For over 26 years, the VANGEST group specialized companies have developed unique expertise for the design, engineering, prototyping, tooling and manufacturing of automobiles for their customers. This integrated set of expertise has now been applied, for the 1st time, to create a 100% Portuguese racing car, an bold project for the research and development of new processes, technologies and materials to reach more opportunities in the global market.
The VANGEST BY JH12 GRANDESIGN was born of the combined desire of Carlos Oliveira, president of the VANGEST group and longtime off-road race driver, and João Ornelas, managing director of GRANDESIGN, to replace the old Mitsubishi Pajero with which Carlos Oliveira ended 25th place in the 2003 Paris-Dakar rally, with a demonstrator of the VANGEST group’s extended expertise in automotive design, engineering and product development.
Thus was born the project of a new off-road racecar, to prove its worth by racing in Portugal’s Off-road Championship.
The project explored the available synergies between the 14 VANGEST group companies, where the existing technological resources – like 3D-simulation tools that were key to optimize the vehicle’s characteristics and speed the whole development process. “With MSC Nastran software, it was possible to simulate the VANGEST BY JH12 GRANDESIGN’s aerodynamic performance, with very good downforce results at the rear, and in the mechanical components cooling management” refers Carlos Oliveira, who stresses that the project displays and proves the
competence of VANGEST specialized companies: “one of the main reasons for this project is to show our skills in automotive design and engineering”.
With composite bodywork designed by GRANDESIGN – the design company of the VANGEST group – the VANGEST JH12 BY GRANDESIGN is a 4X4 racing car with a 280hp BMW 3.0 biturbo diesel engine and steel spaceframe chassis, a real demonstrator of the extended capabilities of the VANGEST group, to be put to the test in the national off-road championship.