[carthick1000]

A very interesting choice of 'project' car indeed. Kudos to your friend for such a car. After driving this, probably, he will be very bored of driving normal cars on road. It is so much fun!

Most of us here know Gordon Murray, the chief engineer/designer of McLaren F1 and GMA T.50 . He along with Chris Craft made a similar road legal car with motorcycle engine in the 90s. The company is called Light Car Company and the model is Rocket

THE STORY OF THE LIGHT CAR COMPANY

The story of The Light Car Company Ltd started in the early 1990s when ex-Grand Prix driver Chris Craft and McLaren legend Gordon Murray designed and built the most iconic motorcycle-engine car ever produced: The Light Car Company Rocket.

This car set the standard for future lightweight cars to come, with its incredible power-to-weight ratio and breath-taking road handling. Hand built, using the lessons learnt from years of F1 design, the Rocket remains a must have for many private collectors including famous names such as Jay Leno.

The LCC Rocket and your friend's car have all in common, what I will call, the quintessential setup for a fun to drive car.

• Super Light weight
• Power to weight ratio in supercar territory
• Mid engine rear wheel drive layout
• Driver position/COG as close to the ground as possible
• Double wishbone setup all around
• NA motor which revs ~12k rpm (Rocket uses Yamaha's 1000cc Genesis engine)
• Sequential shifter (I assume your friend used the transmission of the motorcycle too, just like Rocket)
• Wind in the face

It is quite interesting to see the weight is almost in the same territory as LCC Rocket.
Some specs and pictures of LCC Rocket to compare:





















Jay leno's take on the Rocket :

https://youtu.be/gw43m0TVsZE

[BloodyRaven]

Hi Indian2003, this is a smashing work by your friend. The design indeed reminded me of the F1 racecars of the '60s era. Would be interesting to drive this 'jugaad' racecar sometime around a racetrack!

Originally Posted by SenPai_GTi

You don't need to be an engineer to build a car. You just need the experience to know what's right and what's wrong. Your friend certainly has a lot of experience if he's engineered this without a drawing board. I knew an experienced mechanic who is a diploma drop out and he probably had more knowledge about the engines than the engineer who made it. He could literally point out faults and changes that needed to be done even though he had no idea on how to operate a computer.

With all due respect, I do not agree with you on this. Being a mechanical engineer myself, I am aware (if not well versed with all aspects) on what goes into designing, developing and completely building a car. In his post, Indian2003 has shared an 'Assembled' car rather than a fresh build from ground up. Building a car requires a far more detailed analysis than what seems so have undergone here. I would not be surprised if the suspension or the steering arms break-off while cornering the car at high-speeds only because the end product is not 'well engineered'.

Also your comparison between an experienced mechanic and an engineer, is not fair. The mechanic you have mentioned is identifying issues and fixing them. While he may be highly experienced and proficient at his job, would he be able to explain to you the logic behind setting the ignition timing of the engine, or the reason behind selection of a particular bore : stroke ratio?

It is understandable that today's engineering graduates are no experts, but it is improper that you have so easily discounted the contribution of an engineer in building an engine on a forum where we celebrate marvels of engineering - Automobiles. Ironic.

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by Amsdoc

Don't know what the regulations are like in Norway but I don't think this would have run with Sweden, which I initially thought it was. They have extra strict regulations for everything!

It is stricter in Norway than in Sweden. They have been allowed in Sweden for decades. If you have lived there you would have seen the chopped cars around Easter.

The laws were changed to allow this in Norway only 7 years ago. Before that the law said that you had to make one for a crash test.

A friend of mine built a motorcycle with a VW Beetle engine converted to a V4 about 25 years ago. He could not register it.

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I googled Høie44 and the registration popped up straight away:

https://regnr.info/DP47464

Being Dutch I can sort of read Norwegian (and Swedisch), and context makes up for the rest. And otherwise google translate to the rescue
Jeroen

This is a commercial site and you have to pay for more details. The government site is free to use.

You can get the name, address and telephone number of the owner. You can see the mileage of the car at every inspection but you need to log in for that.

https://www.vegvesen.no/kjoretoy/kjo...8yopplysninger

[Amsdoc]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

This appears to be very different from a kit car. Caterham can be bought ready made and as a kit. There is a TopGear episode where Jeremy, James and Richard put one together in less than a day.Morgan are definitely not a kit car. Jeroen

I agree. I just meant that they look like the various kit cars in terms of frame, suspensions and the look in general. Ariel atomesque. Im sure I know someone who built their Morgan as a kit many years ago. But yes, they are not exactly like Caterham.

In any case, the cars built here are incredible and given that Norway is even stricter than Sweden, making road legal variants it is an achievement on an epic scale!

[kaps454]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

All components are made in his shed. The bodywork is rolled out using his knees and pieces of wood. The first one has a stainless steel body while the latest one has an aluminium body.

Just WOW. Just brute force and a few logs of wood.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

This is a commercial site and you have to pay for more details. The government site is free to use.

You can get the name, address and telephone number of the owner. You can see the mileage of the car at every inspection but you need to log in for that.

We have a very similar system here in the Netherlands. And like in Norway the commercial sites tend to pop up above the free gouvernement sites.

I am surprised you can get name and address and phone number of the owner. That is not available here. Not even if you pay for access. I would think it is also a GDPR requirement?

Have you ever been to these so called Short car races in Norway? As I understand it is a standardised kit car, with ready made frames, suspension etc and a variety of engines. Looks like good fun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortcar


Jeroen

[amit_purohit20]

Originally Posted by SenPai_GTi

I knew an experienced mechanic who is a diploma drop out and he probably had more knowledge about the engines than the engineer who made it. He could literally point out faults and changes that needed to be done even though he had no idea on how to operate a computer

Well many people who haven't had an engineering degree might have lots of mechanical /automotive engineering knowledge and they are certainly good at it. Its more about the passion, interest and how much that person slogs his life to achieve what he want to.

But I do not agree to the generalised notion that a person is more intelligent than the designer who designed the machine, just because he is able to find faults with the machine and able to point it or even provide solutions to solve the issues. It just doesn't make that person any smarter than the person who actually made it.

A designer might not be able to pinpoint the issues or solve the problem as fast as a mechanic can because he just doesn't has the right exposure or its not his domain.
A designer should be given due respect for things which he has imagined in his own head when there was no machine , no working model in front of him.

A mechanic is able to find issues and fix it because the designer could not imagine it first hand. The mechanic is able to fix issues what he can see, feel and because he can drive the vehicle.
But what about those hundreds of issues which the designer solved beforehand in his head and those which didn't creep in to the actual machine? Shouldn't he be given credit for it?

Inshort concluding that a mechanic is more intelligent to the designer just because he is able to pin point the issues and fix it is going overboard.

Ask the same mechanic to build a reliable vehicle to a set target cost with the required refinement and that will last for years. Most probably he will struggle.

I would say I have respect for both the persons because they are good in their own domains.

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I am surprised you can get name and address and phone number of the owner. That is not available here. Not even if you pay for access. I would think it is also a GDPR requirement?

Have you ever been to these so called Short car races in Norway?
Jeroen

To log in is free. We have to use a electronic identification that is used for logging in to banks, the tax office and all government services. One can apply for loans online and this mode of identification is as good as your signature.

There are many indians working with this system in Norway.I can log in using my mobile phone or an electronic device.

https://www.bankid.no/en/private/

We can even log in to the tax office and check what your neighbours salary and assets are. This information is wide open for all to see. Your neighbour will then get a message informing them that you have checked his status, the next time he logs in.

There is another site where you can type the number of any vehicle and see who the owner is and about how much loans he has on the vehicle if he had it financed or if debt collectors have claimed rights to the vehicle.

https://www.brreg.no/

A friend of mine had one of these short cars but I have never attended a race here. His car had a Bombardier/KTM engine.

Every winter, the authorities and motoring clubs makes racing tracks on icey lakes to practice driving on snow and ice. This is for everyone to use for free. I have done a few rounds on these. It is fun and tests our limits on what we can do on the roads.

Here is a video of a drive I took on icey roads in a very cold part of the country. I was on my first trip with my new Nokian Hakkapelita snow tyres.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnBsQo4Z4Fs

There is a race track near my place where you can race on the track with a car or a motorcycle. You can even take a ride in a race car. Check out the link and as usual you will need our friend Google.

https://www.rudskogen.no/

[SenPai_GTi]

Originally Posted by BloodyRaven

.......you have so easily discounted the contribution of an engineer in building an engine on a forum where we celebrate marvels of engineering - Automobiles. Ironic.

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

....a mechanic is more intelligent to the designer just because he is able to pin point the issues and fix it is going overboard.

By no means did I intend to downgrade a subsystem engineer who engineered the vehicle. My only motive was to show that even a non-engineer person who is a car enthusiast and has years of experience in vehicles with skilled advisors could build one (except the engine and other critical components). We do not know if the chassis is sufficiently rigid, if there are no compliances in the suspension components or the feasibility of the engine mounts. But we do know that he has done a fantastic job in bringing his project on wheels, registered, up and running. And that's what matters.

Originally Posted by BloodyRaven

In his post, Indian2003 has shared an 'Assembled' car rather than a fresh build from ground up.

The first few lines of his post clearly state that "The cars are made without any drawings. He sort of laid down the pipes on the floor and started to cut and weld.". And that's what I appreciated.

My apologies if I have offended any designers/engineers, I had no intention of doing such a thing.

[Shanky_1002]

Kudos to the Man! He seems like Tony Stark, if he can do this in his backyard after work with limited resources, I wonder what he can do if he gets the right resources and ample time/support at his disposal.

[Indian2003]

I got some pictures taken underway during the build of the second car.