The chassis

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The original plan was to use the OEM Holden Cruze shell as the base. But once we started measuring up, we found that too much of the OE chassis would need modifying.

Enter "The Mule". This was the #ooox prototype chassis we built for the NZV8 TLX program. This full tube chassis was hanging on the wall in the MRX shop and was to be a perfect base to build  the wild hatch. Some areas had to be modified to suit the smaller body shape, but that was easy, and now we had a purpose built MRX race chassis.

The engine and running gear

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430ci alloy race engine. Single 4 barrel carburetor, link ecu running the ignition. MRX 4 into 1 stepped headers, F1 merge collectors with a 3" high flow Y-pipe and muffler. Backed by a Holinger RD6 sequential dog box. The car runs full MRX designed and built suspension, 4130 front uprights, fabricated 9" diff with LSD diff, cambered floating rear hubs. Penske 3 way 8750 shocks all round.

Brakes up front are AP Racing 380mm rotors, with AP Racing Pro 5000R 6 piston calipers, with matching 4 piston calipers out the back.

The exterior / interior

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The Cruze's exterior went through some decent modifications to get the vehicle's shape looking right. First major  job was converting the shell from 4 doors down to 2. For this the B pillar was moved rearward 125mm, the front doors were lengthened by the same 125mm. The front and rear guards were next on the chopping block, with the wheel arches being stretched and opened up to accommodate the longer wheelbase of the chassis. We also had to add 100mm of width to each side of the front and rear guards. All panels have been made in Fibreglass. A full MRX aero package was designed, with supercar spec front splitter and undertray, and with a MRX rear wing element.

The interior is pretty standard race car, Racetech RT4119WHR driver's seat. MRX adjustable swaybar control unit. Motec C125 electronic dash with motec PDM. 

The full spaceframe chassis has been powder coated in kinetic silver.