James Glickenhaus is one of the greatest petrol heads of our time. The actor, writer, director, producer and capital investor is an avid car nut, and he has spent large portions of his wealth and time to create and collect incredible pieces of automotive perfection. His most well-known creations are the custom Ferrari P4/5 Competizione->ke3766 and P4/5 by Pininfarina.
These two incredible machines share a design, but little else. The P4/5 is a one-off exotic hypercar,->ke177 but the Competizione is a race-ready monster that was built to completely destroy every racetrack it sees. Now that these two are finished, Glickenhaus is already working on his next toy, the SCG 003.
What makes the SCG 003 special is that instead of creating a race version and road version, Glickenhaus is constructing a car that will serve both purposes by using a completely modular drivetrain. Jalopnik has info from Glickenhaus himself stating that the road car will feature a V-12 engine with a pair of turbos strapped to it, and a road-capable transmission setup. Glickenhaus’ vision sees him driving this V-12 SCG 003 to the pit at Le Mans->ke1591 where he will remove the V-12 and replace it with a race specification, twin-turbo V-6 and a sequential racing transmission.
It’s a transforming race car,->ke148 and it is the most amazing thing I have ever written about or read!
The most amazing thing of it all may be just how easy it is to swap. According to Glickenhaus the car’s drivetrain setup is “totally modular and can be dissembled and reassembled quickly at the track, by an average person using hand tools." When commenting on some photos of the car’s carbon-fiber subframe, he stated the motor, transmission and fully mounted rear suspension components all “unbolt by removing and putting back 6 nuts.”
This is the future, my friends, and it looks glorious.
Click past the jump to read more about James Glickenhaus' SCG 003.
Why It Matters
By pioneering such a design, car companies could offer "race packages" for cars that would allow every owner to have the best of all things. Imagine if you could buy an Audi RS6 with two engines. For daily work, you could swap in Audi's fuel efficient 3.0-liter TDI engine and see 40+ mpg on your commute, but when the weekend comes, jack up your car, remove a few bolts, and drop in your monster, twin-turbo V-8 to play around with. You would no longer need garage space for a practical car and a fun car. You just need enough room to store a second engine.
This could also be a huge boon for weekend racers. Rather than buy a large truck with a massive trailer to move your race car from site to site, you could just drive your car to the race, swap to race legal bits, and then bomb around the track.
2015 SCG 003
The SCG 003 is the latest creation from James Glickenhaus, the wealthy creator of the Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina. His latest car will make use of a full carbon-fiber shell to increase strength and reduce weight. The car is being created as an engineering experiment to develop a vehicle that is both road legal, and prepped for Le Mans racing. Thanks to a modular drivetrain attachment setup, the car will make use of either a V-12 or V-6 engine. Both engines feature two turbos, but the V-12 is for road use, and the V-6 will be a race-legal engine that meets all FIA requirements for competition.