Ordered New Kit

[Guest Troy Halliday]

Mick and I went to the Stafford show yesterday and arrived nice and early so we could get some breakfast before we started. Started queuing before the doors opened and the line got to long and were in fairly quickly. Had a quick look around at the various cars on show before starting the process of narrowing down our list of manufacturers for our kits.

 

Here is my general impression of various cars and their reason for being iether discounted or put on our final list.

 

Westfield - The Westfield as you all know is a very professional built kit. The lines and proportions are very appealing. But it is somewhat cramped inside, I found the pedals far to close together, when pressing the brake and clutch my shoes/boots were rubbing agaist each other. Now I do have quite wide feet but I could forsee a possible problem here during some frantic country lane thrashing. Oh and here is one of the main reasons it's far to expensive, well for me anyway.

 

Dax Rush - This is proberbly my favourite Seven inspired car. It looks great, a very aggresive looking car with a nice wide rear end and a comforable cabin area. Their front motorcycle wings in my apinion are the nicest of any available, wrapping nicely around the front weels. I'm not a fan of Dax's seats but thats not such an issue because you can simply purchase seats elsewhere. The Rush MC's extended side panels just don't look right to me but thats just my opinion. Of all of these cars this is the one I've seen the most due to the factory being just up the road to me. However again this is well beyond my budget

 

Tiger - The Tiger looked an agile little number, but I'm affraid thats about all I could say about it. The lines of the bonnet just didn't work for me there was far to many lumps and bumps for my liking so this one was quickly discounted.

 

Quantum - After seeing several photo's of this car I was quite keen to see it in the flesh so to speek. Now I know that the modern design is not to everyones taste but from the pictures I had seen in various magazines I had grown to like it. However when I saw it on show I wa less than impressed. It seemed far to high and blocky and had lost that low slung sporty look shared by so many other Seven's.

 

Luego - Nothing had prepared me for the sheer size of the V8 Viento. It's huge! It no longer looks like a nimble looking sports car to blast around country lanes and inspire feer into the hearts of 'MaxPower' readers everywhere. It reminded me more of an old American muscle car. Their Velocity was however something different. It had plenty of room inside, and it's proportions quite appealing. This one did make my shortlist.

 

Robinhood - The Super Spec was on show and looked very reagal in it's shiny gold livery. It certainly attracted a lot of interest from the crowd as did the Lightweight chassis. I was very interested in the lightweight and would have proberbly signed an order there and then for it, but it was explained to me that there was as yet no date set for it's release due to further testing being needed. Disapointed I moved on to the 2B, after asking the nice people at Robin Hood a few question I started to realise that it would be just to heavy for the screeming little race monster I had set my heart on. The price of all of their cars was very competitve with very comprehensive packs. I left this on my short list due to the price of the package.

 

Mac#1 Motorsport - The lads at Mac#1 were very helpful and their demonstrator which was for sale by the way looked great. It had some nice features such as the the carbon wings and bonnet scoop. The driver biased role bar was effective and added to the overall asthetics of the car. I had decided before the show that I wanted dual Cobra style hoops but when faced with them on another one of their vehicles had to admit that they just didn't look right. The cabin is quite spacious with plenty of room at the pedals. Aparently this car was designed for to acomodate people of about 6' 2" - 6' 4". Being a short arse this is not really a concern for me but it would give a little extra storage space behind the seats. Apparently the car weighs in at about 500-520kg with a pinto lump which was a bonus. The seats made by Mac#1 in my opinion are horrrible, they are comfortable but just look awful. The price was also very competertive so this one also made my short list.

 

 

At about this point Mick and I decided it was time to get a bite to eat so we went over to the RHOCAR stand, where I smuggled our food through the window and we sat and chated to a few people while debating over our choice of kit car. After going over our short list we decided on the Mac#1 Type LR. Mick ordered his kit which should be arriving in about 8 weeks and as soon as his has been completed I will be ordering my one.

 

We also managed to pick up a few tools most importantly an air riviter so that should save a bit of time and aching forarms

 

Anyhoo I'm sure I'll soon be badgering you all over the little problems that arrive.

[Guest rizla]

well ive heard of all the others but what the hell is a mac 1 , it sounds like something columbo would wear seriously though what is it do yo have any pics, and do they have a good following,so you can get help when building etc

[Joel]

There's an article about Mac#1 Motorsports in this months Kit Car mag. Looks like a nice bit of kit.

[Guest Troy Halliday]

The pic that Joel has posted id basically what mick has ordered same colours and everything. They have been making their kits for about a year now but mainly make turnkey cars. The lads were able to answer just about any question had and were more than willing to offer help and advise on any part of the build. They do quite alot of work with MK's and as far as I could tell the two kits were very similar. They were very interested in my idea for a hard top and invited me up to take any measurements that I needed to begin designing it. Also offering their services in the prototypes and surgesting a few alterations to the own chasis to acomodate the hood.

 

All in all I was very impressed with them.

[Guest rizla]

looks a nice kit,nice lines

oh and the car aint bad either

[Guest Troy Halliday]

I only went to the show for the scantely dressed girls, imagine my disapointment when there wasn't any

[Guest brummy-ade]

I belive there was a few of them in newark last year if I remember rightly a right nice pair!!!!!!

[Guest Battery Bill]

Troy

Did you consider the Mirage ? It looked pretty neat.

[Guest Bob Rowell]

Thanks for the report Troy, it made interesting reading for those of us who couldn't get to the show.

I'm not too sure about your choice of new kit car. The photo shows an extra bit below the front grille/nosecone, only a personal observation, but I think it spoils the look of the front end.

[Guest MikeD318]

I think the two accessories might work out a bit more expensive than you bargained for.

[Guest Troy Halliday]

Bob, I think this is for track days as there is an oil cooler down the bottem. Usualy that is where your number plate would be so it looks pretty much the same as most 'Sevens' when its fitted. I have been on the phone with them again today and I must say I was impressed again at their level of service. I spent about 20 minutes speeking to them about various engine choices. He was very knowledable about most of them, giving me contact numbers and suggestions for a fast but reliable engine choice. He is also sending me the build manual straight away so that I can start to get an idea of whats needed. It was nice not to feel like you were interupting them, well you know what I mean.

 

MikeD318, there's plenty of brassy tarts where I live, and the key to them not costing you to much is to trade them in often before the maintanance cost go through the roof Only we all now what a service cost from ............ oops I meant for........... one of those models

[Swan Jnr]

the mach stand did look good, though why did they put one back wheel up in the air? when i walked towards the stand from the front i thought half the front suspension had collapsed!

 

Paul