The body shape of the T70 was designed deliberately to minimise lift at high speed, a known problem with the Mark 1 GT 40. The shape was successful in this respect, generating some downforce in fact. The T70 IIIB was the most highly developed version in this respect with refinements such as the lower flatter front to minimise airflow under the car. The body was as GRP moulding with the centre cockpit section fixed to the monocoque, and the one piece front and rear sections easily removable for access.

When the T 70 was designed, wide tyres with flat crowns were first appearing. To work well, these need suspension which keeps the working surface of the tyre in good contact with the road, i.e. good control of wheel camber regardless of suspension position. The T70 suspension was very good in this respect as it was a fully developed non parallel unequal length wishbone system all round, well braced to take braking thrust at the front and Chevy grunt at the rear. The suspension ran on roller bearings or spherical joint s

The T70 was designed to use a range of engines, particularly American stock block V8’s. Although the spyder version used small block Fords to some extent, the usual engine for the coupe was the small block Chevy. More detail is discussed later.

The body is a very accurate recreation of the T70 III B shape, moulded as it was from an original body . The intricate mould for the one piece rear body alone has 13 sections so that the completed item can be removed from the mould despite its complex shape. The standard production material is glass fibre reinforced polyester resin, sufficiently strong for good durability without excess weight. Lightweight Kevlar is an extra cost option for competition only. The gel coat can be provided in any standard GRP colour and has good gloss. With careful preparation and good quality paint, the body can be finished to a very high standard.

The suspension is closely modelled on the original layout which was one of the reasons for the success of the T 70. Wide racing tyres were just coming into use in the mid to late 60's and the T 70 suspension did a good job of keeping the rubber flat to the road. The front uses non parallel, unequal length wishbone suspension which can be adjusted for castor and camber. The rear is similar but with the addition of radius rods to take the acceleration and braking loads off the wishbones. The standard road going suspension uses rubber bushed pivots for road noise suppression.

As an extra cost option, Rose jointed adjustable suspension can be fitted to give better location of the moving components and hence better handling on the track, but at the cost of more road noise.

Carefully set up with suitable high performance tyres, this suspension is capable of delivering road holding performance at the very highest "supercar" level.

The Small block Chevy is the obvious choice for a number of reasons. Apart from the early attempts with the then new and unproven Aston Martin V8, the SBC was the most widely fitted T 70 engine in the 60's. The Chevy was then highly developed as a race unit for the Formula 5000 class of racing for which it was the only engine. This solved the reliability problems which dogged the T 70 in the 60's. The SBC is the most numerous engine ever built, and raced, and hence offers the most power for your money! 300 bhp and 360 ft lbs of torque is available in standard specification. In addition this power unit can be developed to provide 500 "streetable" horsepower for shattering performance which is at least on a par with the original car!

Higher performance engines can be supplied as an extra cost option.

The Renault based 5 speed transaxle is used in the GTD T 70. It was originally a ZF design for racing use, and was used in the Alpine GTA as well as a wide variety of applications where its durability was needed. It provides a compact transaxle which has been proven over many years with V8 power and torque levels up to 400 ft lbs and 450 hp depending on tyres etc. As an option, it can be provided with a heavy duty one piece first motion shaft which uprates the 'box to 500 ft lbs and hp. Also different final drive ratios can be provided depending on customer requirements.

Copyright D. Bell 1999