Deposit Made

Very late last night I got the full quote from Westfield UK and put a deposit down on the car. Still more to pay but in roughly 11-12 weeks I will have the chassis and a few essential parts for my new clubman.

Then comes the hard work, lots of it!!

On another note I am considering another engine options, the 13B from a Mazda RX8 which will also pass the ADR 37/01 emissions law (all new cars must, and mine will be considered a new car). This motor makes very similar power to the Honda S2000's motor but should be a little lighter and is much much smaller. And can be turbo'ed VERY easily. whuahahah

My first post...

Well it's been a busy two weeks since my thoughts of building a clubman one day changed why dont I do it now?

So whats a clubman you ask? Basically it's a Lotus 7 replica type car. It's a open wheeler topless minimalistic sports car that you can build yourself. Many companies sell kits and there are even books on how to build one from scratch.

Clubmans are not all created equal and there are many variations and flavours. After much research into specifications and options I have narrowed my choices down to the Westfield SEi kit. This kit will look something like the image above, which in my opinion is probably the best looking kit on the market.

They dont have a lot of color choices and yellow looks to be the pick of the lot, im not much of a fan of black, british racing green or royal blue so...

One of the other draw cards of the westfield kit was that I could use a Suzuki Hayabusa engine which would equate to about 330kw per ton. A 300kw HSV has a power to weight ratio of about 166kw per ton, not bad huh?

But after talking to a VicRoads engineer it seems that getting it registered with that motor is extreamly difficult because of the new emissions laws. So I need to pick an engine from a car (not a motorbike) that was sold after November 2005. So to keep a true sports car feel a non-turbo engine is probably the best, so a Honda S2000 engine is the next choice.

While it is going to add about 150kg to the total weight being around 600kg it also adds another 50kw and 50nm giving me a rough power to weight ratio of about 300kw per ton. Not too much difference really and because the engine is going into a lighter car instead of a heavier one (in regards to the hayabusa which weighs about 260kg) it should last a lot longer.

Currently I am waiting on a final quote + shipping from Westfield and will put the order in over the next few days. Then the 11 week wait for delivery starts and the good ol S15 Silvia goes up for sale.

I will miss the Silvia but I cant afford to have two expensive sports at once :-(