The first detailed spec of the car came close to that of Tiger so weve taken out some expensive luxuries. We've gone for the MNR Vortx RT(road and track) with the better inboard suspension. The setup is similar to that of MNR's track focused car without the complete adjustability of rose joints which would make an amazing handling car but we couldn't see ourselves tweaking it all that much. An inboard has the advantages of using the Cortina front uprights with the shocks and springs mounted inside the chassis operated with push rods. This offers lower unsprung weight and there is less movement in corners as the shock and spring don't have to travel far as they're closer to the pivoting point of the wishbones.
Right boring stuff over with and onto power :) we chose the Yamaha fuel injected R1 engine(5PW). Its not the cheapest (especially compared to car engines) but should be very reliable, easy to plumb in and fly through the Single Vehicle Approval scheme(SVA) as emissions can be controlled through the power commander on a laptop. This should be a brutally fast car weighing less than 400kgs packing over 152bhp. This equates to a power to weight ratio of more than 380bhp/tonne which is truely into supercar territory. However it's only 998cc and will be as cheap to tax as a vauxhall corsa. The gearbox is sequential to save weight and make shifting faster. Instead of an H pattern arrangement we have 1st - down to neutral - down to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th then up to go down the gears. We're going to make or adapt our own paddle shift so our hands remain on the wheel. We have ditched the reverse box(£700) in favour of pushing the car as it's extra weight and effort on the engine and gearbox. This might not turn out to be a smart move, but after all it isn't going to be used in the usual supermarket situations.
We almost opted for comfy leather padded seats but after testing the variety of seats on offer we opted for light GRP seats. They look hard and uncomfortable but once you're strapped in you wouldn't even notice and are also significantly cheaper being a single piece item. The only options I think we added are wind deflectors, a boot box and splash guards on the rear arches. The car is almost a standard RT inboard spec, bare of options to keep it as light as possible but it does have all the important bits; a highly recommended chassis and an amazing light power plant, what more do you need in a 7.
