Hi Guys,

The idea of getting another kit car occured to me a while back and I got some great advice from people on here, so I thought I'd enquire again even though it's not strictly Locost orientated

Has anyone here got any experience of the Vindicator Sprint? ......should I get one?

Car I'm looking at is a mk3 (fully adjustable/independant) with a fairly stock pinto going for a little over £2k.

Can anyone describe what they're like to drive? Vindicator go on about having all the mass concentrated within the wheelbase, creating a low polar moment - does that make them twitchy on the limit?

Other contenders are (in order of preference!) a Sylva Leader, early Westfield SEi, mk1 Phaeton (don't laugh!) or a vague possibility of a GTM Rossa K3 (again, worried they might be a little twitchy and whilst on the upside it's a sensible car I could drive everyday, on the downside it's a sensible car I could drive everyday ...I've just sold an MX5 on the grounds it was a little too sanitised!)

[Edited on 13/8/07 by Chris71]

How much money have you got to play with?

Personally I hate the Vindicator sprint as to me it just looks completely pants but obviously some like it so just personal preference.

Always best to get a ride in anything you are thinking of buying.

Rich.

Teh vindi is bigger than a locost. The chassis has a bulge between the axles so that it is wider. It is fairly heavy so a meaty engine is needed. They're not too far from me so I went and had a ride in one. It wasn't that fast with a 2.0 on carbs.

Not one of my favorite lookers either.

As shortie says, ugly ugly ugly but the chassis are suposed to be good for handling.

Hi well there arnt many words to describe a vindicator that are usable on a forum.

They harp on about all sorts of things that only exist in thier imagination.

They will go on about how well the car that Martin smith and Ian creeba used in the 750 kit handeled like a dream and had exelent handeling.

Where as what really happened was Martin smith built one and it handeled appalingly bad and was one of the slowest things out on the circuit.

He met up with us being local to him and asked us to see what could be done with it. After much chopping and carving of the chassis ect it was able to be driven at some speed but still no where quick enough to be considered raceable.

However during a conversation with an other well known race engineer Tom laffey Said " it goes round gerrard at mallory park quite well due to the wide track " . From then on they have used that as proof that the car has had race bred handeling built into it.

The fact is that Martin smith gave up on the car ( rightfully so ) And built a car from another manufacturer and won the 750mc kit championship out right the following year.

The only thing to be said about a vindicator is stayaway And don't touch with a barge pole. Even a robin hood would be a better bet.

cheers matt

Not a lot of love for the vindicator then

Not too worried about the looks. Outright performance isn''t especially critical as long as it has reasonable 50-70 oomph for road overtaking, not worried about lap times.

The one thing that is extremely important is the handling. I want something which is going to be communicative and throttle adjustable for b-roads and the occasional track day.

My budget is pretty tight - absolute maximum of £4k and I'd prefer to be spending less (kicked myself that I didn't have the space when an apparently well looked after Sylva Leader went on eBay for £1300 recently....) noticed some early Westfields falling into that price range now, so was thinking about something like,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140146692431&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=004

Have a (self built) Locost chassis hanging up in my parents garage, but don't have the space or time to finish it unfortunately.

Hi when you say.

"The one thing that is extremely important is the handling. I want something which is going to be communicative and throttle adjustable for b-roads and the occasional track day."

Trust me this is the one thing a vindicator dose not do.

As said look else where for a car that has had at least some thought put into it.

Duttons robinhoods locosts old westfields would all be a much better bet.

cheers matt

Well, that's certainly cleared up any ambiguity

You reckon even the Dutton Phaetons are better? (I may be a little unfair towards the Duttons there, I haven't actually driven one yet, just going on hearsay)

Hi was not trying to say that duttons and robinhoods handeled well.

Just using as a comparisen as to how bad a vindicator acually is.

Seen your post on the wscc forum. If you keep looking at simalar cars to that one you should get a car with good handeling and at a good price leaving budget to tinker with when purchased. You will not go to wrong with a westfield .

cheers matt

quote:

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Originally posted by procomp
Hi was not trying to say that duttons and robinhoods handeled well.

Just using as a comparisen as to how bad a vindicator acually is.

Seen your post on the wscc forum. If you keep looking at simalar cars to that one you should get a car with good handeling and at a good price leaving budget to tinker with when purchased. You will not go to wrong with a westfield .

cheers matt

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