 Locost frame and some body panels. The Locost is a low cost (hence the name) Lotus Seven look-alike described in the book "Build your own sports car for as little as £250" by Ron Champion (ISBN 1-85960-636-9). The automobile can either be built from scratch using the book or bought in kit form. The original book was also followed up with Build Your Own Sports Car: On a budget by Chris Gibbs where the donor car is a Ford Sierra (ISBN 1844253910). The design became so popular that there suddenly was a shortage of mk1 and mk2 Ford Escorts. Image File history File linksMetadata Locost_front_SRF_2005. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Locost_front_SRF_2005. ...
The Toyota Corolla is a compact car produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has acquired significant popularity throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. ...
The Hyundai Stellar (Hangul: 현대 스텔ë¼) is a midsized rear wheel drive car that was produced by Hyundai Motor Company. ...
1967 MGB GT The MGB was Britains best-selling sports car. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1364 × 1023 pixel, file size: 209 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Locost Space frame...
Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1364 × 1023 pixel, file size: 209 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Locost Space frame...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
The Lotus Seven was a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering)[1] between 1957 and 1972. ...
Ron Champion is the author of Build your own sports car for as little as £250 (ISBN 1859606369) and Build Your Own Off-Road Buggy (ISBN 1859606423). ...
Karl Benzs Velo (vélo means bicycle in French) model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race 2005 MINI Cooper S. An automobile (also motor car or simply car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ...
The Ford Sierra was a large family car built by Ford Motor Company in Europe between 1982 and 1993, originally designed by Patrick le Quément. ...
The Ford Escort was a small family car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1967 through 2003. ...
The car features a space frame chassis usually welded together from mild steel square tubing. Front suspension is usually double wishbone with coil overs. The rear has many variants including live axle, independent rear suspension or De Dion tube. Body panels are usually fiberglass nose and wings and aluminium side panels. Each car is highly individual due to home built nature. Simplified space frame roof with the half-octahedron highlighted in blue A space frame is a truss-like, lightweight rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. ...
Look up Chassis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The steel cable of a colliery winding tower. ...
A double wishbone suspension is an automobile independent suspension design using two parallel wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. ...
A live axle is a type of beam axle suspension system that uses the driveshafts that transmit power to the wheels to connect the wheels laterally so that they move together as a unit. ...
An Independent Suspension is an automobile suspension system that allows the wheels on an axle to move independent of each other. ...
A de Dion tube is an automobile suspension technology. ...
Bundle of fiberglass Fiberglass or glassfibre is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Standard atomic weight 26. ...
The car described in the book is built using parts from a Mk1 or Mk2 Ford Escort with front spindles from Ford Cortina, but people building the car have used parts from many different cars to make their version of the Locost. Recently in the UK the Ford Sierra has been the most popular choice. In North America everything from an old Toyota Corolla to a Mazda Miata to small trucks have been used. Rotary (Wankel) engines are also starting to make their way into these nimble cars. The Ford Escort was a compact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1967 through 2003. ...
The Ford Cortina was a medium sized family car sold by Ford of Britain in various guises from 1962 to 1982. ...
The Ford Sierra was a large family car built by Ford Motor Company in Europe between 1982 and 1993, originally designed by Patrick le Quément. ...
World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...
The Toyota Corolla is a compact car produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has acquired significant popularity throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. ...
The Mazda MX-5 is a popular sports car built by Mazda in Hiroshima, Japan. ...
Dr. Felix Heinrich Wankel (August 13, 1902–October 9, 1988) was the German inventor of the Wankel engine. ...
Both Colin Chapman and Ron Champion have a background in the 750 Motor Club and the design of the Locost is based on a Clubman's Race Car designed and built by Ron Champion in 1963. The rear is of course "inspired by" Lotus 7. Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (born 9 May 1928 in London - died 16 December 1982) was an influential designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry. ...
750 Motor Club is an auto racing club in the UK. It was founded in 1939 and was originally for Austin 7 fans (750 refers to the 750cc Austin 7 engine). ...
Many different companies make and sell parts and complete kits for building the car, some examples are MK Engineering (who have continued on the concept and now offer their MK Indy, based on the Ford Sierra), RaceTech with their Lada based ESTfield, Coveland Motorsports (who also makes a chassis for using Mazda Miata parts)[1], DD7 in Umeå, Sweden[2] and many more. A Swedish MK Indy. ...
The MK Indy is a Lotus 7 replica based on the Locost principle, built by MK Engineering in Langold, Nottinghamshire. ...
The Ford Sierra was a large family car built by Ford Motor Company in Europe between 1982 and 1993, originally designed by Patrick le Quément. ...
RaceTech is a company in Estonia that makes karts, the Lotus 7 clone ESTfield and GTest, a two seated, mid-engined sports car kit modelled on the Ford GT40. ...
Lada logo Lada is the trademark of AutoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer. ...
ESTfield is a Lotus Seven-style car manufactured by RaceTech in Estonia either as a kit car or in key ready form. ...
The Mazda MX-5 is a popular sports car built by Mazda in Hiroshima, Japan. ...
DD7 can refer to Didi Seven a Lotus 7 inspired kit car[1] Category: ...
Umeå (IPA: ) is a city and municipality in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden. ...
The Locost is not to be confused with the similarly named Locust which is also a Lotus Seven inspired car. In contrast to the Locost's space frame chassis, the Locust uses a ladder chassis and a body constructed from plywood skinned with aluminium. Locust is a Lotus 7 inspired kit car. ...
The Lotus Seven was a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering)[1] between 1957 and 1972. ...
Simplified space frame roof with the half-octahedron highlighted in blue A space frame is a truss-like, lightweight rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. ...
Look up Chassis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Toy constructed from plywood. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Standard atomic weight 26. ...
 Locosts racing at Brands Hatch in 2005. The Locost has produced one of the most successful championships in UK Club Motor sport, the Formula Locost. Organised by the 750 Motor Club the 2006 championship regularly sees over 40 competitors racing at circuits such as Brands Hatch, Donington, Thruxton and Silverstone, to name but a few. Running with very tight regulations and deliberately limiting costs, the 750 Motor Club have ensured affordable and close competitive racing for the enthusiastic amateur. While it is not really possible to build a race car for the £250 quoted in the title of the book by Ron Champion, it is probably the least expensive form of motor sport available in the UK. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
 A Locost chassis under FEA Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 577 pixelsFull resolution (1020 × 736 pixel, file size: 59 KB, MIME type: image/png) ANSYS Mechanical 8. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 577 pixelsFull resolution (1020 × 736 pixel, file size: 59 KB, MIME type: image/png) ANSYS Mechanical 8. ...
Cost
A common question people ask is if it's really possible to build a Locost for £250. Most build seems to end up at ten times the amount even if some have succeded in making very inexpensive builds. The Locost book design uses a mk1 or mk2 Ford Escort. Those are hard to find and thus expensive. The cost also does not include all the tools you need for the build. The book gives some hints and tips on how to cut the costs for the build that many builders choose to ignore, some examples are - build the chassis from scrap metal instead of buying new
- make your own fibreglass nosecone and wheel arches instead of buying them
- use the rear seat from the donor or one from the junkyard instead of buying new race seats
- use the donor gauges, steering wheel and rims instead of buying new
- buy wrongly mixed paint at a discount and paint the car yourself
- find some aluminium sheet metal at the scrapper(for instance from the side of a van) to use for the bonnet
Some builders have come up with additional cost saving tips - use the sheet metal roof of the donor for the bottom of the chassis instead of buying new sheet metal
- use the gas tank from a Saab 96 or Triumph Spitfire
- use the headlights and chrome rims from an older Volvo 240 and an 8 inch stainless steel salad bowl from IKEA to make the headlights
Various projects have analyzed the strength of the Locost Chassis under Finite Element Analysis for interests sake. The FEA is known to show the original Locost's design to be slightly under engineered. Saab 96 The Saab 96 is an automobile made by Saab. ...
The Triumph Spitfire was a small British two-seat sports car, introduced in 1962. ...
Volvo 240 GLE Sedan The Volvo 200 series is a range of mid-sized automobiles produced by Volvo from 1974 to 1993. ...
IKEA is a privately-owned, international, low-cost home products retailer that sells modern, utilitarian design furniture, much of which is assembled by the consumer. ...
Visualization of how a car deforms in an asymmetrical crash using finite element analysis. ...
This article is about the Middle-earth spiritual concepts. ...
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