SKCC - Southern Kit Car Club. A Club for kit car owners across Southern England. Kent, Sussex, East Hants, Surrey, Berks, Middlesex, London

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fisher-Fury-road-legal-track-car/174085009379?_mwBanner=1&ul_ref=https%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F0%2Fe11021.m43.l3160%2F7%3Feuid%3De95def63807741b1bd39fce7013f99c7%26bu%3D44828252336%26ut%3DRU%26loc%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.co.uk%252Fulk%252Fitm%252F174085009379%26sojTags%3Dbu%3Dbu%2Cut%3Dut%26srcrot%3De11021.m43.l3160%26rvr_id%3D0%26rvr_ts%3D35cdc04116e0ad326a92b38dffe89ff0&ul_noapp=true&pageci=926435b5-a388-4e7b-8e0a-87cd3c69a57b

I was looking at this Ad and thought “that’s insane - too much power and torque surely?!”. At the end of the day, I guess it depends on set-up/how it puts it down and the ability of the driver.

So is there such thing as “too much” in something as light as your cars - ‘In your opinion...’ is there a sweet spot?

Mike

I follow a blog of a guy who had a Caterham 620R and he sold it because he said it just had too much power for the road and he could never use it to anywhere near it's full potential (he now races in the Caterham series instead in, ironically, a very low-powered Caterham).

Personally, I have never had the luck to experience that much power - my 150bhp Zero scares me enough that I've never felt the need for more, although I'm sure I could get used to it .

At the end of the day, the power is controlled by your right foot - you can still do 30mph in a Veyron if you want.

My caterham had more power than i could use .
The 620 range is mental.
There is an excellent westfield on pistonheads
..owned by one of skcc members..
Mazda powered and it has a lot of extras .
In yellow and at 9.5k..its a great buy

So is there such thing as “too much” in something as light as your cars - ‘In your opinion...’ is there a sweet spot?

Yep there's def an amount that is too much, but to a degree that would be related to how its delivered. FWIW with my old engine which was circa 230bhp, the car was no more rapid in some cases as lower powered cars, as it needed to be rev'd more to get that power - and on the road that wasn't always possible.

Is there a sweet spot? ask 100 people and get 101 different views....my own, 200-280'ish. Yep it's not always usable, but it is there is needed, and personally i'd rather know that i can do an overtake with capacity 'in hand'.

Ultimately, depends on what someone wants from a 'kit', poodle down to the pub, go to a show or have a spirited drive. The overall answer may be - how often do you see Cobra replicas/kits driven hard on the road......and i suspect the answer you'll come to is rarely; Which suggests they're all spec'd for power that's hardly used?

Thing with a kit is that the driving is so raw that in reality you can get a buzz without oodles of power...for some, it's just nice to have

I must admit that I rarely use all that I have but when the roads are dry and especially on the mountain passes in Europe I use it all and am left wanting more. My engine is undergoing a re-fresh at the moment and will come back with a little extra.

I only have 125bhp, if it wasn't so damned expensive to upgrade, I could make use of 150 on a track day. On the road however, it is surprising how few times I use all the performance I have.

I do find my Seven great fun and certainly not intimidating in the dry, it is a really nice balance of grip and power. I do feel a bit inadequate comparing my engine to other members though

Way too much power, anything over 20BHP in such a light car is a waste

I'll get my coat

I think it was torque figure that got me more than the bhp. I’m too much of an untalented pr*ck to be trusted with that.

Maybe thats why he has had it up for sale over the last 2 and a bit years
(sorry crossed over to the other side at mo and got the wife an MX5)as well as me to use.

Rexholme wrote:I think it was torque figure that got me more than the bhp. I’m too much of an untalented pr*ck to be trusted with that.

Too be honest it depends on how it is mapped. The Phoenix ran 400BHP & 300 ft lb and it was pretty easy to drive. You couldn't use all the power on the road because you would run out of road but it wasn't an evil thing to drive. The Zeus has way more Power to Weight and is still not evil to drive.