Im a long time fan of the little Aussie Racing car, powered by a Yamaha FJ1200 4 cylinder motorcycle engine producing 98kw and weighing only 450KG whats not to love? I was able to get a closer look at Winton over the weekend.
A very simple RHS main chassis rail connects the tube work that encases the driver and all the suspension components. The Motors are air cooled and require big oil coolers to keep them reliable.
Having the motor and gearbox as one unit makes life easy for a chassis builder, the firewall is pretty straight forward, the exhaust note from these are brilliant!
Ive always loved the idea of using a motorcycle motor to power a small car, i mean everything is so straight forward, its practically the cheapest way to get a sequential gearbox, the wet clutch likes to be slipped, everything is cable controlled, they like to rev and are a dream to wire up!
Not to mention they are pretty easy to work on!
Theres plenty of different body shells the guys can use aswell.
There were a few guys exchanging motors during the day.
Which got me thinking there must be a hell of a lot of FJ1200 chassis lying in motorcycle wrecking yards.
I think i actually want one!
They cirtainly seem like a good budget way to get into the V8s “greatest show on wheels”
Andrew
DO IT
DO IT
DO IT
Nick
These things are epic! A mate built a beach buggy version thats was seriously scary anywhere above 3rd gear! 120kph wheel stands!!
RMerritts
We have something similar here in the United States. Google baby grand race cars, and US Legends race cars.
Grupert Awesome
Hahaha,
Those things are awesome
Hipsi
yeh it’s budget, as long as someone pays the entry fees for you. When we raced with the Power Tour it was acceptable. The entry fees for the V8 Supercar support is just ludicrous, particularly at the keynote events like Clipsal, Surfers and Bathurst. That said, if you can get your bum in the seat even for one round, go for it, you’ll love them. I drove one between 2003 and 2005 and still like to get back in and have a steer every now and then.