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Spire GTR's
scootz - 25/7/12 at 06:16 PM

Does anyone know much about them?

History... good / bad.... anything really!

Cheers!

CRAIGR - 25/7/12 at 06:26 PM

I'll have it when you've taken it apart.
How much for delivery

scootz - 25/7/12 at 06:42 PM

Special discount for you Craig!

welderman - 25/7/12 at 07:09 PM

Pffft lol

I nearly got one but the induction noise above your head made my ears ring. Although I do have tinitus
That really was the only thing that put me off.
Nice looking car and now with alot of back up

Mr C - 25/7/12 at 07:16 PM

I quite fancy one of these for my next project though I'll be gong a little off piste with the engine. The car was originally designed by MK sportscars and sold on. It was designed to fit a longditudinal audi 4 cylinder setup as found n early A4's as well as bike engines I'm sure others will fit. 100mm sierria driveshafts and bearing carriers usual brake options that fit the ford mounts and front uprights from the cortina or rally design. There is a couple of good build diaries, the best (imo) is tris's, a warts and all diary, found via the owners club unfortunately it looks like its currently off line. The car is typical of a kit car with parts not quite lining up requiring spacers etc and a bit of creativity. The body is a bit tired as well requiring quite a bit of filling and making good before obtaining a good fit. Personally for the money I can live with its build foibles. Its also very successful on the track doing well in one of the 750 club run series

The above is based on general research via the net and kit car shows therefore it is my own views so please do not take me to task if its not quite factually correct I haven't yet spoken to Paul Nightingale at Spire though Its probably my next step. He is very helpful by all accounts.

scootz - 25/7/12 at 07:22 PM

Cheers guys. What sort of min/max heights can fit in there?

Ben_Copeland - 25/7/12 at 07:44 PM

How about finishing all your other projects first. Or at least sell them to us cheap

zilspeed - 25/7/12 at 07:49 PM

You have U2U

scootz - 25/7/12 at 07:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
... or at least sell them to us cheap


I DO sell them to you lot cheap!

PS - anyone want a Z3!

Cheap Scootz Thing

nick205 - 25/7/12 at 09:20 PM

IIRC the Spire GTR started life as the MK (Engineering) GTR successor to the short lived GT1 (I stand to be corrected though).

scootz - 25/7/12 at 09:24 PM

I think you're right Nick.

chris mason - 25/7/12 at 09:42 PM

It started life as a car built and designed by Martin Keenan (MK Engineering) originally designed to accept the early Audi engines.
Paul nightingale then took on the project and fitted other engines, including a Renault turbo before settling on the Zx12 as engine of choice.
Since then the car has been completely redesigned from the ground up, new chassis, wishbones, pedal box, brakes etc plus new redesigned bodywork, with iirc wind tunnel tested aero mods. Also iirc the chassis underwent testing and changes to further improve the racing pedigree of the car, at the same time 1000cc bike engines became the engines of choice (cbr1000)
Along the way the car has achieved many good results in the rgb race series.

Well worth considering as an alternative to a 7, the support from Spire is 2nd to none and Paul's a nice friendly chap

PAUL FISHER - 25/7/12 at 09:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Cheers guys. What sort of min/max heights can fit in there?


I drove the original GTR, that Martin Keenan made with the Audi 1.8 fitted, had a go both on the road and track, loads of room inside, I am 6'3" and 16 stone, a superb car then, it felt a bit special, I regret not placing my order with Martin , they have come on alot over the years with Spire, doing very well in the RGB, but they are not cheap anymore, I would love one, but don't think I could afford to build one now

[Edited on 19/05/04 by PAUL FISHER]

Peteff - 25/7/12 at 10:39 PM

Spire is at Stonebroom about 10 minutes away from me. I recognise the name Paul Nightingale as well, Ashover farming family I think. Good local chap, salt of the earth and all that. No use at all to you Scootz just rambling but they were the follow on from the GT1 and that was a nice car.

RK - 26/7/12 at 12:08 AM

My wife is very happy Mr. Scootz does not live anywhere near me. I could keep him in business a long time...

scootz - 26/7/12 at 06:38 AM

I can arrange shipping to Canada!

scootz - 26/7/12 at 06:39 AM

Thanks for all the replies.

richardh - 26/7/12 at 07:38 AM

What's the z3 spec Scootz?

Steve Hignett - 26/7/12 at 07:39 AM

quote:
Originally posted by richardh
What's the z3 spec Scootz?



It isn't my car, so I'm not 100% sure, but I think the spec is something like this...

1999 T.
110k miles.
Silver with Black Leather 'Individual' Interior and Blue Hood.
Heated / Electric Seats.
Cat D.
V5 in my Name.
1 Key.
No Books.

The first pic is of the car after the accident. As you can see it was only panel damage (bumper, bonnet, headlight, nearside door and nearside wing panel), but that little lot would have cost the insurer £4-5k if the car went through an approved BMW body-shop! And that's why it was written-off!

I have since scrapped the bonnet, nearside door, nearside wing and headlights) as they were not repairable.

I have sourced:
Replacement bonnet - It has dents on it as if someone has run across it. Some scores and light creases too. It needs TLC, but is definitely repairable. It will need painted once repaired.
Replacement Door - It has various shallow dents and is easily repairable. It will also need painted after repair.
Replacement Wing Panel. It's straight.

I have also scrapped the tatty 16" wheels that you can see in the first few photo's and replaced them with a set of genuine BMW 18" staggered wheels (see last pic) that came off a one-month old 1-Series. These are pretty much as new (one or two very minor nicks). They have Michelin Pilot Sport 2's all round with 5+ mm's of even tread. These wheels / tyres cost me £550.

I also bought a pair of clear headlights from a Z3M that will come with the car. These cost £190.

The only part left to source is a bumper and some inexpensive fixings.

The car just needs an MOT to go back on the road.

I'm only selling as I have too many projects on the go and I need the space back.

The interior is in good order. Some wear on the bolsters, but nothing ugly.
The hood is in average condition for its age.
The paintwork on the undamaged parts of the car is pretty good.
The engine is a 2.8 (M52TU). It starts and runs without any dramas.

I could deliver the car UK wide at fuel cost (I'm in Edinburgh).

Looking for quick, hassle-free sale, so £1350 (no haggling I'm afraid).

I may consider an older Ducati SS (any engine size), or Yamaha TRX850 with £500 cash going my way.





PistonHeads Essentials •Front-Engined
•Naturally Aspirated
•2.8 Litres
•Inline
•6 Cylinders
•Rear-Wheel-Drive

The Detail •2 Doors
•Convertible
•Manual
•Petrol
•Silver

scootz - 26/7/12 at 11:32 AM

That's a pretty good guess about the spec Steve!

SCAR - 26/7/12 at 06:22 PM

You would be hard pressed to find a more genuine guy than Paul Knightingale. His business is all about a passion for racing and not a search for profit. OK the car build is not well supported by documentation but Paul is always willing to help, he was a perfect choice for our project and we owe him many thanks.
Building the GTR is not difficult we are progressing well with ours. We being me, occasionally a couple of parents and a group of 12 to 17 year olds.


[img] Description
Description [/img]

[Edited on 26/7/12 by SCAR]

T66 - 26/7/12 at 06:38 PM

Scott your a bad man, your on the hunt again....


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ronald.denyer/

scootz - 26/7/12 at 06:51 PM

Cheers guys.

I have to come clean... it's not for me! It's a mate who's got his eye on one. He reads this site, but doesn't have an account, so asked me if I'd ask the question.

nick205 - 26/7/12 at 08:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by chris mason
It started life as a car built and designed by Martin Keenan (MK Engineering) originally designed to accept the early Audi engines.
Paul nightingale then took on the project and fitted other engines, including a Renault turbo before settling on the Zx12 as engine of choice.
Since then the car has been completely redesigned from the ground up, new chassis, wishbones, pedal box, brakes etc plus new redesigned bodywork, with iirc wind tunnel tested aero mods. Also iirc the chassis underwent testing and changes to further improve the racing pedigree of the car, at the same time 1000cc bike engines became the engines of choice (cbr1000)
Along the way the car has achieved many good results in the rgb race series.

Well worth considering as an alternative to a 7, the support from Spire is 2nd to none and Paul's a nice friendly chap



I find that really good to know!

austin man - 26/7/12 at 09:20 PM

The spires seem to handle really well as said prviously the new ones are a complete redesing and boy do they hande weel on the track they always appear to be in contention in the RGB class

ashg - 26/7/12 at 09:29 PM

the reason for that is that spire have drafted martin back in to rework the design and since he got his head around cad his designs and output have only got better, which is impressive as he wasn't half bad before he involved cad.

austin man - 26/7/12 at 09:51 PM

Martin is an exceptioanl man he can look at something and make it wit what appears to be no effort and the quality of his work is top notch too.

Lightning - 26/7/12 at 11:00 PM

Paul is a great guy. I love my car although will be selling it in a few months to finance a new business project



SCAR - 27/7/12 at 08:28 AM

Just for clarity
Spires new car is the GT3 and although it continues the basic format of the GTR it is a completely new design which was developed specifically to win the RGB race series. So far this season (with probably the best driver in the series) it has won every race by quite a margin. The only parts it shares with the GTR are drive train and ancilleries, the bodywork and chassis being completely new. The new bodywork is lower and more streamline having benefitted from wind tunnel testing and does not have the stand off wing.

NEW GT3 RACE CAR
[img] Description
Description [/img ]

[img] Description
Description [/img]

[Edited on 27/7/12 by SCAR]

Hellfire - 27/7/12 at 11:41 AM

A bit more info..... The original MK Engineering design was a successor to the MK GT1. It was christened the MK Banshee for a short while, although popular opinion at the time suggested it should have been called the GT2. It was eventually renamed the GT-R and was then sold to Evolution Sportscars. Evolution Sportscars however didn't have the time to promote the vehicle and Martin bought it back in June/July 2005 before selling it on to Spire Sportscars in July/August of the same year, where it has been further developed since.

Phil