Edition #TWENTY-THREE
Sounds of Shoreline
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Two months after Car Week, we’re feeling good as we continue to process new inbound leads and close our investment round! In the four years since we incorporated, a number of boutique carmakers have come and gone - all of them backed by exponentially more budget and manpower. Kyle and I learned this past year that the most important thing is to just keep going. Speaking of going, we’ve been so busy that we haven’t even gotten to share how well our prototype goes. Driving our first creation is an incomparable experience, not just because the prototype has exceeded our expectations, but because of the journey it took to get here. It makes every gear change that much more special. Allow me to paint you a picture called “Driving Prototype One”.
*pulls out brush*
The first thing you register is how easy it is to get into Prototype One despite the 40” tall roofline. The vast door opening removes any overhead obstructions so you just plop yourself onto the wide sill, stick your legs into the footwell, and slide across into the driver’s seat. Once in, the reclined seating position makes it immediately clear that the LM Coupe is more focused than any other sports car. The view out is alien at first; you gaze eye-level at weeds growing in the median, and the tires of whatever vehicle is next to you. It makes you feel alive in the way a superbike does, except here you’re cocooned in the same steel safety cell that purpose-built race cars have used for decades with enormous success. It feels like a race car before you even turn the key.
But then you do turn the key, and the BMW engine lights up with the explosive snarl of a genuine sports prototype. I can barely shout above the unmuffled exhaust (as evidenced in the above video). The idle is rough - we are still in the early days of engine development - and the higher the 1649cc six-cylinder revs, the happier it is. A light prod of the throttle results in an instantaneous leap up the tachometer, the melodious whine of a straight-cut gearbox overlaid on the return to idle. This car’s desire to move at speed is reinforced with a mechanical *clink* that reverberates through your seat with every gear change. It is an all-encompassing theater of race-grade sensory overload. Just listen for yourself below - I highly recommend headphones 😉
The juxtaposition is this: if you were to close your eyes, remove the soundtrack and wind from your hair, and just focus on the ride quality, you would have no idea that you’re in a car with more performance potential than a Porsche GT3. The prototype’s center of gravity is extremely low, and as a result there is virtually zero body roll when cornering. That allows us to run very soft suspension, providing an extremely supple ride and chassis dynamics that are simply unattainable for mass-market sports cars. We already have a host of revised components designed for Prototype Two, and I can’t wait to start dialing in the car even more as we continue towards our goal of making the ultimate drivers car.
And now, it’s back to the behind-the-scenes work! I can’t wait to share some of the developments that are already underway for our second prototype. In the meantime, you can visit our website to learn more about our vision for Shoreline and our cars. By subscribing to this newsletter, you’re the first to know about vehicle updates, future reveals, and more… stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Spencer Beckman
Co-Founder & CEO