One of my neighbours started building a Robin Hood kit car about 3 years ago or so. (Very Westy like). I think the project proved a little too ambitious, although it's one of the easier kits to build. Anyway, he's now working in Cyprus and is home for a few weeks and has sold the car which is just at the rolling chassis stage.

I've just been talking to the guy who has just collected the car on a flatbed with all the bits including a fully rebuilt Sierra 2.1 Pinto engine. The guy is at least 70 and is a complete track day hooligan who has built other kit cars before. He reckons he'll have it on the road by Summer with no probs. He's going to paint it black and reckons it should have a 0-60 time of around 5 secs.

I just wondered if some of you guys considering track cars had considered a kit version of some sort. Time I suppose is a big factor?

 

I've been procrastinating for some time about what I'm going to get. My Father in law is a racing car engineer and has designed and hand built several cars (including this one - he is the Martin Slater mentioned) so a kit would be the cheapest way of getting a new car. He is very willing to help me and reckons a kit wouldn't take very long to build.
However it's getting to the time of year when I should be thinking of getting one to get a full seasons track days in, there seem to be a lot of second hand Westfields about for around the

 

Interesting read Mark! What does your old man think of the S2000?

 

I wonder how many unfinished kit cars are lying around in garages and back gardens? - there must be a market in picking up something decent and just finishing it off to use for a bit and then sell on. If you have the space and the tools I bet you can bang one together reasonably quickly as long as there are no bits missing since they are not so sophisticated.,.

 

One of the biggest problems with buying a kit car is where the build has been "bodged". Unfortunately unfinished projects are most likely bodged...

My personal preference had been to pick up a well known car. Would cost over the odds, but you stand a better chance of having fewer problems in the long run.

I've never fancied spending the time building a car, I prefer driving

 

I think he's undecided - When I got the demonstrator for the weekend I left work early on Friday and went home via his house to see what he thought, after putting it up on the ramp and poking around under the bonnet he was suitably impressed, but isn't so sure about the amount of horsepower for road use. Taking him out on the road confirmed his fears, impressive but should only be fully explioted on the track. Much muttering about how once he started racing he was happy with an Austin A40 van, when am I going to do the same, don't let Mandy (my other half, his daughter) loose behind the wheel etc. etc.
However he was very impressed with the 120bhp/litre (similar ratio to some of the racing projects he's been involved in), liked the suspension (although should be alloy, not cast iron...) and the 50/50 balance, didn't like the fact that the car is Japanese and wasn't too keen on the styling ("too Japanese"). Very impressed with the engineering, especially the engine.

Overall I know he was impressed with the car but I also know he would rather I got something 'sensible' for the road and devoted more of my energies into racing.

 

Lol.. So when are you getting the A35 van?