Replacing my Hillclimb / sprint / road rally car. Ideas plea

[Shoestringracer]

Have sold my Midget competition car and after only 2 weeks think I need another classic. I’ve researched a few ideas but thought I’d get the thoughts of this forum before committing.
I want a car that is class competitive as the Midget was. However the Midget was too much for long journeys and too unreliable.
Car will be used for around 3 classic rallies per year http://www.hrcr.co.uk/Clubmans_Rally_Championship/ which are 100 miles on the road interspersed with off road “tests”. They are not full-on stages but they can be fast and rough. Some are around cones like a flowing autotest so smaller cars have an advantage.
I also want to use the car for hillclimb and sprinting in a fairly popular class. This is an earlier discussion looking for a classic championship. http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f... I’d be happy to run two sets of wheels and maybe adjust dampers to switch between events but don’t want to do a lot more.
I want to be able to drive to and from the events so car must be reasonably comfortable and capable of long distance high speed (80+) so probably want overdrive or 5 speed (or easy conversion?).
Car must be tough and reliable and capable of mild tuning. Good parts availability too.
Modifications are allowed but period so no engines. Different championships have different rules but I don’t want to go too far from standard. Springs, exhaust, cam, possibly carbs – that kind of thing.
Car must be pre ’82 though pre ’74 puts it into a more popular rally class. £5k max but less is better. Needs to be in pretty good condition.
I look forward to your thoughts. Thanks!

[davepoth]

You should be able to get a solid Dolly Sprint for that sort of money - it's not as fast as a Mk2 Escort but it's much classier.

[Shoestringracer]

davepoth said:

You should be able to get a solid Dolly Sprint for that sort of money - it's not as fast as a Mk2 Escort but it's much classier.

Thought about that. Are the engines tough enough?

[tapkaJohnD]

Shoestring,
Move the Dark Side, and try a Triumph!

Your Midget may have had a Triumph engine if it was late.
And reliability?
Go to the Club Triumph site and read about the RBRR, the Round Britain Reliability Run, and the 10CR, the Ten Countries Run, that does the same for Europe. If 2000 miles in 24hrs is reliable, many Triumphs can, have done, and will do so again!

http://club.triumph.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum10/Blah.pl...
Click on "Events" on the line under the title.

John

[benjj]

I thought Dolly Sprint too. What about an Imp? Saw a very purposeful looking Imp Coupe a while back, would be top fun on a hillclimb.

Also worth having a read through the Scimitar thread below - seems one gets a lot of bang for buck...

[Shoestringracer]

tapkaJohnD said:

Shoestring,
Move the Dark Side, and try a Triumph!

Your Midget may have had a Triumph engine if it was late.
And reliability?
Go to the Club Triumph site and read about the RBRR, the Round Britain Reliability Run, and the 10CR, the Ten Countries Run, that does the same for Europe. If 2000 miles in 24hrs is reliable, many Triumphs can, have done, and will do so again!

http://club.triumph.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum10/Blah.pl...
Click on "Events" on the line under the title.

John

Thanks John. My Midget did have a Triumph engine and went through big ends like you wouldn't belive (though onr of the engines was fine)! The uses I have are tough on engines - many hours of road running on the way over to get the oil really thin, several minutes of very high rev / full throttle work, several hours on the way home. 2000 miles in a reliablility run is tough in its own way but not the same.

I'm not ruling out the Dolly but I'm not convinced.

[300bhp/ton]

Tr7 or TR7 V8. Your budget would get you a minter or enough budget over to really sort it out. Ticks every box you've asked for.

[Skyedriver]

Without wishing to P on your chips, you are going to end up with a compromise
Something competitve in rallies (and I know the type you mean, around farmyards and the like where there are big clemmies waiting to take out your underside) will need to be strong with a lot of strengthening but will then be too heavy for hill climbing

I have that sort of problem at the minute with a mini built for club level classic rallying which I decided was too rough for the old girl and likely to break it pretty quick. i would ike to go back to hill climbing (if I had the money) but the car is not rapid enough and too heavy due to extra plating and stuff.

Only thing I can think of, off hand, would be something like a BMW 2002Tii, which I hillclimbed but is now a historic rally car in someone elses hands

[Shoestringracer]

Skyedriver said:

Without wishing to P on your chips, you are going to end up with a compromise
Something competitve in rallies (and I know the type you mean, around farmyards and the like where there are big clemmies waiting to take out your underside) will need to be strong with a lot of strengthening but will then be too heavy for hill climbing

I have that sort of problem at the minute with a mini built for club level classic rallying which I decided was too rough for the old girl and likely to break it pretty quick. i would ike to go back to hill climbing (if I had the money) but the car is not rapid enough and too heavy due to extra plating and stuff.

Only thing I can think of, off hand, would be something like a BMW 2002Tii, which I hillclimbed but is now a historic rally car in someone elses hands

Yes, it will be a compromise. But with the Midget I set top 3 times on the three rallies I did with it on a variety of types of test (tarmac, grass, gravell, cones and more flowing) and I set class records on hills and circuits. So it can be done. It was able to do it becuase the hillclimb class didn't allow much lightening. What will make or break this plan will probably be finding the right hillclimb class then chooseing a car to suit.

I had thought of a 2002. What championship did you compete in in yours?

[Shoestringracer]

300bhp/ton said:

Tr7 or TR7 V8. Your budget would get you a minter or enough budget over to really sort it out. Ticks every box you've asked for.

Good call. I'll investigate!

[Shoestringracer]

benjj said:

I thought Dolly Sprint too. What about an Imp? Saw a very purposeful looking Imp Coupe a while back, would be top fun on a hillclimb.

Also worth having a read through the Scimitar thread below - seems one gets a lot of bang for buck...

Imp not comfortable enough on the long journeys. Scimitar interesting.

[benjj]

Shoestringracer said:

Imp not comfortable enough on the long journeys. Scimitar interesting.

Fair enough on the Imp.

Scim is interesting me too. All composite panels so low centre of gravidy, punchy V6, easy to work on, plenty of suspension options inc adjustables etc.

Cheap as a night out in Prague c.1995 too.

[Skyedriver]

Shoestringracer said:

Yes, it will be a compromise. But with the Midget I set top 3 times on the three rallies I did with it on a variety of types of test (tarmac, grass, gravell, cones and more flowing) and I set class records on hills and circuits. So it can be done. It was able to do it becuase the hillclimb class didn't allow much lightening. What will make or break this plan will probably be finding the right hillclimb class then chooseing a car to suit.

I had thought of a 2002. What championship did you compete in in yours?

Well done with the Midget, especially a 1500.
May be they are an exception as they are a regular hill climb car and there are a couple of quick ones in Berwick DMC rallying.
The TR7 option was a good one, personally not sure about the Scim as they are heavier than you think
Dolly a possible too
On a personal note, I an thinking of selling the mini as I just cannot see me using it for what it was built. And as a road car it just doesn't appeal anymore.
But what to replace it with. Anyway thats for another thread.

[Shoestringracer]

Skyedriver said:

Shoestringracer said:

Yes, it will be a compromise. But with the Midget I set top 3 times on the three rallies I did with it on a variety of types of test (tarmac, grass, gravell, cones and more flowing) and I set class records on hills and circuits. So it can be done. It was able to do it becuase the hillclimb class didn't allow much lightening. What will make or break this plan will probably be finding the right hillclimb class then chooseing a car to suit.

I had thought of a 2002. What championship did you compete in in yours?

Well done with the Midget, especially a 1500.
May be they are an exception as they are a regular hill climb car and there are a couple of quick ones in Berwick DMC rallying.
The TR7 option was a good one, personally not sure about the Scim as they are heavier than you think
Dolly a possible too
On a personal note, I an thinking of selling the mini as I just cannot see me using it for what it was built. And as a road car it just doesn't appeal anymore.
But what to replace it with. Anyway thats for another thread.

Scimitar would probably be in the Scimitar speed championship so weight not too much of a problem as they will all be heavy! Will hold it back in the rallies i suppose.

[velocemitch]

You are asking too much for too little I reckon. I've just come back from the north Yorkshire classic the only car in the top 10 which comes close is an imp, but it wouldn't be comfortable on a long run. Another was a triumph 2000, but it's not a hillclimb car. The rest were way over budget.

[Edmundo2]

Not sure if they all fit the bill and several post 74 but,

TR7/8
Ginetta G21 ( holbay )
Firenza
Avenger ( tiger rep )
TVR3000m
Gilbern Invader
Scimitar
Capri ( cheaper than an escort )
MkII Cortina
Datsun 260z ( tight on budget but great credentials although not sure of years but I think post 73? )
Dolly
Triumph 2000

[LRdriver II]

2002s are the bees bks!
heres mine, currently waiting for windows!

[300bhp/ton]

LRdriver II said:

2002s are the bees bks!
heres mine, currently waiting for windows!

That looks fab! Have you got any less arty farty pics of it though?

[neutral 3]

LR Driver, where did you get the front and rear wings from ? Are the fronts fibreglass ? What seats have you fitted ?

I am restoring a 73 Tii , they are Great cars

[Decky_Q]

What about a mini cooper? I've had a few and they def respond well to tuning and are more competitive than you would expect, long distances at over 80 could be a pain though but fine for 70 imo.