Bike or Car engine
Discussion
I've never driven one on the road but on track they are awesome. Loads of revs sequential gear shift you can't beat it. The other thing to consider is that a bike engine is highly tuned as standard. You will spend a lot of dosh on lets say a Ford engine to get similar performance. cheers
Agreed - they are great for track days. I wouldn't consider running one as a road car. Nor would I consider one if you're not mechanically minded. Even a normal car-engined caterfield requires moderate bearding skills - BEC's even more so.
Honda's S2000 and Civic engines are revvy and high-powered (like bike engines) but are designed to carry 1500kgs around all day long. My ideal track day car would have one of those two in it.
Jonny
Honda's S2000 and Civic engines are revvy and high-powered (like bike engines) but are designed to carry 1500kgs around all day long. My ideal track day car would have one of those two in it.
Jonny
Have you warmed to the idea of bike engines in track cars then Jonny, IIRC you never used to like them, maybe because a lot went pop on track in the early years when people were still finding out what needed doing to make them reliable?
As to the original question it does all depend on what you plan to do with the car. If you're planning mostly trackdays or don't care how raw it is on the road my opinion is that a BEC is hard to beat for performance per £ and the noise / experience of sequential box etc, but if you'll mainly use it for Sunday drives on the road with the odd trackday in between, a car engine would be better all round. I know if I did lots of road miles Id probably consider ditching the R1 in favour of something like a Honda engine as Jonny has mentioned, although to put one of those in you're looking at a fair bit more cash than even something like a busa, so it also depends on your budget.
As to the original question it does all depend on what you plan to do with the car. If you're planning mostly trackdays or don't care how raw it is on the road my opinion is that a BEC is hard to beat for performance per £ and the noise / experience of sequential box etc, but if you'll mainly use it for Sunday drives on the road with the odd trackday in between, a car engine would be better all round. I know if I did lots of road miles Id probably consider ditching the R1 in favour of something like a Honda engine as Jonny has mentioned, although to put one of those in you're looking at a fair bit more cash than even something like a busa, so it also depends on your budget.
I think you're spot on Chris. In the early days of BEC's we used to see a *staggering* percentage of them go bang - i'm probably talking > 50%. There's one make of car in particular that shall remain nameless that i've *never* seen complete a track day - sommat like 6 out of 6 have all blown up!
Performance and VFM cannot be disputed and now that reliability (if not the hassle-free-ness) has been sorted they do make a good track car.
Still not for me though. If you have to get your hands dirty it detracts from the enjoyment of the driving in a big way for me.
Jonny
BaT
Performance and VFM cannot be disputed and now that reliability (if not the hassle-free-ness) has been sorted they do make a good track car.
Still not for me though. If you have to get your hands dirty it detracts from the enjoyment of the driving in a big way for me.
Jonny
BaT
jleroux said:
I think you're spot on Chris. In the early days of BEC's we used to see a *staggering* percentage of them go bang - i'm probably talking > 50%. There's one make of car in particular that shall remain nameless that i've *never* seen complete a track day - sommat like 6 out of 6 have all blown up!
Couldnt be the same marque that saw two of its cars go pop virtually on the same lap around School at Anglesey about 5 years ago could it, beginning with F? I must admit that day in particular was the first trackday in my car and I didn't exactly aid the perception of BECs when I lost my sump plug (due to it being knocked on the road a day beforehand and hairline cracking the sump), and then knocking out a big end bearing in the final session as a consequence.
Edited by LocoBlade on Sunday 12th August 12:41
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