Not letting a little speed bump get in the way of his automobile dreams, Australian native Matt Thomas launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to bring his small supercar startup, JOSS, back to life.
According to Motor Authority, Thomas founded JOSS in 1998 with a vision to design and produce a world-class supercar that was to be Australia’s first ever-homegrown supercar. In 2004, the company began working on a “test mule,” known at the JT1, and soon after plans for an upgraded prototype, the JP1, was devised. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, the project has failed to make any more progress. Now, those behind Joss have turned to the funding option to raise $480,000.
With the funds, the company will be able to built the first five vehicles that are to be sold as “Track Specials,” which will allow their owners to experience the most extreme performance parameter while demonstrating the ability and agility of the vehicle. These vehicles will be based on the JOSS JP1 design but with much more aggressive styling. Its top speed will be 340km/h and acceleration from 1-100km/h in or around 3.0 seconds- with performance that will be a competitor to LeMans or GT race cars.
The campaign’s organizer also wrote, “JOSS is not also not a start-up company. This is not funding one man’s whim or a pipe-dream. More, this is helping take a company that has built a car, run it as a prototype, learnt from these lessons and now taken the design and engineering one enormous step forward. The partners require to deliver this are fully in-tune with the requirements and have committed their support. The design is finalized as these images and the JOSS website demonstrates. From CFD to suspension, the parameters are in place to deliver on the concept – if the funding allows us to.”
Key technology features of the JOSS JP1 Super are the following:
- The first ever multi-speed seamless transverse transaxle gearbox to be used in a vehicle.
- 22% less vehicle frontal area than the Bugatti Veyron creating less CO2 emission and better fuel economy.
- New engine technology enabling the JOSS all aluminum, quad-cam V8 VVT to produce less than 300g/km CO2 gas emissions.
- Approximately four patentable component/systems, which will be unique to the JOSS vehicle.
Also sharing details about their new prototype, the JOSS team revealed, “[We] have already produced a TEST vehicle known as the JOSS JT1, which has been used primarily for proof of concept and driveline development.”
Set to close on September 30th, the campaign has already raised $13,141 from 97 backers.
Have a crowdfunding offering you'd like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!