The Hyper Racer is a relatively low-cost, high-performance circuit racing open-wheel car for both seasoned and aspiring racing drivers. Manufactured by Racing Cars International P/L, in Melbourne Australia, the Hyper Racer X1 was designed and built by the founders, father-and-son team Jon Crooke (Director of Design) and Dean Crooke (Director of Engineering and Product Development).
The Hyper Racer's design is unusual for a modern high-performance open wheeler, in that it uses a chrome-moly space frame chassis rather than a Carbon-fiber Monocoque, primarily to reduce manufacturing and repair costs. The suspension features relatively few adjustments, to limit the difficulty of setup for inexperienced drivers. It also uses Ground effects and a relatively large front and rear wing, to increase downforce to increase cornering speeds and improve handling at the expense of top speed. [1]
The Hyper Racer is powered by a largely unmodified Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine producing 195 hp (144 kW). It uses the Hayabusa gearbox with shifting controlled by a sequential shifter to the right of the driver's wheel, and a Centrifugal clutch, eliminating the need for a clutch pedal.
The car uses a Formula 3 tyre, manufactured by Hankook.
The Hyper Racer weighs approximately 400 kilograms dry.
The Hyper Racer X1 has been used for a one-make racing series in Victoria, Australia since 2022. In 2024, the series added interstate rounds and acquired the rights to represent the Australian Drivers' Championship. [2]
The Hyper Racer X1 is available in Australia, the US and the UK/Europe.
Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motorsport circuits. Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher ranks of motorsports, with most Formula One drivers—including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, and Max Verstappen—having begun their careers in karting.
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission, or stick shift, is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system where gear changes require the driver to manually select the gears by operating a gear stick and clutch.
A Formula One car or F1 car is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formula One racing events. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship and specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves, though the design and manufacture can be outsourced. Formula One drivers experience peak cornering forces of up to six lateral g.
The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seater, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars, manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (1999–2007). It is Japan's first rear mid-engined production car.
A semi-automatic transmission is a multiple-speed transmission where part of its operation is automated, but the driver's input is still required to launch the vehicle from a standstill and to manually change gears. Semi-automatic transmissions were almost exclusively used in motorcycles and are based on conventional manual transmissions or sequential manual transmissions, but use an automatic clutch system. But some semi-automatic transmissions have also been based on standard hydraulic automatic transmissions with torque converters and planetary gearsets.
Formula Vee or Formula Volkswagen is a popular open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford.
The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa is a sports motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of 303 to 312 km/h.
Drifting is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner or a turn. The technique causes the rear slip angle to exceed the front slip angle to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn. Drifting is traditionally performed using three methods: clutch kicking, weight transfer, and employing a handbrake turn. This sense of drift is not to be confused with the four wheel drift, a classic cornering technique established in Grand Prix and sports car racing.
The Lancia Montecarlo is a Pininfarina-designed mid-engined sports car produced by Lancia in Italy from 1975 to 1981.
Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Ford has traditionally been regarded as the first major stepping stone into formula racing after karting. The series typically sees career-minded drivers enter alongside amateurs and enthusiasts. Success in Formula Ford can lead directly to other junior formula series such as a Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Three, or F1 Academy for female drivers, and previously the W Series, prior to the series folding.
Formula Mazda is a class of relatively affordable open-wheel car formula racing.
A sequential manual transmission, also known as a sequential gearbox or sequential transmission, is a type of non-synchronous manual transmission used mostly in motorcycles and racing cars. It produces faster shift times than traditional synchronized manual transmissions, and restricts the driver to selecting either the next or previous gear, in a successive order.
Spec Racer Ford is a class of racing car used in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and other series road racing events. The Spec Racer Ford, manufactured and marketed by SCCA Enterprises, is a high performance, closed wheel, open cockpit, purpose-built race car intended for paved road courses, such as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Road America, Watkins Glen, and many other tracks throughout North America. With more than 1,000 cars manufactured, it is the most successful purpose built road racing car in the United States.
Élan Motorsport Technologies is an American enterprise that serves as an umbrella company containing the race car engineering, development and manufacturing companies owned by American racing and automotive company conglomerate Panoz Motor Sports Group. Élan engineers, designs and builds Panoz-branded race cars and components. Since its founding it has also acquired several manufacturers, including famous Formula Ford builders Van Diemen and IndyCar Series constructor G-Force. Élan-built cars have successfully competed in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, IMSA Prototype Lites and various other championships, racing series and types of professional racing throughout the world. It designs, develops and manufactures full line race cars, i.e. chassis, bodies, components and engines for professional racing competition for a variety of segments and classes.
The Australian Drivers' Championship is a motor racing championship contested annually since 1957 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category. This category was determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport until 2023. From 2024 the championship is contested by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Australian Auto Sport Alliance. Each year, the winner is awarded a Gold Star - from 1957 - 2023 the CAMS Gold Star and from 2024 the AASA Gold Star.
Reiter Engineering GmbH & Co Kg, commonly known simply as Reiter Engineering, is a German racing team and racing car manufacturer established in 2000 by motorsport engineer Hans Reiter.
A dual-clutch transmission (DCT) is a type of multi-speed vehicle transmission system, that uses two separate clutches for odd and even gear sets. The design is often similar to two separate manual transmissions with their respective clutches contained within one housing, and working as one unit. In car and truck applications, the DCT functions as an automatic transmission, requiring no driver input to change gears.
The BMW M2 is a high-performance version of the BMW 2 Series automobile developed by BMW's motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. As the 2 Series replaced the 1 Series coupé and convertible models, the first-generation M2 was marketed as the most basic M model in the range.
West Race Cars is a race car manufacturer based in Adelaide, Australia. It was founded in 2005 by Greg Steer and a small consortium of sports racer enthusiasts. Since 2014 it has become a wholly owned subsidiary of West Motorsport Australia.
The VHT S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship was an open-wheel road racing series in Australia. The series was created by a merger between two proposed series, Formula Thunder 5000 and Super5000. The series was promoted by the Australian Racing Group.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)