RE: Farboud

Friday 23rd January 2004

Farboud

Ted goes behind the scenes in Cambridgeshire to get the full story on the world's newest supercar


Farboud Arash Farboud is a lucky man – and he knows it. From a wealthy background and successful in his own right too, he’s in the fortunate position of having a healthy stash to draw upon to realise his dreams.

Like many of us, his dreams have been dominated by cars. Since visiting Le Mans back in 1998 his particular dream has been of Porsche 911 GT1s. At that time – unable to even dream of buying such a car – he began to investigate the how to acquire the next best thing. Being an ambitious type - and the sort of man who believes anything is possible with hard work - he set about the task himself, despite having no engineering background.

Playing with Foam

Whilst still working within his pharmaceutical business he and a friend set about some foam in a garage and fashioned a body. Many months were spent up to their knees in foam and fibreglass before they reached a point where they were happy. The next job was to drop the new body onto an Ultima chassis and see if they could get a running car. Unable to source the Porsche 911 Twin Turbo motor that he fancied, they acquired a suitable substitute in the shape of an Audi V6 Twin Turbo. A few mods to increase the power and suddenly the project was looking far more exciting than they’d originally imagined. Goaded on by friends, they displayed the car at the Autosport Show and thanks to the shiny brochures they’d produced they suddenly found themselves being treated very seriously.

Farboud The interest in the car spurred Arash on. With the proceeds from the sale of a business lining his pocket he suddenly had real options. As he told me last week, “I had a choice. I could have bought a yacht or pursue my passion for cars.” He did the latter and he did it rather well.

Getting Serious

The GT1 replica wasn’t realistically going to make it as a road car, because of impracticalities and a fairly crude design. Arash’s dreams had progressed though. Having sampled the finer delights of modern exotica – his daily drive is now a 360 – he still had a desire for a special car that took his favourite features from other marques and was assembled using his own recipe. The noises from the engine, the rasp of the exhaust, the handling characteristics, the outlook from the cabin and of course the look of the car itself were all important to him and he hadn’t found his desired balance in other cars.

With his wad of readies he set about building his dream in 2002. Having enjoyed the experience of producing the original Farboud, he now appreciated the importance of getting the experts in for the Farboud GTS. That he did – big time. Dedicated premises were acquired in Norfolk and experienced (but remaining nameless) sports car designers were brought in. With photos of all the great supercars adorning the walls, the team set about producing their own unique look for the car.


Farboud GTS Prototype

That they’ve achieved with great skill. For a brand new design they’ve succeeded in creating a fresh look that works. The design is well balanced, simple and whilst there are hints of other exotica in there, none of them are overbearing enough to detract from the overall look – which is now the ‘Farboud’ look.

Bring in the Experts

As the design progressed, further skills were brought in to design and construct the chassis and associated components. At the peak of the prototyping period, twenty-five people were employed to bring the concept to reality. Fabricators, chassis builders, welders, machinists, stylists, admin staff – it had become a busy project.

   

Experts consultants were used to solve the ever tricky problems of door design and hingeing, drainage etc. Wind tunnel testing was done at MIRA, the car was taken to Lotus for them to sort the handling and the Audi V6 was stripped and rebuilt with enough boost on the turbos to give 580bhp!

All this remember was really just to fulfil Arash’s dream of having his own supercar. Selling more cars, long term production and sales weren’t something that was high on the priority list.

Farboud GTS In just over a year Farboud had designed and constructed a running super car. It wasn’t cheap though. The development budget was £3 million. That’s still cheaper than handing it over to an external consultancy or manufacturer though and for a beginner in the industry the end result is mightily impressive.

Many have assumed that the car was a cheap GRP body on a spaceframe chassis – like a ready built kit car. Nothing could be further from the truth; this is a finely constructed car using contemporary technology.

Development Complete

So with £3m invested and ongoing costs still considerable it was time to take stock at Farboud. The ‘playing at cars’ idea had now gone a bit far. Lots of money spent and they had a fine product. The Farboud family now had to to look at the long term viability of the company as a self financing business rather than a hobby.

The development staff were no longer needed and the headcount was slashed from twenty five down to four.  Rumours of the company going bust were rife after this, as Arash moved the project to a new facility that he’d bought in Cambridgeshire. The spotless workshops became home to the prototype, and the two production cars.

With their financial hats on, the Farbouds set about shaping a business plan involving minimal overheads and reasonable profitability in order to secure a long term future for the project as a viable business, rather than as an expensive hobby.

Pricing

Farboud GTS With that in mind the pricing of the cars came under scrutiny. An original list price of £150,000 for the 580bhp version was seen by many as ambitious - particularly for a new marque. Alternative power plants were looked at with a view to reducing the costs. The Mustang V8 looked like it could be the engine of choice but its sheer bulk compared to the Audi V6 eventually ruled that out.

The decision was made to detune the car to a ‘mere’ 400bhp and to revisit the specification of the whole car. With the original having been so well over-engineered, it’s not been a problem to step back and produce a car that can compete in the £70K price bracket. Yes, it’s up against 911’s and Ferraris, but it’s a much more serious proposition at that price than it was at £150K. If you want the monster power version then just say so – it’s still available to those with the readies.

Production plans are conservative. Farboud plans a handful of cars this year. Having achieved so much in such a short time, they’re now going to enter the production phase at a more sedate pace, ensuring that the lucky first customers get what they want and that feedback is fed quickly back into the design.

Ramping Up Slowly

Farboud GTS Production may then increase to twenty cars or so next year but stability is the current goal in order to provide a firm foundation for moving forwards and taking full advantage of the great product they have.

The first customer car is destined for Monaco into the hands of a top bike racer and is sure to come under the scrutiny of some of the other car and bike racers resident there. Other orders are on the books and as the car gets more media coverage, its success can only snowball.

Farboud GTS In the meantime Farboud will still have those trying to shoot him down. A certain air of suspicion and envy seems to have followed him around as the project has progressed. He’s approached things from an unconventional angle and rattled some cages along the way. I for one wish him the best of luck. He’s achieved a fantastic amount in a short time and the product deserves to succeed. Time will tell. I hope we’re witnessing a the birth of a new marque to rival the established players. We’ll be watching progress eagerly.

Links : www.farboud.com , PistonHeads.TV Video

Author
Discussion

chim450

Original Poster:

1,452 posts

260 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
You can see the influence of the 360 in its design, a bit too much like it if you ask me.

dazren

22,612 posts

260 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Look forward to seeing the test reports when published. The grey looks fantastic (last piccy on report).

DAZ

MILF

1,209 posts

244 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Hmmm....reminds me of the stillborn Lotus M250.

PetrolTed

34,424 posts

302 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Come on guys, look beyond the styling. Yes there are hints of other cars in there but then every manufacturer is accused of that when we publish pics of a new car.

He is a man who has engineered from scratch a new supercar. Yes, we've yet to test it but from what I've seen so far I have every faith that it will be great.

I'd like to see this British company taking the fight to Ferrari in ten years time!

dinkel

26,884 posts

257 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
chim450 said:
You can see the influence of the 360 in its design, a bit too much like it if you ask me.


MILF said:
Hmmm....reminds me of the stillborn Lotus M250.


Looks like this, looks like that . . . I wonder if the wife looked like Cameron Diaz would you complain? I'm looking forward to the review. Side by side with the 360 on track?

PetrolTed

34,424 posts

302 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all

LuS1fer

41,083 posts

244 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
So would I but with Brits being xenophobic by nature, I can't help thinking Farboud isn't the catchiest of names.

Lotus sounds great. Can you imagine driving a Chapman Elise? Thought not.

cobaltdawn

9 posts

252 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
My only concern is the name, sounds too foreign, but the car it's self looks good, especially in grey.

>> Edited by cobaltdawn on Friday 23 January 13:21

mr_yogi

3,278 posts

254 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Well at least the name Farboud's not up it's own arse, asking to get shot down like FBS (is that right?)

>> Edited by mr_yogi on Friday 23 January 13:26

>> Edited by mr_yogi on Friday 23 January 13:27

wedgepilot

819 posts

282 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Anyone else spot the brown stains on the driver's seat? It must be an exciting drive!

dinkel

26,884 posts

257 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
PetrolTed said:
Video on PistonHeads.TV



I mean 'review' as drive this F-thingie. The PHTV bite is like looking at the F while headbanging. Like the article pics best.

wedgepilot said:
Anyone else spot the brown stains on the driver's seat? It must be an exciting drive!


It's the Vauxhall-logo on the wheel that confuses me most . . .

>> Edited by dinkel on Friday 23 January 13:44

PetrolTed

34,424 posts

302 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Agreed, video wasn't the best quality, but I'm still learning there.

We will have a road test in due course.

dinkel

26,884 posts

257 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
PetrolTed said:
Agreed, video wasn't the best quality, but I'm still learning there.

We will have a road test in due course.


O Ted, can I hold the camera pls?

greg_d

6,542 posts

245 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
I wish him every luck, the car looks great, BUT Arash appears to have significantly changed his tune since his quest began. In the beginning (the GT1 Period)he said that the project was very finance led and cash was only allocated as and when certain criteria had been met, not the hooray henry jolley hockey sticks weekend racer who decided to build a few mentality as you suggest. Smells of damage limitation to me

As you know Ted, you can't believe everything you are told

PetrolTed

34,424 posts

302 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Fair do's... There's no doubt they've sunk a lot of money into this.

veewhy

708 posts

251 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
I'm with Ted on this one, Arash needs some encouragement for his venture, the guy could have just pissed is money into the ocean buying yachts, etc. But he is living the dream that Messrs Ferrari and Porsche, Chapman and others have. We're all little boys under the bonnet, so if nothing else, lets give him the thumbs up for daring to take the risk to bring another supercar to life. some say it looks like a 360, but to me from the front it looks more like a Carrera GT (bonnet area) melding into a 360, moving along the flanks it starts to become an Ascari/Maclaren F1, yes it may be a somewhat odd confection, but not bad for his first 'real' attempt.

greg_d

6,542 posts

245 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Who's money!!!!!!

His dad's money (I'm not being snidey, it was his father's pharmaceutical business not Arash's)

He simply came up with a business plan that his father financed.

That said, the boy has done EXTREMELY well, the product looks the business, not at all kit carish. I just fear that people will find safer harbours with which to deposit their hard earned into (911 turbo anyone)

I for one hope that he sells at least enough to stay in business, he deserves that much!!!!!

stevenrt

141 posts

269 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
Build my Elan successor instead of another rich man's toy!

For less than £3m you could have had a bespoke 1.5 litre 150 hp flat 4 Scotch Yoke engined developed for it, forming the heart of a >12,000 Nm/degree, <650 kg, < £15,000 car. The price of a Miata (MX5) with more than twice the torsional rigidity and nearly less than half the weight. What the Strathcarron should have been, except a dirty bike engine was never going to work, and no car engine will let you meet the weight target .

You have to bite the bullet and develop a bespoke engine, which Lotus refused to do for the Elise because they didn't think they could make their money back (and they were right). You need someone who is willing to pay for the engine development out of passion (since you won't make your money back with the numbers you would sell), which is what Farboud did for his supercar project, but this way he could have had an ongoing business selling a few thousand Elan successors a year to average people, a more profitable and egalitarian approach than selling a handful of supercars (if that) to a few rich people in Monaco.

Aside from the Noble M12 I can't think of another unknown car brand succeeding in the premium sports segment, and the M12 was originally significantly cheaper than the usual suspects (911 etc...).

Also, I'm convinced the only reason the M12 took off the way it did was the enthusiastic reviews Jeremy Clarkson gave it. It may well be a great car, but without Clarkson's reviews it wouldn't have succeeded. For some reason this man seems to have a Svengali like grip over you people in the U.K., I'm sure if he dropped a turd and stuck four little wheels on it and declared it "The best car I have driven in my life" sales would go through the roof (in the U.K.).

My advice to Farboud: be nice to Jeremy.

>> Edited by stevenrt on Friday 23 January 15:16

Dick Dastardly

8,312 posts

262 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
It must be fun to drive, someone $hat themself:




Seriously though well done Farboud. That's one good looking motor!



>> Edited by Dick Dastardly on Friday 23 January 15:14

RichB

51,430 posts

283 months

Friday 23rd January 2004
quotequote all
PetrolTed said:
Come on guys, look beyond the styling.
Don't know what you mean Ted, we'd never do that would we? Like we never criticised the Future of British Sports cars... (FBS) did we? Actually it looks pretty good in a sort of Noble, Lotus sort of way, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Rich...