Where do I go next...BEC?

[ikarl]

I sold my turbo MEV Exocet in 2017 and went back to bikes for a while but now I've got the urge to get a blisteringly quick kit car again.

I've seen some built BECs but with only 400/tonne at best (my Exo was 370/tonne and i wanted more) so I don't think it will be enough.

Anyone know of any high power cars sub-£15k that would meet my needs?

[ugg10]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sylva-striker-2-3-durat...

This looks like a good base to start from. Leaves plenty of budget fir a rotrex supercharger and a beefed up box if required (seems to say it is straight cut already), looks a bargain.

Worth looking up Jeffw (Jeff Wiltshire I think) and his Zetec rotrex Sylvia Phoenix to see what 400hp is like, almost the same chassis as the raw striker.

Or this one the same - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sylva-striker-2-3-durat...

Not as pretty but a rotrex kit for 400hp would be about £5k.

Edited by ugg10 on Saturday 7th July 19:55

Edited by ugg10 on Saturday 7th July 20:06

[dudleybloke]

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/KIT-CAR-SVE-TR1KE-Yamaha-...

[ikarl]

The advert really put me off that Sylva, but I'll look into costs of a charger, cheers

[ugg10]

400hp Zetec

https://youtu.be/jXN1vPWLs04

Look at his goodwood run, iirc he tops out at 175mph.

https://www.tts-performance.co.uk/single-post/2017...

They also do s2000 kits. I suspect the Duratec may be a cheaper fit as it wil already have a programmable ecu, whereas I suspect the s2000 is running the stock ecu which will need changing.

Agree with the advert, obviously bout a kit cos it ticked a box but is trying to treat it like a tin top, no idea what is under the bonnet. IMHO the striker is one of the best handling sevens out there, may be worth a trip to see it. But the s2000 is probably easier to tune as there are kits from places like TTS for the rotrex charger.

Edited by ugg10 on Saturday 7th July 20:48

Edited by ugg10 on Saturday 7th July 20:56

Edited by ugg10 on Saturday 7th July 20:57

[ikarl]

Thanks Ugg, just a quick check, you've spoke about an s2000, but your links in your first post were both the same...


Is it this by any chance - https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

[ugg10]

Doh, sorry, yes the orange quantum.

This is interesting as it dies not have a traditional tube space frame chassis but it has a folded sheet one, a bit similar to the Elise. But again has a pretty good reputation and has a bit more space if you are vertically un-challenged.

[Steve_D]

Beware. The Quantum ad says 'Car was built in 2005 with doner E registration and only done about 6000 miles since'.

To me that says it is not correctly registered/IVA. If IVA and using enough donor parts it would be an age related plate not the donors.

Steve

[ugg10]

On the dvla site the Quantum looks like it was properly registered, comes up as make = Quantum and is orange, however engine size is incorrect as it shows up as 1796cc, I am guessing that it was originally built with a 1.8 Zetec but has enough parts from the Sierra donor to get an age related plate. It is taxed and mot’d until May 19. Year of manufacture is 2005 on dvla.

The Duratec striker also comes up as a striker with mot/tax until may19 and again has the wrong cc (2000cc). Year of manufacture is 1998. Again I suspect it had enough part fron the donor to get age related plate.

This is what I ended up with on my fury, year of manufacture was 2005 (year SVA’d) but has a BxxxABC plate age related to the Sierra donor I used. In those days it was easy to change the engine size/serial number to say a Zetec on the v5 before going for an SVA test and so legitimately register it as age related but built with a newer engine.

I would want both changing to correct cc before buying if I were you.

Edited by ugg10 on Sunday 8th July 09:58

[ikarl]

I went out for a test ride in a local car that I found on gumtree this morning. a GBS Zero, 2l supercharged duratec. Recently mapped to 277bhp and weighed in at 630kg.... on paper it sounds exactly what I'm looking for (400+/tonne)

However, the drive out in it was underwhelming the owner said it needs more road miles and another mapping session etc.. but that concerns me

Very possible that I can't find what I'm looking for with the budget I have

[RussBost]

ikarl said:

I went out for a test ride in a local car that I found on gumtree this morning. a GBS Zero, 2l supercharged duratec. Recently mapped to 277bhp and weighed in at 630kg.... on paper it sounds exactly what I'm looking for (400+/tonne)

However, the drive out in it was underwhelming the owner said it needs more road miles and another mapping session etc.. but that concerns me

Very possible that I can't find what I'm looking for with the budget I have

Power/weight can be a very misleading guide as it doesn't take torque into account, nor gearing or whether or not you can actually put the power on the road without killing yourself or others around you. I've had the Furore head to head with plenty of vehicles with (on paper) much better power to weight ratios & it's come out on top every time. Mine is 565kg with full tank of fuel at IVA - weight must have gone up by a few kg since, so say, 570. Power is standard ZZR1400 which is quoted as 190bhp at flywheel with 113lb/ft of torque, but with bike engines you have a reduction gear prior to the box with around a 1.6:1 ratio hence usable torque is actually 180lb/ft, power/weight around 335bhp/tonne. Most recently pitted against a Cobra with Chevy V8, recently rolling roaded with a printout of 385bhp & 285lb/ft, & bear in mind that's at the wheels, mine is at flywheel. The Cob weighs around 760kg, so power/weight around 505bhp/tonne - obviously a no brainer the Cob is gonna win hands down - right? Nope the Furore is faster on every time we've tried, 30 - 50, 50 - 70 etc, not done standing starts but much of a standing start 0 - 60 is about how much abuse you are prepared to give the car & how good the driver is at controlling clutch slip, wheelspin, gear changes etc so not terribly representative, my 0 - 60 time is around 3.5 secs & you ain't gonna get a lot quicker than that without either 4wd or a lot of serious money & a very sticky set of rear tyres.

That GBS you've described sounds heavy for a 7 style car, I guess the supercharger & additional gubbins all weighs a bit, but still sounds heavy, most 7's are lighter than my car, nevertheless if that power is genuine (& I would expect a supercharged Duratec to have loads of torque too!) that is well over 400bhp/tonne & should be a rocketship, did you actually see a printout - it could simply be badly set up? I would expect the problem with a 7 to be getting the power on the floor rather than simply being "underwhelming".

[ikarl]

I appreciate what you’re saying.

I guess coming from a 237hp / 660kg car and knowing I want something with “more” it’s hard to put it into words other than bhp/tonne as a simple guide and hope that something would be offered that I hadn’t thought about or if anyone knew of a car that might suit the bill that they knew was up/going up for sale.

Everything about the supercharged car was perfect.... the parts used, the build quality, even down to the mapper used to tune it to 277hp.... but it wasn’t right low down (could hear it missing/popping through the exhaust) so maybe it was being held back by something and the seller said it would need another mapping session - something didn’t add up.

[Andy665]

Have you considered the V8 route - my Westfield will demolish most things on the road but can also be incredibly docile, the torque is immense (380 lb ft) and with only 650kg it just flings the car forwards

[ikarl]

I definitely wouldn’t say no to a v8 but ithe car will see quite a few trackdays and the majority of v8s on the market are setup more for fast cruising than trackday-blasting...

Again.. if the right car comes up

[andygtt]

When its a very light car, If you want it to be fast you need it to Rev IMHO.... this makes traction easier to control on the throttle so when you light the tyres up you can feed it back in.

You CAN achieve a similar result in a huge V8 or a charged engine, however you need a sophisticated ECU and proper matched engine / gearbox package to allow the engine to again be able to react quickly to your throttle. Trouble is this kind of setup is expensive and involved often significant time from expensive mappers so way outside the cost parameters of a normal kit budget.