Lee was born in the wrong century, 100 years ago they would have been cheering him on in his homemade monster as he chucked it down Pendine sands. He would of either come back in with the world record or his head missing, one of the two.
When he posts pretty much the same build thread on every forum known to man, I find it a little strange… if you are going to ask dozens of people for advice/comment (not only on forums but by pestering people who have businesses to run) and then ignore all their advice anyway I fail to see the point - just keep quiet, build the car in your shed and let it speak for itself when it laps faster than anyone thought it would.
Despite that I have only ever commented on the safety aspect of his build, and the general approach to him trying to get his car quicker.
If you take a step back, for all his radical approach, I’m not sure he achieved anything groundbreaking… he ended up posting times (I won’t go into ‘timing on track days’) similar to an NA Honda with zero bodywork modifications… with supposedly a fair chunk more horsepower.
The difference with the Pendine sands approach (I kinda agree in a way) is that you only endanger yourself… you share a track with many other people and not sure how much sympathy he’d be getting if he’d collected someone else during a track day or even on the road due to a failure on his car of some sort.
As i said, other than his very strange approach to it all has he actually cause anyone loss or damage?
As for the track comment I think muu would have something to say about that. He has had his fair share of unwanted track action and it wasnt from another TT type, far from it. That is the riskyou take, if anything he stands out on track as one to avoid, the guy who smashes into you in the prosche doesnt.
The fact his car went up in flames on track is the best place for it to happen surely? When was the last time you saw a car go on fire and take another one out unless they got tangled in the first place, that can happen to anyone in anything on track, matt cummins exige went up spectacular in the ring race, did he take the rest of the feild out with him?
I agree… having a fire on track was probably very lucky considering the alternatives. It could have been on the road with his 2 year old in the car.
And yes, we all take our chances on track… but there is a difference between someone with a dangerous car and someone who just makes a driving error… would you have been happy getting in and having a drive of TT’s car buddy?
No i wouldnt have driven it, but that is not the point. Im not on here to judge people on how they run their lifes.
i personally wouldnt take a two year old out in a race car (i wouldbt take a two year old out in a lotus full stop) no i wouldnt drive around unisured, tax, mot etc. if that is the true case. But im not privy to the full information so im not going to speculate on it, no one is other than Lee.
I drive down the road everyday, i see women with pushchairs trying to cross the road with the buggy at the edge of the pavement with the wheels out in the road and the mother stood back. Shall i stop and tell them how they are doing it wrong and the danger they are putting their child in? We cant right the worlds wrongs based on one persons actions, these type of people are around us everywhere in everyday life, just they are not so obvious.
I still think Lee should take a break from the forums and do something that will in time draw on the positives.
There’s an established formula for ‘going fast’ in Motorsport; it requires application of money, experience, testing, practice, tuition, skill, appropriate provisons for safety and respect for the law and regulations.
It’s great to be the challenger, to break with convention. But,…being bullish about breaking pretty much all the rules in great detail on pretty much every motoring forum known to man whilst ignoring sage advice…well it’s gonna get people’s backs up. I hate to see the scorn that gets poured but we all know some of the ‘characters’ that lurk online.
I think it’s clear Lee, you seek out and enjoy the notoriety but it’s a double-edged sword bud. Scrap the car, people in the know are saying it’s dead. Step away from the forums,…just forget about 'em.
You’re not exactly got much form when it comes to following advice, but this is a friendly forum and the advice is exactly that…
So yeah, you step out on track you run the gauntlet and once the initial rage dies down you need to be a little more considered about it and not let it consume your brain cycles and drive you down. Move on, it’s just a car, go give the kids a cuddle and sit in front of the TV. Both times I’ve been hit was by well funded, team supported, race cars; go figure. I chewed it over weather to post up about phoenixing my car, and only really posted to here and the engine swap section of seloc. Really we all like a bit of recognition, but everything in moderation eh.
I kinda like Lee and his project, it was certainly entertaining and I liked the approach to aero. I’m skeptical of the rover engine, and always felt that was a false economy considering the used honda parts floating about in the classifieds. Sorry Lee, but I think some of the corner cutting on stuff like fuel line fittings, from what I’d seen is a step too far in economising. You’re a similar build to me too, and well, it a decent amount of mass for the seat etc to contain, again cutting corners is IMO is madness, if I was up against the clock I’d have a proper FIA seat, fire suppression, and leccy cutouts within easy reach.
Car tax, insurance, MOT etc I’m not in a place to comment on as really I’d like to extend the benefit of the doubt. However I’d be fucking livid if such a car, pulling a trailer no less, piled into my road car where I’m potentially carrying my family. I’d didn’t sign up to same ‘shit may happen’ as a track day when I pulled into the M40. Would I carry my 2.5 year old in my Lotus? No. Too small, too fragile.
If my car had gone up in the same way I think I’d be walking away from it. It’s a chassis that was designed for 190hp at most, and sure I’m all for pushing big numbers into them, but it needs to be tip top. The temp tags will be so old by now and won’t let you know about localised heating of the chassis, annealed aluminium goes SO soft once the heat treatment is broken.
In many ways I agree buddy, people have the right to do as they choose (providing it doesn’t endanger other people - I’m not sure ‘testing’ your obviously illegal track car on the road qualifies under those criteria though 
)… and truth is, when we head out on a trackday, it’s completely possible that the quiet guy at the end of the pitlane who never posted anything on the internet at all has a car that is lethal and about to fail at any point…
However, if you take to the internet to publish everything and seek ‘fame any glory’, you can’t really expect to be surprised or complain when people react… I can only liken it to reality TV stars who then complain when their lives are trawled through the press when they do something wrong.
It’s all fun until something goes bad…
This ^
Loved Lees enthusiasm …
I enjoyed reading his thread.
not everyone is well heeled to have it all on a plate !
I’ve really heard and read enough. Glad he survived.
Im just tying to put a little perspective to it that is all. All so easy to label someone a child killer… not that Im defending his actions either, it was ridiculous driving around on the road with that car, of course it was and with a child onboard even more so.
Im not stupid, I don’t think so anyway… Is there anyone on here that didn’t think the car would fail, somehow, at some point, in some sort of spectacular fashion?
Lee is the sort of guy that won’t listen to any advise until he see’s it for himself, even them he may not take it onboard. There was never any chance of helping him, you just have to let him get on with it, what else can you do, ban him off site for being a fool to himself?.
General mockery towards someone I can take and he deserved it in many ways, but direct personal attacks I won’t sit and take. There are 2 sides to every story and seeing as we only have one then no one can judge anything, plenty can pull the pitchfork out though.
Lets face it, Lee stands/stood out like a sore thumb, thankfully for us there aren’t many “Lee’s” on the road (they are out there, but not many). You’d like to think the ones that are out there get picked up by the first self respecting copper that lay eyes on them, that is their job, not mine or anyone else’s.
Good points well made Gav.
Yea bingo, and I think most successful people have a belligerent stripe to them.
As my granddad would say, all fun and games until someone losses an eye, or bollock.
Yep!
slowly slowly, its returning to annoy you all
Great news!
As a structural engineer, any suspension tie-rods needs to be made of steel tubing. Aluminum is just too soft to do any good. Just think about it, the sub-frame is made of steel (granted it is “U” shaped) and your toe link stiffening tie-rod is made form aluminum. Also, the most efficient cross section for a tie-rod is a tube. You have an I-beam shaped tie-rod.
Make it out of steel tubing…it will be lighter and stiffer. And stiffness is what is needed at any suspension pick up point.
It is very shiny and clean looking…I wish my car looked like that…
I guess this is the part you are referring to