Hiya,
Thinking about a self build car, and I have the Ron Champion book - 2nd edition. I was wondering what the pros and cons of a Haynes Roadster are versus the Ron Champion Locost?
Im pretty new to all this, but I can see one is IRS and one live axle, but whats the difference in handling?
Is the Haynes a bigger/heavier car than the standard locost? I wanted to make a small nippy little thing in the spirit of an MG midget rather than a balls out BEC 0-60 in 6 seconds machine...
Both books are really interesting. Just wondered what people thought... I guess there are more sierras out there than mk2 escorts, but it still seems mk 2 stuff comes up on ebay fairly regularly. Sorry if this is a really fundamental question I should know the answer to, Ive tried to find an existing post!
Cheers

Really the IRS has better grip on bad road surfaces and will be easier to get the donor parts for. The Haynes roadster is a much better written and more accurate (but not 100%) book too. Both weight about the same though depending on the engine and gearbox fitted. There’s also a single seater book coming out next year btw but that will most likely be a BEC..

[Edited on 11/2/09 by Mr Whippy]

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Originally posted by Dom C
I wanted to make a small nippy little thing in the spirit of an MG midget rather than a balls out BEC 0-60 in 6 seconds machine...

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Originally posted by cd.thomson

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Originally posted by Dom C
I wanted to make a small nippy little thing in the spirit of an MG midget rather than a balls out BEC 0-60 in 6 seconds machine...

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youll end up close to 6 seconds with just a pinto in it anyway

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http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/index.php

dedicated haynes roadster forum which is growing all the time also features ammendments and lots of helpful people who've built the roadster already..

chris gibbs is on the haynes roadster forums (and on here as well ) very helpful fella and knows his stuff

I'd choose the haynes roadster over the original locost any day except:

1) you have a donor escort that you want to convert
2) you want to go locost racing and have to build the car by the book.

Sierras are much more plentiful donors. I'd also look at the single seater because it looks nicer.

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Originally posted by smart51
I'd also look at the single seater because it looks nicer.

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Originally posted by cd.thomson

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Originally posted by smart51
I'd also look at the single seater because it looks nicer.

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how do you know?

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The book car IS lighter. The sierra running gear is allot heavier overall and the book car is smaller than the roadster.

Also you only have to make 4 wishbones as opposed to the roadsters 8.

And I'm not even building a book car

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Originally posted by CaptainJosh
Also you only have to make 4 wishbones as opposed to the roadsters 8.

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Originally posted by 3GEComponents
See here, http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=104646 thanks to Amazon, it's all out in the open, although a few of us already knew

Regards

John

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Is there a race series for the Haynes too? Im not really planning on making a car to race, but itd be nice to have the chance if I fancied.
Also, I know its chickening out a bit, but can you buy ready made wishbones for the Haynes, professionally welded?
Cheers for the feedback/info
Dom

quote:

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Originally posted by Dom C
Is there a race series for the Haynes too? Im not really planning on making a car to race, but itd be nice to have the chance if I fancied.
Also, I know its chickening out a bit, but can you buy ready made wishbones for the Haynes, professionally welded?
Cheers for the feedback/info
Dom

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