Design
The car is built around a monocoque steel space frame and the body panels are of Composite Fire retardant GRP. Aerodynamic aides include adjustable front wing, and adjustable Flower type rear wing. The Racing Tyres are from JK tyres and the cars have a choice of grooved semi-slick and ungrooved slick version on the Race day.
The car was entirely designed and constructed by Coimbatore-based Super Speeds, the same company that designed the Formula Maruti in the mid 80's, which is now a division of L.G.Balakrishnan and Brothers. The Chief designer of the car is ex-racing driver B.Vijaykumar and aided by his team of engineers and designers. The car has a high indigenous content of over 97%.
Formula Rolon Chevrolet
The Formula Rolon Chevrolet (2006–2009) cars were powered by a Chevrolet 1.6 liter engine during the years 2006 till 2009 and the car was known as Formula Rolon Chevrolet, as supplied by General Motors India for a three-year contract. Over 18 cars were manufactured of which 15 were supplied to various teams while three chassis were retained for development activities.
Formula Rolon 2010
For the 2010 season Super Speeds launched a short wheelbase version and equipped with the in house race tuned 1.3 liter Suzuki engine with a race tuned EFI. The 2010 model was simply known as Formula Rolon 2010. The short wheelbase has a new exterior design and the car was made 100 kg lighter than the earlier model to improve the power to weight ratio.
Engine and Gearbox
Chevrolet 1600 engines
The 1.6 liter engine was supplied by General Motors India for the Formula Rolon Chevrolet versions during the years 2006 till 2009. The Chevrolet 1600 cc engine produced 120 bhp (89 kW) in race trim as of 2006 with a re-chipped ECU; otherwise it was the same stock engine as used in Chevrolet Optra model sold in India. Notable race modifications from the passenger car engine include a re-chipped ECU supplied by GM India, K&N Air filter and tuned Free flow Exhaust pipes while the Head, Block and Camshaft remained the same as in Stock.This was also a first for Chevrolet’s involvement in Racing outside United States.
Super Speeds Suzuki 1300 engines
For 2010 season, the short wheelbase version was called Formula Rolon 2010 and used a 1300cc 16 valve engines from Suzuki Swift. The 1.3 liter Suzuki engines had modified cylinder heads, race tuned free flow exhausts and high lift cam shafts modified to race specifications producing over 40% more power than the factory stock versions. The engine management systems were supplied by Race Dynamics of Bangalore with a programmable Fuel Injection system.
The Gearbox was a Racing gear box, with straight cut-dog ring gears and in-built LSD (Limited Slip Differential) manufactured in-house at Coimbatore by Super Speeds similar to Hewland racing transmission.
