Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Looking for another car & I'm tempted to go light & powerful albeit on a budget. All ideas appreciated, ta

I'll start off with the DC2 ITR - 187bhp in a fairly light car although not sure for definite what the weight is? Heard that it's 1050kg so bhp/t will be 178 ...

TX.

bpm1588

what about a retro mini with a civic type r engine?

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

^^ Now that would be bonkers!

TX.

The Chief

Any kit car

Guy at work has a Dax with a 4.0 V8 250bhp 600kg and you can tune them a lot lot higher and the cossie ones are nuts!!!!!

Dracoro

Many 7s, kit cars etc. Loads with c200bhp which, depending on weight of car will be anthing between 200 and 400 bhp/tonne.

300bhp/ton

Does this include modified cars?

Kit cars?

Customs?

Do you want handling or just speed?

Power to weight isn't everything though, gearing, power delivery and many other factors will actually affect real world performance.

If its stock then you'll be hard pushed to find anything better than a TVR. 5.0 Chimera/Griffith over 300bhp and only about 1000kg. Cerbera 1100kg 350bhp.

Then there's all the Caterham-likes. Cheapest probably something from Robin Hood Engineering. You fit pretty much any engine you want. Dax Rush a bit more sophisticated plus many others.

A Cobra replica, like the Dax Tojero. Their demonstrator has 500bhp and weighs around 950kg.

Or if you fancy something more comfy, then something like my Camaro. Sure its a bigger coupe, but it weighs less than a BMW M3. The lightest model weighs in at around 1500kg and comes with around 350bhp stock. That's 230bhp/ton straight off.

A few bolt ons will see 400bhp. A cam around 450bhp and with heads around 500bhp and still retain good fuel economy and driveability. You could add a 150 shot of nitrous on top of that as well, giving over 600bhp. And despite what many claim on here, these cars actually handle well and cope with UK roads rather well.

For out and out power you can't beat displacement. And for displacement and cost you can't beat an American V8.

But you could also put this engine into a Cobra replica and save some 500kg

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Thanks guys. Do above cars fit with the budget though? A Dax anything sounds like it'll cost way more than £10k!

TX.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Happy with modded, kit car or custom I'd also prefer handling & speed!

TX.

300bhp/ton

I'm pretty sure a 2nd hand one or a part completed kit should be viable. All depends on how far you want to push the budget.

A new Robin Hood Lightweight in kit for costs about £1700 plus the engine, tranny and then build it. But I'm sure you could buy one built and road legal for under £3k. You could then build a nice 2.0 turbo motor for it and slap it in and have an easy 300-350bhp turbo charged soprts car weighing around 500 - 700kg or lighter.

Varboy

How much time do you spend a day looking up these numerous facts and figures?

300bhp/ton

A lifetime.....

MooseRacer

Tuned redtop westfield - 200+bhp, can be got down to 650kg (wet) and yours for around £8k for one with all the right bits.

Leaves almost anything wondering where it went...

Petem95

As has been mentioned, other than a kit-car or something heavily modded, you'd be hard pushed to beat a TVR Cerbera 4.5!

Thats 420bhp out the box, weighing a little over a tonne - so you're probably looking at 400bhp/tonne or more. I think the Red Rose conversion ones are more like 450bhp.

If you're after go-kart handling too, then something like a supercharged Elise could be a good bet. You could pick up a series one, or maybe series 2 with the Turbo Technics supercharger conversion. I think that made 210bhp, so you're looking at about 300bhp/tonne in something that not only out-handles almost anything, but looks cool with it!

Dracoro

Those quoted are TVR horses though Still, it's not gonna be slow!

One thing I'll say is that unlike most cars, the 7s (I used to have a redtop Westie) will be cheap to run. Yeah, as with many cars, things can go wrong, however they are very cheap to fix mainly due to uncomplicated cheap parts and most things are quite easily accessible (you're not paying someone labour taking panels off and tring to get to hard to reach places like with many cars). Insurance is dirt cheap too (I was paying £149 FC!) and phone around, upper quotes will be £400 but as low as £100 depending on your circumstances etc. Just don't try the normal insurers, go for specialists.

+Doc+

projectsubaru

Daihatsu Charade 1.0 turbo