OllyK

Anybody recommend a decent one, pondering on buying a toy and with the approach of winter now is probably a good time to be doing it!

Chris L

SELOC is a great place to start. All the info you will need.

Sport160

www.blatchat.com although i think you now have to be a member of the Lotus 7 club before you can post. (you can read Ok)

To be honest its worth joining before you spend your hard earned anyway so it won't really be money wasted, there is a lots of advice to be had there.

Rgds

Sport160

PS

http://www.lotus7club.co.uk/

Rgds

OllyK

Cheers guys!

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

WSCC is the Westfield forum

OllyK

Damn - can of worms opened, found a link to Ultima, very nice.

OK, so I may as well widen the search I guess. Any other kit car / weekend car suggestions out there? Don't mind a second hand option or even a self build, looking towards a £20K upper end as this will just be a weekend toy.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Not really if you want a 7 type car, but if you're looking at Ultimas, consider the Radicals too

Sport160

Hmmm £20k, 2nd had R500 ??


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...Cars/No481.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...Cars/No487.jpg

tmo

http://www.fishersportscars.co.uk/

OllyK

This is the thing, I'm not sure what I do want.

At the moment I'm using the scoob as a daily runner, pottering about in traffic. I thinking I may go for a cheap and dull daily runner for the day to day stuff and have something fun in the garage for the summer weekends (preferably an open top). This isn't an area I know much about and so started with the 7's as it is something I was actually aware of. It seems there are far more "weekend" cars about than I first imagined. Hence opening the flood gates and seeing what other people can recommend.

David Lock

There are a couple of Kit Car magazines which will inspire you. I have always fancied a decent Cobra replica myself.

This was my weekend car for a while but then I am old!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...quet/ss100.jpg

dl

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

It really depends if you're into your trackdays, if so consider a trailer and tow car too. Its doable without (I managed it with a Westy) but ultimately its the way to go.

If its more for open road motoring weekends away then consider the need for a decent roof / weather gear for security as well as inclement weather.

I too went from an everyday scoob to a Westy and a runaround, but got too bored with the runaround and the westy was too hardcore for the daily grind (and dropping my daughter off at nursery!). So in the end bought another scoob and couldn't justify having the westy sat in the garage for very long periods, so sold it and I am now back to the one car.

IME if I were to do it again I would go for an Elise / VX220, purely so I could choose to take it to work when it suits, but I didn't have that type of budget then and craved 250+ BHP/ton

Sport160

Agree with everything Jay m A said.

I think you have to be very hardcore to use a caterfield everyday, they really are just a weekend toy/track car for most people.

The VX/Elise is a far more practical alternative that can (at a push) be used day in day out whilst still offering a great fun car.

I went from the 7 to an Elise, partly due to issues with R500 running costs and partly because elise was more suitable for taking daughter to nursery in. (baby seat didn't work well with tillet seats and 4point harnesses )

i tried a practical runaround but found I spent more time in this than the elise, so now all the toys have gone and a scooby sits in the drive as a practical alternative to fun and family, of course it compromised on both counts, but it works for me

If I was in the market for a toy again I'd probably go for a cheap S1 elise whilst still keeping a decent everyday family car.

OllyK

I'm not a track day fiend so that isn't really a priority. I had considered the single car option and was looking at things like the Elise or a s2000, but my daily trek to work is all of 8 miles and I'm lucky to get over 40mph so started pondering the 2 car option. Kids aren't an issue.

OllyK

I suppose the other option is to finally get round to taking my bike test and get an R1

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

..or join the P1 club

richardg

whatever you start with as "something for the weekend", you'll end up developing requirements for the next one. i would start with something at the lower end of the cost scale so you;re not too out of pocket when you upgrade.

take a look at www.locostbuilders.co.uk & www.mac1motorsports.co.uk

take your bike test anyway. can't hurt to have the licence entitlement in case you need/want it in future!

richardg

olly - did you make a decision?
i was in the same boat about 4 yrs ago (had a 306gti-6 at the time). i had taken my bike test by then, but went for a kit car (factory built) and then after a few months, bought the impreza. both great fun to drive, but obviously one's a lot more practical than the other!

OllyK

Not yet - still got a lot of digging to do. I need to test drive a couple of "practical" convertibles to see if they are a) suitable for daily use and b) fun to drive when the opportunity presents itself.

I suspect I'll end up going with a daily driver + a kit car of some description. Now I've started looking at kit cars there are far more out there` than I imagined and so I'm having to do quite a bit of reading. I also need to decide if I build or buy pre-built / second hand etc. The other problem is after having seen the Ultima Can-Am, I want one, but that's outside my budget for all this

Anybody got a source for Civic Type R engines - reconditioned would be fine?

Hanslow

Olly, I was going down the same route. Lots of research into Westfields and a few test drives. Heart now settled on an Elise, probably early S1 as they are down the cheaper end, but will be run solely as a second car with a bit of fettling here and there. Seemed a more practical and safer(?) option if/when I go out with the missus in it.

OllyK

The mrs is the other factor, she likes the looks of them but then when she see's 0-60 3.5 Secs, she seems to go off the idea I keep telling her that you don't have to use all the performance, it's just nice to know it's there if you do want it (and I want it)

richardg

i rolled my eyes when i first heard of someone converting an impreza to run on lpg. i'm now starting to think this might be a good idea - my work mileage claims will pay for the conversion in 12-14 months easily and as most of my mileage (probably over 85%) is work-related, this will enable me to carry on running what i'm running. a few more mods first i think, then possibly lpg
i was looking at tvr's. beautiful cars IMHO, when they're working (!), but ended up going for this -
http://www.mac1motorsports.co.uk/gal...car7_small.jpg
http://www.mac1motorsports.co.uk/gal...sh02_small.jpg

i saw an ad on findit.co.uk with a pic, saying "a car like this from £6,500".
http://www.mac1motorsports.co.uk/gal...car6_small.jpg

i was a little dubious to start with, but am very pleased with the result. i ended up spending more (carbon fibre dash, alloys, disk brakes all round, power socket in passenger footwell) but still around the £7,500 mark. prices have changed now (plus the company are now VAT registered and are a larger concern than when i bought from them)

mrs g has driven the car, but i had to make a removeable foam insert cushion for the seats as she rattles around in them without it (even with the harnesses at tight as possible). she isn't too confident driving it, but she's happy enough as a passenger (other than on roundabouts )

i would suggest you get down to brands on 14 october for the total kit car live show. you can wander around the garages, speak to the kit manufacturers and get thrown around the track in one of their customers' cars!

OllyK

Looks like a cost effective option. Sierra donor - which motor did you go for in the end?

richardg

2.0 pinto
like i said before, if you do buy something for the weekend, you will quickly develop a list of requirements for your next project. i will do it again at some point (baby on the way in november), but would probably go for a bike engine next time. i was advised when i ordered my car that a bike engine would make the car approx 100kg lighter and cost about £1k extra
bigrich from locostbuilders.co.uk took me round the track in his firebalde engined ZR. certainly worth looking, although there are so many bikes out there that will do the job comfortably. i'll probably have to research it at the time

one of the funneist things about driving a car like this is the children that lean out of their parents' car windows and shout "nice car mister"! my neighbour's children (he has just sold his tiger super 6) can;t get enough of cars like these. they cheer when they see it come out of the garage and love sitting in it!

OllyK

I suppose there are various trade offs with a bike engine, lighter to start yes, but what does a FB engine make, 150 Bhp? What does a pinto or Ztec make in comparison. You also have the reverse gear issue to consider with a bike, I know there are solutions but no idea how effective they are. I can image the bike engine will be much revvier and eager with a silly rev limit?

Hanslow

Olly, Westfield have just produced a SDV kit based on a pre 95 MX-5 which looks a good cheap way of getting into it. Say 2.5k for a decent MX-5, then £6k for the kit (apparantly) and bob's your uncle. Even scope for all the MX-5 bolt on bits (superchargers, turbos, etc.).

OllyK

So it would seem - http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.u...asp?news_id=10 and for £6450 http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.u...owroomtext.gif

richardg

i think my pinto is around 105/110bhp mark. it's bhp/tonne that's more descriptive though. no idea how effective the reverse gear solutions are without talking to some of the people who have bike engined cars, but they don't seem too concerned, so i'm guessing they do the job adequately. yes, bike engines will rev to silly limits, but again not sure how high - think we we're talking up to about 12k though from memory (it's been a while since i rode a sports bike)

OllyK

What sort of weight are you looking at? 500 ish Kg?

Be interesting to try both to see what the differences are like.