How Many Horses Can Fit In A Snake? 1000, If It's "Black Mamba".

Hello Carmrades!

On Sunday 6th of September, I participated in the Euro Time Attack Challenge (European Time Attack Championship) with the Ring Garage Cayman. Since it was the battle for European title, the best, but most importantly the craziest builds of Europe came to the track of Assen in Holland to prove themselves. Since I was racing myself, I had little time to do shooting for an episode, but there was that one car that I just had to tell you about. If you are not convinced: 980 hp on 1120 kg (2 470 lbs) of crazy. Crazy cars are built by crazy people and the proof for that is the video I would like to present to you.

I hope you had a good laugh, and if so, don’t forget to subscribe! Now, to the serious part and more carpron in form of stills and text.

Like I told you in the intro, I have participated myself in the ETAC. I have decided to do so only a couple of weeks in advance, where I understood that I could get a day off. For those who don’t know me well, I work at the Nürburgring and Sundays are those who have been there know that you should avoid Sundays since those are the days that give meaning to the word “Green Hell”. Luckily I had arranged a day off in advance, but some urgent business came up and I had to travel to Russia for a couple of days and flying back in on the day before the race. So this is how my taxi looked like.

Excited, 3 hours later we have arrived in Assen, where I spent time unloading the car, catching up with old friends (I have been in the “Time Attack scene” since 2012”) and getting the car through the scrutineering (tech check) to not have to do it the next morning which allowed me to get some extra hours of sleep after long travel.

Back in the hotel I saw the Black Mamba team, of which I heard before in the ETAC announcements so I was very excited to meet the persons behind the car everyone’s been talking about. After a couple of drinks we have agreed to meet up the next day at their pit box, where I could have a detailed look on their spaceship.

The moment I approached their pit box, without even having a look at the car, I understood it was serious and some records were meant to be broken that day. It was not the silhouette of the car, with its dominant huge rear wing.

It was the size of the team. We’re talking F1 Pit crew here.

Being a racer myself I can tell you that 3 things are important for success: The team, the driver and the material (including car). They are arranged according to their importance. You can have a multi-million euro race car, but with a sh*tty driver it will end up in the first wall. Put a F1 driver in the best car of its class, but not being backed by people who are just as passionate as the driver, then it’s better to stay home. The picture below illustrates the size and performance of the team once again.

While the team was setting up the data analysis center

Andy Papageorgiou, the driver, was analyzing the track. I came to give him some tips, as this was the track I spent 2 days on to get my racing license back in 2011.

Black Mamba, The Daddy of Godzilla

Let’s have a look on the outside first. The first thing that catches your eye instantly is the huge wing that –as stated by the team manager Cos- can fit over 150 Big Macs.

The size becomes the best apparent when you put another car next to it. Here is me and Andy on the track.

The front has also some serious aero to create the necessary downforce.

I like the aggressive, yet stylish look the “snow plow” feature as described by Cos in the video gives to the Black Mamba.

But it’s not about the looks only. Of course it is functional in terms of aero production, but as the name suggests “Time Attack” is about Time, therefore quick access to the insides of the car can make a difference between “fixing problems on time” or “being too late”. Therefore, quick access is essential.

When you look at it from the side, you not only notice it’s size, but also the sexy Braid wheels.

Oh, I almost forgot about the size: 18x12 all around.

The wheels may spin fast, but stopping them from doing so is just as essential. AP Racing 6-pots mono block calipers are there for you when you need them to do the job.

Of course AP’s are not the only thing that you notice when you take the wheels off. “Swedish Gold” Öhlins suspension helps the driver to control almost 1000 horses every inch of the track.

To complete our tour on the outside appearance -although it may be obvious to some- I must underline that every body panel of the car is made our of dry carbon fiber, allowing to achieve low weight of 1120 kg (2470 lbs) which is almost 300 kg (or 660 lbs) less than stock.

Don’t judge the book by its cover.

Which is hard to do in this case, because you already know that the inside must me special after seeing all the details on the outside. Unless we’re talking ricers here, but I still have to meet the first ricer running Motec C125 dash. Oh and those paddles? They are there to operate Drenth 5-speed sequential gearbox.

Okay, okay, I know it already, you want to see “the other inside”. When you “pop the hood” the first thing you notice from any angle, is the custom-made ceramic-coated exhaust manifold which powers the GTX4088R Turbo.

Another thing which is out place is the Peterson Dry Sump system that ensures constant oil pressure at any lateral G-force.

Of course there are also other components inside the engine that we cannot see, but you can read about them in the spec-list below. What matters is that all together they produce a whopping 980 hp.

For the smart people “why not extra 20 to reach 1000”? This can be easily achieved with current components, but fine tuning is not about the numbers, but how they are processed.

Bonus image from that day to get an upvote from Alex:

Spec-list:

Engine spec : (by Nicks Garage Ltd )

Evo 8 oem block 1998cc
Pistons Wiseco HD
Rods K1
crank K1 88 mm
Tomei cams and pulleys
Hks intake
Custom exhaust manifold
Turbo Garrett
External gate turbosmart
pipe connections vibrant
Arp bolts
Spark plugs NGK

Drivetrain

Drenth 5 speed sequential gearbox
The Drive shaft shop all shafts
Ats rear lsd diff
Ats front lsd
upgraded acd unit
Clutch Twin full carbon

Suspension set up by Stevan John glover

Ohlins suspension
Dunlop tires
Race fab control arms and subframes
White line anti roll bars
Ap racing 6 piston mono block front 356mm
Ap racing 4 piston rear 320mm

Interior

Roll cage custom cage
Pedal box by ap racing
Dash motec c125
Seat cobra
Seat belt takata
Fire protection sparco

Body work
Carbon Cy
All intercooler and exhaust fab done by Marios Kofteros

Ecu

Motec m800 tuning done by JP Motis
Cdi motec
Pdm motec
Injectors 2000cc Bosch
Pumps 3x Bosch 044

Performance

980 BHP 900 Nm torque @ 1120 kg (2470 lbs)

Special thanks to Daniel (@daniel_dilla on Instagram) from Team Ewald for the pictures!

Also, me and Black Mamba are going to attend the first round of the Dutch Time Attack Championship on 2nd and 3rd of April 2016 on the track of Zandvoort, so if you have the possibility, make sure to come and say hi or even race yourself: there are also classes that are meant for beginners with near-stock cars! http://www.timeattack.nl/

If you liked this post, please let me know in the comments, so I will keep creating “extra CT-only content” about the heroes of my videos in the future 