Hi racemechanic - You are quite right, the tub was hacked about a bit to accomodate the sim kit. This is obviously something we are going to deal with as part of getting the car ready for the track.
I don't really have a set budget, but whatever we put in to this car will not be a bad investment. I have already been offered a six figure sum for this car, and it certainly hasn't cost me 6 figures. Yet! But I don't want to sell, I want to see this project through and have the excitement of racing my very own F1 car. Something I would have considered pure fantasy just a year ago!
Well if you were offered that kind of money then i think you should PM me as i'm fairly sure there are plenty more of them to be had from various teams.
richard_leeds wrote:The offer might have been specific to the car - ie Button wanting to get the complete set of cars he's driven in his career!
I think when you have drivable F1 car you can get something around a million for it.
I always said once all the issues are solved it can become a good investment.
richard_leeds wrote:The offer might have been specific to the car - ie Button wanting to get the complete set of cars he's driven in his career!
I think when you have drivable F1 car you can get something around a million for it.
I always said once all the issues are solved it can become a good investment.
Running any of them is expensive though. The idea of the Hartley V8 to reduce running costs is a good one. The service interval is comparatively huge and the rebuild costs are small versus a Judd or Cosworth.
Are you bringing the car to the Stroke day at Combe this year? I had a few pax laps with Nadine last year in the Viper. Stonkingly quick car. I'm hoping to be driving myself this year.
Some more popular cars for sure reach even higher prices.
However I have to agree some of the cars are surprising cheap.
That's the car the most successful driver of all time took his first points in. Few recent cars will command as high a price tag unless they've won a world championship and that's not even 3/4 of a million (unless you're talking USD). Either way, this Honda was an absolute steal, just like the Simteks sold at the end of 1995 and some other liquidation sales. This thread shows why cars that are not complete are substantially cheaper than those that are - you need a good budget and know-how to get what appears to be a rolling chassis back on the track. I, for one, can't wait to see this one in the flesh.
010010011010 wrote:Yeah Kirkistown would be the place to race it in Northern Ireland. Its a short enough track, lap record is around 51.4 ( although Adam Carroll is said to have posted a 51.0 on inters during a private test)
Adam Carroll posted 51second dead in a Breezemount Motorsport GP2 during shakedown (feb 2011), on full wet tyres, wet engine map, wet chassis & aero set-up
Super interesting thread F1snake, keep up the good work on that project of yours!
Many thanks for the contributions, comments and encouragements. Things are going in the right direction and the gearbox is being 3D scanned this week. The data from this will enable us to make a new casing. Getting the gearbox right was the biggest problem, and the rest now seems comparatively easy. Famous last words.........!
We've been asked to exhibit the RA107 at the Gurston Down Hillclimb in Wiltshire Sunday 28th August. The event is the British National Hillclimb Championship. If you want to come and see the car up close and say hello, we're there all day. The actual hillclimb is well worth watching, Gurston is an awesome and technical drive, incl belly tingling down hill start. http://www.youtube.com/user/darfader?bl ... ZVq-WX1vqo
Its about time I do a little update, as its coming up to end of our first year with the car. Its been a year where not much has happened to the car itself. We have spent much of our time trying to learn and understand as much about the car as possible and how to proceed with this project. We have build up a good base of knowledgeable people and very useful contacts. We have also been able to locate and purchase a healthy number of spare parts, pit equipment and specialist tools.
Things like suspension, brakes, steering and engine are not going to be a big problem, even though there's still a fair bit of work to go into these areas. The biggest obsticle to succeding getting the car up and running has always been the gearbox. We were told earlier in the year that we should look to have another casing made, but luckily we now know that this will not be required. The original carbon/titanium casing is one of the strongest F1 boxes made(Honda paid £105k for this casing!), and its not going to be a problem using it. Hewland have had the casing for a while and had it 3D scanned. They have confirmed that they are able to build new internals in this casing, and are working on the design.
Its been a rather steep learning curve, and as with most things in life, the more we learn, the more we realise how little we really know! The project will take the time it takes, which more often that not, ten times longer than imagined!
We will get there in the end, though, as we are lucky enough to have the help and support from some highly skilled and experienced individuals, who have kindly donated a considerable amount of time and effort guiding us in the right direction.
Nice to hear from you. The engine is pretty much done, apart from the back plate. John Hartley is just waiting for the design of the gearbox internals from Hewland so he complete the build. I'll get it shipped over as soon as this is done. Then we need to design a cradle for it.
Hi Ringo, Hewland have actually been pretty good to us and I dont mind a bit if they've benefitted in some way. They've come up with a solution, which quite a lot more than any other manufaturer we've been in touch with. Quaife and Xtrac, to name a couple, had no real interest in helping us out, unless we were going to spend really big £££ and order multiple gearboxes from them! William Hewland is a passionate racing driver himself and certainly gets what its all about.
