Is there a market for this type of car?

[Bob]

I am courious to know if there is a market out there for this type of car and what type of person would purchase it. Is it the weekend racer or someone who wants to race professionally? (SCCA, etc.) Also, how much would you think someone would pay for it?

[Bob]

I am courious to know if there is a market out there for this type of car and what type of person would purchase it. Is it the weekend racer or someone who wants to race professionally? (SCCA, etc.) Also, how much would you think someone would pay for it?

[RS]

Yes, I think there is a large market for these cars for the recreational racer. The guy who would race karts but the lack of perceived safety keeps them away. The price point would have to less than $15k because if you go more than that you run into a lot of competition. To really grab this group you would need a spec sealed engine and a spec tire with a hard compound.

Personally I can't understand why these cars aren't on the market!

[Dominic Venieri]

only change that'd need to be made is the steering rack ahead of the driver's feet, which is required by the GCR. essentially, these cars are the same as you find underneath a DSR body (albeit they have 1000cc motors).

it's a tough market to break into however. i've been working on a business plan for exactly that - a motorcyle powered car that can be bodied as a formula car or a sports racer (just like the new SCCA enterprises car) and several other companies that are out there. To get a car at a decent price point, you need to build in volume, which is tough. Plus, to get the car homologated can be very political. And to attract buyers, you need to race a prototype and win with it. No one wants to drop bank on a car that is gonna be at the back of the pack. And if you want to start a series, you need to sell A LOT of cars, because everyone wants big run groups.

Just some insight I've gathered. Anyone else look into building and marketing these (or similar) cars?

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[RS]

Dominic,
I would agree that it would be tough to sell these cars into a SCCA demographic. The biggest money issue with the SCCA is the cost of the race. $200 races add up fast.

I know of two companies who are working on cars that will be marketed as scale versions of full scale cars. Imagine a Mini Cup car (http://www.minicup.com/ or http://www.scaleracingleague.com/) for road racing. They are planning an open wheel car, Sports Racer and GT cars. I'm not sure what engine they are planning to use but a 600cc MC engine would be perfect.

If you designed these cars right they could be run on kart tracks, road courses, oval or for autocrosses. That would be a big selling point. As for a dealer network, it would open up both kart shops and motorcycle dealers.