vector1/jmarsey,
I appreciate your comments, YES, tinkering with design parameters is a risky business, sort of like fooling with mother nature - the ramifications could be catastrophic. But understand, I am not working alone in a vacuum on this stuff -
Wheels: Everything wheel related has already been discussed with Larry & Richard. An 18" rim is transparent to the car, you can buy tires for the 18" that keep the overall diameter within 99% of the 17" configuration. As stated earlier, the backspaces remain unchanged from the 17" spec. In fact, when talking to Larry about this, he actually said the 18" rims would look pretty nice.
Carbon Fiber Drive Shaft: Here, I was not looking for the "weight savings" so much as the efficient transfer of power to the wheels. Have you checked out the ACPT website? Dan Gurney gave them a try back in 1987, says the ACPT carbon fiber drive shaft was a big part of him winning the IMSA championship that year. Always looking to save weight and I'm not done there, but the drive shaft idea wasn't one of them.
Mirrors: The windshield mounted side mirrors was Larry's idea, he said the chassis mount configuration was pretty much useless, the windshield mount was the way to go. That was fine with me, I kind of like the look anyway, and definitely a function over form decision.
In general, I think this build will turn out ok and with some scoot. Somewhat of a departure from the traditional cobra mold, but I knew that going in. As for JBL, since when did they subscribed to conventional cobra thinking when a better snake trap could be built
