New (almost) SR3 owner...few questions
Discussion
So it looks like I may be joining the club of road legal SR3 drivers. Details on the car to follow, but I have a few possibly rather dim questions...
1) How do people wash/clean the car
2) How do you drop the oil and coolant out (undertray removal?)
3) How much do you actually drive your SR3 on the road
4) Rough annual running costs if I'm doing 6 track days a year (I don't push a car too hard) and a bit of comedy road driving
5) What road tyres do people run on? wanting something akin to the A048/Direzza.
1) How do people wash/clean the car
2) How do you drop the oil and coolant out (undertray removal?)
3) How much do you actually drive your SR3 on the road
4) Rough annual running costs if I'm doing 6 track days a year (I don't push a car too hard) and a bit of comedy road driving
5) What road tyres do people run on? wanting something akin to the A048/Direzza.
Good news! I'm no expert with these things but this is what I do.
1 bucket and sponge. I wouldn't use a car wash.... :-) spray/ wipe the latches and other bits with wd40.
2 the rear diffuser is easy and quick to remove and makes access to everything easy if you can lift the car high enough. I'm building some platforms to use with steel ramps. Will cost about £150 instead of $2500 for raceramps. Or just get a lift!
3 when I can. Got a young family so it's never as much as I would like. It's been to supermarkets and I drive it work sometimes as well as going to see mates. Longer distance stuff is more comfortable with a clamp on mini screen normally used as a screen extender for touring motorbikes.
4 not much if you don't crash. As I said, the fatigue lifed parts are your main cost.
5 I've used the Dunlop direzzas but the largest size for the rears is only 225 so they didn't fit on the wider rims I have very well. Got toyo 888's now which are great but seem to need a slightly different front end geometry.
Have fun!
1 bucket and sponge. I wouldn't use a car wash.... :-) spray/ wipe the latches and other bits with wd40.
2 the rear diffuser is easy and quick to remove and makes access to everything easy if you can lift the car high enough. I'm building some platforms to use with steel ramps. Will cost about £150 instead of $2500 for raceramps. Or just get a lift!
3 when I can. Got a young family so it's never as much as I would like. It's been to supermarkets and I drive it work sometimes as well as going to see mates. Longer distance stuff is more comfortable with a clamp on mini screen normally used as a screen extender for touring motorbikes.
4 not much if you don't crash. As I said, the fatigue lifed parts are your main cost.
5 I've used the Dunlop direzzas but the largest size for the rears is only 225 so they didn't fit on the wider rims I have very well. Got toyo 888's now which are great but seem to need a slightly different front end geometry.
Have fun!
Thanks for your reply!
I'm a bit daunted shall we say by the prospect of owning something so 'different' in some respects (most of which I hope are my preconceptions of owning a full on race car). I'm thoroughly looking forward to it but also a bit worried about spending a chunk of cash on a car I haven't driven (was raining hard when I viewed) and I haven't really done a good spanner check on (car is the yellow one owned by Noel Marsh). I felt rather in unfamiliar territory regarding questions and things to look for when I viewed it...still I wanted it! I've done that before and let's just say I had some 'challenges' during ownership.
The fatigue/lifed parts, are they really that bad (30 hours for calipers etc)? I've never had to rebuild the same wilwoods on a road car for instance?. I'm worried it'll be fragile, especially on road surfaces and end up needing full susp etc swaps every year!
Tell me I'm a fool...please
I'm a bit daunted shall we say by the prospect of owning something so 'different' in some respects (most of which I hope are my preconceptions of owning a full on race car). I'm thoroughly looking forward to it but also a bit worried about spending a chunk of cash on a car I haven't driven (was raining hard when I viewed) and I haven't really done a good spanner check on (car is the yellow one owned by Noel Marsh). I felt rather in unfamiliar territory regarding questions and things to look for when I viewed it...still I wanted it! I've done that before and let's just say I had some 'challenges' during ownership.
The fatigue/lifed parts, are they really that bad (30 hours for calipers etc)? I've never had to rebuild the same wilwoods on a road car for instance?. I'm worried it'll be fragile, especially on road surfaces and end up needing full susp etc swaps every year!
Tell me I'm a fool...please
your a fool! ill give you half what you paid for it and take on the issues!
only messing. just enjoy it mate. you cant be expected to be an expert on car youve never owned. but careful checks and regular servicing should see no issues. on the road the brakes will be completely unstressed but on a circuit its a different matter! good luck mate and enjoy it.
only messing. just enjoy it mate. you cant be expected to be an expert on car youve never owned. but careful checks and regular servicing should see no issues. on the road the brakes will be completely unstressed but on a circuit its a different matter! good luck mate and enjoy it.
Don't worry. I went through exactly the same feelings but it's a simple car really, even for someone as simple as me!
The lifed parts are only an issue if you don't know the cars history that well and whilst there have been examples of failure, I don't know how those cars were treated or how old the parts were.
Would you replace wilwood calipers on a caterham every thirty hours? No. They would get about the same use too. I'm really not an expert at all but it seems if you spanner check them and don't let them rust, they're well built. I will replace the wishbones on mine when I can and the uprights one day, along with a few other bits but more because I'm not certain of how the car has been treated for its whole life. Mostly well I think but I don't want to find out the hard way!
I'd love to get better dampers too as I suspect more sophisticated damping and adjustment would make it more effective on road and track, plus a couple of other "nice to have" bits.
So if you keep the car there are limitless upgrades, loads of tinkering and you have something pretty unique too. I wouldn't want the SL version, despite its heater, either. I'd miss the engine in mine.
Keep us all posted.....
The lifed parts are only an issue if you don't know the cars history that well and whilst there have been examples of failure, I don't know how those cars were treated or how old the parts were.
Would you replace wilwood calipers on a caterham every thirty hours? No. They would get about the same use too. I'm really not an expert at all but it seems if you spanner check them and don't let them rust, they're well built. I will replace the wishbones on mine when I can and the uprights one day, along with a few other bits but more because I'm not certain of how the car has been treated for its whole life. Mostly well I think but I don't want to find out the hard way!
I'd love to get better dampers too as I suspect more sophisticated damping and adjustment would make it more effective on road and track, plus a couple of other "nice to have" bits.
So if you keep the car there are limitless upgrades, loads of tinkering and you have something pretty unique too. I wouldn't want the SL version, despite its heater, either. I'd miss the engine in mine.
Keep us all posted.....
Well, the car arrived today around 11.30 on the back of a transporter. The driver asked if he could sit in it while I parked it up, so I thought it'd be rude not to take him for a spin to the petrol station and back
It started fine (took a little while to fire initially) and seemed to go well. The biggest relief was that it went up the drive at my house and it fitted in the garage (just).
I've got a few niggles that I'm asking the previous owner about, hopefully mostly me having no clue lol.
It started fine (took a little while to fire initially) and seemed to go well. The biggest relief was that it went up the drive at my house and it fitted in the garage (just).
I've got a few niggles that I'm asking the previous owner about, hopefully mostly me having no clue lol.
2nd (longer) drive on Sunday with a bit more prep. I've realised I need some taller mirrors if I'm to stand any chance of seeing what's behind me otherwise, it was good fun and felt really solid/together on the bumpy Surrey roads.
I'm going to have to wait till a track day in the new year to stretch the cars legs and get to grips with it..
otherwise, it was good fun and felt really solid/together on the bumpy Surrey roads. I'm going to have to wait till a track day in the new year to stretch the cars legs and get to grips with it..
enjoy the car and get it on a track day ASAP Count Johnny said:
If it's yellow (with some dark wobbly vinyl bits on the nose) I think I must have seen you when I was trundling my 'bobber', Slo Poke, around the roads and lanes in the Box Hill area.
That's the one. I did a loop from Leatherhead on the 24 to Dorking and back. What's a bobber?I meant to post a picture when I was at work (but forgot instead).
A 'bobber' is a stripped down (usually 1940's or 1950's) motorcycle in a board racer/flat tracker/wall of death style.
You know the sort of thing: Everything thrown away (front mudguard, non-essential electrics including the battery, any doo-dads that don't do anything except add weight) on a very very low (Slo Poke's 50mm from the ground) hard tail (no rear suspension) frame, single seat, hopped up engine with a straight through short exhaust, wide flat handlebars, simple paint, zero chrome, black or red wire wheels, skinny tyres, drum brakes, errr...and some other things I can't think of off-hand. Oh, and the rear mudguard is cropped very short - or 'bobbed' hence 'bobber'.
To summarise: Very very low, very very loud, doesn't stop (hardly at all) and handles with all of the alacrity of a well flung house brick.
A 'bobber' is a stripped down (usually 1940's or 1950's) motorcycle in a board racer/flat tracker/wall of death style.
You know the sort of thing: Everything thrown away (front mudguard, non-essential electrics including the battery, any doo-dads that don't do anything except add weight) on a very very low (Slo Poke's 50mm from the ground) hard tail (no rear suspension) frame, single seat, hopped up engine with a straight through short exhaust, wide flat handlebars, simple paint, zero chrome, black or red wire wheels, skinny tyres, drum brakes, errr...and some other things I can't think of off-hand. Oh, and the rear mudguard is cropped very short - or 'bobbed' hence 'bobber'.
To summarise: Very very low, very very loud, doesn't stop (hardly at all) and handles with all of the alacrity of a well flung house brick.
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