1st Proper Drive – The Verdict

As you may have seen, last weekend was the day I have been working towards for the past year, the first drive of the car I built in the garage.

It was a great and momentous day. The feelings of triumph, excitement and achievement are difficult to explain although I am sure they are familiar to other kit car builders.

But whilst it was great to be able to share my first drive with my family, I have to admit that I was fairly anxious about having my wife, daughter, mum and dad in a car with untested brakes, fuel, electrics etc.

No such worries this weekend, just me and the car out for our first real journey.

I started the weekend by working through a few of the problems that came up last week. 

In my last post I mentioned a few things that had come up on the short test ride including oil pressure warning alerts, brakes feeling dodgy and gear indicator not working at all.

A quick call to MAC#1 pointed me in the right direction for most of these (as ever). The gear indicator and the oil pressure alerts were both calibration issues. In the case of the oil pressure alert, it was set to alarm below 30psi when the engine revved above 1000rpm. For a bike engine, the pressure appears to vary greatly across the rev range (from 8 to 65psi I have seen so far) and even 3000rpm is barely more then tick-over so I changed the dashboard settings to alert of  oil pressure dropped below 10psi when the revs are over 3000rpm. Hope that is ok?

The gear indicator was an easy fix as it was setup for a 5 speed car. Once the correct ratios (and number of gears) was set, the indicator started to work fine. I am sure after a bit of practice I will not need the dash to tell me what gear I am in but while I am learning to drive a bike engined car (BEC), it is an invaluable tool. The only downside is that because it is calculated based on propshaft revolutions, wheel size and speed, when you are stationary, the car hasn’t a clue what gear you are in (unless it is neutral).

The brakes were a little more work as even with a second bleed, they just didn’t feel right.  Once again, Mark at MAC#1 had the answer. I was bleeding the brakes using the lower, inner bleed nipple on each wheel. This is OK but it is better to use the top nipple (apparently) as it is less likely to suck a bit of air in when tightened. What Mark advised me to do was repeat the process using the top outer bleed nipple on each wheel starting with the rear passenger, then rear driver, then front passenger and finishing with front driver. Because the callipers have two chambers, his theory was that there was some air stuck in the outer callipers themselves. He must have been right as the peddle has been rock solid since then which is a big improvement on the spongy initial feel that required a quick pump work at all. Unfortunately, due to rain I was not able to test the improved brakes on the road but there will be plenty of time for that.

I think most of my other observations were more to do with getting used to the car and certainly I found it a lot easier to drive this weekend without worrying about passengers!

So back to the first real drive. Once again, I did a quick lap of the village to check all was well, then headed out along a totally deserted road that goes from our village to a bird sanctuary out on the coast. This road is flat, straight and has great visibility, a ready made test track!

It is on this first leg of the journey that I was able to get my foot down and get a little speed. The car handled it brilliantly, feeling solid and planted at 70mph. The steering felt good and even the ride was not too stiff. I didn’t push it any harder but felt it would cope no problem when I do get the chance (on a track of course!). 70mph took the car to about 6000rpm in 6th gear which means in theory that it should be good up to around 128mph which sound about right. But as with all BEC’s it is the acceleration to get there is the important thing.

If you have never been in a BEC before, it is difficult to imagine the experience. The acceleration is awesome and combines with the glorious noise of the engine screaming as it approaches 10000+rpm to provide an experience like no other. Bike engined cars are not to everyone’s taste as they undoubtedly involve compromises but everyone should experience just what they can do as I promise, it is an unforgettable experience.

Then there is the MAC#1 car itself. Many people will never experience driving (or even riding in) a Lotus Seven style car (like a MAC#1) which is a shame as again, it provides a unique driving experience. You sit with your bottom only an inch or two off the ground, well down in the over all car body. Visibility initially appears to be restricted as you can not see the bonnet at all but you soon realise that it does not matter because you are so low that everything else on the road towers above you so you can’t fail to notice them. It is also great to be able to see the open front wheels (just like a race car). You can really appreciate just how close cars come when travelling in opposite directions or turning in to corners, it is scary stuff if you think about it too long.

So the combination of prodigious acceleration, an engine that sounds like an F1 car and ride and poise that inspire confidence made this first trip something special that I will always remember. In fact the only thing that didn’t go perfectly was that the near side wing mirror was hanging limply by the time I returned home.

So with my confidence in the car much higher, it was time to venture out on to a real road with other cars and everything, besides, I needed to get some petrol as the ‘bastard’ light had been on since that first trip around the block. So I headed off to the nearest petrol garage in the next village (about 4 miles away).

The trip to the garage was exhilarating but uneventful. I kept my distance from other cars an instead concentrated on getting a feel for the sequential gear changes. By the time I arrived at the petrol station, I felt that I had a good grasp on the basics.

My day to day car is a  5  series BMW diesel which gives great MPG but also has a large tank that takes an age to fill. Conversely, the tank in the MAC#1 is only little (about 30lt I think) so does not take too long to fill but also, because I mounted the filler on the rear panel, there is a 90 degree bent pipe that feeds in to the tank. When I put the petrol nozzle in and squeezed, the petrol just sprayed off the back of the pipe and straight back out of the filler. I soon found that all I had to do was feed the petrol in slowly so that it will go in to the tank and not all over my trousers!

With that small but vital mission completed, it was back on to the open roads for a quick blast along some twisting country lanes before the spectra of looming bad weather forced me back home.

So the end verdict, has it been worth a year of my life and enough money to by a brand new Ford Focus?

Well of course it has! I have had a great time building the car, learnt a lot of new skills and made several new friends along the way. As an overall experience, I would recommend building a kit car it to anyone and as an added bonus, I now have an amazing toy in the garage that I will always know that I built myself using my bare hands. If that isn’t something to be proud of then I do not know what is!

There is still more work to be done over the coming months and I am looking forward to learning more about driving the car, getting lots of enjoyment from it and of course my first track day (which will be very soon!).

I have also enjoyed keeping this build diary of my experiences and am glad that I took the time as it is something I will always be able to look back out. But I think this may be the last post for a while as there is not much more for me to say about my car build. It has been fantastic from day one and the fun is only really now beginning. I will probably post a few updates over the coming months but I feel that the this phase of the project is now coming to an end and I can’t wait to get started on the next phase of driving and owning my kit car.

I would like to thanks everyone who has taken an interest in my blog, the support and kind words have made it all worth while.

I would also like to thank all the guys (and girls) on www.locostbuilders.co.uk for their invaluable advice, fellow MAC#1 builders such as Paul, Ashley and in particular Big Rich for the encouragement, inspiration and advice at every turn. I have also met dozens of other builders all of whom have supported each other with encouragement and advice. It is a great club to be in.

My wider family have taken a great interest in the car and always been keen to check on progress when visiting the house.

Mark and Colin at MAC#1 have been totally instrumental in the build of my car. Whatever I have needed help with, they always had the answer and despite me bugging them a lot (at times) they always had time to talk to me. If you are going to build a car then a MAC#1 should be your choice just on the technical support and backup the guys offer alone. I could not have done it without their help.

Mark

Colin 

Finally I have to say a big thanks to Heidi and Hannah who have supported me 100% throughout the last year. Putting up with me talking endlessly about what I was up to and what I had to do next. They have allowed me to disappear to the garage most weekends without a word and have provided encouragement, inspiration and the occasional third hand whenever it has been needed. Again, it would not have happened without their support.

Heidi (wife) & Hannah (daughter)

So all that remains to be said is that if you are contemplating building a kit car, don’t worry about whether you can or should, just do it, you won’t regret it. I know that I don’t!

Have fun.