RE: Gardner Douglas puts a roof on its GD T70
Discussion
T70SGD said:
I also have a T70 Spyder. My car is road legal and running with a removeable windscreen. I drove to the ring last year approx 1100 miles in total without any issues. Track days are also a real hoot with 400+ bhp in a car that is well under 900kg.
As for Andy and all the team at Gardner Douglas I cannot speak highly enough of them all. I have known them since 1994 when I built a GD427 Euro Cobra. That was completed in 1996 and we celebrated with a trip to Le Mans with ten other GD'ers. I ran the Cobra for a further five years of pure fun then sold the car back to Andy. In 2006 I committed to the T70 and the car you see in the picture was completed in 2008 and gives me nothing but a huge grin every time I fire it up for a blast.
As for to new roof. I think I'll have to remove the period decals and paint the car in a not so subtle shade of metallic but I love the car just as it is.
200Plus Club said:
Stevie Mojo said:
The car and the driver are equally impressive.
Brilliant.
having driven my own, quite hard, the ring footage shows someone with a lot of skill and huge cahoonies. i couldnt do that with mine, will admit it, i cant drive as well as that yet and i also couldnt afford the off at the ring (he nearly has a couple!)Brilliant.
its a mid 7m30ish lap and regardless of the wobbly speedo (mine does the same) the car is a genuine 180mph car, i went in it when it was in the uk. its a 7 litre tuned ls7 with dry sump and was 690bhp ish and 600ft/lb if i remember when sold on. 0-100 was about 6secs and it was gps clocked at 179 on the main straight at the ring (again from memory).
there is no power steering, no traction control, no abs, its just a massively powerful v8 in a 900kg spaceframe well engineered kit car :-)
Edited by 200Plus Club on Monday 16th April 23:49
HeMightBeBanned said:
Lovely car. Saw one at the Revival last year and have an itch I may just have to scratch. Did you self-build or get it factory made? What's the price for an LS3-engined one, and what are the must-have spec options?
mine was self built. first time i have done a kit, really enjoyed it, not massively difficult as it uses all new components and nuts/bolts, its not like nicking the bits off a rusty sierra donor :-)basic kit (minus engine and box) is about £23-25k if i remember, if you can source good second hand engine and box for say 5-6k then in theory a 30k self build is poss. mine probably ended up about 35k with a forged ls 6 /2nd hand G50 box as i went for dry sump, twin oil coolers etc as its a track only car. if you went ls7 and a newer 6 speed porsche box then you might be circa 45k built.
for me it is all about the looks of the cars, the history of the original can am cars they pay homage to, and the easy v8 massive grunt and noise. have had other fast cars that i went on trackdays with and this is in another league.
HeMightBeBanned said:
What's it like to use on the road?
My car has a standard LS2 6.0 litre engine running Omex ecu and a mechanical throttle body giving 25mpg approx. This makes the car very easy to drive in stop start traffic conditions. You sit very low to the ground but all-round visibility is fine. The windscreen allows you to drive the car in all ambient conditions without any appreciable buffeting at all speeds unlike a Cobra or Seven type of open car. The suspension is fully adjustable for ride height, roll bar settings, shock absorber rates, and so on. Therefore you are able to achieve a very compliant ride for long road trips that still works on the track. T70SGD said:
My car has a standard LS2 6.0 litre engine running Omex ecu and a mechanical throttle body giving 25mpg approx. This makes the car very easy to drive in stop start traffic conditions. You sit very low to the ground but all-round visibility is fine. The windscreen allows you to drive the car in all ambient conditions without any appreciable buffeting at all speeds unlike a Cobra or Seven type of open car. The suspension is fully adjustable for ride height, roll bar settings, shock absorber rates, and so on. Therefore you are able to achieve a very compliant ride for long road trips that still works on the track.
hi dave! nice to see your car again! GD- for anyone who is interested then andy does do road demos in their factory car, it will open your eyes! they also attend quite a few trackdays, passenger rides are fun.
the ring footage is interesting to me as an owner, i think i drive mine quite hard but couldnt risk doing so like that at the ring, and in a 900kg car with 700bhp its pretty mental! if i had a spare (free) car as back up that i hadn't had to build myself i might go a bit faster than normal round there lol
It's not a hard car to drive, they handle beautifully but it is mid engined with massive torque and you could donut it all day long if the fancy took you, so fair play to the guy lapping at that speed.
Edited by 200Plus Club on Tuesday 17th April 22:32
alexpa said:
Wow! And by my reckoning the Caterham driver was a lot sharper than the GD T70 driver, yet he still lost him. Very impressive.alexpa said:
Boshly said:
Wow! And by my reckoning the Caterham driver was a lot sharper than the GD T70 driver, yet he still lost him. Very impressive.
Agreed. The Caterham is using the kerbs and appears on it, the DGT70 driver is taking a lot less of the line.rhinochopig said:
alexpa said:
Boshly said:
Wow! And by my reckoning the Caterham driver was a lot sharper than the GD T70 driver, yet he still lost him. Very impressive.
Agreed. The Caterham is using the kerbs and appears on it, the DGT70 driver is taking a lot less of the line.
) is that 70 man is far from using all the track and could definitely get more speed into around and out of those corners.BTW never 'met' anyone else who also had a MegaBird so
200Plus Club said:
the original cars used to run anything from 8-10" or even 12" front rim width, and 15-17" wide rear rims, the GD cars are actually undertired in comparison with some of the original race cars, obviously the original 60s cars had bigger sidewalls thats all. my GD t70 runs 10" fronts with 255-40-17s and 12" rears with 335-30-18s and looks very good on them, it also drives superbly.
brakes- 330mm 4 pot AP all round. the car is 900kg and has 400-700bhp depending on spec, its also a track biased car in the main so brakes are big for a reason. the original cars ran inboard discs and calipers (big) and were 500-700 bhp in 650kg !!!
you can do an open pitlane trackday and not have any brake fade or issues all day even if nailing it hard and demon braking, they are that good.
i love the look of the new version, i dont think i will be changing mine to take the roof etc though as i like the non windscreen look personally as per the original spyders prior to the mk3 enclosed cars, however as usual GD have done a superb engineering design and job as usual, they dont chuck out half arsed work.
hats off to them for freshening up what is one of the best UK kit cars available. mine is below !
Real T70's dont run inboard brakes as inboard brakes are usually known, i.e mounted onto the gearbox/chassis. They are mounted to the inside drive face of the hub assembly, still mounted on the upright. They are not as light as you think, they weigh circa 800kg. Power wise you are looking at circa 550BHP/500lbft.brakes- 330mm 4 pot AP all round. the car is 900kg and has 400-700bhp depending on spec, its also a track biased car in the main so brakes are big for a reason. the original cars ran inboard discs and calipers (big) and were 500-700 bhp in 650kg !!!
you can do an open pitlane trackday and not have any brake fade or issues all day even if nailing it hard and demon braking, they are that good.
i love the look of the new version, i dont think i will be changing mine to take the roof etc though as i like the non windscreen look personally as per the original spyders prior to the mk3 enclosed cars, however as usual GD have done a superb engineering design and job as usual, they dont chuck out half arsed work.
hats off to them for freshening up what is one of the best UK kit cars available. mine is below !
The MK1 T70 Spyder ran 8" front, 10" rear width 15" diameter wheels, you then had them run 9" front, 12" rear on the later spyder and early coupe, then on the MK3B coupe they were running 11" front, 17" rear wheel widths.
P.S. the fastest race lap ever around Goodwood is held by Andrew Smith in his original Lola T70 Spyder set in the 2010 Goodwood Revival, averaged a tad under 110MPH. It was previously jointly held by Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart in a Lotus 25 and BRM P261 F1 car respectively, set in 1966.
Hi Chris,
Yeh, have a few McLaren CanAm cars in the workshop, plus plenty of 70's & 80's F1, 70's Le Mans etc.
Busy getting ready for Monaco at the moment, taking 9 F1 cars there, it's going to be a busy weekend! Main car i'll be working with there is the P34 6 wheel Tyrrell of Patrick Depailler, which is an interesting piece of kit.
Yeh, have a few McLaren CanAm cars in the workshop, plus plenty of 70's & 80's F1, 70's Le Mans etc.
Busy getting ready for Monaco at the moment, taking 9 F1 cars there, it's going to be a busy weekend! Main car i'll be working with there is the P34 6 wheel Tyrrell of Patrick Depailler, which is an interesting piece of kit.
johnfelstead said:
Hi Chris,
Yeh, have a few McLaren CanAm cars in the workshop, plus plenty of 70's & 80's F1, 70's Le Mans etc.
Busy getting ready for Monaco at the moment, taking 9 F1 cars there, it's going to be a busy weekend! Main car i'll be working with there is the P34 6 wheel Tyrrell of Patrick Depailler, which is an interesting piece of kit.
i bet it is! not your common or garden race car :-)Yeh, have a few McLaren CanAm cars in the workshop, plus plenty of 70's & 80's F1, 70's Le Mans etc.
Busy getting ready for Monaco at the moment, taking 9 F1 cars there, it's going to be a busy weekend! Main car i'll be working with there is the P34 6 wheel Tyrrell of Patrick Depailler, which is an interesting piece of kit.
ps consider yourself invited to any trackdays i'm at that you can get to, would value your opinion on set up/handling on mine.
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