haha I also went back to facebook and liked the page myself xD
An announcement about the rumoured Nightfury Track Day Special is imminent! Expect it to be of interest to serious enthusiasts and top end competition drivers…
I’m genuinely impressed with your concept sketches, great work! 
What an awesome write-up! I honestly don’t like hatches (although I drive a sport compact), but I want one of those just to say I have it! hahaha Great job!
These Sketches are simply AMAZING! Keep up the good work!
So it’s been a bit quiet in the GG factory lately. There’s no official news of the rumoured release of the road legal Nightfury, and the office is keeping pretty tight lipped about a certain suspicious silhouette covered in drapes in the garage… But more audible exclanations of “2371!?”, “435.4!!”, and quite distinctly, “under seven!!”, have been heard from the engineering department. Who knows what they might mean?
Perhaps we’re due to find out in the coming week.
Could all these snippets belong TO THE SAME CAR!?
Finally some solid news has come through the office! Contrary to appearances, it turns out that the team has been very busy indeed:
[size=200]A[/size] few weeks ago, Gryphon Gear joined forces with powerhouses Smolensk Tuning, Stryker, and DQE Speed Academy to form the World Rally Team. In a combined effort, the WRT (split into Turbo and Naturally Aspirated divisions) had some success in the recent Bavarian Rallye Challenge, winning the tournament with both their Turbo cars (the NA cars, while further adrift, were the fastest NA cars overall).
The win was not without controversy, as inspection of the winning car revealed a very unorthodox suspension setup, which, while perfectly compliant with the regulations, was entirely counterintuitive in that the car would have spent most of the time in the corners riding on the front bump stops as the car completely lacked front sway bars.
The engineers at Gryphon Gear immediately analysed the data gained from the rally and applied it to the tuning of GG’s debut track prototype, the Nightfury, resulting in a more stable (yes, more stable, read below) ride and, most importantly, better times around the track.
We are deeply appreciative of the time and effort that went into organising the tournament, as well as the community spirit displayed throughout. Given our wholly positive experience and valuable lessons gained, GG is pleased to continue its involvement in WRT, which is currently planning to host a successive event.
Stay tuned for the next Rallye!
[size=200]T[/size]he conception of such a company as Gryphon Gear is fraught with danger: many an aspiring supercar company starts with a significant initial investment of capital, and a lofty idea that causes a fluttering among the world of auto journalism and eager onlookers… only for the company to fold and disappears without a trace, often without even building their concept. Of those that have survived the test of time, many start out as being performance tuning houses that go on to create their own models that are based upon an existing model… and still most of them continuously teeter on the verge of bankruptcy.
What’s more, GG has opted to take an even more dangerous route, attempting to open up a market in those who are not just wealthy and want to drive fast, but wealthy and hardcore enough to forgo everything in the pursuit of speed. This market is usually only populated by those who want to get into serious competition, who have some funds and maybe sponsorship but don’t have the means to take it to the larger corporate teams. What this means is that to attract attention of eager punters, one has to build a car that doesn’t just promise to blow rivals away, but to deliver.
For all these reasons, GG started out as a super-specialised original concept car manufacturer, and providing performance solutions to race teams. We’re very pleased to announce that our mad creations have debuted with such strong response that we have secured the sponsorship, which, coupled with our alliance that brings considerable expertise and resources to the table, will help take this company to the next stage of producing road-legal track monsters unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
Which brings us to the Nightfury Track Day Special. As soon as the prototype had been built and driven, the idea was floated by the test drivers as they emerged from the prototype, sweaty, wobbly at the knees and looking like they had seen a glimpse of the afterlife, which is understandable given they had just rocketed around Nordschleife in 6:13 from a standing start and taken every corner at speeds approaching that of an F1 car. We’ve handed the keys to the journalist, and await their verdict, but needless to say we’re confident that it’ll blow him away…
What will follow below is our official press release and the spec sheet for the car, but first, the final segment in this update:
[size=200]I[/size]t seems that performance in supercars (and hypercars) “divided” into two streams for a while: things that go fast in a straight line, and things that go fast around a track (which still go fast in a straight line but nowhere near as fast, and may have tricks like active aero). The Nightfury itself is an example of the latter, taken to the ultimate extreme, for it generates over 2 tons of downforce @ 200km/h, but the resulting drag is so high it can’t even reach 300km/h despite having nearly 1400hp.
Let us then consider for a moment that a Bugatti Veyron SuperSport can hit 431km/h, but it can “only” pull 0.99g around a corner. Meanwhile, it’s expected that the new hypercars can easily blitz around Nordschleife in under seven minutes, but their top speeds are more in the ballpark of 350km/h. The one car that seeks to rule them all is the Koenigsegg Agera One:1, with a million tricks up its sleeve (including a variable geometry turbo and active undertray aero, bespoke Michelin tyres with a rear width of 345mm, and a monocoque carbon fibre chassis that weighs just 60kg)… and wishes to be referred to as a Megacar, because it has a megawatt of power.
…well you know what? Gryphon Gear specialises in producing MegaCars. So we’re going back to the old school with no active aero and funky turbo bells and whistles, and we’ll show you how to turn a regular chassis into a Megacar that will out-drag absolutely everything road-legal* and still do the 'Ring in less than seven minutes, [size=85]and probably give you an involuntary bowel motion in the process[/size].
*[size=75]Wouldn’t bet on actually using this for your daily drive though, with a fuel economy of 45L/100km…[/size]
Onward we go! Until next time.
1 Like
Gryphon Gear is pleased to present to you the maddest road legal car you will ever drive, the Nightfury Track Day Special. It’s (somehow) road legal, but already comes fitted with just about everything you need to take to the top tiers of international motorsport competition.
We worked in consultation with genius tuning company Stryker to produce an integrated aero solution that complemented the all carbon fibre monocoque chassis and skin. The result was a street-legal native wide body capable of exerting up to 2.5 tonnes at 200km/h! It comes with road-legal sport tyres, a default ride height of just under 150mm (just enough to clear a speed bump and not scrape the splitter when backing the car out of your driveway), superlight bucket seats with 4 point harness, certified rollcage that will pass any standard safety inspection, automatic fire retart system, and an Electronic Stability Control system (with electronically assisted steering, ABS, TC and DSC) that can be fully deactivated. All you need to do is drive to the track, take off the plates and mirrors (they have a special fast release clip mechanism), change the tyres (mandatory if you want to compete anyway), flip the ESC switch, and you’re ready to dominate in a range of modern categories such as rallycross, gymkhana, time attack, hillclimb and touge, and even quarter mile drag.
The powerplant is the detuned version (to take 98RON) of our naturally aspirated 10.9L V8, the Big Bertha 109x8, which, at about 1370hp, even with the extra weight of the safety measures, yields a hp:kg ratio of over 1:1 (technically making this one of the ultrarare Megacars). Mated to a dual clutch short geared 5 speed racing manual transmission with short throws that carries over 1200hp to all 4 wheels, the acceleration is face-meltingly fast and it will outgun any supercar or hypercar all the way up to its aero-limited top speed of 260km/h and run a 9s quarter-mile. Stopping is no slouch either, with cross drilled ceramic disc brakes carefully balanced for neutral bias that will stop it from 100km/h in 25.3m. Going round corners, this car, with passive aero and suspension setup that was stiffened to cope with the stresses of the aero package, will pull 1.85g on sport compound tyres.
Put shortly, this is the fastest ever production car around a track, which is why I have chosen to include the quote above, uttered by none other than McLaren’s Programme Director, Alexander McKenzie. We’ve taken an even more extreme approach in sacrificing top speed for something that moves so fast you won’t even have time to look at the speedo (though if you’d like, you could, and then get very scared).
What about price and availability? Gryphon Gear is a small company of only a few dozen people with some bespoke engineering affiliates, and at nearly 4000 man hours of labour in each car, numbers will be extremely limited as we would only be capable of producing one car every week or so. In fact, this release is in a way a make or break gamble for the company, for future production of this car will depend on initial interest. Should the first few months of production prove to be fruitful, the windfall will enable us to expand our team membership and utilise our factory to its potential, and we may even be able to produce enough cars to gain eligibility to enter even more codes of racing competition. Because of this, we aim to keep the price of the car as close to its production costs as possible, and supplement our budget with funding from partnerships with racing development teams, and corporate sponsorship. Nonetheless, due to the extreme precision, intensive manufacturing processes, and ultimate quality of the materials, this car will set buyers back approximately 900K AUD each (excluding local taxes).
For that price though, we do take customisation orders for little extra cost, where you can choose to either leave the carbon fiber skin as is but lacquered, or painted with any finish available in the world. The example that you are driving now is our plant’s very own Nightfury livery, the iridescent hues reflecting the colours and markings of the dragon.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Drivetrain:
10.9L DOHC DI 40v Naturally Aspirated V8
1012.9kw @ 8400rpm
1342Nm @ 6100rpm
Power/ton: 780.6kw/1046.9hp
5 spd double clutch manual w/ short throw quick shifter
Performance:
0-100km/h: 2.2s
0-200km/h: 5.0s
Quarter mile: 9.0s @ 243km/h
Top speed: 259.8km/h
100-0km/h: 25.1m
Chassis:
Layout: AWD
Seats: 2 superlight racing bucket
Body/frame: Carbon fiber monocoque chassis and skin
Steering: 2WS rack & pinion, variable electric assist (can be disabled)
Tires: sport compound road 265/25R16, 325/20R16
Suspension: Double wishbone, front and rear
Brakes: Front: 325mm slotted rotors, ceramic pads, 4 pistons, Rear: 265mm slotted rotors, ceramic pads, 1 piston
Dimensions:
Ride height: 148.1mm
Wheelbase: 2381mm
Track Width: 1512mm
Curb Weight: 1297.5kg
Weight Distribution: 58.6F/41.4R
Safety:
ABS, TCS, DSC (can be disabled)
4 point harness
Full rollcage
Fuel cell
FIA approved integrated AFFF system
Curtain airbags
We hope you enjoy the Nightfury TDS. This car will redefine production car racing, which is what we as a company aim to do, any time, all the time.
2 Likes
drools drools some more… 
I couldn’t help but notice a couple of mistakes in what you have written. You say it has a FR layout when in the text you say it is AWD, and it has a fire retart system (I know what you mean by it, but does this make fire tartier… Again? 
)
Can’t wait to do your review on this. I am only concentrating on doing the special reviews now so you are the next one Wizzy and I are working on. I hope you like it when it is done
Thanks Cheeseman. I think it’s past my bedtime! How on earth did I forget it was AWD LOL 
I shall eagerly await review! In the meantime brace yourselves for an even scarier car 
Your thread is the gem of the forums, I’m sure countless numbers of us are envious of your skills, keep going strong!
Thanks pleb. I’m very much looking foward to the next few days because I’m off work for a bit, and I can’t wait to get the next concept sketch done
i’m coming for you and your fancy laser technology 3D printed whatever with my hammer and saw, Koenigsegg!
Damn son, that drawing is sexy as hell… again!
I would love to see this car eat mileage on a track!
Are you ready for this?
[size=200]T[/size]he words used to describe the fastest cars of this era are proliferating with wild abandon. Where once the “supercar” of the '60s was a mix of futuristic madness, poor visibility, and what many of us might euphemistically refer to as “character”, now we have “supercar” to designate your “typical mainstream” fast car that only rich people can purchase, but we also have “hypercar” to describe the new generation of hybrid petrol-electric madmobiles, namely the Porsche 918 Spyder (with it’s crazy geometric AWD power redistribution), the McLaren P1 (with active aero), and the Ferrari LaFerrari (which you can only borrow to drive if you already own 5 other Ferraris… typical Ferrari). Though we must not forget my personal favourite which never made it to the dealership, the Jaguar C-X75. Go look it up, it’s a beautiful thing.
These cars apparently redefine the way we think about speed and fast cars. They (and you may have read several iterations of this) epitomise a consummate but diverse approach to how to make a car go fast etc. etc. And Swedish car manufacturer Koenigsegg reckons it has them beat with the Agera One:1, the first production car to boast a 1hp:1kg ratio. It also has some ridiculous tricks like a 3D printed turbo that changes shape throughout the rev range, yielding almost no lag and a torque of >1000nM from 3000-8000rpm. It also has a carbon fibre frame so light it weighs just 60kg, and of course, adaptable aero. What sorcery is this!
In short, there’s a lot of redefining going on, so much so that we may run out of superlatives with which to prefix our cars. One might think that in order to get any more extreme with road car performance, you’d either have to reinvent the wheel… or sell your soul to the devil.
…allow me to digress for a moment…
[size=200]I[/size]n 1922, a nutjob by the name of Ernest Eldridge somehow crammed a plane engine into a car (after lengthening the car with bits from a bus). Two years later, he drove the car-bus-plane thing to a land speed record of just about 235km/h. If you imagine what post WW-1 race cars were like: rickety narrow things with an open cabin and no harness, you can imagine that 235km/h in one of these death traps would have been quite the thing!
The car’s name was the Fiat Mefistofele. It’s still in working condition, having featured in the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Mephistopheles himself is a well known literary figure of legend: the agent to the Devil himself, the one whom a certain Faust sold his soul to. Mephistopheles even warned Faust against signing the deed, but Faust insisted, already corrupted by his desires for pleasure. So it was proclaimed by a fallen angel, in Christopher Marlowe’s reworking of the legend, as Faust lay on his death bed terrified of his impending fate, that “He who craves pleasure must for pleasure fall.”
In the opening statement for this company, I have written in brief of the visceral nature of our desires for speed and power. There are those who are gripped by this need, that has them dicing with death, to the point they cross the threshold in a fiery inferno. Yet that does not stop us from tempting ourselves, perhaps damned by our inescapable urges.
What I shall present to you next, is the epitome of all these things. The unholy covenant that unifies the hallmarks of modern performance: it will easily out-drag a Hennessey Venom, 9ff GT-9R, you name it. It will match the top speed for the fastest world production car in the world. And it will lap Nordschleife in less than 7 minutes, all on sports compound road tyres. That is, if it doesn’t drag you to Hell first.
Behold, the Ascension Mephisto!
Don’t be scared, she won’t bite. Wait, who am I kidding LOLOLOLOLOLOL
In name, it pays homage to the legends that preceded it. In design, it takes visual cues from the raw aggression of American Muscle, to the sleek seduction of the European Supercars, to form a malevolent speed demon. The side profile shows you the elongated teardrop shapes the frame is based on, and looking at the 3/4 rear view will demonstrate how the rear wheel arch and flare has been shaped in the form of a demon wing. This car looks evil. There’s no way it isn’t up to no good.
Perhaps the proof lies in the showpiece of this car, the untamed dual turbocharged 6.8L V8 I managed to squeeze into the engine bay, which I simply named the Power 68f8T
Yes, it runs hot. But as some would say, so does Hell
This would actually be like cramming a plane engine into a car, because that’s the kind of power output you’d see on a turbo-prop. I care not for simply achieving the magical One:1 ratio, rather, I just wanted to squeeze as much power out of the biggest possible engine, and came up with this total badass. It originally put out 2373hp, then I detuned it slightly, and fixed the turbo so that it had more useable power and spooled a little earlier, with good effect on the car’s acceleration. Too bad I don’t have the technology to make this fast and economical at the same time, [size=85]then again really when an engine’s built to put out 2300hp since when was it ever going to be about economy…[/size] You could say from the engine alone I have Wrath and Gluttony covered, but there was never any room for Sloth and Envy is for the others.
This all said and done, it’s now time to show you what the Automation model looks like.
That’s right, this car is doing 324km/h by the quarter mile at 8.5s. So that means that the 0-300 time…
Forget Megawatt, this is more like Mega-WHAT? The Power is coupled to a 6 speed original (a quadruple plate wet dual clutch system we had to develop in-house because nothing previously existing could handle the torque) fully customisable transmission set to tall low gearing (the GG tuning preference) that directs over 2000hp to all four wheels (because we figured that 2300hp to only two wheels on the road would be so deadly it’d be illegal). If you wanted to shave a few hundredths off the 0-100 time you could change the ratios, but we wouldn’t advise it since the car would then wheelspin through the first three gears with the TC on, and frankly, in a car that does 0-300 in 8.0s and actually reaches its top speed of 437km/h along Döttinger Höhe, we don’t see the point in a 0-100 time. Though that said in its factory preset, it’ll easily match a Hennessey Venom off the line, so there. It’s more the fact this car’s 100-200 and 200-300 times are almost identical to the 0-100 time that makes this car truly terrifying. Not to mention, with the same kind of custom composite ceramic disc brakes that stop the Nightfury TDS, this demon stops even faster than it goes.
Technicalities aside, what I’m truly proud of is the utterly unique styling of this car. While it follows a very similar design language of big grilles and aggressive lines that reflects Gryphon Gear’s racing roots, it takes style as an entirely new entity. But rather than rest at that bold claim, I’ll take you for a tour of its features, and you can judge for yourself:
This is just a detail showing the daytime running LED lights, as shown in the original concept sketch.
The ultra-aggressive styling of the bonnet is actually purely strategic, to maximise airflow to the engine. Truth is that the venting is almost enough to keep up with the engine, but the 437km/h top speed is achieved with the Drag Reduction System activated (i.e. closing the vents slightly). When fully opened, the top speed drops to 434km/h… but the MTBF doubles. [size=85]We recommend only using the DRS when you actually want to break a landspeed record.[/size]
Detail of the door handle abutting the sweeping “demon wing” flare of the rear wheel housing. I can tell you now that the inspiration for this styling actually came from the Nissan 370Zm though I was hoping to achieve a bit more subtlety, or congruency, seeing as subtle isn’t really a word I’d ever use in the vicinity of the Mephisto.
The rear bodywork sweeps downward towards the exhaust housing, which packs four massive pipes coming from giant 6" twin exhausts. I took the liberty of lighting up the LED array to show you the format.
Finally, a side profile to show you how the body comes together. I decided against flaring the front, mainly because on this chassis, maximum performance is achieved with sub-maximal front tyre width (245mm to be precise). That’s because this car isn’t just a straight line sprinter, but can also go around corners, so balancing contact grip with friction with weight loads became equally important.
Having said all that, I assume you’d be wanting some proof that this car can mix it with the very best, right? Well, here you go:
This is after I added some actual cabin trim and properly moulded racing seats (which came to 7kg all up, so there’s no niceties like cup holders or vanity mirrors or woodgrain dash or all that dash, just the carbon fiber the whole chassis is made up of, and an actual attempt at proper dials and central console where you can set the Electronic Stability Control settings), and put in some safety (though, er, I would hasten to add that it’s fairly perfunctory since if you crash in a car this fast chances are you’ll probably die anyway…) actually on that note, what ARE the stats on this car?
That’s… not that bad actually. In prototype form, with the 2373hp engine, this car had a tameness of about 12. Of course, a tameness:sporty ratio of 24:107 is still pretty extreme… even more than the Nightfury’s ratio of 64:157, but that’s mainly the work of an extreme turbo torque curve for you.
Supercar, hypercar, megacar, whatever! The only thing that matters is: Will this car match all the other supercars out there, or prove much more? Might it be too much to handle? These we cannot answer for you, only you can grapple with the question yourself, if you dare. All in all, should the Nightfury TDS achieve its commercial goals and our upcoming plans for racing involvement (as yet unannounced) bear fruit, we may be able to announce a limited production run in a similar fashion to that of the Nightfury… if there are more than 25 certifiably insane people in the world however, we may have to get creative with the customer preorder selection process, unless we can be persuaded that it would be viable to produce more…
We estimate a starting price of 2M AUD, keeping in mind that our technologically superior benchmark (that the Mephisto would hang onto in the bends, then blow away on the straights), the Koenigsegg Agera One:1, sold for approximately 2.4M USD. Should the car proceed to production, we shall publish a full specification sheet on release.
[size=200]T[/size]he eternal question remains: to succumb to temptation and receive eternal damnation, or to resist it and never know the pleasures within? The prospect tantalises, even tortures the poor souls whose eyes alight upon the frame of the Mephisto, and then linger… The heart quickens, the mouth goes dry and the palms sweat imagining what lies beneath the bonnet, beyond the gas pedal, within the chariot that will deliver you through the gates of Hell.
1 Like
bloody amazing… mixture of aston martin one, r32, and pagani zonda?
You’re better than Jeremy Clarkson.
Holy speedtrap!
Having nowhere near 2 Million dollar of any currency (not even Lira) I would still take this baby for a spin, but I would hardly touch the pedal! (the braking pedal, obviously)
The hood is lovely, the rear is outstanding because of its glowing taillights. While the front is nicely shaped, I find it a tiny but too simple.
Wait, what is this?! The car… it’s coming to devour me with its huge mouth! Ahhhhhhhhhh…
Zonda, yes. Aston Martin One-77, what with the ridiculously flared rear end, yes. r32? You got me there, you’ll have to explain it.
[size=85]The full list of my initial inspirations include the Dodge Viper RT/10, Jaguar C-X75, 2013 Shelby GT500, 1970 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda, Pagani Zonda R and the Aston Martin One-77.[/size]
Oh, oh my.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this case, I only sought to emulate Jezza’s style of narrative and presentation [size=85](minus the occasional racist slur hehe)[/size], so in one way I’m glad you find it effective, in another I am perhaps a little embarrassed I may have gone too far!
I suspect this is mainly because I didn’t try any fancy tricks with the headlights themselves, unlike many of my contemporaries (the LED lights are a nice touch but in this case possibly too, here it comes again, subtle). Headlights are in fact one of the areas I find more difficult than others. If anybody has any styling suggestions for the front, I’d be very happy to take them (and if I do use them you’ll get credit in the production release, if it goes ahead)!
The side makes me think of the lines you see on the sideview of an R32 GTR, maine the part behind the door and together with the wing.
[quote=“strop”]
Oh, oh my.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this case, I only sought to emulate Jezza’s style of narrative and presentation [size=85](minus the occasional racist slur hehe)[/size], so in one way I’m glad you find it effective, in another I am perhaps a little embarrassed I may have gone too far![/quote]
No! You didn’t go too far at all. Your writing skill is just… I don’t know, just hurry up and become an author.
This is your chance to carve yourself a part of Gryphon Gear’s design history.
Recently, Gryphon Gear unveiled its new production concept, spotted screeching its way around the Green Hell in under 7 minutes. Powered by a dual turbo V8 putting out a jaw-dropping 2317hp, the road-legal Ascension Mephisto proved just as fearsome as its image suggested.
But one user commented that the design of the front might perhaps lack a certain something, and its designer (i.e. me) agrees. I could not help but feel that it seemed to lack a certain something, it wasn’t as congruent with the design of the rest of the car. And I think it’s to do with the headlights.
[size=200]Therefore I’m announcing a contest: to redesign the face of the Mephisto![/size]
This is pretty self-explanatory. I’ve attached the platform file for the Ascension to this post. The aim is to modify the front of it in a way that best articulates the design of the rest of the car, as seen in this post.
RULES:
[ul]
] Once you have finished modifying the platform, zip it up and PM me your submission! You may also publish a screenshot of your design on this thread, if you like./:m]
] To save me time, contestants may only PM me ONE submission. Publishing more than one screenshot is ok, but only the PM counts!/:m]
] This contest is about the headlights, so I would prefer if you didn’t touch the existing grilles and vents. However, you MAY do so!/:m]
] In the event the ventilation is affected, the total effective ventilation must remain at least 4000kj/s (I managed to get it up that high using some trickery with overlapping vents, so be careful not to mess it up!)/:m]
] This should go without saying, but please don’t directly copy any large part of the design for your own use without asking and attributing credit./:m]
]The deadline is Thursday, 5th June./:m][/ul]
Once the submissions are in, I’ll review them and post my findings here. The winners are determined by which elements of design I am particularly inspired by, whether that be from a single entry, or more than one. The prize will be a specially designated decal on the livery of the production car, should it be green-lighted (for reference, see the Nightfury TDS and how our factory edition has a Stryker decal on the wing, to acknowledge their contribution to the car’s aero package). Should the car not be produced, we can arrange for another prize, such as offering my own design or illustrative services to the winners.
What are you waiting for? Go! Show me your creativity!
Ascension - Rev - 7.lua (54.4 KB)