DIY F1-style race car?

[mikiec]

This has bugged me for a while and I wondered if someone more mechanically/engineering minded might be able to answer this for me...

There's loads of different types of 'cheap' race cars ranging from karts to things like bangers and local-oval stock cars, but I'm into open-wheel racing, like F1, ChampCar/IndyCar style racing, but I haven't seen a REALLY affordable car that looks anywhere near these types of cars.

I've driven a BabyGrand stock car, which is essentially a 2/3 scale NASCAR Cup Car, made from a tubular steel frame and a fibreglass body shell that literally drops on top (like a r/c model car), powered by an 1100cc motorbike engine and a motorbike gear box. The power-to-weight ratio was awesome and it really took some gentle trottle-work to prevent losing the back-end everytime you accelerated.

How difficult would it be to come up with something similar for an F1-style car? Would it be possible to use a donor car, say a Ford Escort or Mondeo or would it be better to start from scratch? Apart from the front suspension being built into the nose-cone of the car, what else would be a problem? I'm not from a mechanical or engineering background so I might be a bit naive WRT this.

I appreciate that the extra weight of the steel chassis and the lack of power in a 'stock' engine wouldn't give performance anywhere near that of an F1 or similar, but that's not the point - it's the look of the car.

Any ideas?

[Mark]

What about something like an Atom?
http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/

[mikiec]

That looks pretty expensive, Mark.... I'm looking for something to go racing, but not road-legal.

Nearest I've found are the Formula Jedi (right price but doesn't look F1-esque enough)
http://www.msportuk.com/photo/showpicjedi.php?show=03098

or the FSCCA/FE (looks good but pretty expensive at about $50k)
http://www.mlcmotorsports.com/FSCCA.html

[MrJan]

Check out PIston Heads and see what people are selling, usually some pretty interesting stuff on there

[CCFanatic]

Formula Jedi are great race cars.

Hmm.. not sure if they race these in the UK, but are SCCA's biggest ow class
http://www.starmazda.com/cars.htm
second car down. You can buy them in the US new for 39 thousand dollars.

[Sleeper]

Have you tried Formula 4, or the US Formula Ford 2000 cars?

[wedge]

Jedi's are ace! Well cheap and easy to maintain. I used to have a neighbour who did hillclimbs and he used Jedi machinery just before they built the Formula Jedi cars and they had enourmous reputation in British Hillclimbing scene in the 1990s & 1990s.

IIRC when they showed off the car at Autosport Internationals they were oversubscribed and couldn't keep up with demand in their first few years of the championship. It still has the reputation as the most cost effective championship for single seaters.

What else are you looking for other than the basic slicks & wings?

[mikiec]

Formula Jedi are great race cars.

Hmm.. not sure if they race these in the UK, but are SCCA's biggest ow class
http://www.starmazda.com/cars.htm
second car down. You can buy them in the US new for 39 thousand dollars.

$39k is a bit too expensive for what I'm thinking. IIRC, you can get a Baby Grand in the UK (second hand) for between £5-9k (approx $10-18k). I had a bit of a search for Jedi's and they go for similar prices, so perhaps this is the most similar in terms of cost.


Jedi's are ace! Well cheap and easy to maintain. I used to have a neighbour who did hillclimbs and he used Jedi machinery just before they built the Formula Jedi cars and they had enourmous reputation in British Hillclimbing scene in the 1990s & 1990s.

IIRC when they showed off the car at Autosport Internationals they were oversubscribed and couldn't keep up with demand in their first few years of the championship. It still has the reputation as the most cost effective championship for single seaters.

What else are you looking for other than the basic slicks & wings?

Really, the Jedi is pretty close, but I was hoping for something that looks more like Formula Palmer Audi. Surely that's feasible if they can do the Jedi for that type of cost? It's probably just the body shape that would be different? I understand that the Jedi's were originally designed to compete against other types of cars in hillclimbs, so a small, light, nimble design was more appropriate, but for a one-make championship, the design shouldn't need to be limited like that.

This is just a wish-list type of thing for me.... if you could get something that looks reasonably close to an F1 car without having rich parents or re-mortgaging your house, I'm sure people'd be biting the manufacturer's hands off.

[CCFanatic]

FPA's are great, but for 55 thousand pounds. A bit more than you hoped for. I looked at them this year, but living in the US would ahve cost me about 200 thousand USD.

I think FJedi is the best for you. Rear engine, open wheel. Pretty good lap times, and you still might have money to buy some nice clothes.

Hmmm... if you do not mind traveling to the US, you could run the Skip Barber series. Get 7 weekends with 14 races for 55 thousand dollars a season, which makes it one of the world affordable racing series. You do not own a car, as the series owns and set ups each car, which will avoid hassle to people like you and me who have no clue how to set up a car.

[mikiec]

FPA's are great, but for 55 thousand pounds. A bit more than you hoped for. I looked at them this year, but living in the US would ahve cost me about 200 thousand USD.

I think FJedi is the best for you. Rear engine, open wheel. Pretty good lap times, and you still might have money to buy some nice clothes.

Hmmm... if you do not mind traveling to the US, you could run the Skip Barber series. Get 7 weekends with 14 races for 55 thousand dollars a season, which makes it one of the world affordable racing series. You do not own a car, as the series owns and set ups each car, which will avoid hassle to people like you and me who have no clue how to set up a car.

I mentioned FPA purely as an example of the look of the cars..... Jedi looks like the nearest thing for me :)

[tsarcasm]

look for a "LoCost" it's a Lotus/Catherham & clone

the best part, you provide a tired miata and use it's motor & rear end, gauges, wheels & brakes, etc. A cheap and fast way to go as the Locost weighs hardly 400kilos campared to 900kgs. for the miata

[mikiec]

Actually, the concept of LoCost was what got me interested in this idea in the first place, but the cars look like Caterhams, whereas I envisaged something looking more like this.....

http://www.motogallery.co.uk:81/gallery/FPA_Gallery_2007/FPA_Oulton_Park/Jolyon_Palmer.jpg

[raikk]

2 stroke karts are mini F1 cars...