Friday 19th December 2003

Road Going F1 Car

Dragon F1r to be launched at Autosport

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One of the more unusual projects to be unveiled at Autosport will be the Dragon F1r.

It's billed as a road going F1 car. Powered by a 135bhp Honda engine it's makers claim that it can hit 60mph in just 3.5 seconds. It's a two seater too - side by side.

The project is the brainchild of husband and wife team Bill and Jenny Conway. They sold their off licence to fund the project and are reported to have designed the car 'on their kitchen table'.

Bill said, "Some people spend £80,000 on a Porsche and use it on a racetrack two or three times a year. With this they can be a racing driver every day of the week."

Two versions are available - one tuned for the track and one for the road complete with headlamps and wheel arches. Price is £25,000.

Check out the picture at www.manchesteronline.co.uk  (it's worth the wait!)

[simonrockman]

I can't find the pic.

Simomn

[PetrolTed]

www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=75917.html

[steviebee]

135bhp! Should give the Jaguar F1 team a run for their money then!

Wasn't there some bloke in Japan taking old F3000 cars and making them road-legal?

[eric mc]

Looks a bit hideous. What's the bets that you'll hear nothing more of this project?

[Alex]

Talk about spin! What a pile of poo!

[The DJ 27]

Pretty ugly that. I heard about that Japanese bloke as well, but didn't beleive you could make an F3000 car useable on the road. Total bonkers if he managed it

[anonymous-user]

what a complete waste of time, effort and money.
they should have used something more advanced than clay to "design" this debacle. i presume its bike engined hence the 0-60 claims. i cant wait to measure the panel gaps at the autosport show.......

[Racefan_uk]

I remember reading an artcle in Top Gear magazine a few years back about a guy in Japan that had turned a Reynard F3000 car road legal. It had indicators on the wing endplates and everything! It had slightly different exhausts for noise purposes, and was slightly detuned if I remember correctly, other than that, fully legit F3000. Painted bright yellow.

[FourWheelDrift]

Not very aerodynamic, it's a got a very squared off profile to the chassis and a dubious F1 style nose for purely asthetic purposes and I doubt the front wing will do anything except get knocked off the first speed hump. Looks like a childs car.

"Designed on a kitchen table"? I can see the likeness.

[timbob]

Hmmm, a horrifically ugly, ridiculously expensive fireblade (by the looks of things) powered nasty turnkey kitcar...

Sounds great!!

[dontlift]

What a bag ok kak.......

at 25k i feel the only one ever built will be the prototype

[cptsideways]

Re the F3 thing, we saw something the other that was badged up as Ferrari looked F1 'ish but most probably F3 it looked the dogs b******s this was on the road, looked well cool.

[timdPGT3]

Having read the comments on the Dragon F1R but not seen any pictures I must say the people who have made the comments can not have seen it in the flesh. At a recent trackday at Oulton Park I had the pleasure and I mean pleasure of driving one. It was as near as I will ever get to the real experience. It felt massively quicker than my 911 and the cornering speed it could hold was phenomenal, I was driving around cars with much bigger engine capacities with ease. It was hard to believe that it only had 900cc.
I have booked my test drive in the new cars with both the 1100cc and the 1300cc engines. The shape might be dated but to me it is similar to the Arrows A20 The company tell me that a revised more up to date shape is coming.

Honestly, don't knock it till you have tried it. With the same engine this is a Radical beater. You watch.

TD.

[Andy mac]

They make road legal single seaters in the states, that look very much like f1 or indy cars...

[groomi]

Am I missing something, or is it no longer a legal requirement to have some sort of wheelarch?

[Eric Mc]

Or lights?

There was a picture of the UK project avaialble a while ago and it looked nothing like any F1 car I've ever seen.

Calling any car with only 135 bhp an F1 car is downright misleading. Even the very first F1 cars (1948) had almost 300 bhp) and 900 bhp is the norm today.

[Scratch'n'Diff]

I am somewhat miffed

For a site that calls itself 'Pistonheads', you would think it would be for 'Petrol heads'. Which is why I joined, as I AM one.

But I have read alot of bad comment on this thread by some people who have (I assume by no-one saying) never even seen the car in the flesh, let alone driven it. Apart from PGT3 and a couple of others ofcourse.

I have seen the car in the flesh, and trust me when I say the picture does not do it justice.

I also spoke to Bill Conway for just short of an hour and could not find the guy more genuine. A real petrol head in a position to build a road going two seater that looks more like an F1 car than anything else on the road. Good luck to him is all I can say.
I can only echo what PGT3 has said.

Best regards
SD

Edited to soften the original post which was maybe a bit harsh

>> Edited by Scratch'n'Diff on Wednesday 9th June 09:51

[Racefan_uk]

If you have a website that shows a somewhat better picture of the car than the crap one on the newspaper website, and also gives full specs and details of the car, I'd be interested in having a look.

But, the pictures I've seen don't give it an appealing look. I need hard evidence (timesheets, data, driver feedback, proof against the current benchmark [Radical, Caterham, Westfield et al] etc etc.

Show me these things and it'll have a chance.
People are not going to throw up there credit cards and place orders for an unproven product.

Website address, if you have one, would be a big start please.

[sook]

This should help.

www.dragonsportscars.com

The CAD drawings seem to look a lot better than the actual car. In my opinion, the raised nose doesn't work too well, they would be better having an old style drooping nose.

[Marki]

Bill the Nob said

"Some people spend £80,000 on a Porsche and use it on a racetrack two or three times a year. With this they can be a racing driver every day of the week."

what a tosser