Vemac--anyone drive one?

[35secToNuvolari]

The Vemac looks like a fantastic concept, and they are spot on with the Honda motor. I did a forum search, but didn't find much disucussion about it. It looks like the car has been available in the UK since '07. Anyone have any more info they can point me to, or any experience with one?

I read the online article that evo did where they compared it with an Exige. The article gave the impression that the Vemac was pretty loud and a possible limitation. I was wondering if there were any other limitations on the road. I was always interested in the Honda conversion that the US located Sunspeed did for the Elise, but this seems as if it's moved things on a bit.

Cheers

A couple of links:
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/2103...
http://www.vemaccars.com/e/index.html

[35secToNuvolari]

I'm replying to my own topic. How sad. Here's one of my favorite shots of the car. I'm surprised there isn't more interest in it. Here's a little more info that I've scrounged up. I haven't found a video of one on the move, yet.


http://www.nextautos.com/issue-19/vemac-rd200

Ths one might be a re-hash of the company's site.
http://www.classicdriver.com/it/magazine/3200.asp?...

[s3fella]

It doesn't look that special though, sort of like everythign else that is er, like it, if you see what i mean.

CRX/ MR2 from the side, elise from the front, even a touch of Mx5 from the rear.


I suppose if you are building a light 2 seater sports car, there is only so far to go, but realsitically, people will buy the other things out there first.

[Ultrasound]

Saw one in the flesh a few weeks ago. Really attractive car. The people behind it seemed to know what they were about as well (bit of an understatement).

Edited by Ultrasound on Wednesday 2nd December 18:02

[Risotto]

I think its been around since at least 2002 in one form or another. It got favourable reviews, even when compared to the Elise but there didn't seem to be many takers - I don't think the comparatively hefty price helped.

Edited by Risotto on Wednesday 2nd December 18:11

[35secToNuvolari]

Yeah, the price is up there, and the car seems to be very rare as well. But I think that's what makes the project so interesting--it's good concept done to a high standard. I'm wondering how the transmission turned out and whether or not any of the feel was lost when the gears were put in its new case.

Edited by 35secToNuvolari on Thursday 3rd December 01:39

[anonymous-user]

I interviewed Luke Craft way back when for Evo magazine, 2002 i think.

It was a nicely done low volume sports car- longitudinal engine, bespoke gearbox i think, but i guess the elise variants did for it- it had similar power to a top spec elise but a dissimilar price.

There was real passion behind it- the crafts created the Rocket remember.

They ended up racing in Japan with it, not sure with what success. Personally, i really like it. Haven't driven one, expect it would feel pretty special and very well set up- great damping etc.

David Vivian drove it for Evo just before i met Luke, and he liked it a lot. High praise.

[35secToNuvolari]

Hey, thanks for the replies everyone. Here's another article giving some driving impressions of the car. I don't know who the author is, but it was written in '02. This one is about a pre-production car that had straight-cut gears.

http://www.scritube.com/limba/engleza/literature/V...

And another pic:

[M5jimmy]

Lovely looking car that,

Wonder how much one would be now

James

[35secToNuvolari]

M5jimmy said:

Lovely looking car that,

Wonder how much one would be now

James

Looks like they're around 40k sterling.

Here's a like to a forum with a new article down the page.
http://www.luxury4play.com/asian-auto/29220-vemac-...

And here's a video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXvNkEaRtuE

[M5jimmy]

Thanks for that

Does sound good in that video too.

[35secToNuvolari]

M5jimmy said:

Thanks for that

Does sound good in that video too.

Yeah, it's nice to hear the full voice of the Honda motor. It's rare, for me at least, the hear a loud Honda motor that doesn't have some sort of annoying muffler getting in the way of the sound.

Edited by 35secToNuvolari on Thursday 3rd December 19:33

[35secToNuvolari]

A Ferrari Challenge car being overtaken by a Vemac racecar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQu3W6aJiZc

[35secToNuvolari]

I've been scrounging for more information and insight about the car, and have been forced to use google-translate to read foreign pages.

Here's a page that has side-by-side photos with a Dino 246. The Vemac seems to have many influences. I see the the Dino, the 250 LM, and the Porsche 914 in it.



http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl...

It also seems that while the RD180 has a longitudinal Honda engine, the RD200 has a transversely mounted motor.

Cheers

[jpf]

So, any news regarding VEMAC?

I haven't heard a thing about them--their cars always seemed to have a lot of potential.

[flemke]

The car is the brainchild of Chris and Luke Craft. For several years, there was a bit of a market for them in Japan. Many of the key components were made in Japan, they'd be shipped to UK for assembly, then a chap in Japan brought the finished product back there to sell. That obviously was more expensive that putting it all together in Japan, but the Japanese distributor preferred that it be done that way, I think so that it would have the cachet of a European import (how little they knew!).
IINM, the last car they assembled and sent there was in '08. I don't believe they ever sold any in the UK (or maybe it was 1).
I've been telling them for years that, as soon as they're ready to make one for UK consumption, I'll be ready to consume it. At the moment, they have several other irons on the fire, so I am not expecting that they'll produce another anytime soon, if ever.