Which KIt Car?

[RobT460]

HI peeps newbie alert.

Is come to that point in my life where I need to relive my late teens and early twenties stuck under a car bonnet and getting coated in oil. Mid life crisis? maybe. I have a friend who owns a Caterham and during my time being co pilot on various track days and trips ive decided that the "kit car" is the thing for me. im a practical guy and I know my way round an engine etc so I feel confident that a self build is something I can achieve.

Ive looked at Caterham, yes a fantastic machine but I feel the price is ramped up by the name.

There seem to be many lotus seven replicas out there and tbh some of them do appeal to me more than the Caterham.

My attention has been drawn to the SR2 by Roadrunner Racing.
http://www.roadrunnerracing.net/index.php/the-sr2

I would be grateful if anyone could give me any advice on kit car buying and also any other car suggestions.


Cheers Peeps Rob T

[Steffan]

I would suggest trying to establish exactly what you want from the car. The caterhams are expensive but generally in a different price league on resale to most other equivalent kit cars. Robin Hoods and the like are cheaper but build quality and drivetrain and suspension choices can be very esoteric in some builds. What to you want from the car? I have owned most tyes of the kit cars made between the 1950's when I started with a genuine all alloy Lotus Super Seven bought from Colin Chapman himself right through Ford Falcons and Ashley specials right up to a Quantum RS Turbo I finished three months ago. I own a number and every one offers very different characteristics and qualities. You need to narrow down your choices IMO. Do you want out and out performance as in a Westfield V8 or handling qualities as in a lightweight racer stripped down to basics? Your choice is critical to which kit car to suggest.

[RobT460]

Hi Steffan thanks for your reply
I think what im after is a good all rounder. I would probably do the odd track day. I want something for a bit of fun for the weekend, handles well round the Derbyshire dales with a good bit of power under the hood, im thinking 180 bphish.

[ugg10]

If that is your requirement then you won't do much better than a zetec (or if funds allow a duratec) fisher fury in terms of price/performance. One of the best chassis around, 200hp is probably the sweet spot and better aerodynamics than the brick like properties of a seven. I'd go for a full screen spyder with le mans bonnet. A £10k budget may stretch to a long first box, four pot fronts and a lsd to top it off. An alternative is a super/turbo charged mx5 engine and gearbox.

Happy hunting.

[Steffan]

RobT460 said:

Hi Steffan thanks for your reply
I think what im after is a good all rounder. I would probably do the odd track day. I want something for a bit of fun for the weekend, handles well round the Derbyshire dales with a good bit of power under the hood, im thinking 180 bphish.

In which case there is a pretty wide choice. What is your budget? Do you prefer traditional seven type looks or a more streamlined appearance? I think you need to narrow down your criteria. I would take a look at the MEV range which is an excellent place to start. Stuart Mills is a very able kit car manufacturer and his Replicar is a really different one donor approach which I personally think is a beautiful car. But it would not suit someone looking for a sevenesque shape.

Equally the Westfield range must be worth a look but again these are a bit pricey IMO. Then there are the variousvJeremy Phillips designs formerly made by Sylva cars but now produced by others who bought the designs which handle very well and are popular. Equally there are at least ten different seven style cars in production with greater or lesser price and appeal depending on your preferences. Equally the MK products have a lot of support. You should have a great time looking and with luck, enjoy every minute of the search. Best of luck to you in your endeavours.

[ugg10]

If that is your requirement then you won't do much better than a zetec (or if funds allow a duratec) fisher fury in terms of price/performance. One of the best chassis around, 200hp is probably the sweet spot and better aerodynamics than the brick like properties of a seven. I'd go for a full screen spyder with le mans bonnet. A £10k budget may stretch to a long first box, four pot fronts and a lsd to top it off. An alternative is a super/turbo charged mx5 engine and gearbox.

Happy hunting.

[Steffan]

ugg10 said:

If that is your requirement then you won't do much better than a zetec (or if funds allow a duratec) fisher fury in terms of price/performance. One of the best chassis around, 200hp is probably the sweet spot and better aerodynamics than the brick like properties of a seven. I'd go for a full screen spyder with le mans bonnet. A £10k budget may stretch to a long first box, four pot fronts and a lsd to top it off. An alternative is a super/turbo charged mx5 engine and gearbox.

Happy hunting.

The MX5 alternative offers real possibilities. If costs are a concern I would look at the one donor MX5 kit cars that there are offered currently. Some of these seem remarkable value to me and examples such as the very good looking Replicar from MEV are really very affordable. If you built one of these and added a supercharger which are available for that engine then a pretty good looking and quick kit car could be yours for well under £10,000 probably for less than £8000 with a bit of judicious buying and using the Mazda seats and dash etc to keep the costs down. Very difficult to bet that option IMO.

I personally would avoid the kit cars currently offered as simple rebodies on the MX5 retaining the MX5 underpinning totally. These use the Mazda frame and the one real weakness of the MX5 IMO having had a few is the propensity to rot in much of the bodywork. Using the new chassis route avoids that major weakness and I personally have my doubts about those rebodied kit cars for that reason.

A new chassis properly treated should last almost indefiinitely many of the old kit cars I still own including my Dutton V8 are still substantially on their original paper thin Dutton underpinnings which in that case are less than adequate but they have not rotted out because they were treated properly when originally constructed. Ditto my Midas and Robin Hoods. If you are going do to that much work on a new kit car better to use a frame which if treated will last the life of a car. And protecting such frames is easy with stove enamelling and rustproofing kits available in profusion although it will cost some money. Better job though IMO.

[OlberJ]

I see a lot of praise for the Fisher Fury's handling. Any particular reason for it?

[ugg10]

OlberJ said:

I see a lot of praise for the Fisher Fury's handling. Any particular reason for it?

Not a definitive answer nut my views on the subject, reasons for it handling so well -

1) Designed by Jeremy Philips who has a long history of designing very good handling cars (Star, leader, stiker, stylus, phoenix, mojo, R1ot, j15, j16, vectus, jester etc.)
2) Development of the Stiker and Phoenix therefore evolution of good cars, not new from scratch
3) Early cars, and the Striker and Phoenix, were extensively used in the early 90's in the then thriving Kit Car race series - race pedigree/set up/problem fixes etc.
4) Inboard front dampers which keep the unsprung mass down and make the front very responsive
5) Choice of rear end set ups depending on use - live axle, strut type single wishbone independent rear, traditional double wishbone independent rear
6) Lots sold so pretty much anything that you an think of doing with the car has been done before (engine fitment particularly) - I think there are well over 700 been made (please correct if I am wrong) and that is without counting the Stylus, Striker and Phoenix that share many chassis features

So, it really boils down to - great solid design, lots of race tuning, evolution over the years (Mark Fisher and now BGH/Steve) to refine, big (friendly) owner base that has solved lots of things, and finally great customer support for many years. That's my pennies worth on why this is a great car to buy/build/own/drive.

[OlberJ]

In depth. Thanks for that.

I love the look of them and knowing they are well revered is a major plus point.

[ugg10]

Not only do they handle better than most sevenalike and look a lot better IMO but the full body makes then significantly more aerodynamic (big benefit at higher speeds and for the bike engine boys with less torque)and a lot more comfortable with less wind buffet due to the curved screen.

I guess (one of) my dream car would be a Full Screen Fury Spyder (no doors) with a le mans bonnet in matt gunmetal with black accessories running a 4.5l AJP V8, T5 gearbox and a LSD with nice big brakes. This is on the lottery build list alongside a 289 le mans coupe cobra with an M5 v10 engine and a space frame mk1 bubble arch Escort running 500hp scooby 4wd running gear. Well you have to daydream otherwise what would life be like !

[velocitykendal]

RobT460 said:

My attention has been drawn to the SR2 by Roadrunner Racing.
http://www.roadrunnerracing.net/index.php/the-sr2

Good choice, for me the Road Runner SR2 and MNR Vortx have some of the best chassis designs available in the se7en-esque kit market at the moment. Both companies offer an SDV build based on the MX5 which should really help to keep build costs down but personally I would only really consider a forced induction installation of that engine as the standard output isn't enough. SR2s have also been fitted with a number of other powerplants including Duratec, Honda F20C and an LS2 V8 so don't feel limited by the Mazda doner.

[Fury1630]

I have a Fury. Can't recommend it highly enough. Had many comments when out with the SKCC from Tiger owners that couldn't live with it round bends. PLUS, you can still talk to the passenger at 70 because of the curved screen, mine has doors & a choice of deflectors or full size side screens, a soft top folded on the rear deck & have a luggage rack for touring - with 0 - 60 in 5 sec or under & 130+ performance (never tried for Vmax). I prefer the classic bonnet, but you do need to be a bit "inventive" to get it though IVA (headlamp hieght).

As a car with full bodywork, doors (hinges & latches), a glass screen, heavy old Peugeot alloys & cerpets, it still came in under 600 Kg

[anonymous-user]

I've got a caterham, a locost, and a Sylva, the Sylva is way the best, but it is the one I've developed most, the caterham was built for a race series, it is no better than the others, and was the most expensive to start although I've spent more on the Sylva in the long run. They thing I loved about the Sylva was that jp built mine for me with a few mode I wanted, caterham won't even talk about something different, and at the time I built I didn't want a k series, (caterham is cross flow) mine were all built by me so build quality is consistent, so my opinion it comes down to the builder not the make, a good Sylva will tramp a bad caterham etc.