The Locost car

A Locost is a sports car, based on the Lotus 7. There are many variants of the Lotus 7 (Birkin, Caterham, Brunton Stalker) but the Locost was inspired by a book which implies that you can build your own sports car for under £250. In the present day this is not really possible to achieve legally, but it’s still one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on a proper sports car.

The Locost uses a space-frame chassis, made primarily from 25mm x 25mm mild steel tubing. It is a two-seater that is front-engined and rear-wheel drive. The rear axle can be “live” (i.e. solid) or independent. A massive range of variations are available, including limited slip diffs and rotary engines.

While technically a Locost is a “kit car”, it certainly doesn’t come with all the bits bubble-wrapped in a pretty box. In South Africa several of the major components are available in semi-complete form. This includes the chassis, bodywork, panelling, brake lines, fuel lines, fuel-tank etc. However, even if you buy all the premade parts that you can, you still have to scour scrapyards for a diff, handbrake, steering column and radiator. The wiring loom needs to be made up, and there’s no such thing as a complete bolt list. You have to mount all the bits on the chassis, cut off bits that don’t fit, and generally get quite stuck into the building. It’s not a case of “attach bolt B to panel C4, tools needed are a screwdriver and a size 13 spanner”.

Fortunately many people both in RSA and the rest of the world have built Locost-type vehicles. There are a couple of awesome forums (here and here) with very friendly people who will answer every question (even dumb ones – questions, that is, not people). There are also a number of web resources for almost every part of the build. And like most things in life, in big chunks it’s intimidating, but broken down into smaller parts it can all be figured out.

People use their Locost for sunday drives, open track days and racing. An interesting series that is starting is the Locost Formula. The premise behind this racing series is to limit costs, and compare driving ability (rather than pocket depth). The formula is highly limited in terms of what you can do to increase performance – essentially all you can do is create a reliable, well-built car. The engine, tyres, brakes, ECU and minimum vehicle mass are prescribed, resulting in a series that is (relatively) easy on the pocket and meant for fun.