One-off "kit car" designers

[Psycho Warren]

Equus said:

All this talk of 3-4 guys for 6 months solid at a cost of £1/4 million before he even cuts any metal has probably scared the living bejesus out of him!

True.

Realistically if you have limited budget then the more work you do the better. Learn CAD, modify or base on an existing sound design (think of IVA in the design too), then get an engineer to look at it afterwards. Much cheaper as he is then just doing the assessment of your work and suggesting changes rather than all the time consuming donkey work of drawing it up and editing it.

The more you can do the better, even if its learning new skills.

Also be prepared to get a lot of people who think you are insane or a time waster thus making it harder to get work done and delaying the project while you have to find someone else to explain what you are after to.

I am in the design stages of making a single seater and its been a tough learning experience. I have been screwed by someone who was going to do a lot of the CAD work for me, had other companies just blank you after being initially helpful.

So I have had to learn CAD. Luckily as its a loose replica I have been able to find a 3D model to work from but still, converting it to the right format, editing etc is hundreds of hours work.

I am in the middle of learning to weld so I can make the spaceframe. Its hard to find places that will take on that aspect of things at a sensible price.

Same with bodywork. Luckily I work in composites so that side is covered.

Good few people have given a lot of advice and from their advice it would certainly be easier to choose a kit close enough to modify to your own spec, however I wanted to go a different route and what I wanted to achieve is far apart from any existing kit so forced to go the long way from scratch. I have had all the problems by advisors said i would but you just have to find a solution in as practical a way you can within your basic parameters.