Modified Concept Car

[bigted]

I think the thing about the micra was the fact it mixed and matched alot of parts from throughout the Nissan racing range, from the Ice racing cars throught to the primera touring cars

[Roundy Mooney]

Bert from what you're saying then if you want to be at the front you have to be spaceframed ?

Are the scandnavians S40 spaceframe as a matter of interest?

[Cryos]

Are the scandnavians S40 spaceframe as a matter of interest?

Probably are which is why most of them are super national as far as i know.

Wil Treurings Volvo S40 is for sale for 4500 ex a gearbox.

[Roundy Mooney]

Rixe any car not running to homologation is a super national space framed or not.

[Roundy Mooney]

But just looked at the one you were talking about and it is FWD 2.0 and is homolagated.HERE

But the S40 I was thinking about was bergstorms it was rwd and 2.8 I think. There's one like it on that site for nearly 60 odd grand and it does look as if it is spaceframed alright. here

[winnie]

RM, you must have x-ray eyes, how can you tell its spaceframed from the photo.

There are a few advantages of spaceframing. The car can generally be built a lot lighter. Its cheaper to build a spaceframe than seriously modify a road shell. Its easier to repair after a shunt as you can replace the bent tubes.

I do think that a lot of the space framed fwd cars are too flimsy. I wouldn't want to be in one if it was hit up the rear by a Volvo at 70mph! I have always thought hat they should introduce a minimum weight limit of say 750kg's for modified cars as this would eliminate the need to lighten as much.

[peespeed]

this is what all rallycross cars should be like http://www.rallycross.de/sales_db/vi...1046&lang_id=0

[bigted]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[BertMk2]

Originally posted by Roundy Mooney
Bert from what you're saying then if you want to be at the front you have to be spaceframed ?

Are the scandnavians S40 spaceframe as a matter of interest?

I think to run at the front you've got to have a seriously good power to weight ratio - spaceframing obviously helps this a lot. Also by making the car lighter the effort taken to slow the thing down is reduced so you can brake later or run smaller (lighter) brakes.

Not sure if the Volvos are spaced or not - they're certainly rapid though aren't they? I was trying to think of a supermodified car of a similar size over here - I guess you'd be looking at Watsons Focus or Harbours Escort, they both seem to have plenty of power but lack traction (both look like a real handfull in the wet!).

[Roundy Mooney]

Originally posted by winnie
RM, you must have x-ray eyes, how can you tell its spaceframed from the photo.

Don't be ridiculous who ever heard of anybody except your man who wears his underpants on the outside of his trousers having X-ray eyes? I just have the standard X-ray glasses. I found them in Aldi on special last week just beside the cheap German beer section and would recommend them to everybody!!!



It's just I thought by the amount of what looks like fibreglass panels on the picture that it probably is spaceframed. The rear door and quarter panel seem to be one and you can see that the rear bulkhead is missing.

[BRUMBRUM]

The Super National cars are not spaceframed, spaceframed cars are not allowed in this class in Europe.
They are just very powerful, 400bhp, low gear ratio's, are able to move engine as far back over back wheels and past bulkhead as possible and they also put lead in the boot.
This helps the car get off the line and helps with traction.
They also have very, very soft tyres that stick to the tarmac like mud!!

Also it must pointed out that because of most of the above these cars were actually illegal for the BRC events in N.Ireland this year, but hey thankfully they are legal and allowed in the RSS next year. Yipee!!!

I know of certain British drivers building cars to this spec next year for the RSS should be good.!!

[BertMk2]

So they're not spaceframed but they do sound like the shell is hacked about a lot - I guess it's the repositioning of the engine that means they contravene BRC regs? The weight over the drive wheels would explain where they get the traction from, I guess that's the fundamental flaw with the big power RWD BRC spec cars.

If British drivers build a car to that spec they're limiting themselves to only 5 rounds next year as they wouldn't be eligible for the BRC - 5 rounds is a pretty short season - do they have other cars for the BRC/BTRDA championships?

[winnie]

The shells are cut to bits, similar to say a rwd conversion on a fiesta or focas though. The difference is that they started life as a real Volvo, where as the space frames don't. The old reg used to be you had to keep the existing bulkhead which couldn't be modified, but anythink else was allowed. This led to cars like Mike Turpins nova (Pritchard i think) having ONLY the bulkhead from a nova - every think else is home made and spaceframed. Then when euro 2000 came in engines were allowed to pass through the bulkhead but no further back than the bottom of the windscreen.

I don't think there is a definitive set of regs regarding modified spaceframe cars, it has just evolved. Perhaps we need a decent set of regs, perhaps similar to National Hot Rods who have to have steel floors and other saftey features. Some-one will get hurt in one of the current spaceframe cars as lots are not strong enough.