RE: Spartan-V: The 300kg Bike-Engined Track Car

[louismchuge]

dirty boy said:

Weirdly, the Maserati logo looks a bit like a Spartan helmet logo if you turn it upside down too

[RTH]

A last a beautiful looking and light new sports car.

[ewenm]

RTH said:

A last a beautiful looking and light new sports car.

Add another 200kg to get it road legal and usable (roof for example) and you'd have a decent road car.

[Chris71]

Ian_sUK said:

Our formula student car (V twin) was 198.5kg using carbon for only the bodywork, the lowest I know of is 135kg (single) using more carbon and magnesium. You've then got 165kg for an extra cylinder and general beefing and size increases.

Nicely illustrated.

In these days where anything under 1,500kg is considered lightweight it's good to restore a little perspective. Still find it hard to believe the usual benchmark for light weight, the S1 Elise, weighs nearly a quarter of a ton more than a road-spec Caterham!

[thinfourth2]

It would be so much better if it had a V8, had electric everything and weighed 2 tons and was 4wd

[ctallchris]

sub 300 sounds awesome. I suppose there is the risk that you might lean nonchallantly against your car and write it off but still goes like stink

[bimsb6]

sprinter1050 said:

Bit of an odd engine choice for a trackday car I'd have thought ??

my thoughts exactly .

[Terror Factor]

Seriously nice car, more manufacturers should go back to basics with their cars, lightweight ftw!

300 kg should be do-able imo. A 1l sportsbike is ~170kg dry. Heavily tuned examples are only 130-140kg or maybe even less. A standard leisure ATV is 150-220 kg or so. Karts are sub 100 kg. 300 kg for a car is do-able, if you do it the right way.

Numberplates and a roof and I would want something like that as a daily

[EDLT]

bimsb6 said:

sprinter1050 said:

Bit of an odd engine choice for a trackday car I'd have thought ??

my thoughts exactly .

This Reliant Kitten is powered by a Suzuki TL1000 engine which is a V-twin (apparently, I'm no bike expert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6QDYgLuUI8&fea...

There are a handful of Kit-cars using V-twins because they are cheaper than 4 cylinder bike engines and almost as powerful. So it is doable, not sure there are any advantage though.

[alexpa]

300kg is possible.

These guys make a Ducati Desmosedici that weighs 145kg at the kerb with 200+bhp! (the NCR M16)

And there ultimate version of the Ducati Hypermotard weighs 115kg wet at the kerb, yes 115kg. Basically all titanium and carbon.

http://www.ncrfactory.com/eng/html/15.00.shtml

Alex

[Mazda Baiter]

I badly want one of these. That is a beautiful body shape.

[Terror Factor]

EDLT said:

bimsb6 said:

sprinter1050 said:

Bit of an odd engine choice for a trackday car I'd have thought ??

my thoughts exactly .

This Reliant Kitten is powered by a Suzuki TL1000 engine which is a V-twin (apparently, I'm no bike expert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6QDYgLuUI8&fea...

There are a handful of Kit-cars using V-twins because they are cheaper than 4 cylinder bike engines and almost as powerful. So it is doable, not sure there are any advantage though.

V-twins have more torque than I4's, so I think that might be why. And I suppose that a Ducati engine is more exclusive(more prestige) than just another R1-engine or something like that?

[bimsb6]

Terror Factor said:

EDLT said:

bimsb6 said:

sprinter1050 said:

Bit of an odd engine choice for a trackday car I'd have thought ??

my thoughts exactly .

This Reliant Kitten is powered by a Suzuki TL1000 engine which is a V-twin (apparently, I'm no bike expert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6QDYgLuUI8&fea...

There are a handful of Kit-cars using V-twins because they are cheaper than 4 cylinder bike engines and almost as powerful. So it is doable, not sure there are any advantage though.

V-twins have more torque than I4's, so I think that might be why. And I suppose that a Ducati engine is more exclusive(more prestige) than just another R1-engine or something like that?

no problem with it being a v twin ,but a ducati engine ?

[jake15919]

Looks nice but.....

HOW MUCH?

[Terror Factor]

bimsb6 said:

Terror Factor said:

EDLT said:

bimsb6 said:

sprinter1050 said:

Bit of an odd engine choice for a trackday car I'd have thought ??

my thoughts exactly .

This Reliant Kitten is powered by a Suzuki TL1000 engine which is a V-twin (apparently, I'm no bike expert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6QDYgLuUI8&fea...

There are a handful of Kit-cars using V-twins because they are cheaper than 4 cylinder bike engines and almost as powerful. So it is doable, not sure there are any advantage though.

V-twins have more torque than I4's, so I think that might be why. And I suppose that a Ducati engine is more exclusive(more prestige) than just another R1-engine or something like that?

no problem with it being a v twin ,but a ducati engine ?

I often hear that Ducati's reliability and maintenancecosts are on par with the Japanese nowadays. And like I said before: I thinks it's an exclusivity/status-thing. Not sure though.

[F.C.]

£55K!!

I can think of better things to spend my hard earned on.

[cymtriks]

Nothing but computer renderings on the website, no pictures of the whole car except the front views taken from circa ground level and no pictures of the chassis or engine installation at all.

Serious question: does it actually exist?

[ManOpener]

Terror Factor said:

bimsb6 said:

Terror Factor said:

EDLT said:

bimsb6 said:

sprinter1050 said:

Bit of an odd engine choice for a trackday car I'd have thought ??

my thoughts exactly .

This Reliant Kitten is powered by a Suzuki TL1000 engine which is a V-twin (apparently, I'm no bike expert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6QDYgLuUI8&fea...

There are a handful of Kit-cars using V-twins because they are cheaper than 4 cylinder bike engines and almost as powerful. So it is doable, not sure there are any advantage though.

V-twins have more torque than I4's, so I think that might be why. And I suppose that a Ducati engine is more exclusive(more prestige) than just another R1-engine or something like that?

no problem with it being a v twin ,but a ducati engine ?

I often hear that Ducati's reliability and maintenancecosts are on par with the Japanese nowadays. And like I said before: I thinks it's an exclusivity/status-thing. Not sure though.

I wonder if they'll let you specify engines? I'd love one with a tweaked BMW Boxer. I'm SURE you could get north of 200bhp out of an HP2 Sport engine.

[BILL PAYER]

This is based on a over priced Italian (superbike) of questionable build quality and reliabilty. it seems to me they have chosen the mechanicals looking for exclusivity rather than suitabillty.Surely it would have been better to have used a bike engine from one or the japanese manufacturers imo .

[Furyblade_Lee]

300kgs my arse. Especially with fluids.