My Formula 27 Bike Engined Kit Car - how to blow up engines

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While I was doing all of that, I took car out for a run with a couple of mates - an MK Indy and a neighbour who has an original Lotus seven. It's interesting looking at the differences between the three - all three totally different but just as much fun as each other









Since I hadn't used to the car for a while (due to the new distraction...) I booked onto the sprint day at Blyton Park to stretch it's legs. Unfortunately the new wheels / tyres that I had ordered hadn't arrived, so I was doing it on tyres that were a few years old.

The sprint didn't go too well - I had recently damaged the ligaments in my wrist, and I spent most of the day in pain, sideways and fighting it in every corner. I ended up something like 5th in my class and even ended up in a field at one point! Onboard video of that run here -

https://youtu.be/qEbn3bi9YCc

Edited by ol on Friday 12th August 11:39

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So this is the distraction...

I decided in December 2015 that I should fulfil a dream and go racing. Since I have put some much into the F27, I didn't want to risk wrecking it, so bought a Locost to compete in the 750MC Locost Championship. I've been watching the series for a few months, and was always going to do it at some point, so why not now!

I have also now finished building the garage to house the F27, and it's the perfect size for two sevens

We took the car home and stripped off the old stickers:



Then over a few weeks, I got the engine blueprinted, sorted out a few little bits on it, and gave it a new colour scheme









I now spend a lot of time in the garage tinkering, or to be honest, just standing looking at them...

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AdamC28 said:

Just took the time to read your thread from the start.
Love the car and can see you've put a lot of time and effort into it.

Good look with the new racing adventure!!
ps. very smart looking home for the 2 now, proper man cave.

Thanks. The racing has been going well so far - I won't update on here, but I have a racing page on Facebook if you're interested in following progress - search for 'olnorth racing'

NickCW said:

Just read the whole thread.. love it!

Got to admire your perseverance, it was (and is) most definitely worth it.
I hope you get to enjoy them this summer.

Nick

Thanks Nick, me too! It's worked out that most summers it's been in a garage somewhere, so will be nice to finally get to use it!

BenWRXSEi said:

Nice update, and good to see you again at Blyton. I'll be keeping an eye out for your race videos

Cheers. I wish I was able to do Croft, but we're away that weekend. Are you going?

Plenty of race videos on my youtube - 'olnorth' and give my Facebook racing page a like if you haven't already - 'olnorth racing' See you soon I'm sure

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Vitorio said:

Wow, massively jealous! One for the road, one for the track and a killer garage to house em

Thanks the one for the road is much faster than the one for the track... think I'm doing it wrong...

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lewisf182 said:

Love the F27, you've done some very nice upgrades to it visually IMHO. That garage looks ace too... I'd love a car like this as a weekend blaster just the safety aspect worries me... Maybe I should grow a pair, ha...

Thanks, since I've had it I've met a fair few other people with F27's. They seem quite popular even though most people haven't heard of them. Since I had the roll cage put on the car feels very safe. Obviously it's no Volvo, but you just have to be aware of your surroundings when driving. As soon as you go out in one you'll change your mind

bungz said:

Very interesting read.

Did your friend go with the Zetec due to all the problems you have had, I would imagine they are pretty reliable compared to the bike stuff?

Yes he did - he'd considered a bike engine, but after seeing all the crap I've been through, he was looking for reliability. His still had a windscreen and more creature comforts than mine, so they're both very different cars.

In July me and a group of friends are doing the NC500 route around the north of Scotland, and I'll be taking the F27 with me. Can't wait

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Another little update...

Said goodbye to the car the other day to get it taken for a full geometry set up and corner weight session. This has been well needed for years, so can't wait to see how it handles when done.





Also finally got around to buying the new wheels and tyres. I went for lightweight Compomotive CXR wheels, and went for Kuhmo V70A Soft compound tyres. These are so much softer than the 888's I've had on it previously.





I've gone for wider rears then fronts, and moved from 15's down to 13's. This should give a better ride, and the wider rears will mean it grips better, but still turns in well.

Edited by ol on Friday 12th August 11:40

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e46m3c said:

ooo. love those wheels. Mind posting where you got them from?

Thanks, got them from Demon Tweeks - they happened to have the sizes that I needed, which most others didn't. Will be interesting to see how the wider rears affect things

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BenWRXSEi said:

Those will look great! What tyre sizes did you go for? I'm considering my options for a staggered setup when my soft 888s wear out.

Missed your last reply - yep, booked for Croft. Enjoy the NC500, I did some of those roads a few years back in my OH's 996 and they're bloody excellent

Cheers went for 215-50-13 on a 13x8 wheel at the rear, and 175-60-13 on 13x7 on the front.

2 weeks until the NC500. Really looking forward to it - I think I remember seeing some of your photos of it somewhere. Roads look amazing. We have a group of 11 cars going - Lotus Elises, BMW Z4M, Aston Vantage, a few Caterham / MK's etc, so going to be great fun.