MARCH
2005 - Research
13th
Visited Stafford Kit Car show to see some of these kits
in the flesh, so to speak. I was particularly impressed
by the MNR Vortx and the Raw Striker as both are cars
with more of a focus on track use, and very little in the
way of extraneous road trim! who needs carpeted interior
and a plush dashboard? it'll only slow you down. :)
20th
Visited MNR's workshops, an hour and half's drive from my
house. quite a jolly drive into the yorkshire dales. Half
tedious motorway driving, and half fun B-road hooning in
the lovely Puma. Had a good chat with Marc and Chris
about specifications and recommendations. Decided Yamaha
R1 power (motorbike) is the way to go. in such a
lightweight car it should go like the proverbial
clappers.
30th
Sold the Toyota Supra to make space in the garage for the
build. A sad day, as she never let me down and was pretty
rapid, but was ultimately a wee bit on the lardy side for
any harcore Trackday ragging (which was my original
intent). Only some serious work with a saw and grinder
would have been enough of a diet, and I couldnt bring
myself to do it. Fast in a straight line is good, but I'd
already decided the corners are more fun, so it was time
to see the old gal off.
Miscellanous
waffle.
One of the biggest decisions ive been pondering about
getting the kit, is a real girly decision..... what
colour!
Apparently the MNR chaps said 99% of their kits sold have
been either black or yellow. Yellow looks good, but
theres loads of yellow 7's about. Black is nice for a bit
more stealth or subtlety. but, you could hardly call a '7
with a bike engine roaring at full chat either stealthy
or subtle. The more subdued colours I think are best
suited to v8 cruisers. A track car should look pretty
in-your-face so I narrowed it down to Yellow, Orange, or
Kawisaki bright green. The yellow as mentioned before
seemed a bit overused and I wanted to be different, and
MNR's fibreglass doesnt come in lurid green so it'd have
to be sprayed. That left orange. I am rather fond of
orange Caterhams, so using a scan of Andy D's yellow
fireblade VortX, I photoshopped a preview of what it'd
look like with the GRP 'Tangerine' colour. here it is:
Andy
D's Vortx, recoloured in orange to see what mine will
look like
So that should pretty much
be what the finished car should look like. neat!
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