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

[lgomgf]

Twincam16 said:

God that's beautiful, reminiscent of the Maserati 'birdcage'. Ducati engine should sound fantastic too. Pity it won't be road-legal as I could see this bridging the gap between the likes of Caterham and the Elise.

That was my feeling, no headlights not road legal... a pity... I would love to drive a duc powered car on the back roads and scare the sh*t of bikers like me...

[k-ink]

Stunning!

I suspect the use of carbon fibre, titanium and magnesium casting will be used to keep the mass that low.

Daft name though. I initially thought it was a play on words of it being rather bare and minimal.

[slomax]

Seems very expensive for what is basically a posh, factory assembled kit car that you cant drive on the road....

[ceebmoj]

Are there any other pictures of it? it looks very prity but I would like to see it from some other angles.

[jon-]

ManOpener said:

mrmr96 said:

How on earth can it weigh sub 300kg?

I read somewhere about someone building a mid-engined IS200 for Time Attack using a space-frame and carbon bodywork. He claimed that the entire body including space-frame and rolling chassis only weighed 80-odd KG.

If that's true then I can believe this is true.

Edited to add- didn't the old Porsche 909 weight something like 325kg with a hulking great flat 8?

Edited by ManOpener on Thursday 16th September 11:32

Even a set of forged wheels and light weight tyres are still 10kgs a corner, so that's 40kgs of his "80kgs rolling chassis" right there without even thinking about the weight of brake discs and suspension.

80kgs for the frame and bodywork maybe, none of the rolling bits.

If this is 300kgs I will eat my hat.

[[AJ]]

Wow, that looks like great fun and I love the retro race car looks.

£50k seems like a lot for what you actually receive though. You could get you a rather more focussed Radical or a more practical R500 for less.

[Bull1t]

louiebaby said:

170 BHP from a 1.2 litre V Twin. Why don't they mention torque figures then???

The power figure matches the bike so presumably the torque will be similar too

97 lb-ft 131.4 Nm @ 8000 rpm

[Macboy]

And as for the name...wasn't this a Spartan? :-)

Edited by Macboy on Thursday 16th September 12:21

[Rusty-C]

MrTappets said:

Anyone remember the Road Razor?

I'm sure there's a concept car with an uncanny resemblance to this, but can't for the life of me remember what it was.

[The Angry Gopher]

Macboy said:

And as for the name...wasn't this a Spartan? :-)

Edited by Macboy on Thursday 16th September 12:21

My dad built one of these, not much over 300kg (for the kit).

[ptopman]

I thought cars were subject to really high taxes in Australia. Perhaps this might be exempt as it wouldn't be registered for road use, but still it could be that the price in UK/Europe ends up somewhat less than that.

For example a Lotus Elise 1.6 starts at 70K AUD. But then the fancy materials would not be within such a budget I suppose.

Edited by ptopman on Thursday 16th September 14:25

[Reload]

I'm confused:

article said:

a 170 horsepower 1199cc Ducati motor to power along a steel spaceframe chassis and carbon fibre body that weighs a scarcely credible 300kg.

Spartan-V tech spec said:

WEIGHT: Less than 300kg

Is it the whole car that's supposed to weigh 300kg or just the body and chassis?

[BoRED S2upid]

That looks very nice indeed, if its anywhere close to 300kg with a jockey driving it I can believe the claimed performance figures. Expensive due to the carbon fibre.

[annodomini2]

k-ink said:

Stunning!

I suspect the use of carbon fibre, titanium and magnesium casting will be used to keep the mass that low.

Daft name though. I initially thought it was a play on words of it being rather bare and minimal.

Read the article, mild steel spaceframe, carbon fibre bodywork

[crostonian]

That's how I understand it, so wheels/tyres, brakes, engine and all other bits n bobs are on top of the 300kg

[mrmr96]

crostonian said:

That's how I understand it, so wheels/tyres, brakes, engine and all other bits n bobs are on top of the 300kg

If that's the case then it's much more plausible!

[Riggers]

Reload said:

I'm confused:

article said:

a 170 horsepower 1199cc Ducati motor to power along a steel spaceframe chassis and carbon fibre body that weighs a scarcely credible 300kg.

Spartan-V tech spec said:

WEIGHT: Less than 300kg

Is it the whole car that's supposed to weigh 300kg or just the body and chassis?

Good point - I can see how that could be confusing. I believe the tech spec means 30kg for the lot (like people are saying, though, I find that hard to believe)

[Crusoe]

looks like a one piece body with a built in bonded screen so very little weight in that, expensive if you had a little off though.

[911motorsport]

Tyres filled with helium?

[virgil]

Why is 300kg hard to believe?

Think of it as a 4 wheeled track bike rather than a light weight car...you've basically got 140kg 'spare' to play with for the additional brakes, wheels/tyres etc etc.

No road safety or car emmitions stuff to contend with...it's like gordon murry's light car company rocket but with a bigger body...nothing new really...