Like father, like son
Matt Chamberlain is following in his father’s footsteps by refusing to take the easy option. The manufacturing engineer designed and built the CTR 01 sports-prototype the pair share in the Zeo Prototype Cup in his spare time.
Chamberlain Jr previously competed in Bikesports with a heavily modified version of a Suzuki Hayabusa-engined Lynx Racing LR1300 kit car, which he christened the Arachnid in a playful nod to Porsche’s famous Spyders.
“The engine was very powerful but we couldn’t hold the gearbox together, or the clutch – one or the other would always blow up,” he says. “So, after having the Arachnid for a couple of years, I foolishly thought I could do better. So I set about designing the current car in the evenings and weekends. But originally it had the same bike engine, and I was hitting the same trouble. It wasn’t fun, and I couldn’t afford to keep buying new clutch baskets or gear clusters.”
Drawing on CTR customer experience in Vdev
“I’m a glutton for punishment, so in there is the tiniest flywheel and clutch that you can get”
racing, Chamberlain upgraded to a Formula 3-style powertrain of Honda K20 engine and Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox. Every other part is bespoke, designed and machined in-house, and fitted in around Chamberlain’s day job as well as CTR customer work, which includes using its 3D printer technology in Formula 1.
“When we turned the engine round on Dad’s car, we looked at timescales, costs, the whole business case,” he explains, “and we worked out that we could probably earn back the cost of the machine, software and bits and pieces, mostly on that one job. Now we machine probably 95% of our parts. There are one or two things that we can’t do because the machine physically isn’t big enough.
“The Hewland doesn’t come with a bellhousing so I had to design that. But I’m a glutton for punishment, so in there is the tiniest flywheel and clutch that you can get. So I’ve had to design and make a silly step-aside, drop-down starter motor.”
After suffering from porpoising, worse on bumpy circuits, the CTR 01 now has an interim suspension package before a full upgrade with new uprights and pick-up points comes on stream. All-new aero, set to increase downforce and reduce drag, will follow.
It’s a continual evolution that’s never complete. “I’ve learned from Dad the ‘wrong’ way of doing things really!” laughs Chamberlain.