yep,,, good for you,,, because that means you have waited til Phil Wards """Idea""" came to fruit ... & after about 15 years later you`re thinking about buying into a slower race car which will cost you way more



& doesn`t have a mini body on it

ah well,,, good feedback tho because it shows that some people would like to see a national series with full sponsor backed support,,, just like Phil Wards Idea

the people i have spoken with recently about all this are quite excited that my cars (in comparison to Phil Wards) will be much faster & have mini bodies on them (if we do build 20 or 30 of them) & cost far less in the bargain

so this is all good

keep it coming please?

Matty,,, the Suzi swift series would be a damn good competition for the BMW MINI series,,, it would be good (interesting) to see some lap times comparisons between those 2 hey?

again they`re both very heavy cars comparitive to my buggys, yet with similar power i expect

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I don't like the sound of using mini bodies..

oh, sorry,,, not real mini bodies,,, i`m looking at making a mouid to lay-up some 3/4 size poly-carbonate mini bodies

so not really using "genuine mini bodies"

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

The funny thing about the Swift is that they are really mini wannbees. We have the mini challenge series and now a swift series... WTF.

I do like Matt's idea a lot. If I had a shed and the kids were older, i'd probably be right into it. Give it time I guess.

Hey Matt I just went and looked at the video on youtube of you on dirt at Willowbank and holy cow!. When I looked at the buggy the other week i could see it was a goer but sh!t that was quick... Love the steering wheel by the way. Alloy tube with holes drilled in. Simplify and add lightness if I'm not mistaken..

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Cheers
Alec
1275LS - July 78 - XNFAD18Y/102918

Do they need to be 3/4?? Minis aren't all that huge. (sorry but pointing out the really obvious runs in the family.. ;>)

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Cheers
Alec
1275LS - July 78 - XNFAD18Y/102918

ok,,, not really 3/4,,, we have a small change to make to keep them in proportion as my cars are actually shorter than a std mini,,, so we intend to shorten a body & narrow it a tad to keep it all "looking" right

so essentially a little smaller in the body than std,,, not quite 3/4,,, just a tad bigger

& thanks for the "Quick" statement man, i appreciate it,,, it really is insanely fast,,, Beating very late model WRX & EVO 4x4 turbo rally cars in a standing start, on dirt track is stupid fast enough ,,, but then running 3rd "Outright" for most of the weekend up the (Bitumen) Mt Cootha Hillclimb ,on dirt tyres, tells me it`s even faster than the results are (so far) showing

hence my interest in making a pile of even better ones

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

non genuine mini bodies sounds good, although if you where going to the trouble I would have thought something more aerodynamic would have been better.

As for the Suzuki Swift series, it's being aimed at young drivers as a competetive series. The cars are "Suzuki Swift Sport" 2010 model brand spanking new, modified suspension, cage etc. The engines will be the standard "sport" engine with a LSD.

These cars won't cost anywhere near what the mini challenge cars cost, but they probably won't be as fast. They should still go pretty good though.

Having said that they will be more expensive then Matt's buggy idea (at his current rough estimate) and not as fun.

And they are also trying to run with AASA not CAMS, so that might be a big breakthrough in that area

I was having a go at the cars that all look like they are trying to be binis really. The swift is the best example at the moment IMO..

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Cheers
Alec
1275LS - July 78 - XNFAD18Y/102918

This sounds really exciting,

are these meant for your experienced race driver as such?

I'd prefer one fitted with a H-D Twincam 96 engine...



THAT sound out of THAT car... AWESOME!!!

Hi Matt. Have seen your buggy in action at Jack's place, and was very impressed.
Why does it need a body at all, let alone a caricature of a body - those other hideous things look like Noddy cars!
Can't help thinking that it would be a great alternative to a Locost - a home built Clubman Roadster. Only stumbling block, is the question of compliance of motor bike engines with ADR's for registration - I think your target audience would increase 10 fold (or more), if the car were registrable.
I know that is not your original intention, but practicality has to be a substantive consideration and can not be ignored.
Can't see her indoors okaying another useless noisy man toy, but a proper registered motor vehicle, that can be driven to the track and not kept on a trailer may get the nod. Could even use the excuse of "a father/son project". I reckon my 20 year old and at least 5 of his mates would jump at the chance to build one of your buggies, IF it could be registered.....
As you know, I've built a Locost, which I found to be quite an enjoyable experience. Being able to use it legally on the road was a buzz, but selling it for thousands more than construction cost (not counting labour), made the whole experience so much sweeter, and would not have been possible but for the fact that the vehicle was registered.....
There must be a way to get approval to use big bike engines in low production home built specials - the rest of the compliance issues are purely mechanical, and have all been previously solved.

End rant. Hold breath, hit submit and wait for a bollocking from the miniman/buggyboy..... Honest mate, just a thought.........

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No decision is incorrect when made - but it does become apparent in retrospect...

Giddyup has a point about the registration thing there but there is another one to be made about the chassis.

Matt, has the chassis been designed with analysis or fabricated to suit components? If it went to a race format, I think the weight would go up due to a more sturdy cage being required by CAMS(maybe?? I haven't had anything to do with CAMS or race cars so I may be off with that comment). I'm guessing it could do with a bit of finite element analysis being done on it. You could probably get someone at one of the unis to do it for nix. I know USQ's mech engineering crew do a race car so I doubt it would be a big leap to analyse yours. I guess my biggest concern would be what state someone would be in following a crash at 200 clicks or more. Maybe it needs a bathtub ($$)

If I had to guess I'd reckon part of the low weight on your car is due to a lower emphasis placed on safety. It may not take a lot to beef it up but looking at the Aussie car frames, they look more engineered and robust than yours.

All that gaff aside, it is still a corker Matt.

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Cheers
Alec
1275LS - July 78 - XNFAD18Y/102918

ok,,, all good points & thanks heaps

Road Rego???.... sorry but cost is a prime priority,,, to have them complied for road rego would UP the cost considerably/substantially,,, i`d dearly love to tho,,, just imagine driving to work in one of these things,m,, it would be insane & loose my licence within a week

strength?,,, well, we`ve had this first one through CAMS "Pre-log-book-scrutineering" & passed with flying colours

But the next Batch of them (if we go ahead) will be more robust with full cage & we have already had our specialist sort a computer aided stress testing design thing (sorry that part of things is not my forte) & he`s been happilly toying away with his computer designing a frame around the measurements & materials i`ve given him, this is actually his day-to-day job

costing this whole process up has been a bit of a task & a major eye opener tho,,, we`ve talked with a whole pile of parts suppliers & we can buy in bulk & save heaps of cash,,, but i would need total commitment from the initial potential buyers for my "Sugar-daddy" (financial backer) to be happy to outlay for the first 10x of them (to test the true temp of the waters we`re going to attempt to swim in)

at this stage of the game we have one issue ---> time frame

if i go ahead & do this,,, i need a good chunk of money up-front to be able to clear up the work i have on at the moment,,, stop booking any more general mini work on,,, & concentrate on the Jig for these frames & start collecting all the goodies, 10x everything is not going to be cheap & also paying the std living expenses for a year while we build them is also a pretty good penny

we do have the right people behind us & "IF" my money man is happy with our calculations & "IF" we can cement the costs & "IF" i can clear up the current work load within this next year, then we may very well give it a shot,,, But i doubt we will even try to make them road legal , & i also doubt we will have bodies on the first batch of 10x

we have an avenue to proceed with, concerning "Type approval" for our own race class both within CAMS & AASA,,, so i`m sure we can do this,,,, it`s up to my good friend "The Sugar Daddy"

if anyone remembers me talking about possibly working for a VW Kombi camper surfing surfari hire car company down at Byron bay???,,, well he`s the same guy were trying to rip the "start-up" money out of for this

we already have 5 kombis,,, he already has a huge shed in Coolangatta,,, we need to buy a shed in Byron,,, pick up a few mokes for hire while we`re at it,,, & start building the buggy frames & collecting piles of goodies

so,,,, there`s where we`re at right now,,, just waiting to tally up a few more costs & then wait for the big "Go-ahead"--- or not.

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Hi guys, i like your idea but i have some issues that u may not have addressed/talked about in this thread.

Obviously youre biggest play is cost, which is absolutely the biggest problem. Unfortunately its not just initial outlay that you have to look at it's how much money can some rich bugger throw at them, or more or less where he's aloud to.

Now im not trying to shut you down because ive been wanting to do this too, and i simply dont know how far into this you are [i only have this thread so far lol] My concern lies in the boundaries your going to make to achieve "class" for motorsport.

For example, are you the only person aloud to build the chassis? What mods would be aloud be made to; running gear, motor, chassis, bodywork, aero ect.

The biggest demise for aussie racing cars [IMO, educated but on nobody else's behalf] is the fact that only one guy supplies and maintains EVERY vehicle. Along with the point that his own sons race and has been found that there equipment is biasedly better. In THEORY i like the idea that its very controlled and no one should be any better than one-another but it clearly just doesnt work that way, and he can charge whatever he wants [and does]

On a lighter note, as i said earlier i love the idea and love to have the opportunity to build a series myself. The idea of a slightly mini-er mini shell is awesome. And with my previous points, keep them FWD and turbo-less. Less outlay, Less maintenance, Less room for things to go wrong and of course Less room for dodgy people to cheat. It simply makes achieving 'fair' easier.

That all said, if you get it to work, my names on the list.

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'63 850/1100 + more cooper goodies