(Originally posted 12/13/2016, Moved to WordPress 1/16/2017)
I am writing this post to introduce an ambitious new project for Oswald Performance. A track-oriented, street-legal (hopefully), single-seat sportscar that I have been calling the TT1:
This is something I have been working on sporadically for at least the past 5 years and something that has been in my head since I was in college (although the concept has evolved quite a bit since then). My goal is to document my design and build process as much as possible, following the lead of Dennis Palatov with his excellent DPCars.net blog. I started following his blog back when I was in college (2002 is my best guess) and I still check it every week or so. I have read every post (and there are a lot). At the time I found Dennis’ blog, he was starting the design of his first car, the D1 (I believe he called it the DP1 back then) which he built in his garage, documenting the various design decisions, challenges, and successes along the way. Now he runs Palatov Motorsports, designing and building really cool cars for a living. Reading his story (through his blog) has been a huge source of inspiration for me to work towards my dreams (which I think are very similar to Mr. Palatov’s) and so, I hope this blog may end up inspiring others as well.
I have been considering writing this first post for several months but I wasn’t sure if I really had enough to show. So now I’m just going to go for it. In the next post I would like to talk about some of the design iterations that have led me to where the design is currently. After that, I would like to get into some of the details of the current design. And after that, I plan to post updates as progress is made. I can’t commit to a schedule for new posts but I will try to post updates whenever there is something worth sharing. I also can’t commit to a timeframe for building the actual car. I stay pretty busy between my regular job, Oswald Performance, and my family (as I write this, my second daughter is due in 5 days). Of course, money is also an issue. This project will be expensive and it will be entirely funded by Oswald Performance profits (which aren’t always steady or reliable). Realistically, I expect this to be a 3 – 5 year journey.
Here are some initial specifications:
Tubular Steel Spaceframe Chassis
Composite Bodywork and Floor
Honda K24 Engine in longitudinal mid-mounted configuration (225 – 350 whp)
Porsche G87 6-Speed Transaxle (from Boxster or Cayman)
225/45ZR15 Front Tires on 15”x9” Wheels
275/35ZR15 Rear Tires on 15”x11” Wheels
Wheelbase: ~98”
Track Width: 67.5” Front, 65.5” Rear
Ground Clearance: ~3.5”
Dry Weight (goal): ~1350 lbs.
Weight Distribution: 40% F / 60% R
Thank you for reading this. If you’d like to read more (as more is posted) please like Oswald Performance on Facebook or follow @OswaldPerf on Twitter. I will post there whenever I write a new update.
– Mickey Oswald
TT1 Development 
Mickey, this looks like an awesome project! Can’t wait to see more!
How tall of a driver can (or do you expect) the TT1 to accommodate?
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Hey Jon, the plan is to mount the seat in a fixed position and adjust the pedals and steering wheel to suit the driver. There is quite a bit of room for the pedals to move forward to accommodate very tall drivers but there may be a bit of a safety issue with a driver’s head sticking up a bit too high if they are very tall. Cobra does make lower profile replacement pads for the seat I am using so that would certainly help somewhat. The blue driver figure in some of the pictures is right around 6 feet tall. 6′-2″ should fit fairly easily and maybe around 6′-4″ with the low profile pads. I have a friend who is 6′-5″. I’ll have to get him over for a test fit in the seat sometime and measure how high his head would be.
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