Sep 25

Dennis Palatov's dp1

I want to be just like Dennis Palatov when I grow up, because he gets to build and play with some awesome machinery. Right now he’s 4.5 years into his DP Cars dp1 project; currently in the process of building a prototype of the dp1.

The dp1 — an all-wheel drive, single-seat track car powered by a custom-built 10,000RPM, 375hp V8 engine (made from the top ends of two Hayabusa engines) — is pretty remarkable by itself, but what I found to be really remarkable is that Palatov is publishing every agonizing step of building the prototype, with photos, on his website. Last week was pretty cool, culminating with video footage of him finally turning the key and zipping around the parking lot in it. It is a truly fascinating read, in a geekish gearheadded sort of way.

While the dp1 isn’t the car for everyone — heck, it’s not even road legal — I find Palatov’s work particularly interesting because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do; to design, build and drive… something. Seeing what he’s going through for the dp1 is an eye-opener. Will it be enough to deter me from that dream? I dunno, but it’ll make me think.

One other thing to envy about Palatov; he’s got an Ariel Atom on order, and is even in on some of the chassis design. Drool.

by Dave   September 25, 2006 8:00 PM   |

Comments

by Deane,   September 25, 2006 11:39 PM  

I looked around this guy's site for a while. What does he do, exactly, except buy and drive cool cars? What a friggin' life.

by Dave,   September 26, 2006 5:47 PM  

What does he do, exactly, except buy and drive cool cars? What a friggin? life.

I wondered the same thing; right now it appears he's running Random Research, which is a design consulting firm. That site shows some examples of his work, but not much for clues as to whether it's just him or a group. He must do pretty well, considering some of his extracirricular work.

That or he's "independently wealthy", or maybe has a bevy of venture capitalists pouring money on his dp1 project.

by Mike,   January 4, 2007 2:43 PM  

He is not a trust-fund baby, he has mentioned that his daytime gig is as an engineer and that he got his toys through hard-core money saving

by Roy,   February 18, 2007 6:13 PM  

I know Dennis very well, having spent several track days at PIR chasing (and not catching) him around PIR over the past 5 or so years. He is a degreed engineer (software, hardware, firmware, CAD, &younameit). He is fully self funded and totally brilliant. He got his toys through hard work and total dedication.

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