Afro
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| posted on 12/8/03 at 04:16 PM |
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Builder Drivers??
In the Locost series are most people sticking to the 'Low-Cost' ethos in sourcing their own parts, building the
car themselves, building up their engines and carrying out their own repairs or is the track littered with people who have £50 pound notes flying out
of their exhaust?
I suppose the question is also do you have to have a regular spendathon to remain competitive or can those on a budget who do their own fettling be on
truly equal terms?
If it aint broke... it will be soon
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GParkes
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| posted on 14/8/03 at 12:27 PM |
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Difficult question, so many possible answers, I suppose it depends on what you consider competitive!
I’ve done a few races this year and have found that I am competitive with people of similar experience (none!). That’s with a homemade chassis (not
by me), with no proper setup, with a pretty standard engine. If you want to be at the front a good engine and chassis setup will obviously help.
If you just want to have fun and build up some experience then there will be plenty of people to race with without having to spend excessively. You
tend to find in Locost that battles extend right down the field. The cost obviously goes up if your car gets damaged as happened to some people at
Mallory at the weekend, costs to repair depend on your skills in doing the work yourself.
In my view (please don’t shoot me down on this!) being a front runner is a combination of a good car, and driver skill. More of one can make up for a
lack of the other, but probably only to a certain degree. The best prepared and setup car will not win unless driven well, and the best driver will
not necessarily win if he is down on bhp and has a poorly built/setup car.
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DickieB
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| posted on 14/8/03 at 04:39 PM |
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I agree with GParkes. I would just add that unless you are an incredibly competent welder, then do not consider welding your chassis or wishbones
yourself. Get them done professionally by Stuart Taylor, MK, Luego or LA Gold. They do take some abuse, and you would not want a weld to be
sub-standard
Dickie B
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Rob Palin
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| posted on 14/8/03 at 07:11 PM |
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I'm with Dickie & Gavin - you get brilliant racing all the way down the field and, if anything, being towards the back of the midfield is
better because if there's a heat and a final you can get two races for the price of one!
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Afro
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| posted on 15/8/03 at 06:15 PM |
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Cheers guys, it sounds like theres a varied field on the track with a battle at every level...
I've decided to build the car myself as the challenge if succesfully completed promises great reward... with a bit of luck I'll be
choking on your exhaust fumes some time next season. 
If it aint broke... it will be soon
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Ricardo Geordio
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| posted on 11/9/03 at 06:55 PM |
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This is my first post (well 2nd actually) and am at the very start of this project... that is to say, just bought the Ron Champion book.
I have a couple of "Newbie" questions:
1) Does anyone know the average price for those professionally built chassis' mentioned above - we're looking at a local firm to make them
for us according to the book.
2) The book also refers to using Mk1/Mk2 escorts for various parts.... are there many of these left, even in scrap yards ?
Cheers !
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D Beddows
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 12:41 AM |
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Well, the steering rack, rear axle and possibly the gearbox and engine will be useful but the rest of it will just be a pain to get rid of nowadays
and if you stumble across a whole one people seem to think that very rusty MK1/2 Escorts are 'restorable classics' all of a sudden and so
will try and rob you of a grand or so for it - buy a copy of 'classicford' from your local newsagents and you can usualy get every thing
you need Escortwise pretty cheaply (usualy in Wales 'hint' )
Cheers
Dave
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Ricardo Geordio
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 10:21 PM |
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Thanks Dave ! Will go to WH Smiths tomorrow.
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DickieB
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| posted on 16/9/03 at 04:18 PM |
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Chassis cost is normally about £400. Search on the web for the following firms:
Stuart Taylor
Procomp
Luego
MK Engineering (although they don't really do them anymore, but if they're local to you, they might be worth trying)
Dickie
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