Hello guys, im going to be starting a joint project with my dad very soon. We are going to be building a Caterham R500 to be used on track days etc. This gave me an idea. I've decided that as well as building the caterham, i would love to build another car, which when finished, i can take to events with my dad in the caterham, and then we can battle the two together.

I would like to build something american, which is my question. What car would you guys suggest? Im thinking of something like a GT40'esque car, or an AC cobra type car? Im looking for something which will scare me. I want a car which is exciting. It sounds silly but its something i would like. I've got my mind set on something with replicates an american car, and a big V8 under the bonnet.

So, any help out there?

Thanks.

It's a LOT of work to build a kit car. You need a lot of space, a lot of time, and making two concurrently is asking for difficulties. But good luck.

I'd go with a Cobra kit. Yes, they're common as muck these days, along with Sevens, which is why they're going out of fashion, but they are cheap and simple, which is a GOOD THING.

How old are you? If you're under 25 I can see a lot of insurance companies running a mile when they hear the words 'big' and 'V8'.

Don't know if id want to do it Why not buy an unfinished one, then finish it? Just have a good look round it and make sure the build quality is ok. Or buy a cheap half decent one and spec it up? R500 maybe not but you can spec one up just the same.

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

Don't know if id want to do it Why not buy an unfinished one, then finish it? Just have a good look round it and make sure the build quality is ok. Or buy a cheap half decent one and spec it up? R500 maybe not but you can spec one up just the same.

Because half the fun is building the car?

Not really, alot of kits sold usually go unfinished, sounds like a good idea but its so time consuming and alot of head scratching, id rather buy someones unfinished project personally.

*shrug*

i enjoy building things, always have

i think it would be great fun to build a kit car...funds don't allow for it though
maybe one day in the very far future =/

Yeah, go AC. Or some random company is doing this, but they make Chevrolet Camaro bodies and frames that are ready for you. All you have to do is put the parts on it. Anyway, remember when they were in the BTCC?

dads friend does that stuff,
builds the cars then sells them for a nice big price.
big american muscle cars too.
cant remember some of the stuff hes done but they are sexy

id go for a cobra or a v8 caterham or westfield

Quote from Klutch :

Because half the fun is building the car?

Exactly.

Yep would go for a Cobra myself, or an Ultima GTR if you've got £40k knocking about.

I would never buy an unfinished kit either, a kit car is something you really want to build from the start. People who give up half way probably haven't put the effort into build quality anyway.

Track only use would be fine, good luck insuring it on the road though.

I thought kit car insurance was cheap?

It is, but not for younguns.

If you buy an unfinished project, you'll end up taking it to pieces to sort out all the nonsense the previous owner did that isn't good enough (that you didn't spot whilst buying it).

You ALWAYS end up doing more work. Starting from scratch is more satisfying, cheaper, quicker and more fun. Almost entirely without exception.

Hmmm. I sometimes dream that I dream about dreaming of owning a GT40.

That's pretty much as close as I can get. You're a millionaire or something?

And as you can probably already imagine I would go for the GT40.

I'd go for another Caterham. Battle each other in the same car.

mev ltd do some good ones for not alot of money, although they aint what you would call big engine, one of my personel favorites is the sebring and they run chevvy v8's

http://sebring-mx.com/The_Sebring_MX.html

if you want speed i would say a hyabusa(sp) engined severn(by any manafacturer) would be a good way to go

I say a Golf MK2 with a Hayabusa engine in the back...

smart with a hyabusa engine instead of a passanger seat

It'd just fall over or kill you then.

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

i would love to build another car, which when finished, i can take to events with my dad in the caterham, and then we can battle the two together.

I would like to build something american, which is my question. What car would you guys suggest? Im thinking of something like a GT40'esque car, or an AC cobra type car? Im looking for something which will scare me. I want a car which is exciting. It sounds silly but its something i would like. I've got my mind set on something with replicates an american car, and a big V8 under the bonnet.

If you seriously want to be able to keep up with an R500 then you'll need something serious, a production based racing car will be out of the question unless you've got a six figure budget, if you wanted to go down the sports car route the fastest 4 cylinder Radicals will be able to keep up. If you have to have a V8 and keep up with the R500 then you'd need to be looking at a very well sorted Ultima on slicks or maybe a T70 could keep up, any Cobra or GT40 replica that vaguely resembled the original would be blown away. Other than that your best bet would be a F5000 car, which would be absolutely terrifying and not something to be taken lightly. Maybe the F1-67 would be something to consider, looks very nicely put together and a lot milder whilst still being pretty wild but it isn't going to give an R500 a fright.

Aside from the issue of trying to build two cars at once I think you should consider something slower than an R500 to start off getting used to a light weight high power RWD track car. It will be borderline too wild and scary to start off with, what is the sum of your track driving a Mini? People who start off racing in high power V8 racing cars just because they can usually end up struggling to build up confidence and then being put off when they have big single car accidents, I can think of several people I know who've done this, one who ended up with broken legs in an F5000 car and one who ended up with very serious injuries in a Cobra replica.

Quote from brt900 :

v8 caterham or westfield

A Rover V8 powered seven will be dull and uninteresting on a track compared to a good K series engined car.

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

Hello guys, im going to be starting a joint project with my dad very soon. We are going to be building a Caterham R500 to be used on track days etc. This gave me an idea. I've decided that as well as building the caterham, i would love to build another car, which when finished, i can take to events with my dad in the caterham, and then we can battle the two together.

I would like to build something american, which is my question. What car would you guys suggest? Im thinking of something like a GT40'esque car, or an AC cobra type car? Im looking for something which will scare me. I want a car which is exciting. It sounds silly but its something i would like. I've got my mind set on something with replicates an american car, and a big V8 under the bonnet.

So, any help out there?

Thanks.

depends... you'll hate spinning all the time because these cars are generally Very hard to handle...

Ac cobra shell on a ford seirra chassis with a chevy/rover lump would be ideal...

Quote from BigPeBe :

Hmmm. I sometimes dream that I dream about dreaming of owning a GT40.

That's pretty much as close as I can get. You're a millionaire or something?

And as you can probably already imagine I would go for the GT40.

a GT40 replica kit is considerately less expensive than a real GT40, about ten times less expensive perheps.

Quote from JJ72 :

a GT40 replica kit is considerately less expensive than a real GT40, about ten times less expensive perheps.

yes but the gt40 is ugly anyways, its only fanboys who gave it a reputation... it was fast back inthe day, but by no means upto the caliber of today's standards... even if you make your own i doubt you can match anything on sale for the same price it would cost to make one

Here is a DVD which should give you a lot of information about buying and building an AC Cobra replica. Here is another DVD in which a Westfield racer is built. I've got both of them and they're very good.

Quote from theirishnoob :

yes but the gt40 is ugly anyways

No, GT40 is really a proper hardcore looking car. It looks, goes and sounds like pure awesomeness. Well of course it depends what engine you put in there, when we are talking about replicas.

Cars like GT40 aren't supposed to be compared with modern cars, the thrill and feeling and everything is just in it's own level and no modern car can do the same.

Quote from JJ72 :

a GT40 replica kit is considerately less expensive than a real GT40, about ten times less expensive perheps.

Yea, but even the replicas cost a fortune.