Marking a historical achievement in the evolution of automobile manufacturing in Thailand and the advancement of lightweight composite material manufacturing, Cobra International Co., Ltd. and Kevin Gallahan, today announced the start of production of the Cobra Limited Edition, Arbitrage GT. A lightweight component sports car made almost entirely of carbon fiber.

- Cobra International Co., Ltd, is the world's largest manufacturer of quality windsurfboards and surfboards and also a manufacturer of composite components, from car and motorcycle parts to carbon fiber windmill blades, propellers, and sporting equipment. Cobra International Co., Ltd also produces a series of carbon fiber sailboats, powerboats and yachts.

- Kevin Gallahan is a Automobile Stylist from America and founder of the Arbitrage
GT project.

Cobra joins forces with a Racing Legend.

Alan Mertens, lead Engineer of the Arbitrage GT project, has been contracted to ensure the car meets the demands of the sports car enthusiast. Alan Mertens, born in the UK, began his career in British Aerospace and began racing in Formula Ford in 1970. In 1976, Alan Merten’s left the Aerospace industry to join March Engineering, at the time, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of racing cars. Alan Mertens as Chief Engineer for March, led a highly successful Indy Car design and manufacturing team. In the 1990’s with his own Company, Galmer Engineering, Alan Mertens provided a fully
operational research and development facility for an American Indy Car team, Galles Kraco, which won the PPG Indy Car World Championship title. In 1992 Galmer and Alan Mertens, designed and built the G92. Among other races, the team won the prestigious USA Indianapolis 500 with Al Unser Jr. and Danny Sullivan as drivers. Alan Mertens was awarded the Society of Automobile Engineers “Schwitzer Award” in recognition of “ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION IN RACE CAR DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT” for his work on the Indy 500 winning Galmer G92. With March Engineering and Galmer Engineering, Alan Mertens has been responsible for 74 Indy Car wins, including 6 at the USA Indianapolis 500.

Commitment to Quality

Cobra International is committed to quality excellence for the Arbitrage GT. The car will be built with the customer in mind; from comfort, to ease of servicing, and safety. The carbon fiber monocoque chassis construction is world-renowned in racing for the extreme protection given to the persons inside the car. Carbon fiber is up to 10 times stronger than steel and the monocoque encapsulates the occupants. Whether you are a buyer of the complete Arbitrage GT, or the unassembled component kit-car version, Cobra is determined to make the experience of owning a Arbitrage GT an enjoyable one. Personalized customer service throughout the manufacturing process and a “build diary” for each of car produced, the 350 Limited Edition, Arbitrage GT’s are destined to be a historical collector Sports Car.

Purity, Technology, and Performance in One Package.

The Arbitrage GT will have the ultimate in racing car design, tested by the most sophisticated computer programs such as CFD, Computational Fluid Dynamics, and will have endless weeks of road and track testing before its release to the public. Not ignored will be the passenger comfort and convenience options such as multimedia and navigation systems, the latest in air-conditioning and heating technology, quality imported leather, carbon ceramic brakes, and the latest in digital instrumentation and engine management.

Cobra Teams Up With HPA Motorsports from Canada.

HPA Motorsports Inc. of Vancouver Canada, world-renowned experts in VW 6 cylinder tuning, will be building high output motors for the Arbitrage GT. As the leading authority on upgrading the 3.2L narrow angled VW/Audi drivetrain, HPA provides the basis for unlimited performance potential via optional naturally aspirated, single turbo, or dual turbo charged configurations. HPA is a Industry leader in performance and reliability, capturing the attention of media and manufacturers alike. With vehicles tested in Motor Trend Magazine, Car and Driver Magazine, and other distinguished publications, and the induction into the Sony GT4 video game franchise, the notoriety of HPA’s reputation adds yet another element of excitement to the project. Their recent collaboration with Volkswagen for the R-GT project cars that debuted at SEMA 2005, solidified their status as the premier authority on V6 performance drivetrains, and instills confidence of OEM quality. Best known for catapulting their 3500lb. VW R32 Golf from 0-60 mph in only 3.2 seconds, HPA’s involvement with this limited production vehicle will be sure to launch it into Super Car notoriety.

The Cobra Limited Edition Arbitrage GT, truly an “Arbitrage”.

Although the final price has not yet been released, Kevin Gallahan will only comment, “what the customer will receive for the money, compared to other manufacturers outside of Thailand, especially those using advance lightweight composite parts, will be without comparison.” He goes on to add, “in many ways, the advancement of technology and efficiencies in Thailand have surpassed those from the USA, Japan, EU, and the UK.” Most importantly for Cobra International, lightweight composite parts are the future of automobile manufacturing as the world fuel situation drives the demand for more Hybrid car production.

The Galmer Arbitrage GT (www.arbitragecars.com) will prove to be the car that everyone would like to own. It has been designed and engineered to hold up to the most intense scrutiny of the motor sports enthusiast. It is being constructed with a carbon fiber monocoque chassis and mostly carbon fiber body that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the nearest competitor in it's class. The secret lies within Cobra International Co., Ltd's experience in lightweight composites and simply the cost of manufacturing in Thailand .

The Galmer Arbitrage GT is a car designed to be everything that a sports car should be without the complexities that exist in other sports cars today. It is a back to basics approach while still using the best of available technology. This concept has given the Galmer Arbitrage GT it's three words that the team lives by everyday; PURE DESIGN, POWER AND PERFORMANCE. The words were prefaced by the understanding the car must be strikingly beautiful to the eye, be as light weight as possible, have a cockpit designed large enough to accommodate a basketball player, and most importantly, the owner should never be afraid to service or repair it. It is with these ideals that the Galmer Arbitrage GT was created .

DESIGN

The original design that inspired the Galmer Arbitrage GT came from Togay Yuvanc, a self taught, 3d designer and highly knowledgeable race car enthusiast. The baseline design was then redesigned for practical purposes and eye appeal, before being sent to Galmer for pre-engineering approval. From the origination of the design, aerodynamics always remained at the forefront. CFD testing was done to screen out any serious airflow and aerodynamic issues. After several corrections to body curves due to headlight clearance issues, window opening issues and wheelbase adjustments due to the powertrain change to the LS7, The design remains fixed at what you see in the gallery section of the website. The worldwide feedback after the release of the design was overwhelmingly positive. Indeed all of us breathed a little easier after daily checks of the hundreds of websites that reviewed the press release and pictures of the car.

PERFORMANCE

The Galmer Arbitrage GT has been designed and engineered for extremely high speed track stability. The underbody of the car is completely unique and never seen on a road car or any available "out of the box" sportscar ever produced. The suspension is particularly unique with every piece specifically designed for the Galmer Arbitrage GT. Until the track testing is completed, we will not make any performance claims. But sure you will see this car at a 24hr race in the near future. Basically this car is "race ready" with everything in it's place. At the same time, tame enough to drive around town.

COMPONENT KIT CAR?

Because of the enormous cost of homologation for the USA market, the Galmer Arbitrage GT will be exported into the USA without the powertrain and many of the parts that have been sourced outside of thailand . All cars will arrive at a staging area in the USA that will do the final consolidation of all parts and process the final “packaging” for each individual car. Once the packaging is complete, it is our goal that the buyer or the buyers chosen assembler, can assemble the car in less than 100 man hours. A complete assembly dvd and manual will be included with each car. Cobra International Co., Ltd. does not provide the engine or transaxle, but a list of prefered suppliers will be posted on the website at a later time. The Galmer Arbitrage GT will indeed set the bar for modern kit cars of this generation. nothing is from a donor car. nothing from a salvage yard. Everything is new and specific for each car. Every part is numbered accordingly. Every part that is to be painted is painted already according to the customers instructions. There is only the assembly of each beautifully crafted part. The wiring harness is preinstalled. This makes the everything just plug and play, with no hassles.

POWER

Back in the beginning, the VW/AUDI 3.2 liter V6 twin turbocharged engine mated to a DSG gearbox was the drivetrain of choice for the Galmer Arbitrage GT. Indeed at that time we were very excited about this match-up. But after several months it was clear that neither VW and the potential buyers were that interested in this drivetrain being put into the Galmer Artbitrage GT. So the team went back to the drawing board and selected the most powerful small block V8 ever made; the 7 liter, 505 horsepower, Chevrolet LS7 . It was the best "second" choice we have made on this project. Firstly, this engine has 505 horsepower out of the box. The tuning potential is enormous, not to mention that Chevrolet is talking about a LSX 800+ horsepower engine that will be able to go into the Galmer Arbitrage GT without any problems. Another factor that aided in our decision was emissions. Being a tuner of European cars for many years in the USA, Kevin Gallahan understood that the VW/AUDI 3.2 liter V6 twin turbocharged engine would not pass emissions requirements in most states. The LS7 in the Galmer Arbitrage GT, will be able to pass through 50 USA states' emissions control.

To get the power to the wheels, The Galmer Arbitrage GT will be using a custom made, GEARFOX, 6 speed transaxle. Look for specifications for this transaxle in the upcoming days on the website.

INTERIOR

The interior was another very serious issue for the team. Many, many designs were submitted and consequently rejected for one reason or the other. The important factors involved with the interior was style, flexibility, left hand drive/right hand drive changeability, and overall access to gauges, HVAC, and accessories. The current interior design gives the owner an infinite number of choices for color and texture of materials as well as easy change-outs for gauges and data loggers or Motec type dashboards. Weight savings was also constantly considered during the design process. A digital touchscreen interface provided by I Squared will be used for many features of the electronics, while still using some tactile switches when necessary. The Galmer Arbitrage GT will come standard with a Pioneer AV unit and navigation system. The rear view mirror can be replaced with a triple LCD screen version for left/right/center rear view cameras as seen in the gallery. Another available option will be fingerprint recognition for secure entrance into the car as well as starting the vehicle. Seating options will be numerous with fully adjustable to fixed carbon fiber racing seats available. Look for these choices on the website later. Although carpeting may be available, we just don't understand why someone would want to cover all that carbon fiber. Instead, we recommend using the custom made Galmer leather floor mats.