Are there any more photos of the actual MX5 kit? Most of the photos I've seen are of his one-off he built. Some interesting stuff like the shock mounted outside the pocket:
Are there any more photos of the actual MX5 kit? Most of the photos I've seen are of his one-off he built. Some interesting stuff like the shock mounted outside the pocket:
Looks like that's the Miata-based car, it's certainly not the MG. Glad to see it's coming together. And yeah, that's an interesting way to mount the shock. WIth that spring length, I'll bet they were fouling the halfshaft in the stock location.
There was a LOT of discussion of the 184 when it first released, I posted as many pictures of the kit as I was allowed at the time and it was pretty clear that orders had opened. I thought. If you want to talk to the vendors, Dowsetts are the adults in the room. https://tipo184.com/contact/
Original thread.
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/is-this-the-coolest-miata-based-kit-ever/179695/page1/
Note that I am not involved in this project at this time, I think I wasn't interesting enough for Ant because I kept asking questions like "who owns the inventory?" instead of just saying "yes! yes!" and it was easier to just move ahead without me. I think it's an awesome project but I don't think it'll turn into a race series in the US.
Pictures of the kit parts are on the Tipo website.
Keith Tanner said:Looks like that's the Miata-based car, it's certainly not the MG. Glad to see it's coming together. And yeah, that's an interesting way to mount the shock. WIth that spring length, I'll bet they were fouling the halfshaft in the stock location.
There was a LOT of discussion of the 184 when it first released, I posted as many pictures of the kit as I was allowed at the time and it was pretty clear that orders had opened. I thought. If you want to talk to the vendors, Dowsetts are the adults in the room. https://tipo184.com/contact/
Original thread.
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/is-this-the-coolest-miata-based-kit-ever/179695/page1/
Note that I am not involved in this project at this time, I think I wasn't interesting enough for Ant because I kept asking questions like "who owns the inventory?" instead of just saying "yes! yes!" and it was easier to just move ahead without me. I think it's an awesome project but I don't think it'll turn into a race series in the US.
Pictures of the kit parts are on the Tipo website.
Apologies - I know you weren't directly involved (or assumed), I had been keeping a half eye on it and didn't ever see US pre-orders open.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Also: Yeah, the pictured car is definitely different than all the other photos I've seen and appears to have a BP stuck in it at the very least. I'm seeing lots of miata in this one. No sway bars and odd shocks along with it's very interesting weight distribution (might be better than a regular miata? Exocet's are nose heavy, driver in the back makes me think this one might be better...?) makes me wonder if they've started tuning it's behavior at speed yet or ??
I don't think there were ever specifically US pre-orders, they're all just pre-orders. If you live in the US, they'll deliver it in the US via (handwaving, we'll figure that out).
The Tipo website says about 55% front. It's what happens when you make the body lighter, the engine stays the same so it becomes a higher percentage. They do move it back quite a bit from the Miata though, so I'd expect it to be better than an Exo overall. Overall weight is quoted at 700 kg (1540 lbs) but UK kit manufacturers are notoriously optimistic with weight claims in my experience. That's a similar ballpark to a US Exo, though.
If you see any Miata at all, it's the "new" car. There's only one of the MG-based ones and it's a very different beast. I did have a chance to check it out earlier this year, it's a very cool build. And not small. I snapped this while we were shooting inside the garage nearby, the car was just abandoned after some racetrack playtime :)
I do have some closer pics of the MG-based car if anyone's interested, although it's more of a proof of concept than a prototype for the Miata-based kit.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
What a lovely profile that car has!
"Overall weight is quoted at 700 kg (1540 lbs)"
That's heavier than I thought it would be! My full cage exocet is 1550 ACTUAL - though I do know the BP engine makes up a lot of that....
Also, also I'm always interested in more pictures! I really like that above shot, super cool.
I suspect your Exocet is a little lighter in the wheel/tyre department, for one :) And there's actual bodywork on this thing!
as requested. Note again that this is more the proof of concept and is the subject of a Motor Trend series. The Miata-based kit takes strong inspiration and possibly body molds from this, but not everything. The engine and transmission are offset in this, but you straddle the trans in the Miata kit. Still has a side shifter but there will be no left foot braking.
If anyone wants to see it in person, last time I saw it the thing was parked in the lobby of the Bondurant racetrack building in Phoenix. I think that's the US base of operations for Tipo.
In reply to accordionfolder :
I thought it would have been lighter but the original car was around the same weight.
My Locost was right about 1200 lbs wet, and it had much less bodywork than this, no factory subframes and a considerably smaller footprint. Same drivetrain. That big long snout comes at a cost.
It'll be fast enough to be good fun, especially with your butt that high off the pavement and the contact patches wandering around. Many US owners will want to build it with some ridiculous engine, missing the point.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Thank you for the pictures! The original was a well finished beast. I guess it hasn't sold yet? https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/ANT-ANSTEADS-1938-ALFA-ROMEO-ALFETTA-158-RE-CREATION-246836
It was - obviously - wrong, but I was thinking it'd be closer to 1200, but I understand why it'd be more. I think that car with a healthy 1.8 or vvt in it would be an absolute riot PERIOD. The consumables would be nill, though honestly I'd probably run it on the 14" wheels that come with NA's and slide the mess out of it. I am curious to hear how the "real thing" drives though - the driving dynamics would be important. I would also immediately cut off those 4 extra fake pipes on the exhaust....
Tom1200 said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
The appeal for me is exactly "crazy slip angles" I find that most fun.
I like watching those old videos of Juan Fangio or Stirling Moss or those guys lapping around Monaco or the other GP tracks back in the day. They could show the present day drift crowd a thing or two about sideways car control. 
In reply to stuart in mn :
Just watch Goodwood. I've got some time in Formula Vees on treaded tires and you can 4 wheel drift them everywhere.
I've run really tall Avon bias ply tires on the Datsun and those are good fun, not as fast as the Hoosier vintage tires but the Avons have really tall sidewalls that make it possible to reach huge slip angles and stay there.
In reply to accordionfolder :
If you've watched Goodwood or similar those Blockley tires are used on most of the prewar entires. From memory they are about $220 to $280 depending on sizes.
If I were going to switch wheels I'd go with some very narrow 15" Panapsorts or similar looking wheel. While the wires look great I wouldn't want to deal with them.
Agreed on the faux 8 cylinder exhaust.
In reply to accordionfolder :
Ah, I'd missed that it was being auctioned. I took those pictures when down in AZ in late January.
The fake exhaust pipes are a test to see if you see this as a track toy or vehicular cosplay. I'd leave them in place because, well, they don't cause any harm and it's not an Offy-powered Indy car. The biggest problem will be the sound. Not just the spec Miata blare, but even the MG based car has an old car putter. I've heard a Bugatti Type 35 replica and they don't sound like old cars. They sound like they're tuned to an inch of their lives and have that nervous bank when you blip them. Not much you can do about that, though.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
A Cosworth BDA would fix the exhaust note..............and double the price of the finished car.
Still wouldn't sound like the real thing, though. They were supercharged straight 8s. I'm not sure if you could make them sound sharp enough to channel the real thing. You can make a BP bark pretty well as well by stuffing a few dollar bills inside.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I've never hated the way they sound honestly - Spec miata on the other hand.....
This is a recording of a high compression 1.6 Miata engine with throttle bodies doing a flyby as part of a braking test. That's just about 150 hp at the wheels and 1200 lbs. Sorry, there was no YouTube at the time so all I have is a file on the server.
http://www.cheapsportscar.net/video/brake_test_flyby_2.m4a
And another - I can't embed it because it's not on a streaming site, but your browser should play it directly. Figure we lose about 15% power up here, that means the acceleration isn't too far off what you'd see from the same engine in a 1400 lb car at sea level.
http://www.cheapsportscar.net/video/Corvette_autocross_FTD_big.mov
Well the Datsun A-series engine in my 1200 has a very Italianate sound had it would take 150lbs out of the car.
Agreed nothing is going to sound as good as the original Alfa engine. I've heard them on track and they are super cool.
I just found this video on YouTube which was posted a few days ago. It's about 30 minutes long and re-ignited my desire for more information on this. Does anyone (<cough>Keith!<cough>) know anyone who's ordered or is in the process of building one of these?
I'm out of touch, I don't think I could keep Ant's interest. I know he was still looking for some help with US distribution last fall. The whole thing blew up far bigger than expected so they were waaay on the back foot.
AFAIK, it's being based out of Bondurant in Phoenix. I think they're planning on doing on-site builds there with new owners and that's where deliveries will take place.
They still look like an absolute riot.
Embedded the link stroker posted for ease!
This video was - oddly - recommended to me today as well and then this thread resurfaced - ha.
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