So long, my muse!

I recently had to say goodbye to the car that started it all, my 1997 Mazda Miata.

This was the car that really showed me what a willing engine, rear wheel drive and a light weight body could do. It is 100% accurate to say that this was the spark that got me interested in making a locost. My Miata also cemented my belief that round headlights automatically make a car 100x cooler.

My Miata was the best car I've ever owned, but I need the room in the garage for the Spartan. My car did go to a good home, and I'm happy she'll see regular top-down use.

In its place, I purchased a 1999 Honda CR-V. I've been driving it for a year now and it is an absolutely wonderful daily driver (admittedly far better than the Miata).

In addition to carting my kids around its primary function is to serve as my official project support vehicle. The trunk area has already come in handy for hauling my new seats home.

This is just a tribute...

One of the good things about taking your time with a build is that it gives you plenty of time to consider things before committing to them. In the last few weeks I've made a dramatic shift in my line of thinking concerning how I want the Spartan to turn out.

My line of thinking used to be that I was going to make some kind of F1 inspired rocket. It was going to be super-light, savage and wicked fast. There would only be a token concession to comfort for the occasional long trip. Two things have happened since then.

The first was this post on the LocostUSA forums. It was a discussion on how tough locosts can be on the driver. Shortly afterward, I read of someone who sold his Seven because he just didn't drive it anymore. It really made me think about my priorities. I don't currently autocross, and even though I really want to get into the sport I have to believe that 99% of the Spartan's life is going to be on the street, not the track. Making some kind of cone-killing monster just doesn't translate in to a good street car.

The second event was less rational, but lots more dramatic. I came up to a stoplight near my house and caught a beautiful ivory-colored Bugeye Sprite across the light. The driver was joined by his lovely wife/girlfriend/mistress, and both had huge smiles on their faces.

The Bugeye is one of my favorite cars of all time. It to me is one of the heights of the British roadster era. Simple, light, good-looking and a hoot to drive. The car a classic Anglo jauntiness to it. Plus, with the Sprite you can have a handlebar mustache and wear a tweed jacket while driving around and feel perfectly normal.

That spotting got me thinking. Would my wife really want to ride in some kidney-punching terror? Would I? Was the car I was building really like the Lotus 7 I've loved since I was a kid?

The answer to all these questions was No. That's when I hatched my current plan, to create a Lotus 7 tribute, an homage to all those awesome Healeys, MGs, Morgans, Triumphs, Sunbeams and other greats from the 60s. Sure, under the sheetmetal it'd still be Miata powered and it would still have lots of current technology in the suspension and running gear. But the feel would be more Italian Job (the good one with Michael Caine) and less Bourne Identity. I want it to look and feel like it came from the 60s. When my wife and I are motoring around in it, I want to feel like I'm in a simpler time.

Really this is more of a shift in philosophy than actual design. Fortunately there's plenty of apropriately vintage-y instruments, steering wheels, seats, lights, mirrors, trim, etc. available to the homebuilder.

As a plus, I think the task of researching old British cars for inspiration is going to be a blast! I've already planned a trip to the Lotus Owners Gathering and the Barber Motorsports Museum in Birmingham in May of next year.

I've always loved the Seven because of its purity. I guess I'm learning that purity doesn't just mean leaving everything off in the name of going faster. It's can also be about the single-minded pursuit of the joy of spirited motoring.

Two British Lightweights

When I started researching for my locost build, I'd never seen a real Seven in the flesh. As of the beginning of this month, the closest I'd ever come was checking out Andrew's build-in progress. Fortunately, in the last month I've gotten to check out my two favorite cars (and biggest inspirations) in the flesh...er, metal. Both experiences were carried out with huge child-like grins!

First up was an honest-to-goodness Lotus Seven Series II that I caught at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring. Actually, there were two of them - a racing and street version. These cars are owned by Paul Stinson. He races the high-output version in the SVRA and SCCA. The street car is his golf-cart substitute for commuting around Sebring!

He was kind enough to let me sit in the street version, which reaffirmed my need to lose weight or build a larger chassis. I was able to catch the car on video as it went out for a recon lap of the Sebring infield.



The best photos I took of both Sevens are up on my Flickr site.

The other car is the ultimate evolution of the the light-and-agile Seven. The Ariel Atom is my favorite car. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd drive to pick up my check in this bad boy. This particular Atom was parked nonchalantly at the 2008 Georgia Tech Auto Show.

I could have stared at this car for hours, but I was taking care of my daughter and had to look fast (fortunately pictures last longer). There are so many fantastic details, so many awesome welds and crafty bits of carbon fiber! Everything clearly had a lot of thought put into it. Even if my Locost doesn't go as fast as the Atom (which it certainly won't), I hope that I can put as much effort into the design and construction of my car as the folks at Ariel do in theirs. It's really a stunning car.

The Atom at the show was for sale for the cool price of $79k. It's tempting to sell our house and buy it, but since there are no body panels and no roof it wouldn't be very good to sleep in.

Both of these cars capture everything that is good and holy about sports cars. They're light, agile, responsive and provide the right medicine to treat the current pandemic of bloated, overweight and overwrought sports cars. I hope my locost comes close to their awesome example.

Why?

I've been talking about building this car for months now, and the first question everyone seems to ask is "Why?"

This question really should be 3 questions:

1. Why build a car?

I spend most of my life hacking away at a computer. Building a locost caters to my intense desire to make something with my hands (an obsession that drove my previous blog for 2 years). I want to learn to weld, to shape sheet metal, and to work on cars. I've been tooling around with my daily drivers for several years now, and I'd love to have another project to work on.

I've spent the entirety of my engineering career working under the burdens of schedule and budget. By necessity, I've had to stop work on several projects before I felt the work was as good as it could have been. With this project, I run the schedule and budget. Here's a chance to do engineering on my own terms. That's why we have hobbies, isn't it?

I don't have a budget for this car. I'm a natural cheapskate, so I think the car will cost somewhere between $5000 and $10,000. But if it costs more, then so be it.

One of the best chunks of wisdom I've read so far came from the book Kimini, Kurt Bilinski's build guide. He said this was a hobby, and as a result he didn't feel the need to create artificial deadlines for his hobby. Sage advice!

2. Why build a Lotus Seven clone?

This question starts when I was 12. I started getting into cars and reading Road&Track regularly. The articles on various new cars came and went, but the "Side Glances" columns written by Peter Egan stuck with me. He's been my biggest automotive influence, and his love for British cars wore off on me in a big, big way.

I owned a black 1977 MGB in high school, but what I always wanted was a Lotus Seven. This was a real sports car - light, agile and dripping with British charm. I didn't care that their tops were a joke or that it was based on an ancient car. It was elemental and pure. A racer for the road.

Fast forward to now. Original Sevens are far too rare, and Caterhams are WAY too expensive for someone of my means. I don't know how, but I found Kieth Tanner's web site about a year ago and I was hooked instantly! I read his entire build diary that day which is not easy when there are over 1400 entries.

Project started out as a cheap way to get a Seven, is now a way to get my dream car. It won't be perfect, but it will be uniquely mine.

3. Why use a Miata as a donor?

There's a saying in cooking - a meal is only as good as the quality of the ingredients that go into it. This project is exactly the same.

Despite its reputation as a hairdresser's car, the Miata is a true sports car. I drive one daily, and I think it's the most wonderful car I've ever owned.

As a donor, it's nearly a one-stop shop. It's got a great engine and all the requisite rear wheel drive bits. I can pick up a beaten and abused Miata and have nearly everything I need to build the car. The parts I won't use are also still pretty valuable, so hopefully I can recoup most of the cost of the donor by selling the bodywork and interior on Ebay.

There's also a huge aftermarket community providing performance parts for the brakes, engine and transmission. That means I'll be able to increase performance as much as I'd like down the road by bolting on parts. There's also an awesome community supporting the Miata that I can go to for help.

Here's another reason to build a Seven. Few cars are awesome enough to require sub-titles during their test drive.