Stuart Taylor Blade BEC as p/x - Opinions pls!

[moochofun]

After my old man getting the bug with my megablade, he has put his Ultima up for sale. He has been offered a blade engined Stuart Taylor '7' type car. It looks fairly good to me, but info on spec is a little thin on the ground and I don't know much these types of cars - buyer not builder .

"The car was registered as Q plate in Oct 2001 and has around 3500 miles on it.  I am the builder and 1st owner and have not had any problems at all over the mileage.  It went to Le Mans last year and didn’t drop a beat for all 1300 miles…

The engine is an 898cc Honda Fireblade (pre-cat) which has a modified sump (higher to get over speed humps) and larger carb needles (to offset the lack of the bikes ram air scoop).  Drivetrain is an English Live Axle and custom made propshaft.  Brakes are Escort standard drums on the back and multipot lightweight alloy callipers and disks on the front."

The chap wants around £5k for it - does that sound reasonable? I have some piccies of it but I'm at work and can't get into my photobucket account - dang internet police!

Any info/advice would be grand

Ta

[westy666]

sounds a bit cheap to me ... could be a bargain - could be a lemon.

If he's the original builder he should be boring you to tears with infinite detail IMO

[moochofun]

I was thinking it was a bit cheap too, but I'm comparing that with the price I paid for mine (which I still think as a bargain!).

Thanks for your reply, I'll wait and see if anyone else has more info before getting back to the auld man.

Ta

[Al Yupright]

I've seen a few of these cars go for 5K in the past.

ChrisG has one. They handle really well, are fast. Just inspect it to make sure it is built to a good standard.

[lespaul]

There is one for sale on the Stuart Taylor web site too here bit more expensive though.

Darren

[samcooke]

£5k is fine.

As Al says, build standards vary, but there's no reason a good un won't work as well as a megablade.

Live axle will mean a less settled ride over bumpy B roads than the independent rear suspension on the westy, but live is lighter and on track there's nowt to choose.

[moochofun]

Thanks for the info guys.........I guess it's just wait and see.

Ta muchly

[oioi]

£5k sounds about right to me too.  The stuart taylor cars are one of the better locost kits.  well worth having a look and see what you think of the car.

[ChrisG]

Yep Ive always envisaged a rough value of ~£5-6k for mine if I ever sold it, probably nearer £6k now Ive upgraded to the injected R1 engine and Nitrons etc.

As for the car, dont expect Westie quality GRP because you'll be sorely disappointed. The external GRP finish is passable, but its quite variable on thickness and inside layup finish, because they don't use the fine finishing mat like Westfield etc.

As a cheap track / fun car though they are great, it can certainly hold its own against an equivalent Westie on track. Having also driven several Westie BECs, the live axle setup does seem to have very slightly less overall grip but compensates by being a bit more predictable and communicative on the limit. Here's a vid of mine going round

with the blade engine to give you an idea.

The live axle is a handicap on bumpy roads though, so if he's planning on mostly Sunday B road drives then an IRS car such as a Megablade would be a better long term bet.

Chris