6-7th May Stoneleigh, who's going?
Discussion
Some pics from this afternoon... it's a long, long time since I've been to the national show so I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of some of the stuff available these days. The line up of eight GT40s outside made my knees twitch more than a little bit, lots of little variations amongst them but they all gave off a certain 'presence'...
580bhp apparently...
Factory Five Daytona Coupes...
The Dax version starts at £25k, I sat in this one for a few minutes and liked what I saw, between my awful Belgian and the Dax chappy's excellent English I got the impression that you can have almost any spec you like...
Cute 550 Spyder.... Chesil? Not up on these but I like it... (also tempting inside the show was the Spyders Inc. 718)
Hawk Stratos looks a gem with Alfa V6 power...
I came away empty handed but the best part of the day was sitting in one of the GT40s for a while chatting with the owner, his particular car was built almost thirty years ago but its sense of solidity and purpose impressed me very much. Being all of 5' 2'' I found it just right.... I want one!
580bhp apparently...
Factory Five Daytona Coupes...
The Dax version starts at £25k, I sat in this one for a few minutes and liked what I saw, between my awful Belgian and the Dax chappy's excellent English I got the impression that you can have almost any spec you like...
Cute 550 Spyder.... Chesil? Not up on these but I like it... (also tempting inside the show was the Spyders Inc. 718)
Hawk Stratos looks a gem with Alfa V6 power...
I came away empty handed but the best part of the day was sitting in one of the GT40s for a while chatting with the owner, his particular car was built almost thirty years ago but its sense of solidity and purpose impressed me very much. Being all of 5' 2'' I found it just right.... I want one!
Yeah, was a little disappointed to be honest, only went today but didn't see a single GT40, or much of real note that we would like to build next. Thousands of Westfields an the like but not much else.
Of note:
The Hawk AC, 289 and Daytona coupe
Who doesn't like a Stratos, the Lister Bell in particular looks really good.
Suffolk C Type
550 Spider in Blue
Westfield 11 parked outside looked lovely and like a possible project
Hate Ferrari reps but there was a 308 that had been execute well
Less said about the better:
All the other Ferrari reps, sorry but none of them look right at all, in fact they stand out for not looking like a Ferrari. The 250 SWB was ok, but to say it was an exact copy and that no one could tell the difference when it was parked up with real ones...nope, devils in the detail, and it lacks it.
Those god awful Porsche kits, just why would you do that to a car I have no idea.
And where was Caterham?
Of note:
The Hawk AC, 289 and Daytona coupe
Who doesn't like a Stratos, the Lister Bell in particular looks really good.
Suffolk C Type
550 Spider in Blue
Westfield 11 parked outside looked lovely and like a possible project
Hate Ferrari reps but there was a 308 that had been execute well
Less said about the better:
All the other Ferrari reps, sorry but none of them look right at all, in fact they stand out for not looking like a Ferrari. The 250 SWB was ok, but to say it was an exact copy and that no one could tell the difference when it was parked up with real ones...nope, devils in the detail, and it lacks it.
Those god awful Porsche kits, just why would you do that to a car I have no idea.
And where was Caterham?
I ended up going both days. Despite the sunshine, the turnout looked worse than previous years (even the wet years). The main car park was only a few rows max, about a third of the field (came in ~1pm sun, 10am Mon). As said, they could loose a hall now as there's a good chunk of each of the 3 halls empty. Real shame, but there's just nothing of interest for younger people to get into the hobby. I didn't see any new kits that made me stop and look. I like the MEV camper conversions - an interesting branch out, the new buggy stuff keeping that niche alive, but there weren't even many rebodies on display like previous years. I guess the industry can't compete for younger interest against a new Audi or BMW on HP at £150/month.
Oh, and 580Bhp? Really? From an NA Small bock Windsor?
Oh, and 580Bhp? Really? From an NA Small bock Windsor?
It was my first time attending, having intended to go for the past few years but always having something else I needed to do. I took my 6 year old daughter, who loved it!
I was surprised at the turnout, I was expecting the place to be rammed. I have a dislike for Ferrari and Porsche replicas, but was very impressed with the GT40s and Cobras. My main reason for going was to check out the various configurations of Westfields, as I am looking to buy one soon, and to compare them with other Seven replicas; I noticed the absence of Caterham too. Caterham are perhaps missing out; it was fairly obvious that Westfield are the dominant presence at the show (or made more of an effort).
Before getting there, my mind was 99% made up that a Westfield is the one I'll go for, and I now have a better feel for the model, engine and interior (plus all the other options you can bolt on, as seen in the halls). However a few others have caught my eye, especially the BMW-based kit cars offered by DMO. Plus it was good to see MK and MEV cars up close. So now, I'm fairly confident that a Westfield is the best choice for me, but it's good to know how the others compare. Obviously, if cash was to allow, then I'd be buying a Cobra replica!
Having attended Goodwood many times, it would be good if they could somehow have a track circuit with cars going round and rotating throughout the day. The Westfield slalom was cool, but more is needed.
I was surprised at the turnout, I was expecting the place to be rammed. I have a dislike for Ferrari and Porsche replicas, but was very impressed with the GT40s and Cobras. My main reason for going was to check out the various configurations of Westfields, as I am looking to buy one soon, and to compare them with other Seven replicas; I noticed the absence of Caterham too. Caterham are perhaps missing out; it was fairly obvious that Westfield are the dominant presence at the show (or made more of an effort).
Before getting there, my mind was 99% made up that a Westfield is the one I'll go for, and I now have a better feel for the model, engine and interior (plus all the other options you can bolt on, as seen in the halls). However a few others have caught my eye, especially the BMW-based kit cars offered by DMO. Plus it was good to see MK and MEV cars up close. So now, I'm fairly confident that a Westfield is the best choice for me, but it's good to know how the others compare. Obviously, if cash was to allow, then I'd be buying a Cobra replica!
Having attended Goodwood many times, it would be good if they could somehow have a track circuit with cars going round and rotating throughout the day. The Westfield slalom was cool, but more is needed.
VxDuncan said:
I ended up going both days. Despite the sunshine, the turnout looked worse than previous years (even the wet years). The main car park was only a few rows max, about a third of the field (came in ~1pm sun, 10am Mon). As said, they could loose a hall now as there's a good chunk of each of the 3 halls empty. Real shame, but there's just nothing of interest for younger people to get into the hobby. I didn't see any new kits that made me stop and look. I like the MEV camper conversions - an interesting branch out, the new buggy stuff keeping that niche alive, but there weren't even many rebodies on display like previous years. I guess the industry can't compete for younger interest against a new Audi or BMW on HP at £150/month.
Oh, and 580Bhp? Really? From an NA Small bock Windsor?
580bhp - that's what the Tornado chap told me, whether it's true or not I can't say.Oh, and 580Bhp? Really? From an NA Small bock Windsor?
The overall turnout seemed pretty good to me, but then I've not been for over twenty years so have nothing more recent to compare it to. I went along to have a good look at the various Cobra options mainly, but the GT40 line up on Sunday afternoon has certainly broadened the horizon somewhat, I wasn't expecting there to be many in attendance but for this alone I'm very glad I went. I wanted to go back again yesterday but had other things to do, I think a visit to Tornado Sports Cars in Kiddie is in order, or possibly one of the other GT40 firms. I was hoping to talk to more of the GT40 owners later on but by the time I left at around half past three most of them had already gone.
Edited by P5BNij on Tuesday 8th May 17:08
Edited by P5BNij on Tuesday 8th May 17:10
Edited by P5BNij on Tuesday 8th May 17:11
Cute 550 Spyder.... Chesil? Not up on these but I like it... (also tempting inside the show was the Spyders Inc. 718)
From the photos I can tell from that ones a Skoda Estelle based Banham Spyder. The rear clamshell is very raised compared to genuine 550's or even to other 550 replica. DVLA check says Skoda too
From the photos I can tell from that ones a Skoda Estelle based Banham Spyder. The rear clamshell is very raised compared to genuine 550's or even to other 550 replica. DVLA check says Skoda too
I was only there on the Sunday but thought it was a good show. There were times in previous years I looked at some of the kits on offer and my initial instinct was to think, "yeah, but why would you?" where as this year there seemed to be more quality if perhaps less quantity on offer.
We also spent most of the afternoon just going around all the club stands in the outdoor areas and again, the quality of some of the cars on display was fantastic. Personally, I don't really "get" the modern Ferrari look-a-likes and I know how much the genuine parts cost, but even there you could see that folk had spent a bucket load of dosh on their cars. All-in-all... a good day out.
We also spent most of the afternoon just going around all the club stands in the outdoor areas and again, the quality of some of the cars on display was fantastic. Personally, I don't really "get" the modern Ferrari look-a-likes and I know how much the genuine parts cost, but even there you could see that folk had spent a bucket load of dosh on their cars. All-in-all... a good day out.
Equus said:
Andy665 said:
Mattygooner said:
And where was Caterham?
I think Caterham see themselves as being "superior" to other kit car manufacturersTo give some perspective to the comments above .......... it has become clear that the 'scene' has changed since I became involved many, many years ago. The advent of SVA and then the ever tightening IVA test requirements and of course everything surrounding emissions has moved the game to a much higher level. Thankfully a lot of the dodgy vendors and products have long since gone.
The standard of product and engineering to be seen on some stands was of a very high order. To take just three examples ..... AK Sportscars, Gardner Douglas and Ultima Sports. These are very high quality vehicles and the people behind them make you feel very confident that they are not about to disappear over night.
Of course it has to be stated, these cars are not cheap and I can fully appreciate they could be well beyond some peoples budgets.
It was also interesting to note that the LS3 engine is still high in the pecking order. I had a lot of discussions about the new Generation IV engines but as this is direct injection with a very high pressure fuel rail (over 100 PSI) there was concern about its use.
With the weather being fantastic, the Club displays outside were superb ....... congrats to everyone involved. The show is worth visiting just to look around outside. The Club displays are brilliant for studying cars in detail and talking to people ........ and in many respects that's one of the prime reasons for visiting the show.
The standard of product and engineering to be seen on some stands was of a very high order. To take just three examples ..... AK Sportscars, Gardner Douglas and Ultima Sports. These are very high quality vehicles and the people behind them make you feel very confident that they are not about to disappear over night.
Of course it has to be stated, these cars are not cheap and I can fully appreciate they could be well beyond some peoples budgets.
It was also interesting to note that the LS3 engine is still high in the pecking order. I had a lot of discussions about the new Generation IV engines but as this is direct injection with a very high pressure fuel rail (over 100 PSI) there was concern about its use.
With the weather being fantastic, the Club displays outside were superb ....... congrats to everyone involved. The show is worth visiting just to look around outside. The Club displays are brilliant for studying cars in detail and talking to people ........ and in many respects that's one of the prime reasons for visiting the show.
4321go said:
Mine?
My first visit, and I have to agree with every single one of your comments. Rather disappointing to be honest.
That's the one! Looked lovely and a very possible next build for us, price wise looks a little less than the Caterham we built so possibly could look at a Lotus Twin Cam or a Climax for it.My first visit, and I have to agree with every single one of your comments. Rather disappointing to be honest.
We are a little pressed on width and want some thing classic with bags of charm.
Mattygooner said:
That's the one! Looked lovely and a very possible next build for us, price wise looks a little less than the Caterham we built so possibly could look at a Lotus Twin Cam or a Climax for it.
We are a little pressed on width and want some thing classic with bags of charm.
I had an XI with a 100bhp 1275 A Series. It had wire wheels and skinny hard tyres and it was a complete blast to drive. On track I was lapping much slower than anyone else but I didn't care as it was so much fun to slide round the corners. I miss that car so much and really regret selling it to buy the Ultima, unfortunately the XI now resides in Finland.We are a little pressed on width and want some thing classic with bags of charm.
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