The National Kit and Performance Car show, which took place at Donington Park race circuit at the weekend, offered visitors an eclectic mix of kit and sports car activities.
The event, organised by Performance Publishing, which produces Complete Kit Car magazine, has been running for a number of years.
Ian Stent, editor of Complete Kit Car magazine, said: "We've got the big guns of the UK kit car industry here – like Gardner Douglas, Hawk, Great British Sports Cars and Westfield – as well as plenty of parts suppliers.
"What we try to do is take full advantage of the circuit, with racing going on all weekend, as well as offering a mix of displays and demonstrations."
Of particular interest on the Gardner Douglas Sports Cars stand was the T70moda, a car that takes inspiration from the CanAm-winning Lola T70. The beautifully presented example packs a 602bhp 7.0-litre LS7 engine, a Porsche GT2 six-speed transaxle and weighs 950kg.
Great British Sports Cars was also drawing much attention, with the likes of its 'Zero' kit appealing to many buyers. Prices for its small Seven-alike kit start at £2345, and include key components like the chassis, wishbones and body panels, with the remainder of the running gear primarily coming from a Ford donor vehicle.
Many more modern-engined kits were on display too, reflecting the adoption of more recent and common donors as older options, such as the Ford Crossflow, become harder and more expensive to source and maintain.
Engine options offered – and in some cases complete powertrain and suspension set-ups – included those from Mazda MX-5s, the Honda S2000 and the E36 and E46 generation of M3. Numerous Chevrolet V8-engined cars featured too.
Around the show, and in the owner's exhibition field outside, were myriad replicas of supercars and sports cars, including Ferrari 360s and Lamborghini Countachs.
"For many it's about the running costs," notes Stent. "We've had people coming from the real cars into replicas because they couldn't justify spending the money on insuring and servicing them.
"With a replica there are compromises but you can service it yourself, get the bits easily and you don't have to worry about where you leave it at the end of the day.
"There are quite a lot of cars here that aren't replicas or standalone kits as well," adds Stent. "The other side of the industry that we see a lot more of now is companies offering panel kits, like the Bertini."
These new panel kits allow builders to rapidly finish a project and end up in a position where they can immediately drive the car. The changes are only cosmetic so the car doesn't require a costly IVA – Individual Vehicle Approval – test.
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Ravon
Great Article !
Leslie Brook
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EndlessWaves
It is surprising how little variation there is.
johnfaganwilliams
love the comment
Some of the kits - esp. Stratos - look fantastic and I'd love one. Would I move on a real one to do that? Not in a million.
Oktoberfest
johnfaganwilliams wrote:about
If you pour over the forums on various kits like I do (I want a Lister Bell Stratos btw) then you would be surprised how many people have various kits that they have built themselves alongside genuine cars. Lamborghinis, Ferraris etc etc. The reasons are quite genuine. Then there are people like me who always loved the Stratos but the genuine article costs hundereds of thousands and in reality is not that great to drive. I agree that some kits are utter garbage though. A shame as the genuinely good cars are often tarred with the same brush.
Peter Cavellini
Ho hum..........
H_Molemann
Tragic at the end...
As a biker i completely get the smiles per quid of the lightweight road racers & the engineering of Hawk, GD etc is frankly better than some of the originals...
But false Brembos? A Beetle pretending to be a 911?? etc.
In a sane world that would automatically cause your driving license to explode - oops forgot you probs don't have one anyway.
For fox sake.
Saddos.
dukebox9reg
Thats a mk3 MR2 with the
Lewis Kingston
RE: Mk3 MR2
aidentebbutttrrtka
Great article but...
It is great to see that kit car shows are making it into main pages, but there is an error on your description of photo 37, this car is not an AMG Murtaya. Whilst it is a Murtaya and I am sure an AMG powered version would be an interesting beast to handle and many people would be interested in seeing it, this is a Subaru Powered Car.
It is good to see the Arden Automotive built vehicle in print however.
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