Any of you lot know this Race Car
Discussion
Hi guys, I know alot of you are involved in racing over there, I'm looking at buying a car over there and wondered if any of you know about its history.
It is the then orange, now white honda civic EP3 that SDVP racing used to operate. I know it had a shunt and was re-shelled but I have no idea about anything else with the car.
Any and all information appreciated. I have tried to contact them direct hopefully they get back to me soon.
It now has a new engine and gearbox and was rebuilt by Need For Speed in Dubai (are they any good?)
It is the then orange, now white honda civic EP3 that SDVP racing used to operate. I know it had a shunt and was re-shelled but I have no idea about anything else with the car.
Any and all information appreciated. I have tried to contact them direct hopefully they get back to me soon.
It now has a new engine and gearbox and was rebuilt by Need For Speed in Dubai (are they any good?)
nfs rehelled the car and are on of the better UAE garges mainly doing motorsport stuff and supercars, sdvp racing is spencer and he also has mat neils old btcc civic for sale. You will find him on gulf petrol heads, or I can send you his number
Edited by e21jason on Thursday 16th January 09:06
e21jason said:
nfs reheled the car, sdvp racing is spencer and he also has mat neils old btcc car for sale. You will find him on gulf petrol heads, or I can send you his number
Only if it is ok with Spencer, please check first. I believe the one I am talking about IS the Matt Neil Car.I might just know a bit about the car and SVDP Racing. I ran the car in its previous shell for 2 1/2 seasons. Spencer (the owner of the car) does not take shortcuts when he races (he is always upgrading the car) and everything he has had fitted will be in great condition.
The shell came with the original car, has a fully certified roll cage and the car was fully rebuild by DXB Racing (one of Dubai's best car racing preparation workshops). So I would have not qualms in saying that the car will be in great condition as the fluids were routinely changed (every 2 races).
Spencer has loads of spares for the car and he currently has an ex-Matt Neil BTCC car that is having a new engine installed. I will send you Spencer's mobile number and say Ian gave you his number.
The shell came with the original car, has a fully certified roll cage and the car was fully rebuild by DXB Racing (one of Dubai's best car racing preparation workshops). So I would have not qualms in saying that the car will be in great condition as the fluids were routinely changed (every 2 races).
Spencer has loads of spares for the car and he currently has an ex-Matt Neil BTCC car that is having a new engine installed. I will send you Spencer's mobile number and say Ian gave you his number.
which one are you talking about - the white one [used to be gulf blue] or the orange halfords BTCC car?
as above, whitey was reshelled by NFS which is a great outfit. spencer and julian [NFS owner] are like that [does the 'like that' gesture] and it was a proper job. julian has been racing and prepping touring and gt cars since forever.
orangey has good provenance but was hoping the big yin was keeping it. maybe not the best car to start racing with as it drives totally differently to whitey. very sharp and twitchy, look at btcc rces from 2004 [iirc] to quantify this.
if it's the white car, how much are they asking for it? i thought that had sold to a guy trying to get a race series off the ground and bought several UAE race cars for export.
also i trust this will be repatriated when you move to uae?
as above, whitey was reshelled by NFS which is a great outfit. spencer and julian [NFS owner] are like that [does the 'like that' gesture] and it was a proper job. julian has been racing and prepping touring and gt cars since forever.
orangey has good provenance but was hoping the big yin was keeping it. maybe not the best car to start racing with as it drives totally differently to whitey. very sharp and twitchy, look at btcc rces from 2004 [iirc] to quantify this.
if it's the white car, how much are they asking for it? i thought that had sold to a guy trying to get a race series off the ground and bought several UAE race cars for export.
also i trust this will be repatriated when you move to uae?
[Anorak mode on]:
The original EP3 (as raced in Britcar 24hr and can be seen when Top Gear enter their BMW) was first grey which got painted in Gulf colours for its 1st season in the UAE championship (along with Jasons ex-Barwell EP3 and Phils Clio 172 (ex-Spencer race car)). The blue Gulf colours were swapped to orange with a central black stripe for season 2 where it won a a few races (did the double 1 race weekend). In its 3rd season it was given a full strip back to bare metal, sand / vapour blast, repainted in white and fully rebuilt.
Sadly the car had full on brake failure at 130mph on the back straight. Shell written off but the cage did its job and Spencer walked away with a stiff neck.
I know all of this as I was Spencers race engineer during these 3 seasons.
The running gear after a rebuild was transplanted into the spare shell that came with the car. The rebuild was done at DXB using spares that came with the car. The car was thus back to full UAE touring car specification and wanted for nothing.
The car was sold to a guy who races in Qatar (who had bought a few race cars and imprted them into Qatar). From my understanding, the Qatar people stopped him bringing the car into Qatar as he had brought a few cars in Qatar and sold them on.
While the car was being rebuilt Spencer bought the 2004(?) Matt Neil BTCC car which is the real deal. You sit half way between the front and back seats. It has full digital race dash on the steering column, air jacks, full body kit, cenre lock wheels etc.
Any further questions on Spencers EP3's or Jason's fire away.
[/Anorak mode off.]
The original EP3 (as raced in Britcar 24hr and can be seen when Top Gear enter their BMW) was first grey which got painted in Gulf colours for its 1st season in the UAE championship (along with Jasons ex-Barwell EP3 and Phils Clio 172 (ex-Spencer race car)). The blue Gulf colours were swapped to orange with a central black stripe for season 2 where it won a a few races (did the double 1 race weekend). In its 3rd season it was given a full strip back to bare metal, sand / vapour blast, repainted in white and fully rebuilt.
Sadly the car had full on brake failure at 130mph on the back straight. Shell written off but the cage did its job and Spencer walked away with a stiff neck.
I know all of this as I was Spencers race engineer during these 3 seasons.
The running gear after a rebuild was transplanted into the spare shell that came with the car. The rebuild was done at DXB using spares that came with the car. The car was thus back to full UAE touring car specification and wanted for nothing.
The car was sold to a guy who races in Qatar (who had bought a few race cars and imprted them into Qatar). From my understanding, the Qatar people stopped him bringing the car into Qatar as he had brought a few cars in Qatar and sold them on.
While the car was being rebuilt Spencer bought the 2004(?) Matt Neil BTCC car which is the real deal. You sit half way between the front and back seats. It has full digital race dash on the steering column, air jacks, full body kit, cenre lock wheels etc.
Any further questions on Spencers EP3's or Jason's fire away.
[/Anorak mode off.]
Well it seems like my bosses here are keen to keep me and are about to make me an offer I cant refuse, so it looks like I am staying in Qatar (What can I say, I'm a w
e for money and a mercanary).
I am talking about the blue (now white) EP3 I think, although there was some confusion with the current owner asto which one it was as he told me it was matt neals old car which it doesn't seem to be to me now (if I understand it right).
It is up for 65,000QAR/AED. Which is what he bought it for 8 months ago. It is my intention to race it in the series that got off the ground here in qatar as I shall now be staying (thats the way it goes I suppose).
I've not even seen a picture of the car but those I trust and those I've spoken to (the previous owner) all have me convinced it should be a competative car, which is good enough for me.
I have to say you guys have been top, thanks for the help! I'm going to meet Tim (the current owner) tomorrow and we'll talk about how to get me racing asap.
e for money and a mercanary).I am talking about the blue (now white) EP3 I think, although there was some confusion with the current owner asto which one it was as he told me it was matt neals old car which it doesn't seem to be to me now (if I understand it right).
It is up for 65,000QAR/AED. Which is what he bought it for 8 months ago. It is my intention to race it in the series that got off the ground here in qatar as I shall now be staying (thats the way it goes I suppose).
I've not even seen a picture of the car but those I trust and those I've spoken to (the previous owner) all have me convinced it should be a competative car, which is good enough for me.
I have to say you guys have been top, thanks for the help! I'm going to meet Tim (the current owner) tomorrow and we'll talk about how to get me racing asap.
Edited by TobyLaRohne on Thursday 16th January 16:09
Just to clear the confusion up, this will be Spencers original EP3 and not the BTCC car
Not sure what brakes on currently on the car, I have a brand new set of Brembo GT's for sale with discs and pads, if you are interested
Probably the best brakes you can buy in my opinion, I use them on my EP3, and we also use them on the BMW
I believe it has AP racing brakes on it now. Spencer said it has some kind of unmodulated brakes or something, i didnt follow 100% which are apparently what i want, but they take some getting used to. 65k really is the max i want to put into a car, especially for a small race series.
shirt said:
who are DXB ian? i thought NFS did the re-shell. they certainly did a lot of work on it as it was there the last few times i visited in 2012.
for 65k give it some thought. last i heard NFS had a clio cup [easy to drive and cheap spares] for 73k.
Sorry Phil you are right it was NFS, it used to be NFS-DXB (or there used to be NFS-DXB racing in Dubai).for 65k give it some thought. last i heard NFS had a clio cup [easy to drive and cheap spares] for 73k.
why not call spencer and ask? his number is on the gulfpetrolheads website or pm me for it.
it was built to sell. for sure there would be no corners cut but he would have saved anything really tasty. he has loads of ep3 spares so maybe that phone call will be fruitful.
ps - those mirrors are woeful, get the biggest touring car convex ones you can find!
pps - it isn't the only ep3 around. jason90 on here has an ex barwell car which i believe is being prepped for sale.
it was built to sell. for sure there would be no corners cut but he would have saved anything really tasty. he has loads of ep3 spares so maybe that phone call will be fruitful.
ps - those mirrors are woeful, get the biggest touring car convex ones you can find!
pps - it isn't the only ep3 around. jason90 on here has an ex barwell car which i believe is being prepped for sale.
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