 1:18 scale Ricko W8 I have in my collection is a keeper!

Looking forward to the book; put me down for a copy.

A coupe of further points from my now-dimmed memory banks that haven't-yet been mentioned:

What is the truth behind the reported "shoot-out" at the original factory, I assume at the time of the hostile take-over?

I read that another famous owner was Andre Agassi; didn't he own a yellow W8 trimmed with Ostrich skin? I also seem to remember he took delivery early of the car & "cooked" the engine.

No actual shoot out or gun fire, just armed guards posted at each building to keep out Megatech personnel during the hostile takeover.

Andre had a few hours of ownership with a W8. He purchased car 005 which internally was later referred to as 014A after it was repaired.
He and his brother had a infamous run in the car which was not finished (had a 2 core shop radiator in it while waiting for the production part).
We provided a refund and he never took delivery of the car after it was finished. The current owner loves the car and he is in Florida. The car is Black.

012 the Yellow car with Ostrich skin leather was originally spec'ed and delivered to a pharmaceutical giant in Texas, Later sold to Wayne S. in Florida, who did some very strange things to the car. It was then sold to Tony T. In California who did a whole bunch more to it taking it even further from original. He then sold it to a Gentleman in Italy. The car is now being slowly restored by him back to its original glory.

Edited by Vectorw8015 on Thursday 14th March 16:34

Edited by Vectorw8015 on Thursday 14th March 16:34

[Vectorw8015]

Finally got a copy of Haggarty the magazine. It was a good little article on Jerry and a nice spotlight for Bills car. A good read.

[Vectorw8015]

Out for a moment to swap spaces on the lift in the garage for her annual oil change and prep for the Concourse at the Inn at St. John on July 28th.