And so we begin...

Greetings...

Well here we are. 1st post having just returned from collecting my MNR Vortx Kit. Some pics from today are intermingled with the tosh I've written thus far.

So where to begin?

Let's get the dull stuff out of the way. I'm 27 and from Cardiff. I've recently bought a house (with a garage!) with my incredibly patient and beautiful girlfriend Julia. I work as a Planning Manager in the food industry. I am totally car mad - I have been since I was about 16.

I've owned all sorts of cars from Peugeot GTis and Ex-rally Novas to an imported Mazda MX-5. A couple of years ago, I fulfilled a dream and bought my first (ready built) bike engined kit car. The car, an MK Indy with a Honda CBR1000 engine, was the king of bling. Big wheels, all black, chrome and polished aluminium. If an american rapper owned a 7 it probably wouldn't look too different! It was a great car, it still looks lovely. However, I got bitten by the trackday bug and suddenly realised that big wheels, showy chrome and carpet were no longer what I wanted.

The car was sold (eventually - Tip No.1 NEVER expect to get what you paid for a kit/kit car back when you sell) and the search began for it's leaner, meaner replacement. After narrowing the search down to Raw Striker, Procomp LA Gold and MNR Vortx I opted for the latter. Reasons are numerous but in summary, it was (in my eyes at least) better value, better quality and crucially easier to put together. This is my first build after all.

I haven't scrimped on the spec - I've gone for the RT+ kit with inboard dampers. I nearly went for the top-of-the range Super but determined that I'm not a good enough 'wheel-man' to reap the benefits. I've also strayed from the norm in terms of my roll-bar, scuttle panel, fuel tank and button operated gearshift to name a few. Chris and Marc @ MNR were extremely helpful (Tip No.2 Just ask!) The car is to be powered by a last-in-the-line carb-fed Yamaha R1 engine (5JJ for those in the know.)

I've been collecting parts for about 12 months and placed my order in September. This means that most of the stuff is ready to go which should mean that the build is a relatively quick one. It also helps that the car isn't being built for road use so I can leave a load of stuff off. It has two primary uses:

1. Get me around as many UK racetracks on trackdays as possible.
2. Give me my first motorsport experience in the forms of Sprints and Hillclimbs.
   

I hope that this blog is of some use to someone - I'll do my best to keep it updated.

As it stands, the kit is still in the van waiting for the paint to dry in my new garage (I'm not kidding.) Should be good-to-go by the morning.

TC