Decided to build a R1ot

[Toltec]

Hi chaps,

Thought I would pop in to this group and say hello, as the title says I have put money down on my first kit car, should be picking the bits up in June sometime.

I had been considering an Elise but after hiring a Caterham for the weekend last month the nagging feeling that it would be too much of a compromise would not go away. I thought about getting an older Caterham and upgrading a x-flow to a Duratech or just going for a finished Fisher Fury, part of the fun though has to be building the car and I have liked the R1ot since it came out. What sealed it was Stingray Motorsport putting an unstarted R1ot kit on eBay at a price that would save me £1000+, I could not resist in the end.

Already started looking at Emerald ecus, race-technology dashes and Quaife diffs so this could end up costing more than that Elise, still it's only money

[Jubal]

Good effort! One sees very few of them around, even in kit car terms. Hope the build goes well. What will the spec be?

[r1ot]

Congratulations.

Welcome to the last true kit car nothing made for you just a chassis, some fibre glass and a couple of sheets of aluminium. I really enjoyed building mine and enjoyed driving it as well.

This website www.r1ot.com which is mine details the build from day one, I hope it helps you in your build.

[Toltec]

Jubal said:

Good effort! One sees very few of them around, even in kit car terms. Hope the build goes well. What will the spec be?

Fuel injected '03 R1 engine, current plan is to fit an Emerald and see if it is possible to come up with a map that will pass emissions without a cat. I like the look of the Race Technology Dash2 which will talk to the CANbus of the Emerald, at least once the Emerald CANbus code is tweaked. I would also like to go for a Quaife diff however this may depend on what feedback I get on the idea. Protech do a reversing diff based on the Quaife but as this is over £2K I will just go for the electric reversing kit.

Not decided on wheels yet, I may just get a set of 2nd hand ones to get the car rolling though a set of OZ Ultraleggeras would save some weight or you never know I might find a set of forged jobbies that I can afford.

I am considering the Hi-Spec Ultralights for front and rear, they now do an Ultralight with built in handbrake which would be a neat solution i think. I know Hi-Spec have had some negative reports but I have a set of theirs on the TVR and they work very well, also they are just up the road so can hassle them if their delivery time slips too much.

It is early days yet so obviously I have not given this much thought

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Edited by Toltec on Thursday 6th March 21:08

Edited by Toltec on Thursday 6th March 22:54

[AdamW]

Toltec said:

I had been considering an Elise but after hiring a Caterham for the weekend last month the nagging feeling that it would be too much of a compromise would not go away.

Funny you should say that. I'm building a Riot at the moment (nearly finished - sent off the SVA forms last week) which is a replaces my old Elise. I loved the Lotus, but in terms of sheer delicacy and directness of its controls, it doesn't come close to the Riot. With the Sylva, everything is so immediate, and the tiny dimensions make it perfect for making the most of tiny A- and B-roads. It's a fantastic car, and you won't regret choosing it.

Have you had the chance to drive one?

[Toltec]

r1ot said:

Congratulations.

Welcome to the last true kit car nothing made for you just a chassis, some fibre glass and a couple of sheets of aluminium. I really enjoyed building mine and enjoyed driving it as well.

This website www.r1ot.com which is mine details the build from day one, I hope it helps you in your build.

Thanks and yep read a lot of your site already

I would like to get a new reg number for the car when I am done, the engine is a recon so the rest has to be new. The problem being the uprights, Rally Design sell some uprights which may work for the front but the only option for the rear are Fiesta front carriers. It could be I could get new parts from a Ford parts supplier though I have seen builds for other bike engined cars where they have received a new reg but used 2nd hand uprights so more research to do here I think. I have heard it can depend on the DVLA office you use.

A slight confession, I am getting Stingray to do the aluminium panelling, they cannot do this until June but this works well for me as for various reasons there is no way I can even think about starting for a couple of months anyway. This also gives me time to get the garage prepared and find some answers for the registration issues, the change from SVA to IVA is also something I will need to check too.

Edited by Toltec on Thursday 6th March 22:52

[Toltec]

AdamW said:

Funny you should say that. I'm building a Riot at the moment (nearly finished - sent off the SVA forms last week) which is a replaces my old Elise. I loved the Lotus, but in terms of sheer delicacy and directness of its controls, it doesn't come close to the Riot. With the Sylva, everything is so immediate, and the tiny dimensions make it perfect for making the most of tiny A- and B-roads. It's a fantastic car, and you won't regret choosing it.

That is good to read, which brings me onto your next question -

AdamW said:

Have you had the chance to drive one?

I know this is going to sound a bit mad but no I have not driven one only sat in the drivers seat, I saw a zzr1100 based car at the Brands Hatch Totalkitcar last year but they managed to lunch the engine just before I was due to get a pax ride. I had just decided to go the kit route and was planning to arrange a test drive over summer when the kit appeared on eBay, after a few chats with Alistair at Stingray and a lot of thought I decided to take the plunge. I suppose I am relying on Jeremy's reputation, the couple of Strikers I have seen and the write ups the R1ot has had. I plan to visit Stingray before too long and get a drive in their demo even if it is too late to change my mind now.

[Jubal]

Toltec said:

It is early days yet so obviously I have not given this much thought

Any suggestions gratefully received.

I suggest you get searching/posting on locostbuilders for advice re Hispec vs. Wilwood etc. I have sierra brakes so am not qualified to comment! Regards the reverse, I do without on my car but it's primarily for track use. I presume due to choice of engine you have a similar plan in mind? Nice ECU/dash choices.

[AdamW]

Toltec said:

I know this is going to sound a bit mad but no I have not driven one only sat in the drivers seat, I saw a zzr1100 based car at the Brands Hatch Totalkitcar last year but they managed to lunch the engine just before I was due to get a pax ride. I had just decided to go the kit route and was planning to arrange a test drive over summer when the kit appeared on eBay, after a few chats with Alistair at Stingray and a lot of thought I decided to take the plunge. I suppose I am relying on Jeremy's reputation, the couple of Strikers I have seen and the write ups the R1ot has had. I plan to visit Stingray before too long and get a drive in their demo even if it is too late to change my mind now.

Quite a number of people buy kits without having driven one, you're not alone! I'm going to have mine on the CKC stand at the Detling show so come and say hello if you're there (I see you live in Kent). Whether it's road legal by then depends on how quickly my SVA appoointment comes through, but I'm looking forward to having an illicit drive around the showground...

[Toltec]

Jubal said:

I suggest you get searching/posting on locostbuilders for advice re Hispec vs. Wilwood etc. I have sierra brakes so am not qualified to comment! Regards the reverse, I do without on my car but it's primarily for track use. I presume due to choice of engine you have a similar plan in mind? Nice ECU/dash choices.

Hmm. Looks like Hi-Spec have gone from bad to worse, I think Wilwood may be in order. I definitely plan to use it on the track but also intend to use it on the road too, I could always build the car without the reverse and add it later.

[Mojocvh]

r1ot said:

Congratulations.

Welcome to the last true kit car nothing made for you just a chassis, some fibre glass and a couple of sheets of aluminium. I really enjoyed building mine and enjoyed driving it as well.

This website www.r1ot.com which is mine details the build from day one, I hope it helps you in your build.

Nice site mate.

rgds

MoJo.

[robcollingridge]

Toltec said:

Jubal said:

I suggest you get searching/posting on locostbuilders for advice re Hispec vs. Wilwood etc. I have sierra brakes so am not qualified to comment! Regards the reverse, I do without on my car but it's primarily for track use. I presume due to choice of engine you have a similar plan in mind? Nice ECU/dash choices.

Hmm. Looks like Hi-Spec have gone from bad to worse, I think Wilwood may be in order. I definitely plan to use it on the track but also intend to use it on the road too, I could always build the car without the reverse and add it later.

I used Hi-specs on the front of my Fury R1 and they have been excellent. I had Martin Bell to save me having to talk to Hi-Spec directly though.

Rob
http://www.robcollingridge.com/FuryR1/

[Toltec]

robcollingridge said:

I used Hi-specs on the front of my Fury R1 and they have been excellent. I had Martin Bell to save me having to talk to Hi-Spec directly though.

Rob
http://www.robcollingridge.com/FuryR1/

The billet 4s on the TVR are great but we did have to chase to get them, we bought them via TVRCarparts because that was cheaper though we picked them up directly from Hi-spec. It may depend on how much time I can allow for delivery, waiting a month or so would be OK, three months would not be.