LocostUSA.com

Back to the original question. Most pursuits have ebbs and flows of general public interest. The core group remains. Two other things:

-Locosts have provided a gateway drug into car building, and some guys have moved on to bigger and better things.

-Street cars have gotten faster in general. When I put my Stalker together 20ish years ago with the somewhat underwhelming 3.4 Chevy pushrod V6 I still managed to largely dominate track days. There'd typically be one or two cars in my run group that I could mix it up with and everyone else would recede. Not so much any more. Track days are more popular, drivers are more trained and the cars are quicker, which means two things: Your $6-10k build isn't automatically going to kick everyone's butt, and if Locosts are too primitive for your taste, you have more, comparatively opulent alternatives.

When I first started trackdays, I ran a very modified Datsun 1200. It did really well due to its light weight, but also because of the competition. That consisted of user-maintained and modified 70's-90's sports cars, so nothing too crazy. Since then, things have changed...

Now, it seems like few work on their own car, instead buying something new and very fast (compared to what was available in the 1980's-90s). As kreb said, showing up to a full-size road course in a 4-cylinder Locost and expecting to clean up will likely be disappointing. The Locost may out corner many cars, but its aero drag will be the overriding problem, one that larger and heavier - but more aerodynamic - cars don't have. Some years back, a buddy drove an Arial At-om and a BMW M7 back to back. The BMW got the faster lap time due mostly to its lower aero drag.

Midlana, my mid-engine "Seven" had up to 500hp. On big tracks, it could reach over 150 mph, but other trackday cars have higher top speeds, undoing some (or even all) of Midlana's light weight advantage. Summed up, if a builder wants to do well on big tracks, it takes a lot of horsepower. That said, Locosts can and do clean up on more twisty courses, and especially at autocross events! Summed up, builders need to consider what they want to do with the car so that they can scale expectations. Lately though, it does seems like there are more off-the-shelf-solutions that provide faster lap times, so maybe that's where some people are heading. For me, the journey was the adventure, so it was totally worth it.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

It's interesting to see how track days have influenced some with respect to their Locost 7 journey. I've never had such interests. It's the spirit of 7 driving that motivated me. I knew I'd never be able to afford a Lotus/Caterham 7, but thought I'd get pretty close with a Locost 7.

Interestingly, I now have a car coveted by many "track day" folks, but there's a high price to pay for it IMHO. It isn't a vehicle that can be owner maintained and that makes it very expensive. The fun to maintenance ratio isn't there for me.

When I get my Locost 7 really completed (that sometimes that feels a little "iffy") at around 1,300 lb and between 275-300 HP, I hope to end up with something reasonably close to the Caterham 7's in these two Youtube videos. They express the spirit I'm interested in capturing.

You'll probably have to suffer through an advertisement when viewing them.

Caterham Supersport R

Caterham 620R

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

How many people are building 7’s specifically for the track? I know some are, but my observation is that it’s a smaller percentage. In my younger days I was a track junky, but these days I enjoy the heck out of getting out on a curvy quiet country road and enjoying the drive. A well done 7 is an incredible pleasure and absolutely nothing I have ever driven delivers as gratifying an experience. So much so that I have little interests in tracks or competeing.

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Peace, Ron

That's my opinion as well. On the other hand, the Locost is one of the few cars that can do double duty without effort, driving on the street one day, and on the track the next. Agree that very few are purpose built race cars, but I suspect a high percentage of street Locosts do visit tracks.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

Having tracked mine extensively in the past, I'd say that if you do, you owe it to yourself to have some more crash structure in place. I had a minor mishap at Laguna Seca and while I wasn't hurt it really got me to thinking. There's videos of Locosts taking some really nasty crashes out there and walking away, but they all have proper cages and side protection in place.

It's really to each their own. I did a backroads blat in a friends very capable Locost a couple of months ago. With us were a C8 Corvette, a couple fancy Audis, a Sonata N edition, a S2000 and a Stinger if I remember correctly. The terrain was challenging, with lots of turns, elevation changes, a variety of surface conditions and such. The pace ranged from mild to wild. What struck me was that when really pushing it, the other cars were going quite fast - and they were planted. Our featherweight car was as quick or quicker, but it was also a handful in a way that the other cars were not. It takes a certain type of person to prefer our Mr Toads wild ride to the other cars which in theory at least one could hold a conversation inside or listen to the radio while carving about. Locosts really are 4-wheeled motorcycles.

On that note, my son now has a sub-5-second 0-60 Bimmer that I've got to drive a little. Am I ready to put away the discomforts of a Locost for something like that? Nope. Not for some time yet. Because sitting there in your exquisite leather, all insulated from the driving experience just doesn't do it. Compared to a Locost it's like having sex while keeping your clothes on.

This conversation has delved into what's been going through my mind lately....

This is truly the "golden age" of the motor car, and no other time could you buy something that handles so well, and accelerates so quick, and keeps you so safe as right now. I think the days of "building a race car" are diminishing, since you can buy something about as fast, with all the comforts and a warranty.

My Locost is less and less the (potentially) fastest car out there (with a more seasoned driver, even), but the grin factor and "look at me" factor is huge. I drove it to a number of events in Vancouver (8 hour drive round-trip), and the drive there and back was every bit as fun (if not more) than the event itself. "What is it? What's in it? How fast does it go? Is this street legal?" Giggles.

While I built mine to be legal for D/Mod autocross, I really built it because it was my #1 bucket list car - I had a ride in a Fejer 7 back when I was 8 years old.

We have a local hillclimb, and many of my friends have asked if I'll take it there, but I'd really rather have more metal around me. If you're going fast enough to exceed the limits in this car, it's going to get messy. As such, I built my V8 Pontiac Firefly (Chevy Sprint) to compete in the hill climb, drag race, and track days. When I started building the Firefly, I was totally into it. In the eight years it took me to build it, I totally lost interest, and now had to climb over a roll cage every day just to drive it. Ugh.

The point of both of these, for me, is that they can be driven on the street. If I had a trailer-only car, it would not be a 7, but a formula somethingorother.

So in essence - I think, truly, people build these or need to build a 7 because they specifically have to have a 7. Honestly, you're only going to finish one if you truly want one.

Me? I like the build.

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The Lethal Locost
The Lethal Locost 2 - Even More Lethalerer

Hey Too Busy in Summerville, SC….. regarding finding a Miata donor, I’ve had some of the major driveline parts listed in the For Sale category. I don’t think these prices are prohibitive. The best part is I’m in the upstate near Clemson and Greenville so we could work out delivery easier than freight.. check it out
Skidzzz

Also regarding the exaggerated news of my death….. I ‘m still boogyin’ away in my garage on the 4-4-2 . I’ll have to quit procrastinating and start a build site with pictures etc.
Cheers boys n girls !!

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japanese proverb - If you fall down seven times.............stand up eight.

This is almost exactly where my mind is as well. The only thing I can add to the above is that another factor for me is that traffic was death by 1000 cuts, not allowing spirited driving. And then there was heading out to pick up something at, say Home Depot, I could either:
A. Jump in the truck, parked in the driveway, and be back in 20 minutes.
Or
B. Go into the garage, open the door, take the cover off the car, disconnect the battery tender, get myself wedged in, belt up, start it up, let it warm up, listen for any noises, and go... wondering if I'd get to where I was headed and back home with no unplanned car-related surprises. Oh, and this assumes that whatever I was getting would even fit in the car.

I ended up buying a 2015 Jaguar F-Type, with the reasoning that if I'm going to putter along in crappy traffic, I may as well be comfortable! Guess I'm getting old.

Five years ago if you asked me if I'd ever write the above, I'd have said Hell No!

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

If you spend any time on BaT, as an "investment", the money is best put into some brand new sports car, and parking it in a garage for 10 years with zero miles on it. Insane what dead stock sports cars are going for...

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

Or, you can buy an older sports car of the right type.

I plan to spend some time on BaT this spring selling my C5 Z06 Corvette. Here's and interesting little qwip from Hagerty with respect to the model type. It appeared in Autoweek's Autoblog in December of 2022.

Interesting, huh?

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Sorry, I am not seeing a modern "Golden Age" for anyone but the ultra rich.
The regular production cars are sleep inducing boring, with many annoying "Features" mostly used for enabling lazy and "impaired" drivers.
And Mercedes just announced level 3 autonomous drive, up to 40 MPH and suitably heavy traffic.
What I am seeing reminds me more of a bachelor party, one last fling before the drudgery of the EV's being shoved down our throats until that pending fiasco collapses.
In The morning I am to pick up my final project car, a humble little Morris Minor Pick-Up slated to become my DD. Not too exciting but it will get pretty good mileage and never have any "Over the air updates/control interface".

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

When I started building my Locost in 2004, the goal was to build a streetable car that I could also autocross.
It's a lot of fun on the street, also great fun in autocross. I have used it for trackdays. The smaller local track near me still has a long straight where higher hp sedans pull away, then I reel them back in on the rest of the course. Great fun. I won't be taking it to the other longer track. It's out of it's league there, and hence not fun.

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book 4AGE build, Supra W58 transmission, Corolla GTS live axle

The post above makes me think how one of the differences between the Locost community here vs England is how full body kits have never been readily available much less commonly used in the USA. (Jack at Kinetic notwithstanding). I've never been in one, but a few of the benefits would be: Better aerodynamics, easier to add side impact protection, and more sense of security (help keep the spouses and loved ones happy).

Agree on whole-body shells. Had I kept Midlana, I considered creating side pods, filling in the area between the tires, for the above-mentioned reasons. Ended up not doing that because of multiple reasons I've already whined about...

_________________
Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/