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.

Your locost library

Nearly every person who builds a locost starts in the same place. Ron Champion's book Build a Sports Car for £250...and Race It! is the read for the aspiring locost builder. Back in the day, it was the only book available. Thankfully, that is no longer the case.

Several books have come about to update or expand upon the classic locost builder's manual. Through my obsessive research (and using my ample free time), I've acquired and read most of them. Keep in mind that nothing is wrong with Champion's book. It's a really good place to start, if nothing else to learn the origin of the design. Besides, the book makes building a car sound so simple that even I can make one.

Build Your Own Sports Car on a Budget by Chris Gibbs - This book gets my pick for best overall. The chassis drawings are top-notch (the chassis and drawings were all modeled in Solidworks CAD software), and in my opinion the chassis design strikes the right balance between the "awe-shucks" garage tech of Champion's book and the impossible-to-build-at-home Caterham frame.

Of course, the biggest deal with this book (for me) is that it incorporates an independent rear suspension, and makes a few nods to incorporating Miata guts. In any case, if there was one "must get" book I think this one takes the cake.

How to Build a Cheap Sports Car by Keith Tanner - You should get this book if for no other reason that it was written with the North American builder in mind. Keith, a major guru of everything Miata, bought his frame and then turned it into the poster child for American locosters.

While Tanner didn't construct his own chassis, his book covers a lot of detail not mentioned in the other two books. This is especially true with regards to suspension setup, bodywork and exhaust header construction.

The Car Builder's Manual by Lionel Baxter - I tore through the previous three books, but this book didn't drive me so nuts. It's a good reference to have on hand, but the information is so general that it is more of a top-level book than a dedicated locost manual. If you started getting into cars late in life (like me), this will be a good overview of the process. Still, 30% of the references in the book are of the Lotus 7/locost variety, so there is some targeted info if you know what to look for.

There are a whole host of other books that look like valuable reads (Engineer to Win, Competition Car Suspension and the Kimini book all look awesome), but I haven't gotten to those yet. In the end no book is perfect, but a collection of books (complimented by the internet) should cover nearly every aspect of car design from start to finish.

2007 Petit Le Mans

This last weekend I traveled up to Road Atlanta to catch the 2007 Petit Le Mans endurance race. What an experience!

The ALMS is my favorite racing series. The cars are very cool (and totally gorgeous), the racing is always tight and the venues are some of the best in the country. I'm fortunate that I live a scant hour from this marque venue.

From a locost perspective, none of the fabulous machines on display are anywhere near my future two-seater. There's nothing locost about them! Still, it's pretty cool to see what hardware should look like for a serious racing car.

This event also just gets me really pumped up for designing and building my own car. There was so much awesome engineering on display. That, and there were a lot of louvers, winglets and cool details.

What I need is access to carbon fiber bits for my car. When the top teams use CF to make brackets and fairings for antennae, you know that their composites budget is pretty big.

On a more casual note, races like this one are a blast to photo. There's so much to see, it's like your camera can't possibly take a bad picture. I took tons, and they're up on my Flickr site.