luder_5555

Ok, so they probably were developing these long before I hag the idea, but I have always wanted to build something like this. A few years ago when I realized how easy it was to separate the entire drivetrain, and running gear from the chassis of a miata, and ever since I thought that it would be great fun to build a tube frame car using the front and rear sub-frames, with all drive line, and suspension components.

http://exomotive.com/exocet/

There are several on the market right now, but I stumbled across this company a few days ago, and thought I'd share in case anyone else thought that they were a cool idea. This one isn't the prettiest looking thing in the world, but I'd guess that it would be a blast to drive.

Did I mention that it was pretty damn cheap too. $6k and a donor car and it seems like you would have all you would need for a track car. Add some lights, and you'd be potentially street legal. So for less than $10k you could have a very quick, and very reliable little toy.

duffsr

This is pretty neat, especially because with the american 7 market being as weak as it is. The looks are a little questionable, like some mutant atom/7 expirement went terribly wrong. Just hope no-one butchers an S2000 to look like that!

I've been keen on building something along the lines of a tube framed bike (or car) engined car but keep making excuses (upside-down condo, single-car garage, etc).

Have you seen the locostusa site? lots of builders out there doing stuff like this.

Edit-> It'd be cool to get a totalled track-prepped miata for something like this.

luder_5555

^ YA there certainly are a lot of people building this type kit. I honestly think that the Miata is probably the best starting point since you know that the suspension geometry is great to start with, and parts are dirt cheap. Plus, if you wanted to go crazy, you could buy a pre-fabbed front and rear v8 sub-frame, and drop in an LS1, and only add ~150-200 lbs between the engine, trans, and rear end. (might have to stiffen the chassis a little though.)

ZDan

I usually like odd-looking cars, but DAMN that thing is UGLY! I'd call it an extremely good argument for doing a Locost...

dombey

Seems like a lot of money for an ugly, track only miata that weighs a few hundred pounds less.

Grady

That plus ls series engine swap. :0

CG

While I would prefer the Locost I actually like this idea. Simple, cheap, and fun. I could get over the looks.

Mr.E.G.

I know that Rockville and a few others are gong to remind me that they disagree with me every time I say something to this effect , but I just don't get cars like this. Is it fun? I bet it is, but so is a shifter kart that you can buy used for next to nothing. Hell, the shifter kart is probably twice as fun.

If you're going to get a non real car, why not go all the way and get a single seater something-or-other? This is not enough of a real car to have any tangible benefits such as being able to feel good about it beating some other car, yet it's probably not extreme enough such that it is going to ruffle any feathers among other custom built track cars (read: not production based track cars).

Again, looks like a great deal of fun but it's lost on me.

Luder, you've already go a Miata based car. It's called a Miata and you can actually race it against other real cars.

fishfryer

Even though is has all the drawbacks of a motorcycle with probably only half the fun, I LIKE IT!! Itis cheap and different, Kinda like some of my ex-GFs.

Chris S

I've ridden in a friend's Birken (7 replica) around the track, and it's a blast, but it has very little weather or crash protection. Might as well ride a bike!

I'd love to have one for those perfect days, but I appreciate being able to raise the top and turn on the HVAC/tunes when I want to isolate myself for the elements.