The Rally Fighter is an American automobile manufactured by Local Motors and introduced in 2009. It is the first car to be developed using co-creation design. The exterior design was submitted by Sangho Kim and selected through community votes. The Rally Fighter is street legal in all 50 states.
Specifications
The Rally Fighter is powered by a front-mid mounted 6.2 L GM LS3 V8 that produces at 5,900 rpm and of torque at 4,600 rpm. Power goes to the rear wheels through a 4-speed GM 4L85-E automatic transmission, which Local Motors says was chosen to prevent over-revving during jumps. The suspension features double A-arms up front and a 4-link Ford 9-inch axle in the rear, both using coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers. This gives it 16 inches of suspension travel in the front and 20 inches in the rear. It also features a fiberglass body to save weight. In the interior, the Rally Fighter is equipped with standard 3-point harness seat belts, a full roll cage and Recaro seats, as well as amenities such as air conditioning, stereo and power windows. Pricing for the Rally Fighter starts at 99,900.
Build process
The Rally Fighter uses a unique assembly process where the buyer of the car goes to one of Local Motors' micro-factories and helps to assemble their car with help from a team of Local Motors employees. This also allows the Rally Fighter to be titled as a kit car or component car in the United States. The Rally Fighter is street legal in all 50 states and upwards of 50 cars have been produced.
Crowd sourcing
The Rally Fighter is believed to be the first production vehicle designed through crowd-sourcing, the process of drawing input from a global community of interested people via the Internet. The winning design was submitted by Sangho Kim of Pasadena, California and is inspired by a P-51 Mustang fighter plane. It was chosen through a vote in 2009 by a community of hundreds of people on the Internet. Using this method, the car was developed from start to finish in 18 months, about four times faster than through conventional processes.
The Rally Fighter was featured in an episode of the American version of the television showTop Gear, as well as the Discovery Channel television show Game Changers, which showed the build process that purchasing customers would go through. The 2014 film features several Rally Fighters used by "Cemetery Wind", a fictional black ops unit of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Rally Fighter is also featured in The Fate of the Furious. In Grand Theft Auto Online, a car named "Brawler" made by manufacturer "Coil" can be bought as part of the Ill-Gotten Gains Part 2 DLC. This car is based on the Rally Fighter. The Rally Fighter also appears in the video gameForza Horizon 2, as well as Forza Motorsport 6, Forza Horizon 3, Forza Motorsport 7, Forza Horizon 4, and the mobile gameCSR Racing 2 and Racing Rivals.
