Caleb Borkstrom, founder of RYN Motors, shares his journey of creating a street-legal Formula car, a dream for many enthusiasts. This episode dives into the engineering challenges, regulatory hurdles, and the unique features of the car, including a lightweight chassis and a high-revving motorcycle engine. Caleb discusses the pricing strategy, customization options, and the excitement surrounding the pre-order launch. With a focus on delivering a true driver's experience, this episode highlights the passion and innovation behind a groundbreaking automotive offering.
A street-legal formula car sounds like internet nonsense.
Until you meet Caleb Borgstrom.
In this episode of Full Throttle Talk, Tim Harris sits down with one of the founders of RYN Motors to tear apart one of the most unreasonable automotive ideas in years — and why it might actually work.
This isn’t a concept render.
This isn’t a YouTube kit car.
This is a real, engineered, road-registrable, formula-style machine built by someone who got tired of being told, “That’s impossible.”
In this episode, we get into the uncomfortable questions:
Why Caleb refused to accept that formula cars should be track-only
The exact moment this went from a sketch to “we’re actually building this”
Chassis, suspension, engine, and gearbox decisions nobody agrees on
The hardest engineering and regulatory problems — and how they reshaped the car
Lap times vs. reliability vs. drivability (something always loses)
What “street legal” really means in the real world
Who should absolutely NOT buy this car
Pricing, customization limits, delivery reality, and long-term support
This conversation isn’t marketing fluff.
It’s about tradeoffs, consequences, and obsession — the stuff most founders won’t say out loud.
If you’re tired of:
Overweight supercars
Track toys that can’t survive real use
“Driver’s cars” built by committees
…this episode is for you.
Subscribe to Full Throttle Talk for unfiltered conversations with the builders who refuse to play it safe.
Connect with Us
Paul Kramer
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Instagram / Facebook: @autokennel
David Van Epps
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Instagram / Facebook: @sonderwerks
Tim Harris
512-758-0206 (text only)[email protected]
"...this guy who's claiming he can sell a formula three car for the road and I'm like, I like racing. I used to work in any car team."
Formula 3 is a type of racing that features small, fast cars with open wheels. It's a place where many race car drivers start their careers before moving up to bigger racing series like Formula 1.
Formula 3 is a category of single-seater auto racing that serves as a stepping stone for drivers aspiring to compete in higher levels of motorsport, such as Formula 1. These cars are designed for high performance and are often used in junior racing series around the world.
"...not only is it real, but these things are going to be street legal. And so here's what I want all of you to open your minds to..."
A street legal car is one that you can drive on regular roads without getting in trouble with the law. It has to follow certain rules to be safe and not too noisy or polluting.
Street legal refers to vehicles that meet the legal requirements to be driven on public roads. This includes compliance with safety, emissions, and noise regulations set by local authorities.
"And so you wouldn't, as you put fancy suspension on your 911 or fancy suspension on your Miata, thinking it's me a race car for the road."
Suspension is the part of a car that helps it ride smoothly over bumps and turns. Upgrading it can make a car handle better and feel more stable when driving fast.
Suspension refers to the system of springs, shock absorbers, and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels, allowing for better handling and comfort. Upgrading suspension components can improve a car's performance, especially in racing or spirited driving.
"And so you wouldn't, as you put fancy suspension on your 911 or fancy suspension on your Miata, thinking it's me a race car for the road."
The Mazda Miata is a small sports car that is fun to drive and easy to handle. Many people like to change parts on it to make it go faster or handle better.
The Mazda Miata is a lightweight, two-seat roadster known for its agile handling and fun driving experience. It's popular among car enthusiasts for its affordability and potential for modifications.
"...about kind of having a formula car for the street. It's just kind of like something that's been talked about. It's been a dream that a lot of people have had."
A formula car for the street is a type of car that has racing features but is made to be driven on regular roads. They are built to be very fast and exciting, similar to race cars you see on tracks.
A formula car for the street refers to a vehicle designed with the performance characteristics of a racing formula car, but modified for legal use on public roads. These cars often feature lightweight construction, high-performance engines, and advanced aerodynamics, making them thrilling to drive.
"It was a mix of a lot of custom fabricated parts. And then also a lot of kind of parts that are currently existing..."
These are parts made specially for a project instead of being bought off the shelf. They are created to fit a specific purpose or design.
Custom fabricated parts are components that are specifically designed and built for a unique application, often tailored to meet the specific needs of a project or vehicle.
"because the goal with the prototype was to kind of create it, actually kind of build something up with materials..."
A prototype is a first version of something that is made to test how it works. In cars, it's usually a model built to see if the design and features are good before making more of them.
A prototype is an early sample or model of a product used to test a concept or process. In automotive terms, it often refers to a vehicle built to evaluate design and performance before full-scale production.
"as well as like a lot of parts from like F4 cars at F 1000s. That's a really common thing..."
F4 cars are a type of race car used in beginner racing leagues. They are made for new drivers to learn and compete before moving to faster, more advanced cars.
F4 cars refer to a category of single-seater racing cars that are designed for entry-level motorsport. They are typically used in junior racing series to help drivers progress to higher levels of competition.
"as well as like a lot of parts from like F4 cars at F 1000s. That's a really common thing..."
F1000s are a type of race car used in a specific racing series. They are known for being fast and lightweight, making them great for racing on tracks.
F1000s are a class of open-wheel racing cars that are designed for competition in the F1000 series. These cars typically feature a lightweight design and powerful engines, making them suitable for high-speed racing.
"...this is a carbon fiber and a tube chassis. Get into the get into the high nerd stuff just so that people listening..."
Carbon fiber is a strong and light material used in cars to make them faster and more efficient. It's often found in parts like the frame and body of high-performance vehicles.
Carbon fiber is a lightweight and strong material commonly used in high-performance vehicles to reduce weight while maintaining structural integrity. It is often used in the construction of chassis, body panels, and other components to enhance performance.
"And so what we did to the chassis will kind of back and forth. OK, do you do steel tube, which is really cost effective, a space frame steel tube chassis, do you do a full carbon monocoque?"
The chassis is like the skeleton of a car. It holds everything together and affects how the car drives and feels on the road.
The chassis is the base frame of a vehicle that supports the body and components. It plays a crucial role in the vehicle's structural integrity and handling characteristics.
"There's some awesome tracks around Austin. There's Coda. How difficult will it be for me to literally arrive and drive?"
Coda is a famous racetrack in Austin where car races happen. It's a place where people can go to watch races or even drive their own cars on the track.
Coda refers to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), a prominent racetrack in Austin, Texas, known for hosting various motorsport events, including Formula 1 races. It's a popular venue for both professional racing and track days.
"the limiting factor might be a lack of a front nose lift. Have you looked at look into doing something like that?"
A front nose lift is a system that can raise the front part of a car. It's helpful for avoiding damage when driving over bumps or steep driveways.
A front nose lift refers to a mechanism that raises the front of a vehicle to avoid scraping on inclines or speed bumps. This feature is particularly useful for low-slung sports cars to improve everyday usability without compromising performance.
"All right, now let's do a big reveal. Let's talk about the motor."
The motor is another word for the engine, which makes the car go by turning fuel into energy. It's a key part of how a car works.
In automotive terms, 'motor' typically refers to the engine, which is the component that converts fuel into mechanical energy to power the vehicle. Understanding the motor is crucial for discussing performance and efficiency.
The transmission is what helps the car move by sending power from the engine to the wheels. It can change gears automatically or manually, depending on the type.
The transmission is the system that transfers power from the engine to the wheels, allowing the vehicle to move. It can be automatic or manual, affecting how the driver interacts with the vehicle.
Term
cc
"...it's going to actually have an 1100 cc..."
CC, or cubic centimeters, is a way to measure how big an engine is. A higher number usually means the engine can produce more power.
CC stands for cubic centimeters and is a measure of engine displacement. It indicates the size of the engine and is often used to gauge the power output of the engine.
"four cylinder motorcycle engine that has 220 horsepower and weight. And the motor itself, the reason we chose that, I'll dive into in a second."
Horsepower tells you how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster and more powerful the car can be.
Horsepower is a unit of measurement for power, commonly used to describe the output of engines. In automotive terms, it indicates how much work an engine can perform over time, affecting a vehicle's speed and acceleration.
"But yeah. And yeah, 220 horsepower and a 13000 RPM red line. And I think that the motorcycle engine was perfect"
RPM shows how fast the engine is spinning. A higher RPM means the engine is working harder and can produce more power, especially at higher speeds.
RPM stands for revolutions per minute, a measure of how many times an engine's crankshaft makes a full rotation every minute. It indicates the engine speed and is crucial for understanding performance characteristics.
"It's fast. I mean, the zero to 60 is about 2.8 seconds. It's it's really, really quick."
Zero to 60 time tells you how fast a car can go from a stop to 60 miles per hour. A lower number means the car is quicker off the line.
Zero to 60 time measures how quickly a vehicle can accelerate from a complete stop to 60 miles per hour. It's a common performance metric used to gauge a car's acceleration capabilities.
"...have integrated them with paddle shifters. So kind of the aim has systems were able to integrate the shifter to actually function with paddle shift."
Paddle shifters are levers on the steering wheel that let you change gears in a car without using a clutch. They make it easier to shift gears quickly while driving.
Paddle shifters are controls mounted on the steering wheel that allow the driver to manually change gears in an automatic or semi-automatic transmission. They provide a more engaging driving experience by enabling quick gear changes without taking hands off the wheel.
"...of bias that goes to front or rear brakes, which is really that's one of the things that you see formula car drivers, especially formula one drivers doing active..."
Brake bias is how much stopping power goes to the front wheels versus the back wheels. Changing this can help a car stop better depending on the situation, like going around a turn.
Brake bias refers to the distribution of braking force between the front and rear wheels of a vehicle. Adjusting brake bias can help improve handling and stability during braking, especially in racing scenarios where conditions vary significantly.
"So you register as a kick car and that's fine, depending on where you're at. A little bit of a lengthy process, pretty time consuming."
A kick car is a type of car that you build yourself from a kit. You have to make sure it meets local laws to drive it on the road.
A 'kick car' refers to a vehicle that is built from a kit or assembled from parts, often for the purpose of being registered as a street-legal vehicle. This process can involve various legal and regulatory hurdles depending on the jurisdiction.
"...substantially less safe than a six point harness, but you can't use the six point harness. And I think a lot of it comes to being able to pull someone out..."
A six point harness is a special seatbelt used in race cars. It has more straps than a regular seatbelt, which helps keep you safer in case of an accident.
A six point harness is a type of safety belt used in racing and high-performance driving that secures the driver with two shoulder straps and two lap belts, providing better restraint and safety during high-speed maneuvers or crashes.
"...mall manufacturers that are making cars, Ravology Mustang and all these other guys that are making basical..."
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that people love for its powerful engine and cool looks. It's been around for a long time and is often seen as a symbol of American cars. Many car enthusiasts talk about it because it has a rich history and a strong following.
The Ford Mustang is an iconic American muscle car that has been in production since 1964. It represents a blend of performance, style, and affordability, making it a symbol of freedom and rebellion in automotive culture. Its significance in the automotive world often leads to discussions about its influence on car design and the muscle car segment.
"...have to give their $50,000 deposits for the Tesla Roadster? Was it $50,000?"
The Tesla Roadster is a fast electric sports car that can go really far on a single charge. It's important because it shows that electric cars can be exciting and powerful, not just practical. People are talking about it because it's getting a new version that will be even better.
The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric sports car that was first introduced in 2008 and is known for its impressive speed and range. It is significant as it marked Tesla's entry into the high-performance vehicle market and helped to establish the brand as a leader in electric vehicle technology. The upcoming second-generation Roadster promises even more advanced features and performance.
"...'t even know it was $50,000 deposit. I think the Cybertruck was $100. Yeah, but think about this."
The Tesla Cybertruck is a futuristic-looking electric truck that stands out because of its unusual shape. It's designed to be tough and useful for work while being environmentally friendly. People are excited about it because it offers a new take on what a truck can be.
The Tesla Cybertruck is an all-electric pickup truck that features a unique angular design and is built for durability and utility. Its significance lies in its innovative approach to the traditional truck market, aiming to combine performance, utility, and sustainability. The Cybertruck has generated a lot of buzz due to its unconventional design and advanced technology.
"...ultimate driver's car? Now it's like, oh, it's a McLaren 720 here. It's a Ferrari speciale."
The McLaren 720S is a super-fast sports car that is built for speed and performance. It's known for being very light and easy to handle, making it a favorite among car lovers who enjoy driving. People talk about it because it's one of the best cars you can buy if you want an exciting driving experience.
The McLaren 720S is a high-performance supercar known for its incredible speed, advanced engineering, and lightweight construction. It is significant in the automotive world as it represents the pinnacle of McLaren's technology and design, often being compared to other elite supercars like Ferrari and Lamborghini. The 720S is celebrated for its driving dynamics and track capabilities.
Select text to request an explanation
So this is a special edition of full throttle talk.
This is full throttle talk interviews and I'm going to tell you about an experience I had
about a month ago, maybe less than a month ago that I thought at first was fake AI.
So I'm on Instagram like all of you are and I'm scrolling and I come across this guy who's
claiming he can sell a formula three car for the road and I'm like, I like racing.
I used to work in any car team.
I do go kart racing all the rest.
I thought, oh my gosh, this is like a dream, but this has to be some kind of scam, right?
Can't be real.
And I started doing some investigation.
I started doing some exploring and I found out not only is it real, but these things
are going to be street legal.
And so here's what I want all of you to open your minds to and I know a vast majority of
our audience are sports car people by nature, but everyone talks about a race car for the
road.
Everyone talks about, oh, I'm going to make my car feel like a race car for the road,
but many of you have never been in race cars before.
And so you wouldn't, as you put fancy suspension on your 911 or fancy suspension on your Miata,
thinking it's me a race car for the road.
You should have just gone straight to race car for the road.
And that is what Caleb Borkstrom has done with RYN or I call it Ryan Motors.
He's actually created what I think personally is one of the coolest new automotive offerings
and probably the last, I'm going to say 10 years.
What he has done is he has created for me, for a super nerd like me, he has created my
dream car for not a ridiculous price that is very attainable and I'm massively excited
to have him on the podcast today.
So Caleb, thank you very much for carving out time to meet with me.
Welcome to Full Throttle Talk, the podcast where horsepower meets conversation from supercars
to classic legends, high revving tech to motorsport mayhem.
We covered all straight from the driver's seat, whether you're a gearhead or racer or
just love the thrill of the open road, you're in the right place.
Buckle up, hit the gas and let's go full throttle into today's episode.
Well, I really appreciate that.
I mean, that intro was better than anything I could have possibly helped for.
So we're off to a great start.
Oh, that's good.
All right.
So let's start out with having them get to know you a little bit, a little bit about your.
So what we're going to do, guys, and I'm going to get to the punch line really fast.
Don't worry.
I am very familiar with, don't Boris, don't Boris get to the chorus, right?
We're going to get to the chorus.
We're going to be showing you pictures of the car.
We're going to be showing you how to order it.
We're going to be telling you about the specs.
We're going to be telling you about the pricing.
But I would want you to understand that when you're dealing with Caleb, I've only
known him for a very short while and I'm very impressed with his background knowledge.
But what I'm most impressed with is his interest in his willingness to learn about
this space in an incredibly high level.
So Caleb, I've even teed you up even higher with that.
So let's know about your origin story, your motivation and your obsession.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
I mean, I mean, I guess it really all starts like most people do or like cars
becomes kind of like a hobby and then it becomes almost more than that.
And so that becomes kind of like a lot of the things you do, things you pay
attention to, what you do in your free time.
It kind of all revolves around that in one way or another.
And so that's kind of it.
A separate from anything business wise, that's always been kind of like a big
interest. And then I had a separate company where we sold game computers and
we shipped them nationwide, grew that company pretty asserted that company
when I was, I think, what was that, 20, grew that really well.
After, I think in then four years, we ended up selling it for a pretty good
amount. We grew really quick, really strong within the space where there's a
lot of big competitors and through a lot of a ton of marketing strategies and
offering just a really good product in service that other people weren't.
We were able to build a product, deliver and keep customers happy and grow really
fast. And then I sold that company to a publicly traded company and very
end of what was it, 2021, very end of 2021, I sold that company and then that
kind of, and that was, I was 24 years old and then, then I worked within kind of
like a publicly traded company as like a VP for a while at 24.
So it kind of gave me a unique aspect of kind of having the experience of like
really hardcore startup mode.
I mean, we self-funded everything so we didn't take on any investors.
So we were able to kind of grow organically by delivering actual products.
And then from there, we were able to, once we, once we, once I kind of went
then within that public space, I was able to kind of experience, okay, some of
that corporate lifestyle. So having kind of the mix of both of those is what's
helped me a lot, I think, as I'm taking on this next project.
But what I heard you say, what's matters most to me as a potential customer of
yours, is that you have experienced dealing with suppliers in different parts
of the world. You have experienced dealing with very, very specific customers
because people buying high-end gaming computers are super nerds like what
you're going to be dealing with in automotive, right?
Same type of...
Different types, but yes, totally correct, yeah.
I have a race simulator, so I'm probably buying both of your products really.
There you go, yeah, exactly.
You know, so that you have experienced dealing with finicky customers, you
have experienced dealing with global markets, how to put all these things
together and scale up a business. So for me, that knowing that makes me feel
a lot, feel good about being one of your first customers.
Yeah, Pritchin, that's why I think it's important to talk about because I
really, my big focus is like, okay, and a lot of what I think I'm trying to
kind of present with this is like, my whole thing is like I deliver products.
Like there is nothing, a company is nothing, until you deliver products.
So that's like my big focus, like it's less about like, oh, here's some ideas,
here's this concept, here's this. It's about like, okay, how do we actually
get products and customers' hands as fast as we can and in a really effective
way where like they actually enjoy that product?
And so it's not, there's a lot of like different, I think, companies out there
that'll kind of try to live off the hype. And it's, that's not the case at all.
And that's kind of some of the experience I have is like creating real products.
Well, let's be, you are being nice and, you know, gingerly about saying you're,
you know, you sold this business for low eight figures and you had a nice
sizable exit in your 20s. And frankly, you could have just ridden that horse
off into the horizon and with a few, you know, strategic investments never
had to work again. And but you didn't, you are a crazed lunatic and you decided
to make a race car for the road. So could you explain to everyone what caused
you to do that with some sort of like night fever or something?
Yeah, I know. I think, I think like, I mean, I don't know about you.
I've heard about it and thought about it for so long about kind of having a
like a formula car for the street. It's just kind of like something that's
been talked about. It's been a dream that a lot of people have had.
And so I think as it started to become where I started getting other cars
that I really liked, whether it was Porsches or McLaren or things like that.
I love, I love the cars. It's like, OK, there's some cars create an experience.
Like that's why we'll buy cars once you get to kind of like any, any level
of kind of car enthusiasts, like you buy cars to the experience it creates.
And so a formula car for the street is one thing that on at least
on a reasonable scale is an experience that's easily attainable for most people.
So that's like an area where I think the market is missing, where car enthusiasts
are missing, that they could like that, that feeling of driving the car,
the seating position, the overall perspective, like the way it sounds.
It's such an incredible thing.
And so I think that's one of the things that made it so exciting to try to do.
And I had the idea first when we were as it was getting kind of maybe towards
the end of 2023, when I was still working for the company that had acquired us.
I was kind of just thinking about, OK, what do I what do I want to do now?
I'm getting and getting and getting older, getting into my mid to late 20s.
I've got to think about what the next thing I really want to do.
What's something that I can do that's going to be, I think, really impactful
and going to be something that just excite is exciting every day to work on.
You can get a really good team around you and just have a ton of fun
building something really cool.
And so that was that was the kind of idea.
And then it started with that and trying to figure out, OK, well, here's this cool concept.
I'd love to have a formula car for the street, but no one's ever done it.
And so why?
Like, it's a great idea.
But if it's not possible, then it's just an idea.
So that's why I kind of started really doing a lot of kind of deep research
of having a lot of conversations and trying to figure out, OK,
what how can we overcome the regulatory hurdle?
Because I mean, it's an engineering challenge.
But you're moving regulatory one, you're moving things on perfectly.
Because my next question was, you know, let's let's do talk fundamentals,
because we're going to have especially full throttle talk folks are super nerds.
Like, frankly, both of us are.
So they're going to want it.
They're going to know about chassis materials, structure, what you prioritize
first, because you literally built, you know what, right?
Or Caleb, I still want to call you Ryan in the funny.
Shall we put up some pictures?
Shall we go ahead and give them the big reveal?
Yeah, yeah, I was going to say, let me let me let me change
his background and figure out how to figure out all the ways to do it easily.
Here we go. So so yeah, so I mean, we kind of started with a prototype.
And this prototype is I'll show this up here.
So this prototype ends up being more his.
That's the production model he's showing you.
So I don't know if you want to see mine or how you want to how you want to start
out with yours, I'll just leave my background.
Cool. Yeah, I don't think I don't know how well they could see it.
But yeah, so this is this is kind of the the the initial prototype we did.
It was a mix of a lot of custom fabricated parts.
And then also a lot of kind of parts that are currently existing
because the goal with the prototype was to kind of create it, actually kind
of build something up with materials, have a physical formula car or self
that we could start to use testing and where we'll get to eventually
the three wheel conversion that we have to do start to be able to incorporate that.
So this uses this prototype uses a mix of again, custom parts as well as
as well as like a lot of parts from like F4 cars at F 1000s.
That's a really common thing, like the body panels are from like an F 1000s
because we're not going to create.
There's no reason to reinvent parts that have already been invented for the prototype.
This is a lot of just give really good data and start to practice and really build something.
Dimensionally, it's the same size as an F3 car, right?
The prototypes are more similar to an F4 car dimensionally.
The production model similar to an F3 car.
That's what you have pulled up behind you is our production model.
So that what you have pulled up behind you there is one of the is the the render
and for our production model, which is actually we have the design pattern on that.
So we completely custom designed that like here's the here's the kind of front shot
we have here of the car and you can see the headlights incorporated there.
There's turn signals underneath them.
And so then we've got kind of side shot of the car and then and then rear and rear.
Road legal, people.
Are you listening?
Yeah, I was about to tell you how you're going to be able to plate this in all 50 states.
Yes, all 50 states.
And so that's and and it's definitely wasn't easy from regulatory standpoint,
but that's kind of where that comes into some of the ways to make it possible.
So you get the turn signal back and we've kind of patented the rear wing and the arrow on it.
And so yeah, so this is the one like again, the prototype we use a lot of kind of components
that existed with a lot of custom fabrication.
We welded the entire chassis up.
This one is then all our own everything.
And this is the one that we're actually going to be selling and starting to manufacture here
actually really soon.
Can you put up some of the others that are I didn't have time to load the ones with
the that are different colors and whatnot.
So yeah, he has a website.
It might be live now as you listen.
Just go to Ryan RYN motors.com and hope maybe he's going to show it to us.
Maybe we're going to get the world preview of his website.
I asked him to, but he might not any event.
So you're going to be able to go there and you're going to be able to spec out your own car.
He's got a lot of really cool options.
You can go ahead and flip pictures if you want to put a new more attention.
So image up a lot of different colors that are going to kind of be offered.
And we've got I've got a few here that are that are that are listed.
And I think diving into how we made it Street Legals is an important factor,
but there's going to be a range of kind of some different, different colors
that we'll have or you can choose.
And there's a full custom tab that's available when the website goes live
and the website goes live on January 10th.
And so we've kind of been intentionally holding out a little bit
on information and pictures to kind of just make it more exciting for when that does go live.
So in other words, he's not going to give us the website.
He's not going to show us any pictures.
That's why I just think I think I think going and experiencing the websites
is going to be the way to kind of really get the full picture of it.
I think seeing the screenshot will make it less exciting.
Thanks for taking it there.
Can I make sure I'll make sure you get first access to it?
I'll send you the second it goes live at twelve oh one at night.
You'll be the first one to get there.
I'll be there waiting.
But let me ask you specific questions.
OK, I know you and I talked yesterday.
This is a carbon fiber and a tube chassis.
Get into the get into the high nerd stuff just so that people listening
looking for fault in your design will realize how specific you've been to design this
to essentially mirror a real F three car.
Yeah. And so so really what we've tried to do is just because if you've ever been
in like a real Formula three car or something similar to that
Formula Atlantic, it's it's aggressive.
It's like hard to get in and out.
It's tight and like that's that's OK.
And you kind of want to blend then the position of OK, something
that's really track oriented while where you can still kind of take it on the streets.
And it's and it's enjoyable to kind of get in and out of and drive.
And so what we did to the chassis will kind of back and forth.
OK, do you do steel tube, which is really cost effective, a space frame steel tube
chassis, do you do a full carbon monocoque?
And what we ended up coming up with have to kind of talk
with some different manufacturers and kind of running some overall numbers
is we're going to create a production model is going to have a carbon fiber
semi monocoque. So what is it's actually a space frame chassis
that's then reinforced with layers of carbon around it?
It helps kind of keep the cost lower, but gets to about 70 percent
of the overall rigidity is a full carbon monocoque.
And so that's one of the ways we kind of the decision we made,
especially with this car, this first model to try to keep it.
I want to say cost reasonable because we want to make it where it's an exciting thing.
It's it shouldn't be.
It's we don't want to even be a question of it's something you want to add to your garage.
Exactly. And so that's kind of the thought with with the chassis there specifically.
Well, so let's talk about suspension and brakes and suspension calibration.
How much adjustability is the suspension going to have?
Can I buy this thing?
I live in, you know, you live in Austin.
We used to live in Austin.
There's some awesome tracks around Austin.
There's Coda.
How difficult will it be for me to literally arrive and drive?
Will the, you know, let's deep dive.
Yeah. So I think the the the the the suspension specifically,
I mean, the the current kind of supplier that we have locked in right now is Bilstein.
There it's a it's a pushrod setup.
It's cantilevered, cantilevered shocks.
And so it's super, super.
I mean, it's a very solid.
Like again, stays true to the entire formula car aspect, double wishbone suspension.
And it's I think one thing that'll be really important to talk about,
which I don't know how much you've seen into it is the actual method of street legality.
I think that's an important thing to discuss on because that kind of ties back
to a lot of the structural decisions and component decisions we made.
And so kind of the entire way we made it street.
Because I don't remember if we talked about this too much the other day.
But Caleb, let's let them know more know more about the car
because they go part they'll be interested in.
But we've got it.
I mean, I'm curious personally, because I've got a few more.
Like so as far as the design goes, the limiting factor might be a lack
of a front nose lift.
Have you looked at look into doing something like that?
Yes. So the suspension right now on this model,
there won't be like kind of an automatic axle lift.
Like you see on like your GT3 RS's and stuff like that.
But the suspension is adjustable.
So when you're going on street use, you're able to kind of adjust
and keep it higher.
And and it's similar to kind of like a coilover suspension,
but a little bit easier to do.
But not quite as simple as pushing the button in the axle raises on this first model.
But you're surprised actually how efficient when you can set it at not
at a still fairly low position where you can get in and out.
Like my driveway is a little more aggressive.
I can get in and out of it with a prototype without even without much issue.
And that thing's that thing's low.
So it'll be adjustable in that aspect.
And if you go to the track, you can kind of tune the suspension.
And it's pretty aggressive.
You can adjust a good amount of adjustments you can do.
All right, now let's do a big reveal.
Let's talk about the motor.
Let's talk about the transmission.
Let's talk about the limit.
All right, this was really awesome.
Now, I'm going to be honest with you guys when I was talking to him
for the first time on the phone yesterday, I was fearful.
He was going to tell me that they're putting some sort of freaking,
you know, three cylinder snowmobile,
you know, boring ass, loud, nasty oil gas motor in it.
But nope, guess what motor he's putting this thing?
Go ahead. Yeah.
So so what it's going to actually have, it's going to have an 1100 cc
four cylinder motorcycle engine that has 220 horsepower and weight.
And the motor itself, the reason we chose that, I'll dive into in a second.
But yeah. And yeah, 220 horsepower and a 13000 RPM red line.
And I think that the motorcycle engine was perfect
because you get that like loud screaming red line.
And the vehicle itself only weighs 1140 pounds.
So 1140 pounds with 220 horsepower is aggressive.
It's fast. I mean, the zero to 60 is about 2.8 seconds.
It's it's really, really quick.
And then it screams.
So it gives that real formula car feel where you've got the high RPM,
the high red line, and you're able to kind of really shift through gears
and have that experience.
I know the other day we were talking about like, oh, Jared,
what about making an electric?
I'm like, I don't think I don't think it's not a great experience.
Yeah. I don't think it's an experience.
It's a sequential transmission.
Yeah. So that's that's one of the really nice things
about using the motorcycle engine is they're they're super lightweight.
So the entire engine in transmission is only like 175 pounds.
That's incredible. I didn't know that.
So lightweight.
And so that's that's one thing that's really, really nice.
And then the transmissions kind of within that.
And it is really the motorcycle transmissions are
I mean, they're sequential transmissions with straight cut gears.
We've then kind of have integrated them with paddle shifters.
So kind of the aim has systems were able to integrate the shifter
to actually function with paddle shift.
Hold on. I didn't know that.
So you're saying out of the gates, the cars has paddle shifters.
Shifter. Yeah. Oh, that's out of the gate.
And it has like an auto blipper.
So obviously all motorcycles are manual.
So we have an auto blipper which cuts throttle on upshift slightly
and auto blips on downshift.
So you don't have to use the clutch when you're shifting through gears.
You do use it to start from a stop.
Just like formula like a race car formula race cars.
You'll use it to start from a stop and then you don't use it for shifting.
And so it functions the same way as that.
And that was something that was that was really awesome,
especially to test with the prototype.
Do you have any interior pictures? I haven't I didn't see any.
Yeah, not an insane amount of interior pictures in the production model
because the prototype, I mean, it's it's a prototype.
Right. It's raw.
Like you can see the steel tube chassis.
It doesn't look the same as the production model.
You said we've got we've got a little full little full of feel.
So these are kind of like actual custom seats that we made
overlaid with kind of the seat.
But I don't think you'll see them to see the whole thing there.
But that's actually the the custom
the custom seat that we were able to to produce.
And so is it going to have like,
is it going to have those foam inserts like that?
Yeah, a lot of foam inserts.
And so there's different.
You can choose choose the colors for those different foam inserts.
And I say, I actually have a different.
I think I uploaded those.
We have a we have a slightly updated version with different seat belts.
I can that'll be you'll be able to see when the website goes live.
But that's one thing that that is going to be really cool
because we tried to make it again where there's some customization you can do.
You're working kind of make your own.
Caleb, you made those seats or the Sparko seats?
No, so the seat belts are Sparko seat belts.
So the seats themselves, the seats themselves we designed.
And I mean, most formula cars are the seats are pretty custom.
But we kind of wanted to take more of a bucket seat approach,
kind of like, again, like a like a GT3 where there's bucket seats that are kind
of universal. And so that was kind of one of our one of our plans and tensions.
So yeah, this seat was more kind of custom designed with some inspiration
from some other kind of taking some of the seats that we really like.
How do we get that aggressive seating position?
Because there's no seat you can buy that will be the seating position
that this car needs.
And so we have to kind of create like a more of a custom seat
and then kind of add some cushions and make it daily drivable
while still being aggressive and holding you in there.
Because the lateral cheese that this vehicle is capable of is pretty extreme.
So you need to have reasonable support.
That's so let's talk about brakes.
What's the out of the gates breaks pack break package?
Yeah, so the wheel would breaks.
It's got adjustable brake bias.
You can actually adjust the brake bias too, which is really cool.
I don't know what that means.
Is it not tell in case you see you can see you can adjust the percentage
of bias that goes to front or rear brakes, which is really that's one
of the things that you see formula car drivers, especially formula one drivers
doing active and they have a lot of settings they can adjust.
But that's one of the most rudimentary ones is it being able to just kind
of front and rear brake bias?
I mean, anyone that uses a racing sim and all that kind of stuff
will probably have a pretty good idea of that.
So again, depending on turn and speed and track overall track
conditional to turn how much you want on the front versus the rear.
That's incredible.
So as you look back over your shoulder, I know you're getting ready
to start selling or delivering customer cars sometime in the foreseeable future.
Is there anything that you wish you if you had to do it all over again design wise?
And like if there's going to be a 2.0 version other than maybe just, you know,
what would you have done differently?
Because this to me, honestly, Caleb, this looks fricking awesome.
This looks literally like the dream car that every car nerd has always
wished they could have.
And we're going to talk about the legality of this in a second,
because I know that's all of you guys are going to be looking really curious about.
But is there anything you would have done differently?
So I think on this model, I mean, I feel I feel really confident.
I mean, I feel really confident.
I feel really confident on this initial model and the price point we're at.
I think the next model that we're going to be launching with, that's not for a little bit.
We got to my big concern right now is getting these on the street
and people driving them, but we'll be launching this one's called the the RIN FB3.
And so we're going to be launching the RIN FB1.
That'll get announced in towards probably the end of 2027 or early 2028.
Once there's a lot of these already in customers' hands.
And that one's going to add a lot of stuff that I think is really cool.
That'll increase the cost noticeably, but the an insane package where I think again,
I don't I don't think there's anything I'd change about the FB3 here.
I feel great about it.
I think it looks amazing.
Yeah, the air we came up with everything.
I think it looks really cool.
And the integration we had to do to make it street legal, which we'll talk about here shortly.
That was that I mean, that took that was definitely more one of the more
kind of like challenging things that kind of took some deep thinking to overcome.
You mentioned arrows.
So let's talk about that.
Other than the wings looking cool.
I assume you did a lot of, you know, testing AI.
Probably there was a lot of testing and we're now in the process
of actually kind of creating creating these actual physical wings in real life
to start to test on the prototype because that'll be super helpful too.
And then yeah, there's been a lot of kind of CAD testing done overall on it
and they're all adjustable.
So the wings, the front and rear wings can both be adjusted based on track
you're at and everything or overall driving conditions.
So yeah, awesome.
All right.
So let's get to the street legal, the street legal reality and use case.
The use case is you have to be a real car enthusiast
who likes to spend a lot of time by himself because there's no second seat,
which in a lot of cases is an attribute, not a detriment,
but that's not something we need to talk about in today's show.
But let's just talk about the legality of this because what you just,
what you have figured out how to do, and there are other, you know,
you and I were talking yesterday, you got Ariel Adam, Ariel Nomad.
I mean, there's quite a few companies globally, they're selling similar products.
So we know there's a lot of people out there that want something like this,
but nobody has ever gone to the extreme of actually making it a real race car
because they haven't been able to decode what you've been able to do
with regards to making it legal.
Yeah, so I think the big thing and so kind of Ariel Adams and like the BAC
monos and all those, the awesome cars, awesome, really, really cool cars.
And I think one of the things with it is so a lot of them,
they don't come technically street legal.
A lot of people actually don't know about this.
Like Ariel Adams, for example, aren't street legal from the factory.
Like you don't get a title.
It's not super easy to, you don't get a street legal title.
You can just walk in and register like any vehicle.
So you, a lot of people do and it depends on your city.
You kind of register as a kick car.
So that's how Ariel Adams will normally work.
So you register as a kick car and that's fine, depending on where you're at.
A little bit of a lengthy process, pretty time consuming.
It takes a lot on the buyer's part to deal with.
You have to have inspections and prove all the stuff of the van and everything.
And so it also limits.
There's a lot of counties where you can't do that.
They won't allow kick cars.
They won't allow Ariel Adams to be driven on the streets.
One of the biggest things that we hear from people that are like,
I want to get one, but I don't know for sure if my county or state is going to allow it.
And I don't want to buy it.
And then be like, I can't even put it on the street.
And that was all the reason I was going to buy it.
So we were trying to find a way to make it where, how can we make it where it's
easy to register and then you can do a super simple way while still creating
the formula car proportions.
And so the biggest obstacle is actually four wheel passenger cars follow
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