Locost Mk1 - The Background

Unlike most people who came across 'the book' and decided they could probably just about afford £250 to build a car, I first came across the Locost idea in an issue of Car and Car Conversions. The article also happened to mention that a single make race series was being set up for Locosts by the 750MC which made it even more interesting. At the time I was at university studying for a degree in Automotive Engineering and was looking for some form of kit/racing car to build cheaply, I also had a brother in law who fancied being a racing driver and who more importantly had enough spare cash to donate to the cause to make it a reality.

Now back in the 'olden days' building a Locost was something more of an adventure than it is today. For one thing the whole idea was widely viewed as either a bit of a joke or at best a two minute wonder by the majority of the kit car industry. As unlikely as it sounds now the majority of companies were on the whole extremely unwilling to sell any of their parts to someone not able to prove they were actualy building one of their cars. Very few people had actualy finished a Locost either and the internet forums and mailing lists that there are today simply didn't exist so there wasn't anything like the vast knowledge base that is avilable to builders now. What you were basicaly left with was 'the book', the pictures from the CCC article and two companies; Stuart Taylor Motorsport and MK. As I deemed that life was too short to weld a chassis together (the errors in the original book weren't widely known at this stage either so it was probably an even wiser decision) and make your own fibreglass bodywork we gave Ian Grey a ring at Stuart Taylor Motorsport and purchased one of his finest chassis kits with a vivid orange powdercoat and matching bodywork set in oxford blue.....