Building an R1 Powered Seven: July 2010

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.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

1/4 Mile Runs

While waiting to hear back about registration, I'm trying to get in as many events as possible to get some seat time. Cecil County Dragway has test and tune night on Wednedays so I decided to check it out. I wasn't sure what safety equipment was needed, but after talking to the inspector they let me run with regular seat belts and a helmet. Next time they said I will need a 5pt harness.

I expected to be in the 14s, but despite lousy launches I managed a best time of 13.546 and a best speed of 102.15mph, though not on the same run. Not sure when I'll go back, 100+mph in a Seven is a bit unnerving. I think I'll stick with autocrossing for now...

Here are the time slips, my car# was 104:

And video of the runs:
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/5/DAzhdDbo2Gg

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Second Autocross

I made it to the Warminster autocross this past weekend. It takes place on an old runway that has been converted to a community park. Being a runway I wasn't expecting much, but the course turned out to be a blast. They set up tight corners and slaloms going out, and more open curves on the way back. Here's a video of my last run:
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/2/HdTtEY4Btzs

some spins:
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/3/w5mmSHPsnBc

and starts:
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/4/_dcDhVgcoiQ