I know that this may not be the best place to post this but I’m sure someone here may be able to help.

I’m pretty set on a “Seven” type car and I’m aiming to get started on this later this year. Whilst trackdays appeal to me, so does more formal racing which leads me on to my question: Does road use and formal racing within the 750MC have to be mutually exclusive or is it possible to race a road registered and road legal car? I have a trailer etc and am more than aware that I may suffer damage but I like the idea of being able to use the car for the odd Sunday morning run in between races. Is this feasible?
Thanks in advance

I'm pretty sure that the 750MC car wouldn't pass the SVA, but you could alway modify it post SVA for track use. So the answer is yes you should be able to do both, but I would think that a well setup track car would be a nightmare to drive on the pot hole filled roads we have

Cheers

Scott

My brother used to race in the 750MC road-going bike-engined catagory...

The car was heavily spec'd towards the track but it still passed SVA etc.....

When Tim went to buy an MNR, I think they took him out on the road in the race car.

u2u TimC.

Thanks. I'll ask MNR then as they are on my shortlist of 2 kit suppliers.

it is possible but most competitive race cars are not practical for the road even though they may be technically road legal.

on the other hand you can run a road legal car that you can use every day in a road legal race series, just dont expect to win

I'd suggest that the difference between a road-going car-enginned car and a track-only car-enginned car is a lot more than the difference with a BEC... I'd suggest that more BECs are "no compromise" cars (obviously not mine with a screen, wipers and other luxuries!!)...

What's the difference between a race car and a highly tuned road car?

1. Weight
If you build a BEC you'll need to keep an eye on that anyway

2. Tuning
Race cams and clutches can be a bit viscious. Then again, if you build a BEC, revvy engines with slightly harsh clutches are normal!!! Also, whereas most car engines have lots of different cams etc available, BECs are pretty highly tuned so fewer aftermarket cams are available. It's often the combination of a crappy idle, narrow power band and paddle clutch that would make a road-going CEC race car a pain...

3. Suspension setup
A race car might be a bit lively for road driving but if you're prepared to live with that (or adjust it each time it changes mode).

4. Tyres
Get two sets of tyres.

The main problem would be the suspension setup. A race car is going to be set-up for smooth race circuits, on the pot-holed roads it'll be a bit crashy.... I suppose you could use a tyre for the road with a slightly bigger side wall to give a bit more isolation from the vibration...

One problem though is the fact that you'll get component wear from the road driving. IE you might want to replace the bushes every few years if you just used the car for circuits. If you do road miles as well you'll need to do it sooner....

I'd suggest looking round the paddock of a series like the 750MC RGB race series..... check out what you'ld need to do to get it road-ready... (not a lot!!)

For me the bigger problem with racing a 7 would be the disadvantage aerodynamically compared to somethign slippier like a Fury or a Phoenix. If its a one-make series its no problem, but in something like the RGB you might be better off with something less brick shaped!!

A very interesting one this. It's possible, but I'd say very difficult to be both:
a. Competitive on track
b. Compliant on road

Who's the other one on your shortlist? A pound says it's Raw Engineering. (If it's not and you want a 7ish shape then it should be IMHO.)

Edited to add a note on RGB weight (should that be the way you go) it's easy to build a car where you actually have to add weight to meet the regs.

[Edited on 9/7/07 by TimC]

Thought I would add my 2 penneth as I spend half my life working an the RGB cars.
Several of the current grid are road legal but generally that was because they were originally built as road cars and then the owners got the racing bug.
The rules in RGB actually require the cars to be capable of passing an mot on the day.
As people have pointed out the biggest draw back of a dual purpose car is that on race set up they are quite simply attrocious on the road needing constant steering correction as they track all over the place and change lanes on the bumps!
Aerodynamics dont feature that heavily _ we run 2 Strikers and a Westfield in the series, with the Westy having won several races and set new lap records this year and the Strikers running mid pack.
Weight is important with a 530 kilo minimum and tight engine regs - live axle Fury's seem to be able achieve it but most of the irs cars struggle. Strikers with IRS usually go out of here carrying between 7 and 15 kilos of lead depending on driver and we did get our Westfield on weight but had to spend a fair bit on carbon to do it
We also ditch mechanical reverse for electric which the cars must have to comply, the in line mechanical set ups just sap too much horsepower
Think thats it - hope it was useful
regards
Andy - AB performance

[Edited on 9/7/07 by Andy B]