SKCC - Southern Kit Car Club. A Club for kit car owners across Southern England. Kent, Sussex, East Hants, Surrey, Berks, Middlesex, London

My kit has a 2L turbo so more like the power of a v8...

My road car is only 698cc and is hoot to drive.

I am quite happy with my 1660 crossflow, but the 1691 one I had was the dogs bits, and will be back in soon
ive had a 1300 crossflow, and being beaten at lights by chavs is not very cool

If the car is light, then a small revvey engine is the way to go

steve

I think both have their place.

For me a seven is all about light weight, agility, brakes, light responsive controls and these traits in a car are best suited to a smaller lighter engine IMO.

As for bigger CC engines they can be great too. But for me they change the seven dynamics. For example a Morgan 3.7 V6 is a great GT car. It will cruise down the Autobahn at 100+ with ease but it does not brake, have the sharpness of turn in or grip levels of a seven. It is a different compromise; one I like just different.

The Ultima is very quick but the controls are heavy, it is very wide and you would need to be crazy to try and drive it on the road to the point you where extending yourself IMO. That said it will cruise down the motorway and is pleasant on a journey.

Other than the gearbox noise, the Westfield is the car of choice for a blatt for me. 1800 cc engine and everything minimalised to make it light and responsive.

I think a '7' should be about agility, deft handling and a smooth & precise driving style. A smaller, lighter engine would lend itself perfectly to these traits. Working the 'box to keep the engine 'on-cam' and the speed up, precisely measured braking on approach to a corner, then working to retain as much momentum as possible as you sling-slot out of a corner, having clipped the apex perfectly.

I've had some amazing drives in the hills/mountains in Cyprus & Spain in 1.2 litre Fiat 500 hire car. You've got no power to drag you out of a corner, so maintaining entry/exit speed is so important. And there is more TIME to get it right, and also more time to curse yourself when you get it wrong and scrub off a few mph.

Having said all that - Speed/Power is addictive for some/me, and I'm not sure you can really ever have enough power. You don't have to use it all, all of the time, but it's nice to have it.

Torque is good, torque is fun, but torque can make you lazy and can cover up driving mistakes or inadequacies. I like torque, so I'm not really sure how I'd get on with a bike engine car. They don't really appeal to me (unless it was an outright track car), although I've never driven one.

I must say that the old MKII Escort 1600 Sport was great fun, actually could be quicker than an RS2000 because it had less weight up front.

Depends on the car, how you drive it, what you have it for, etc..

I am building the Nova with a larger, more torquey engine specifically so that it is more lazy and easy going.

Tax is no issue for me on an historic class, so I went with a 2.5L Subaru lump to replace the wheezy air-cooled 1600.

With the peak of 1930's technology (Beetle) really being the underpinnings of the whole car then it's never going to be a light and nimble B-Road car. And as many 911 owners have found out to their peril, trying to feed the power on out of a corner in the wet the the pendulum of your engine hanging behind the rear axle is, whats the phrase - risky? problematic?

You see the thing is I will use the car every day, so laid back, reliable, and usable power was the aim of the game.

If I wanted a track weapon then, firstly, I wouldn't have chosen a Nova!
But for that use I'd be happy to have a narrow power band / turbo-nutter-b*stard / rev monster, because I wouldn't be living with it daily, and lets face it, it is satisfying and fun to tame a nutter car!

V8 every time!

Last car was 2.0l Pinto and does not come close to a V8. My V8 is same weight as Pinto anyway with my IVA certificate saying my Dax is 775kg all in including tank of fuel so very nippy and agile but is also a lovely cruiser too so V8 is best of both worlds.

Both have their good points, but a v8 soundtrack is hard to beat.

But as I'm building a v8 powered car at the moment I may be biased