Building an R1 Powered Seven: First Autocross

Building an R1 Powered Seven

A few years ago I got it in my head to build a kit car. After months of searching I came across the Locost concept. In short, quite a few amateur hobbiests around the world have built their own Lotus 7 inspired cars from scratch, following plans available on a variety of Internet sites and published in a book by Ron Champion.

I started gathering parts and finally began building the chassis in July '05. In August '10 the car was titled, licensed and is now street legal. The following blog captures the progress of the build and driving experiences after completion.

Monday, June 14, 2010

First Autocross

Satisfying but exhausting best describe this weekend. I decided to register for the Philly autocross even though a lot of prep work remained, figuring that a deadline will help move things along. It did.
Before the event I needed to fabricate and mount a roll bar, make sure everything was fastened, tightened, aligned...and figure out how to load and secure the car on its trailer for the 1hr drive to Philly.
I spent all day Saturday (8:00 am until midnight) getting done what I could, then woke up at 5:00am the next morning to finish prep and try to make the 8:15 registration start...
Despite the lack of sleep, oppressive heat/humidity, and afternoon downpour, it turned out to be a good day. They gave us 5 runs, which was good because it took the first few to learn the course and start to get used to the car...very different from a leisurely drive around the block...

Some pictures after my runs were complete...the wife and kids stopped by to see how things were going. This was taken just before the rain started.

Below is a video of one of the runs, sound is mostly wind noise since I forgot the foam mic cover. I still have a lot of room for improvement, mostly in the driver, but I'm looking forward to dialing in the car and learning to drive it over time.
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/1/QYdZ2aWkre4