Hi all,

I'm new to any form of racing but I'm potentially looking to get into the 750mc locost series and would be very grateful for any advice, especially to do with options regarding buying or building a car.

Ideally, a race ready car would be perfect but with the going rate seeming to be about 5.5k, my wallet doesn't want to stretch that far. I don't really want to spend more than 3k, is that a realistic goal?

I'm pretty handy with the spanners but don't have the welding skills, space or patience to be thinking about building a chassis from scratch. That leaves purchasing a chassis/kit from a builder such as Aries or Procomp or trying to find someone's half finished project.

The chassis builders seem pricey but I'm imagining that the cars they build for the 750 regs will be pretty much spot on and cruise through scrutineering. Has anyone had experience with these kits, how well do they go together and are they cost effective?

Half finished builds suitable for a race car seem quite few and far between. I don't mind purchasing a cage and getting it fitted by a professional but this does potentially seem the cheapest way to build a car. However, I went to look at a chassis at the weekend and although it was cheap and included the wishbones, steering rack and rear axle etc. I ended up turning it down as it was built ten years ago, the welding looked a little dodgy and there were several bars, especially around the transmission tunnel, which didn't match the Ron Chapman plans. For future reference, how picky are the scrutineers on chassis design? Does it have to be absolutely identical to the plans or can there be minor alterations?

Any sensible comments will be greatly appreciated and if anyone knows of a suitable car or build that may be up for sale, I would be interested to hear about it.

Thanks, Graham

Welcome aboard, you've found the right web forum

I'd say £3k would be an optimistic budget to build or buy a race car and all the extra kit needed to race. The best value always seem to be the race cars for sale, which invariably come with a few spares and sometimes a trailer as well.

Buying will be cheaper than building.... However you look at it, 99% of the time, it ends up being cheaper to buy something finished and race ready.

Don't want to dampen your spirits but i think you'll struggle to get a race ready car for under the £5k mark.

[Edited on 28/1/14 by eddie99]

The car is the cheap part when it comes to racing! What ever the series claims is the season costs you can normally double it.

Buy. Life is too short, and race-ready (often race-proven) can be had for far less than they would cost in parts.

Thanks for the responses.

I fully understand the other costs of equipment, licensing and race fees; the 3k was purely for the car.

I've seen a couple of cars recently for 3.7k and 4.5k (this one including a trailer), which would have been good and worked out cheap if I had the money at the time. it maybe that I just need to start saving and buy something in a couple of months.

I will look over it again in more detail but from initial tallying up purchasing the major fabricated parts from Aries, parts form demon tweeks and average costs of parts on ebay, I think with some strict budgeting it would be possible to complete a car for well under the 5k mark; especially as I already have most of the tools I will need. As such, I would still be interested to hear from anyone who has had experience purchasing a chassis from someone like Aries or Procomp.

One of the attractions of building a car would be that I can spread the cost over a larger period of time as I'm not really desperate to get to the first race meeting this year but even just one towards the end of the season would make it worthwhile.

My old locost racer cost me £3.2k. It was ideal: well proven but unused for a year and in in poor cosmetic order - but with all the GRP to sort it out.

You can spend £2.5k on the engine/driveline - buy one ready to go if you're on a tight budget.

quote:

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Originally posted by gharris333
I will look over it again in more detail but from initial tallying up purchasing .... parts form demon tweeks

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Save up your money and buy one that has raced but the owner has lost the love for (or it's completely emptied his wallet ). It will probably have most of the right bits that odds are you wont know about until you start racing and it's a bit late then to find out you have unfortunately spent a lot of money on the wrong bits. You probably could build a car for under £5k BUT you'd probably find it's somewhat unreliable (and dog slow) and you'll end up spending a couple more grand sorting it and speeding it up (yes you WILL because although you might say now you'll be happy dawdling at the back you wont be)

Buy one - been there, done that, got the t shirt

yes , I agree with Dave.
I'm just starting my 10th season in Locost. Buy one at the end of season and barter hard.
some good midfield runners out there.
If you want to start earlier, pop into any meeting and have a walk round the paddock and ask.
Building can become expensive when all the little bits are included

buying from aries is a good idea I have previously built an aries locoblade and I have just ordered another chassis kit and parts from steve at aries.he is a brilliant chap and his sales and service are the best...

trevor faunch is selling one of the white tate care cars reasonably priced

Building one from scratch is great, and in an ideal world allows you to build your dream car, however it tends to take at least twice as long and can end in lots of frustration trying to iron out little issues at the track.
Costs also tend to dramatically escalate, all the little things which are easily forgotten really add up.

My advice echoes others, buy someone else's dream car, with all the issues ironed out.

Something proven also really helps with confidence, knowing it can do it, allowing you to focus on racing.

Trevor's car is well made and well prepared. One of a pair

locost47
Is that you Tim

Have you considered a ginetta G20, they are eligible for a number of classes including some that 750 do, best bit is you can pick one up for about £3.5k and be very competitive.

(NTDWM) There is one for sale on uphill racer for £3650. http://www.uphillracers.com/showthread.php/ginetta-g20-junior-coupe-3650-9664.html