www.QV500.com - Saleen S7 Part 2: The S7-R
 

Shortly after the S7 road car had been launched, Steve Saleen announced surprise plans to race a competition version during the penultimate round of 2000’s American Le Mans Series. It would be in preparation for full-blown championship efforts with the Konrad and Ray Mallock teams in 2001, an ambitious programme for a totally unproven machine. Designated S7-R, this crack endurance racing variant would be run by the works for its debut at Laguna Seca in October 2000 while Saleen would also run cars at the Daytona and Le Mans 24 Hour races.
   
A six-time Manufacturer Champion in GT racing, Saleen would be up against the General Motors-backed Corvette squad of Pratt & Miller, a number of privateer Viper GTS-R’s making up for the withdrawal of the factory run snakes that had dominated for so long. Famed British racing outfit, Ray Mallock Limited, were employed to assist with the design and construction of the S7-R’s advanced chassis and suspension system. They retained the same fundamental set up as regular S7 road cars but reinforced the R’s 4130 lightweight steel spaceframe chassis with honeycomb composite inserts. Unequal length double wishbones with lightweight aluminium dampers, coil over springs and CNC machined billet aluminium flow-through uprights were all but unchanged. Ride-height was dropped to provide just 65mm of ground clearance, Saleen upgrading the braking system with custom-built Brembo lightweight aluminium six-piston calipers and ventilated carbon discs of 15 and 14-inch diameter front/rear. New OZ Racing 18-inch five spoke alloy wheels with centre locking wheel nuts were 12 and 13-inches wide at the front/rear and shod with Pirelli P Zero's. A long-range 100-litre fuel tank was fitted.
 

The twin cam all-alloy 427 V8 was fundamentally unchanged and retained an identical 7011cc displacement to the road car. Output rose by 50bhp to 600bhp at 6400rpm, the tach redlined at 7000rpm. Forged steel billet EN30B pistons, connecting rods and crankshafts were carried over along with CNC-machined high-flow alloy heads and titanium valves. A broader roof-mounted induction system with two air restrictors fed a carbon fibre plenum, Saleen also upgrading the magnesium oval bore throttle body with an intake manifold and eight individual runners.

   

A straight-through competition exhaust system with merge collector and dual exits allowed the engine to breath more freely, Saleen's custom built transaxle featuring variable drive ratios and a Viscous differential. With weight cut down to just 1150kg, performance gains were fairly drastic, acceleration and handling being much improved although the road cars 202mph top speed remained more or less unchanged because of the drag inducing aero pack. This included a more prominent chin splitter and a huge adjustable rear wing in place of the regular S7’s fixed aerofoil. Early examples initially used flimsy mirrors in a variety of styles before switching back to production versions, the side profile revealing meshed vents behind each front wheel and a larger roof-mounted air scoop. At the back, another meshed grille further aided engine cooling, two exhaust outlet pipes replacing the standard cars four. Inside, the cabin was stripped of every luxurious component and fitted with a single Saleen race seat, Motec dash and data logger, an integrated modular switch panel and a removeable steering wheel.