The world of autocrossing is already well acquainted with the name Phantom, as the mere mention of it has become synonymous with blinding speed. After three years of painstaking development, many broken parts, hours of tuning, and megabytes of data gathering, the car earned its third consecutive SCCA Solo II national title in 1998.
A Brief Recap
When I first saw the Phantom in the summer of 1995, it was nothing more than an open-wheeled version of the DMD Phantom D Sports Racer with a wing mounted en top as per the then-standard A Modified configuration. The car still had fiberglass bodywork and a pullstart on its Arctic Cat powerplant.
Still, the car was efficiently designed, and I knew it had potential when I saw how fast it accelerated out of a corner–just before its drive belt disintegrated. I doubted that car builder Joe Cheng would make it to the 1995 Nationals. The car was just not ready to be unveiled in front of the likes of the Bowlands, Goodales and McKameys.
Enter Gary Milligan, multi-time National champ and master car builder. With his help, the Phantom project got going in earnest. The whole tone o_f the effort changed, as there seemed to be a sense of urgency around the shop. Basically, the attitude was like “We gotta build this thing, and it’s gonna win.” The mind set of the Phantom’s team was not unlike that of a top CART team-very intense.
For the next two years, it was very hard to pry Joe or Gary away from this project. They were either at the dyno or the wind tunnel or away at some big event testing, testing and more testing. The rest, as they say, is history.
Fits like a Glove
Imagine if you could transform the human body into a race car, and you get a feel for what it’s like to drive the Phantom. The car is designed for a driver with a height of around 5 feet 10 inches and 175 pounds, so for me at only 5 feet 8 inches, I was a bit more reclined in the seat, but this lowered the center of gravity anyway.
Every component on this car is arranged in such a way that the driver has only enough room to steer the wheel and work the pedals. Anything else would be wasted space. You are simply in a cocoon of tubing and sheet…
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