[mini_driver]

Does any one know where i can get hold of a carbon fibre bonnet for my mini one in the U.K. or does ne one know if i could inport one?

im not worried about the wieght saving i just think the look really cool.

[roodiepoo96]

There is a sponser on here in the directory called lohen, they sell one i think..

JP

[KJ_daGreenMini]

Lohen are taking ages with theirs. you can get one from Carbon Creations, they ship to the UK. pm me for i know of someone in the UK that has em now.

[Lohen]

Hi everyone,

KJ - You can say that again. We have had some production problems with it and want to make sure we have it spot on. We do have one ready and will shortly go on our cooper s. We do have so racing skins (i.e. lightweight ones) that can be fitted but the sides upto and around the lights need to be sprayed (if you imagine bonnet stripes, the paint will follow those lines and cover everything on the outer sides).

We still have you on our list and will contact you as soon as they become ready. Sorry to keep you waiting like this.

Nick@Lohen

[KJ_daGreenMini]

thanks for the update Nick

[Crouchy]

The Carbon Fibre Bonnet is noe available from POTN for £713.90 inc VAT. Its the Carbon Creations bonnet that is imported by POTN. So anybody who is looking for a carbon bonnet this is the best price ive seen in the UK.

[tmvdv]

got any pics? i'm just curious as to how it would look

[aw1234]

Is it pre-preg or wet lay?

[Lohen]

The Lohen Carbon fibre bonnet is wet-lay and the Carbon Creations bonnet (also available from us for £699 inc vat) is wet-lay too.

I have attached a picture of the Carbon creations bonnet. Delivery is about 2 weeks on this item.

Cheers,
Nick@Lohen

[obehave]

What is the weight savings?

[KJ_daGreenMini]

i've heard that the weight saving can be as much as 2/3rds of the original bonnet

[Lohen]

Your right KJ on a Lohen bonnet the saving is about 2/3rds of the original and the Carbon Creations bonnet uses similar manufacturing techniques. The average Carbon creations bonnet weighs about 6kgs. The Carbon Creations bonnet is available to buy and fit to your MINI now, the Lohen bonnet is still in testing.

Cheers,
Nick@Lohen

[aw1234]

Well if they are wet lay, really these are just fibreglass resin with dry carbon. With dry carbon costing £15 per m², no overhead for autoclaving or the very labour intensive lay up and cure prep proceedure for pre-preg how do they justify the cost??

If they were in a decent low temp pre-preg such as AC LTM26 they would be well worth the money, but sadly they are not.

[Haggi]

true i reackon for a full proper carbon bonnet youll need to ask someone like LOLA who do the sheels for the f1 cars i know about them cos they alos build rowing boats and they would probs do something like this they are based in huntingdon in cambridgeshire

[aw1234]

There are a few cpompanies around who can make proper carbon components for sports cars. I owned one such company until January this year. Although we focussed on F1 and exotic road cars as a main source of income(did stuff for SLR and F1 road cars), I did do, and retail a range of parts for Caterhams (mainly as I also own a Caterham) but most people were frightened off by the prices.

There are plently of wet lay bonnets made for jap hatches sold in Max Power etc, which are imported from Japan for around £150 each. This is a fair trade price and I would not expect to pay much over double this for a Mini bonnet.

In pre-preg however, the tooling costs and production technicque are much more involved. I'd expect a panel to cost £2k if it were done in decent material such as AGC LTM26 - very shiny band UV resistant.

I am out of this game now, but have contacts if anyone would want to arrnage a bulk buy for developing decent Mini parts.

[Rayman]

Lohen Nick, can i ask what the difference between the carbon creations bonnet and your carbon bonnet is?

I found some pictures from over on NAM of what appears to be the carbon creations bonnet or something similar anyway!

The quality appears pretty good but id still like to see some more in bright sunlight!

Thanks

Chris

[Rayman]

Any pics yet Lohen?

[Lohen]

Hi,

Our bonnet has been sprayed now, were holding out on pictures at the moment, just waiting to put the bonnet back on the car first. This will be next week as the Cooper S is being prepared at the moment ready for our MINI track day on bank holiday Monday, 29/8/05. As well as seeing it here with pictures, anyone can come to Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to see it in the flesh at the track day.

Cheers,
Nick@Lohen

[Rayman]

Nice one Nick!

[Lohen]

I'm afaid the Cooper S now won't be attending the track day. There are few engine components we need before we can get it up and running and these won't arrive before monday. As soon as it is running again we will release pictures of the bonnet on the car.

Sorry for the delay,

Nick@Lohen