LostcoastNB
12-11-2012, 08:44 AM
I was getting tired of modding my miata around the aspect that it is my daily driver and the only "reliable" car in my possession. So i started looking into getting a track toy for cheap.
My mind instantly to some sort of "locost" this or "factory five" that, but the price stopped me pretty quickly from developing those ideas into something to get exited about. So then my mind turned to the homebrew side of the coin. I decided to slowly develop my own chassis and make it a long term bargain hunt type build of a kit car for track purposes. I immediately turned towards the Formula SAE designs as reference points to design a chassis that would work for me.5838 I couldnt just copy the SAE cars because im 6'2" and weight 250lbs so i would need something bigger and more big guy friendly. So i sat down and drew up a simple outline of what i wanted.
5837
I was then able to estimate the amount of tubing I would need to achieve this chassis. Once again, the price shot me down to stage one again. With the price of building my own being obviously out of my budget, I looked toward the idea of finding a few cages from already built chassis of a old race cars to put together to make my own.
Have there no road courses in my area i went to the local circle track to see what i could scrounge up. After talking to about 20 people from all sorts of classes with no avail, i started to give up. Walking out of the pits I stumbled upon a cockpit of a Thunder roadster race car. These cars are a low-tech circle track bred open wheel cars that share lineage to the Legend series cars. It looked pretty smashed on the top hoops and the rest of the car had been torched off to be reused elsewhere. I hunted down the track promoter to ask about the car and found out that it belonged to him, he told me that i could have it if i took it away that day, so i did.5839 This picture is of the cockpit with my Koseis placed to make it look like it has wheels. I had already cut off the hoops that were evidently smashed by a fallen redwood while the car was being stored, the car had actually never had the chance to compete. My plan for this car was to use miata subframes to save time and money on designing suspension and use a motorbike engine as a powerplant like what the racecar originally used in its previous life.
I went to source the subframes at the local autoX from some club members that were known to have many miata parts cars and things that would further help me with my project. I met with my friend who said that i could have the subframes for 150 bucks each. We were discussing a time for me to go rip them out of the cars at his house when one of the clubs board members approached me asking me about my project. Apparently the news about my kinda crazy build had gotten around and he wanted to know what my plans were with the project. I told him about my ambitions of having a track toy that i could build for cheap and save my miata from torture.
He sat and listened, nodding occasionally while stroking his mustache looking deep in thought. After i finished with my spiel, he started talking about a project that he's had for a few years and he said that i might be interested in it. He described it as a formula ford chassis that has been reworked into a C-spec racecar that ran in the late 80's and early 90's. It was basically a roller with body and suspension, wheels, hubs, but no motor or transmission. He said that he had bought it for the wheels but nolonger has a purpose for them.5840 This seamed like a deal too good to be true, a racecar, already set up with proper suspension geometry and equipment. I asked him how much he wanted for it expecting a skyhigh price that would be well out of reach for me, one more thing just taunting me with success and then dropping me like a rock. He sat there, stroking his mustache in deep thought for about five minutes. He finally said with a big smile on his face, "Ill give it to ya foooooorrrrr 600 bucks". I about fainted. I was about to spend 300 on subframes out of wrecked cars that i would have to pull myself and this guy offers me 600 for a roller racecar. I paid him later that evening. These are some shitty pictures that he sent me of the car.5841584258435844 the car also comes with the formula ford body that the car used to have. I pick it up on friday and ill have better pics to share.
My mind instantly to some sort of "locost" this or "factory five" that, but the price stopped me pretty quickly from developing those ideas into something to get exited about. So then my mind turned to the homebrew side of the coin. I decided to slowly develop my own chassis and make it a long term bargain hunt type build of a kit car for track purposes. I immediately turned towards the Formula SAE designs as reference points to design a chassis that would work for me.5838 I couldnt just copy the SAE cars because im 6'2" and weight 250lbs so i would need something bigger and more big guy friendly. So i sat down and drew up a simple outline of what i wanted.
5837
I was then able to estimate the amount of tubing I would need to achieve this chassis. Once again, the price shot me down to stage one again. With the price of building my own being obviously out of my budget, I looked toward the idea of finding a few cages from already built chassis of a old race cars to put together to make my own.
Have there no road courses in my area i went to the local circle track to see what i could scrounge up. After talking to about 20 people from all sorts of classes with no avail, i started to give up. Walking out of the pits I stumbled upon a cockpit of a Thunder roadster race car. These cars are a low-tech circle track bred open wheel cars that share lineage to the Legend series cars. It looked pretty smashed on the top hoops and the rest of the car had been torched off to be reused elsewhere. I hunted down the track promoter to ask about the car and found out that it belonged to him, he told me that i could have it if i took it away that day, so i did.5839 This picture is of the cockpit with my Koseis placed to make it look like it has wheels. I had already cut off the hoops that were evidently smashed by a fallen redwood while the car was being stored, the car had actually never had the chance to compete. My plan for this car was to use miata subframes to save time and money on designing suspension and use a motorbike engine as a powerplant like what the racecar originally used in its previous life.
I went to source the subframes at the local autoX from some club members that were known to have many miata parts cars and things that would further help me with my project. I met with my friend who said that i could have the subframes for 150 bucks each. We were discussing a time for me to go rip them out of the cars at his house when one of the clubs board members approached me asking me about my project. Apparently the news about my kinda crazy build had gotten around and he wanted to know what my plans were with the project. I told him about my ambitions of having a track toy that i could build for cheap and save my miata from torture.
He sat and listened, nodding occasionally while stroking his mustache looking deep in thought. After i finished with my spiel, he started talking about a project that he's had for a few years and he said that i might be interested in it. He described it as a formula ford chassis that has been reworked into a C-spec racecar that ran in the late 80's and early 90's. It was basically a roller with body and suspension, wheels, hubs, but no motor or transmission. He said that he had bought it for the wheels but nolonger has a purpose for them.5840 This seamed like a deal too good to be true, a racecar, already set up with proper suspension geometry and equipment. I asked him how much he wanted for it expecting a skyhigh price that would be well out of reach for me, one more thing just taunting me with success and then dropping me like a rock. He sat there, stroking his mustache in deep thought for about five minutes. He finally said with a big smile on his face, "Ill give it to ya foooooorrrrr 600 bucks". I about fainted. I was about to spend 300 on subframes out of wrecked cars that i would have to pull myself and this guy offers me 600 for a roller racecar. I paid him later that evening. These are some shitty pictures that he sent me of the car.5841584258435844 the car also comes with the formula ford body that the car used to have. I pick it up on friday and ill have better pics to share.