A TALENTED mechanic has built Australia’s first 'hyper car' – in his shed. The Quantum GP700 was born out of the seven-year passion project of its creator, Jeff David. Aimed at producing breathtaking performance in a road legal car – the Quantum can reach 0-60mph in a staggering 2.6 seconds. Jeff, who resides in Victoria, Australia, worked for around 1,800 hours to develop his masterpiece that is now worth approximately $700,000.
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MotorTranscript
00:00The Quantum is the culmination of my lifelong dream to build a supercar.
00:26This is the Quantum GP700 and that 700 stands for both the 700 horsepower it produces and
00:34the incredibly low 700 kilos it weighs.
00:37That's an incredible 1 to 1 power to weight ratio.
00:48It might look like a track car and it does 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 2.6 seconds.
00:59That's only a fraction slower than a Formula 1 car.
01:02While you might think it took a whole Formula 1 sized team to put it together, it was in
01:07fact built by one man, Jeff David.
01:11And perhaps most incredibly of all, not only did Jeff build this car himself, he built
01:16it in his shed.
01:19So my dream was to always build the Quantum.
01:22So I thought I would start with the best car at the time, the best roadster that I could
01:26buy, and that was an Aerial Atom.
01:31So I bought one and I dismantled it and then started modifying it.
01:36So I progressively altered the engine and the chassis and the drivetrain and the brakes
01:41to improve the performance, eventually culminating in a car that weighed 700 kilos and had 600
01:48brake horsepower.
01:49Having modified the Atom, Jeff used his knowledge to set about building the Quantum from scratch.
01:55Starting at the nose, we've got the hand fabricated front wing that I made.
02:06The design was based on a Formula 3 wing and I shaped it to try and give a really narrow
02:13front nose.
02:14Come around here and you can see all the moulds.
02:19I made all the original panels for the Quantum in carbon fibre.
02:24As we've all seen in Formula 1 cars when they have an accident and the track's strewn with
02:28carbon fibre all over, it shatters.
02:32So I experimented with various ballistics grade Kevlar weaves and aramid cloth and carbon
02:38fibre mixtures.
02:40This is the result.
02:41If Bez pants down to the ground and I tried this, you can see it's unbelievably robust
02:49for carbon fibre, Kevlar, aramid cloth.
02:52The tyres are road legal, semi-slick, the steering wheel is custom made.
03:00Jeff's talent for custom making even extended to creating a bespoke engine for the car.
03:05The engine's evolved over many different versions.
03:09The overall result has been a progressive increase in power from the 300 brake horsepower
03:15where we started to 700 horsepower now.
03:20It's probably the highest powered supercharged engine in the world of that style, which is
03:27emission compliant and road legal.
03:31And Jeff even made sure the car was comfortable to drive.
03:39During the design process of the car, it was really important to me that the car was comfortable
03:44to drive on the road and I applied suspension that I'd developed over 30 years into shock
03:52absorber concept on the Quantum and that's actually worked much better than I ever expected
04:00it might have.
04:02It provides a comfortable, compliant ride on our very rough roads.
04:13The whole process was enormous time consuming.
04:17I got up at 5.30 in the morning and curfew was enforced by my wife at 7 o'clock at night
04:24and that was seven days a week.
04:25My wife was really lovely and she offered to provide the financial support for the family.
04:31She gave me a two year deadline so I was able to work full time for two years uninterrupted
04:38and to try and get the car finished.
04:41The component cost was about just over US$300,000 three years ago when the car was built and
04:47it's approximately 1,800 hours to build the car.
04:51With a price tag that has definitely exceeded US$300,000, Jeff's masterpiece isn't for sale.
04:59Although he hasn't ruled out the possibility of building a new model if he found an eager
05:03customer.
05:04I just love the look of the car and the way it's turned out, the handling, the performance,
05:10the exhilaration.
05:11Every aspect of the car, I really enjoy it and I really love it.