One Man’s Vision
Multimatic engineered and built the GT1, and the tooling to build subsequent cars, but there is no doubt who conceived the car, styled it, and willed it into existence — Jahong Hur. When we meet him, he is almost shy, and is deferential to the famous makes his car will compete against — Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti, etc.
But he feels their current offerings aren’t the same passionate expressions of the sports car form as some of their earlier efforts.
“This car has no history, and I’m not a well known car guy, but I have put everything I have into this vehicle”, said Hur. While he has been successful in engineering and business endeavors, he also considers himself an artist.
“This is my expression of a car… I drew on a three-dimensional canvas.”
The man behind Multimatic, Larry Holt, notes that Hur’s passion harkens back to the days when one individual, with a single vision, created great sports cars. “He’s not like the stylist at Porsche who’s told to work on a certain project. He is very passionate about this particular car, it’s an emotional thing”.
As to who will buy the car, Hur simply says this: “I will not push anyone to buy this car, but I hope that one day it will pull you (to it).”
Not just pretty
Holt noted that to get the car from Hur’s vision to reality in just over a year meant a team of 30-40 Mulitmatic engineers had to be harnessed for the project. Holt adds that the car’s high performance aspirations enabled him to make it a showcase for Multimatic engineering, especially in suspension and composite material technology.
The chassis of the mid-engine, two-seat “GT racer” consists of a carbon fibre tub, with aluminum front and rear subframes for suspension, steering and engine and driveline mounting. Also aluminum are the body panels (save for the carbon fibre tub sections). Construction was completed at Multimatic locations in both Canada and the U.K.
The GT1’s suspension utilizes Multimatic’s race-bred Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) dampers. An active ride control system drops the vehicle’s ground clearance to 28 mm at highway speeds. It also features an industry first — an active hydraulic anti-roll device.
The powertrain consists a six-speed manual transmission and a supercharged 5.4-litre V8; the latter is built by Roush Yates Racing from an aluminum block sourced from Ford and is estimated to develop over 800 horses and 700 lb-ft of torque, enabling the GT1 to squirt to 100 mph in 7.5 seconds.
The unique “aged” white and yellow colour combination was inspired by Hur’s vintage-style Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Multimatic engineered and built the GT1, and the tooling to build subsequent cars, but there is no doubt who conceived the car, styled it, and willed it into existence — Jahong Hur. When we meet him, he is almost shy, and is deferential to the famous makes his car will compete against — Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti, etc.
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| Photo: Mike Goetz/Auto123.com |
But he feels their current offerings aren’t the same passionate expressions of the sports car form as some of their earlier efforts.
“This car has no history, and I’m not a well known car guy, but I have put everything I have into this vehicle”, said Hur. While he has been successful in engineering and business endeavors, he also considers himself an artist.
“This is my expression of a car… I drew on a three-dimensional canvas.”
The man behind Multimatic, Larry Holt, notes that Hur’s passion harkens back to the days when one individual, with a single vision, created great sports cars. “He’s not like the stylist at Porsche who’s told to work on a certain project. He is very passionate about this particular car, it’s an emotional thing”.
As to who will buy the car, Hur simply says this: “I will not push anyone to buy this car, but I hope that one day it will pull you (to it).”
Not just pretty
Holt noted that to get the car from Hur’s vision to reality in just over a year meant a team of 30-40 Mulitmatic engineers had to be harnessed for the project. Holt adds that the car’s high performance aspirations enabled him to make it a showcase for Multimatic engineering, especially in suspension and composite material technology.
The chassis of the mid-engine, two-seat “GT racer” consists of a carbon fibre tub, with aluminum front and rear subframes for suspension, steering and engine and driveline mounting. Also aluminum are the body panels (save for the carbon fibre tub sections). Construction was completed at Multimatic locations in both Canada and the U.K.
The GT1’s suspension utilizes Multimatic’s race-bred Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) dampers. An active ride control system drops the vehicle’s ground clearance to 28 mm at highway speeds. It also features an industry first — an active hydraulic anti-roll device.
The powertrain consists a six-speed manual transmission and a supercharged 5.4-litre V8; the latter is built by Roush Yates Racing from an aluminum block sourced from Ford and is estimated to develop over 800 horses and 700 lb-ft of torque, enabling the GT1 to squirt to 100 mph in 7.5 seconds.
The unique “aged” white and yellow colour combination was inspired by Hur’s vintage-style Fender Stratocaster guitar.
 |
| Photo: Mike Goetz/Auto123.com |
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