Hi,
I'm currently building a GTS from plans bought from them.
I keep changing my mind about racing plans as i progress through my build which unfortunately may be creating me problems!
I started the build with little interest in racing but that progressed to the thought that i may sell my GTS after completion (and a years driving) to buy a locost racer. More recently i have been considering the kit car championship as a possibility for my GTS.
The chassis i have built has been made to GTS plans.
I realise i also need to swap engines to a 1.8ltr but i'm ok with that, i can take care of this much later once i'm on the road, maybe invest in an engine from Dunnel before i look at entering the championship.
I'm still at quite an early stage of building so its a good time to decide my final plans. The chassis is a little way off complete so changes can be made.

I could always go back to my first idea of buying a locost racer!

Thanks for any help!

[Edited on 16/7/06 by birdii]

Hi a home built chassis will not comply with the mandatory 5 identical kits ruling unless you are going to build 5. Gts cars are not on the list of approved cars for the championship witch will have to be sorted by gts. The kit car championship is a verry quick race championship with cars that have had years of development such as strikers sylva and raw pheonix sylva and stm westfields 11 and 7 a gts would not exactly be the best choise to be competative look at what has happend to anybody running an mk in either the kits or rgb championships. Locost on the other hand just requires a chassis that is built to the book and complies with the regs ie a home built chassis is ok and is what was intendeed to be used in the first place. If you are new to racing locost is one of the best places to start cheap'ish racing heat and finals if you finish a heat high enough (you could be a hot shot and be straight in to a final tho) and a good social side of the championship and help with every thing wether your at home or at the cicuit (60 odd registerd driver all over the uk ). You should get a coppy of the regs for all the championships you are looking at and then see what suits your requirements and dont be scared to ask plenty of drivers involved in thoes championships about them as advice given on here about some of them is verry missleading. Just a thought the rgb championship does allow for one off and prototype cars to be entered. For info on 750mc racing contact Robin knight on 01379-741641. he can send you regulation packs on any of the 750mc championships or the 750mc website www.750mc.co.uk will also have all info including regs.

cheers matt

ps motorracing dose also exist outside of the 750mc . I just forget sometimes tho.

Thankyou for your reply!
I realise i'm in a grey ish area with the homebuilt chassis, i spoke to GTS about my plans and they have easily met the 5 kits on the road requirement for homologation. With regard to my particular chassis being home built i am not entirley sure of the position that puts me in. It is built to GTS plans so the car when finished is going to be a GTS. Although i haven't bought a kit in one lump, all the parts i am buying come from GTS so the car should be a GTS. Homebuilt chassis's obviously aren't outside the rules as Locosts are allowed to enter.

It does seem to be a complicated situation for me though! Maybe my old idea of selling up and buying a Locost racer was the best idea! I got put off the locost series a little because of parts availabilty, it appeared to me that to be competetive you would need to be the one that found all the rare gearboxes, diffs etc! Maybe i'm wrong about that. Its very easy to get 'put off' when reading on this forum, hopefully one way or another i will make it onto the grid in 2008 or 2009!

Thanks again for your input! I think i need to do more thinking about what i want and my options!

Hi locost chassis in the kit champ have to be to the locost regs ie the original book whith live axle . Idont think that the gts chassis are as original altho i may be wrong. I think you would need to speak to robin knight about a home built chassis even if it is to the gts plans it is still classed as a one off home built.and as said gts would need to supply conformation of the 5 kits fully built by them to comply as well.

matt

have sent you a u2u cheers

[Edited on 6/7/06 by procomp]

I've got a similar problem if i ever wanted to race my car as its a non book locost with non standard engine and suspension

what about one of the regional series? do they still run the darlington and district northern sportcar(may have amalgamated to sports and saloons?!) series up there? I know of the castlecombe, welsh sportscars and semsec race series/meetings that you could probably find a class to fit the car into not to mention sprints and hillclimbs aswell if thats your thing..

[Edited on 6/7/06 by ned]

Going back to the original post, building a road car and then going semi-serious racing ie 750MC Kit Cars is a bit of a malarky anyway as there are loads of little things that make a good road car a distinctly average race car and vis versa. You'd be forever changing carb setup and suspension settings swapping between the two for example. Obviously it has (and is being done) but it's far from ideal.

As Matt has hinted as well 750MC Kit Cars are actualy a lot more serious than they look to the casual observer, if you want to go racing Locost is by far the cheapest and easiest way, although, as Ned mentioned the Northern Sports Car and Saloon Championship might be worth a look (some quick stuff racing in that though!)

I didn't intend to have it as a road/race car, it would be dedicated to the job. My idea was to have 12months in the car on the road fitting in as many track days as possible and then make changes over a winter, such as a decent engine! I was just going to keep the regs in mind as i builded.
I think this thread has helped me decide/realise that this isn't the way to go anyway, so i'll crack on as a road/track car for now.
After a year on the road the GTS may go to fund a second hand locost racer, that seems like the most sensible option. It will give me plenty of time in a seven to decide if i definately want to go racing!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Hi

Don't let the discussion on the forums put you off locost. Generally what you read is people trying to find very small improvements.

If you are new to racing you are unlikely to notice much difference between say a normal gearbox and the sport version. The parts are less plentiful than they were but I've not had a problem, and often other racers have spare bits.

I have what I think is a fairly good spec car in terms of the engine and running gear. I'm way off the front pace though as I don't get on the track often enough to be able to get used to the cars handling, and set it up properly after driving a FWD hatchback everyday!

It would be much easier to become competitive in locost than the kit cars!

Gavin

Hi gavin you have it arse about face kits are easier to drive becauce of the extra bhp with a locost and only 85bhp you need to be a verry smooth driver and have a verry good setup. Oh and never use the brakes as you need to keep the momentum up at all times . Of course not saying that that the same does'nt apply to kits but to drive at the front in locost is harder than it is in kits.

cheers matt

Hi Matt

Interesting comment! I was thinking more of the cost to prepare a kit car. But I did also think that there was more setup to change on a kitcar making it harder to get it correct if you are new to racing. You're the expert though.

Gavin

Hi once you have got over the initial out lay for the car a class b zetec is probably cheaper to run than a locost as the locost engine x/flow needs more looking after than a zetec or rather less problems than a x/flow . As for setup you set them both to the best you can to suit the application no real difference between them. front running locost s/hand £2.500-£6.000 s/hand kit £4.000-£8.000. Locost racing is more competative and closer racing with a few idiots in their kits is higher speed not quite as tight racing but less idiots and more gentelmen who realise when they have been over taken but no less fun. Aldo not saying that kits is'nt hard racing.

cheers matt

If you go the Locost route, the chances are that your could be racing competitively due to the tight regs.

If you buy the right bits early on, then there is no need to blow loads of money chasing the leaders.

With the numbers high, there is a good chance that most drivers will get a heat and a final.

The racing is close from front to back, however, most race with a smile on their faces.

Front running cars are hard to come by, others maybe cheap but will require potentially far more money to put right than starting afresh with a new build.