| Re: Locost GT40
Hi Eddie,
When I said £3,000 to £3,500 for a chassis that is correct. You can buy a chassis from Mick Sollis for that. You have taken it to be for a "rolling chassis" whatever you mean by that. If you mean a chassis with suspension or with a body that will be a lot more depending on how exotic you want to be with ally uprights and fancy brakes etc. Whilst it is possible to build a GT40 for a small amount of money by making lots of parts yourself to get all the right bits takes a lot of time. I know what it takes in bits and bobs as I have several friends who are putting a range of cars together KVA C type, MDA, Southern GT, GTD Mk3 and I myself am working on a GTD with KVA body. I know exactly what the total costs are from economy up to top notch stuff. I still think that while you can save money and have some "fun" developing your own chassis you are reinventing the wheel.
I still like the Ken Attwell story about him being asked for a build manual for the KVA GT40 when he said that if you need a build manual you shouldn't be building one! One point worth mentioning re the KVA is that the front of the chassis tapers in and the front suspension arms have an angled axis. This creates a lot of problems with enough space for the coil over shock and the issue of the back inner edge of the tyre hitting the chassis on lock. The GTD/Southern/MDA setup with a parallel section for the front suspension pivots makes life a whole lot easier especially if you try to juggle things to give a bit more width in the footwell for the neccessary feet. I have to drive my GTD in race boots and still need a one legged passenger - the MDA and Southern are much better.
Anyway good luck and keep us updated with your progress.
Cheers
Mike |