SkinnyG wrote:
This conversation has delved into what's been going through my mind lately....
This is truly the "golden age" of the motor car, and no other time could you buy something that handles so well, and accelerates so quick, and keeps you so safe as right now. I think the days of "building a race car" are diminishing, since you can buy something about as fast, with all the comforts and a warranty.
My Locost is less and less the (potentially) fastest car out there (with a more seasoned driver, even), but the grin factor and "look at me" factor is huge. I drove it to a number of events in Vancouver (8 hour drive round-trip), and the drive there and back was every bit as fun (if not more) than the event itself. "What is it? What's in it? How fast does it go? Is this street legal?" Giggles.
While I built mine to be legal for D/Mod autocross, I really built it because it was my #1 bucket list car - I had a ride in a Fejer 7 back when I was 8 years old.
We have a local hillclimb, and many of my friends have asked if I'll take it there, but I'd really rather have more metal around me. If you're going fast enough to exceed the limits in this car, it's going to get messy. As such, I built my V8 Pontiac Firefly (Chevy Sprint) to compete in the hill climb, drag race, and track days. When I started building the Firefly, I was totally into it. In the eight years it took me to build it, I totally lost interest, and now had to climb over a roll cage every day just to drive it. Ugh.
The point of both of these, for me, is that they can be driven on the street. If I had a trailer-only car, it would not be a 7, but a formula somethingorother.
So in essence - I think, truly, people build these or need to build a 7 because they specifically have to have a 7. Honestly, you're only going to finish one if you truly want one.
Me? I like the build.
This is almost exactly where my mind is as well. The only thing I can add to the above is that another factor for me is that traffic was death by 1000 cuts, not allowing spirited driving. And then there was heading out to pick up something at, say Home Depot, I could either:
A. Jump in the truck, parked in the driveway, and be back in 20 minutes.
Or
B. Go into the garage, open the door, take the cover off the car, disconnect the battery tender, get myself wedged in, belt up, start it up, let it warm up, listen for any noises, and go... wondering if I'd get to where I was headed and back home with no unplanned car-related surprises. Oh, and this assumes that whatever I was getting would even fit in the car.
I ended up buying a 2015 Jaguar F-Type, with the reasoning that if I'm going to putter along in crappy traffic, I may as well be comfortable! Guess I'm getting old.
Five years ago if you asked me if I'd ever write the above, I'd have said Hell No!
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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!,
http://midlana.com/stuff/book/Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from
https://www.lulu.com/