Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I'm kind of thinking 250kg car, 60 bhp- and practically bicycle tyres.

I'm kind of thinking 250kg car, 60 bhp- and practically bicycle tyres.

Sort of like a go-kart with a fireblade motor? I'm in....

Not far off the 200/ton then. I'd say motorbike tyres though. Built for the abuse and rated like car tyres

I wonder what the least power you could have fun with is, if you made a really, really light car?

i.e. a carbon chassis, two seats, narrow and light wheels etc etc with (say) a 300cc twin cylinder, or perhaps even smaller?

Is even that much needed with skinny tyres?

Define 'fun', I guess.

Have you ever owned or been driven in a Mini? On standard tyres they feel like a street level Spitfire trouncing the Heinkels. Even a 1000cc is fun and 20mph feels like 50.

Hell even a 2CV is fun, and what are they? 29 bhp.

Either Fifth Gear or old Top Gear once demonstrated that you could learn to hold a perfect drift at 20 mph on a wet roundabout in a morris minor.

A smallframe Vespa is fantastic fun at only 5.6 bhp.

light weight + stiff chassis + soft springs + limited grip = fun with not much power. Make it too competent, with wide tyres, stiff springs, etc, and you need to make it much more powerful for the same buzz. In my Merc 40 mph feels like walking pace. On a bicycle it's scary and exciting.

To get a car down to 250kg I'm guessing you'd need either no suspension (like a Kart) or something Formula-racing-ish. Typically puts you on fat rubber with a deep sidewall, so motorbike tyres are probably not a great idea.

Stripped down and minimal is always the most fun, like getting down to your pants and running across a field, tackle flapping in the evening breeze.

This is all just "bench racing", but is born from the thinking that most cars (my car) are just going too fast for comfort by the time they start to move around.

I'd love to be having a riot at 20mph, rather than the car only coming alive at 120mph.

have a drive in an aerial atom, big grin factor

I remember Tiff Nedell or someone saying they learned everything they knew about driving from wet roundabouts in a morris minor.
#cst

Doesn't look like much power on tap here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=unrXf1Ta5no

have a drive in an aerial

?

Doesn't look like much power on tap here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=unrXf1Ta5no

Carnage. They should televise that.

Ha I saw that video the other day. I really want a go.

This is all just "bench racing", but is born from the thinking that most cars (my car) are just going too fast for comfort by the time they start to move around.

I'd love to be having a riot at 20mph, rather than the car only coming alive at 120mph.

http://www.pedalcars.info/info/q-start.asp

That actually looks like really good fun.

This is all just "bench racing", but is born from the thinking that most cars (my car) are just going too fast for comfort by the time they start to move around.

I'd love to be having a riot at 20mph, rather than the car only coming alive at 120mph.

Put your car on 4 space savers:

The Mercedes C63 AMG Experiment - /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS - YouTube

I wonder what the least power you could have fun with is, if you made a really, really light car?

i.e. a carbon chassis, two seats, narrow and light wheels etc etc with (say) a 300cc twin cylinder, or perhaps even smaller?

The old Caterhams with under 200 bhp were pretty lively!

Classic Mini with 1000cc motorbike engine is very lively.

My idea is to slide into the hedge at a speed that means you need to unfold the wing mirror, rather than summon the air ambulance.

I posted that Chris Harris clip a while ago, it's part of what got me thinking about this.

Either Fifth Gear or old Top Gear once demonstrated that you could learn to hold a perfect drift at 20 mph on a wet roundabout in a morris minor.

I remember Tiff Nedell or someone saying they learned everything they knew about driving from wet roundabouts in a morris minor.
#cst

Tiff Needell Sliding The Morris 1000 - YouTube

Hell even a 2CV is fun, and what are they? 29 bhp.

Either Fifth Gear or old Top Gear once demonstrated that you could learn to hold a perfect drift at 20 mph on a wet roundabout in a morris minor.

^This!
2CV's are amazing fun. My old mad used to love ragging around in the 2cv and Diane that we had when I was a kid. He always used to surprise drivers of faster cars when he left them behind on twisty roads. The lean that you could get on them was akin to riding a bike!

£6k will buy you an EV conversion kit for your 2CV, including batteries and a controller that will do regen-braking:
http://www.everything-ev.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_118&products_id=384

I'm considering the costs of EV converting a car, probably either a Peugeot 106 (Has space for a bike or two inside, good cDA, cheap maintenance, and easier to insure as 106 EVs already exist) or a Westfield (New rolling chassis available for about £5k from the factory).

My commute is currently 11 miles each way, hilly but country roads so 40mph max would be acceptable... an achievable target for a cheap homebrew EV.

http://www.stanceworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferrari-gto-evoluzione-1.jpg

http://www.stanceworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferrari-gto-evoluzione-11.jpg

http://www.stanceworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferrari-gto-evoluzione-5.jpg

http://www.stanceworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ferrari-gto-evoluzione-12.jpg

Ferrari F40 v Ferrari F50. Like You've Never Seen Them Before /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS - YouTube

got some vids of idle and power run. no facebook, well badluck.

still a fraction lean but pump out 305rwkw (410 rwhp) and 1130Nm (840 ft lbs). pretty happy thru a big 4500 convertor.

idle
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152215596949126&set=vb.664069125&type=2&theater

power run
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151850965246737&set=vb.599056736&type=2&theater

Sounds amazing! Good numbers.