Well due to it costing too much money to justify tracking this…

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1010383.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1010384.jpg

I’ve moved onto a joint purchase with my brother.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1020902.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1020897.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1020899.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1020909.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1020895.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1020887.jpg

As the title suggests, it’s an MK Indy R1. Ignore the free advertising, they need to be peeled off!

Spec:

-2003 chassis completely updated in 2006 with new engine, diff, suspension and panels
- Uses Sierra IRS LSD diff and brake calipers
- Gaz 20 way adjustable coilovers
- 2001 Yamaha R1 engine (baffled), approx 150bhp and revs to 11750rpm
- Bailey Morris heavy duty prop
- Drilled/Grooved discs & greenstuff pads (plenty with only 500kg to stop)
- Total weight 500kg
- Pro Race 1.2 wheels

These cars are light because of the bike engine, which only weighs 70kg. It uses the bike gearbox, so it’s sequential and in this car is on a paddle shift.

Here’s the car in action at Anglesey in 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UIPi58h0MQ&feature=channel

I’ve not tried out the handling myself yet, but as you can see it’s pretty quick in the corners…

Speed wise the car is relentless up to it’s top speed of 120mph. limited by the gearbox It’ll get to 100 very quickly and doesn’t take much longer to 120. Torque stats predicts 0-60 in 4 seconds and 100 in 11 seconds. It can’t be far off from that. With the diff and gearbox settings it is ready to go in pretty much any gear and the changes are lightening quick.

We may put some carbon fibre seats in and it needs a quieter exhaust for some tracks. There’s also no aeroscreen at the moment, so that may need to change as well! Also we need to decide what route to go down with tyres- slicks, 888s etc.

Anyway roll on the trackdays.

Looks fantastic, Jonny! It should be a real laugh around the track ... hope your driving is up to catching the backend at each and every corner

Those seats definitely need changing. They don't fit in with the car ... they look far too comfy!

Looking forward to seeing it in action around Mallory. Will that be your first track day in it?

Are you keeping it at yours? Any chance of a quick road outing soon?

The back end isn't that loose , it's just his driving style and the fact he's absolutely nailing it

Might be doing a track day soon, but it may well end up being the first one.

It's not at mine just yet, waiting for a guy to come and collect my old parts 75 from my spare garage at home. But when the weather's good I'll let you know if I'm going to take it out

jonny

always fancied a bike engine 7 alike

if only for the noise alone

how do you get the power to the back wheels?

Looks really good fun. I would love something like this.

How much was it?

Frary- Engine and gearbox are at the front, then prop to the diff at the back. The noise is fantastic, really gruff low down and hard edged up top. It pulls very well from 3K rpm as well.

MattM- We paid £6,500 for it. You can pick up car engined ones from £4K and Fireblade engined ones from £5K. Though this is winter prices... There are plenty of makes of car from very cheap up to very expensive (Caterhams!). You just hadve to do your research as cars can vary hugely in spec, quality etc.

I've just took it out and joined a new club- every biker I passed gave me the nod

The acceleration with just me in the car was It's about 260bhp/ton then so it should be Also you have to factor in very quick gearchanges. To be honest it's just a short period of time from whatever 20,30,40 to

Shame it started raining then hailing

Looks like great fun! Being bike engined, how does reverse work?

Errm there isn't one You can get electric reverses but they weigh about 30kg.

Can't you get a reverse box for it? The bike-engine kit I saw being built had one - not very big.

That looks awesome (and very rapid!) Jonny - look forward to seeing it at Mallory. What's the massive pink thing on the accelerator pedal of the Alfa - giant pedal cover to help heel and toe?

I'd keep the seats (they look fine with the rest of the car I think) spend the money on tyres, although presumably given how light weight it is, it'll be very light on tyres and brakes, even if you rag it? Just remembering discussions Dave and I had discussions with an R300 owner at Brands.

We could get a reverse but we're not really bothered at the moment. Easy to push around, but if it's a pain then we might.

Neal- yes a big pedal

The driver's seat could do with replacing anyway TBH. We're debating what route to go down with tyres now. We got two sets with the car and my brother's got some spare that probably fit too, so just deciding what to get. It is very light on everything really apart from fuel when on track...

Right, fibreglass seats, exhaust and aeroscreen soon to be ordered

Seats and aeroscreen (particularly) sound sensible ... but why an exhaust? You're not going to make it louder, are you?

Current exhaust is 103db and we also have a 120db can... Need something quieter for some tracks!

Hi Jonny,

Oops, I forgot to add to this thread having read it all .

Looks amazing, I think it's going to make my car feel and look very slow! The video clip is great.

Doubt it, you have to take the driver into account Obviously it's quicker accelerating in a straight line, but as you know plenty of time is made on the brakes and in the corners Either way we're going to have some good fun

The video is great, and the previous owner and his brother could really peddle it along

The new seats, aeroscreen and wing mirrors:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030001.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030007.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030009.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030010.jpg

Plenty of tyres

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030020.jpg

The 13" capri wheels (very light )

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030021.jpg

Shame the weather has been cr@p

Looking really good, Jonny

Those seats look much better ... and those are great harnesses

Have you started a tyre franchise? How many set do you think you'll get through?!!

There's a 15" set and the rest are 13", so we have a choice One set of slicks should last all year so I've been told but who knows

I was chatting to a guy with a R300 Superlight at a track day at Brands, and he'd had the same set of Avons on for loads of track days, and road miles. He drove the car very hard, but the car was so light that it just didn't wear the tyres under braking or cornering!

So, yes, I'd expect them to last a while ... but I suppose it depends how much time you spend sideways

Hmmm what about heat? I.e do loads of consecutive laps wouldnt they get a bit hot and wear out faster? Or maybe that applies more to road tyres?

Yes as you say, road tyres aren't designed to get very hot, slicks and other motorsport designed tyres are. Also with the weight of my car, it'll struggle to get maximum heat into them anyway. Tyres, discs and pads last forever as they are often only dealing with 1/3 weight they were designed for...

I can only comment about that particular day, as I've not got any other experience. However, on the day at Brands, the guy in the R300 was staying out at least as long as us (>20mins at a go), and was going quite a bit quicker than us ( see here, @ 8:15, to see how hard he was trying! ), and yet when he came in his tyres were barely warm

My coupe, on the other hand, was busy melting its rears and shredding its fronts!

Looking good

Did you buy those Michelins from Sticky Slicks? If so they are the same as the ones I use to race - ex Formula Renault 2.0. Mine are already a season old, plus have done 8 races and qualifying on the Caterham as well as trackdays and have still got loads of meat on them.
The more important things with the slicks is the number of heat cycles the tyres go through rather than the amount of 'tread' left (mine are too old now).

They weren't from Sticky Slicks but they are the Formula Renault tyres- £10 for 6 slicks and 2 wets on Ebay

So for those who haven't seen it, this was Mallory Park a couple of weekends ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7qQO5x3zlA

Though the 15" slicks we bought were useless:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/Jonnyst/P1030043.jpg

This definitely wasn't helped by the fact the rear brakes were barely working Looks like the handbrake has been overtensioned at some point.

The circlip for the clutch cable came off the on the motorway on the way back, so a new spring has been ordered for the clutch cable- £2 repair

We're re-positioning the thermostat as it's rubbing on the bonnet and causing the pipe to fail.

Finally I corner weighted the car last night:


Front left 114 118.5 130
Front right 111 127 132
Rear left 136 154 184
Rear right 127 165.5 185

Total 488 565 631

Front 225 46% 245.5 43% 262 42%
Back 263 54% 319.5 57% 369 58%

First measurements are just the car with a full tank. Second is with me as driver and third is with my brother as passenger.

So around 480kg with half a tank

Those slicks must have been really bad as I was expecting you to be quite a bit quicker. I can see you were feeling your way into the car though which is the sensible thing to do rather than bin it. Should be lightning quick on proper rubber.

They were REALLY bad The right-left before the hairpin was just complete understeer If we'd have known the car beforehand, I think we'd have realised straight away. Still if it is that quick on canvas, with us just cruising round the bends...

We have the 13" slicks which are in much better condition and we've just ordered some 888s to use if it's damp.

I'm doing the car limits action day with LOT next month so that'll give me some time to get used to how it reacts.

Absolutely - you'll know you're getting it right when you're absolutely destroying cars OUT of the corners. On trackdays, there's a strong argument for late-apexing in any case. That gives you the fastest exit speed which, since you can only overtake on straights, is what you are after. There's little point on sitting on the bootlid of a car through the corner but better leave some room, take the corner quicker than him and with a late apex and swing by on the next straight.

The other thing that's worth doing (and I found really useful) is to talk to the motorsport department of whichever tyre manufacturer you are using. They'll give you a great idea on tyre pressures and geometry. I discovered I'd been running my tyres too hard (as had half the paddock) and that I could add even more front negative camber.

Yes I'd never really thought about it, but that's what I used to do sometimes in the 75. It was as quick or quicker than most cars through the corners, but just didn't have the grunt on the straights.

I've got all the info for our cars on the 888s as a few guys have talked to Alan from Toyo's motorsport department. Really helpful guy I'm sure I've seen some data on slicks kicking about too.

Cheers.