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FEATURES & REGULARS:
CLASSIC COACHWORKS - Stent pays a visit to newly established Tribute Automotive outlet, Classic Coachworks.
NEWS - New cars, industry developments and more to keep you up to speed.
PRE-LIT WESTFIELD - Unstarted 1980s kit built to IVA standard. Is it as easy as it sounds?
ULTIMA SPORTS - Russell Horner has owned six Ultimas, but with his latest he has settled on one to keep.
AUTOTUNE ANNIVERSARY - Auto tune celebrates 50 years in 2019, so we take a look through the photo album.
PRODUCTS - All the latest gear we reckon you’ll want for your car and garage.
CLUBS - What’s been going on with you and your cars? Let us know!
LETTERS - We love hearing your opinions on all things kit car related. Keep them coming!
AXON: MISPLACED ENTHUSIASM - Gary isn’t a fan of Cobra replicas, but will new book Snakes Alive! make him a convert?
FAME - Show us your kit car, and you might see it in our Fame pages!
TALKING SHOP - With new investment and ambitious plans, there’s lots to catch up on at XCS Designs.
RACE DIARIES - Mixed fortunes among our team of race reporters as the 2019 season gets underway.
CARS FOR SALE - Looking for something new to occupy your garage? Start your search here.
FINISH - Here’s what went on behind the scenes in the making of this issue.
EVENTS:
EVENTS DIARY - Updated with new entries every issue, here’s where you can see what’s coming up.
CLASSIC MOTOR SHOW - We were at Ragley House for the Classic Motor Show - with free entry for CKC readers.
SOUTHERN CLASSICS GATHERING - James Horsley gets along to the most recent Southern Classics gathering.
PETROLICIOUS AT BICESTER - Highlights from the first Petrolicious meeting at Bicester Heritage.
LONDON TO BRIGHTON - Were you on the London to Brighton Kit and Sports Car Run? You might see yourself here!
CKC/OMEX AT LLANDOW - Photos from our first track day of the year. Don’t miss Blyton Park in August!
WORKSHOP:
READER'S BUILD: PILGRIM SUMO - Craig Amor built his Pilgrim Sumo twice over so he could get all the details just right.
OUR CARS - The ups and downs of life in kit cars according to the Complete Kit Car team.
ENGINE PROFILE: CHEVROLET LS John Dickens tells what you need to know when buying, tuning and running an LS.
RUNNING REPORTS - Our team of Running Reporters have been busy in their garages again.
Occasionally, we get the opportunity for a bit of a skive and the most recent office jolly we had was to the SMMT Test Day at Milbrook Proving Ground. It’s a day where a number of car manufacturers bring their latest offerings together for journalists to try on the hill route - and the outing is worth it for the track alone. Its mix of fast and slow corners, blind crests and cambers mean you could have fun driving a misfiring Trabant around there. Get the keys to, say, a V10 powered Audi R8, just as Jack and I did for our first drive of the day, and you’ll definitely be awake by the time you come back to the paddock.
Some of the Audi’s stats make for an interesting comparison to the kind of cars we’re more used to driving at Complete Kit Car. It has 612b hp and a list price of just over £125,000. On those figures alone, we’d be comparing it to, say, an Ultima Evolution or Cobra replica with a Chevy LS V8 engine from the hotter end of the scale and pocketing enough change for at least one other car. A direct comparison between a kit car and something like an Audi R8 is, of course, a nonsense. No kit car will offer the level of refinement the production car does, and nor will it be as easy to live with on a day to day basis. But much of that ease of use stems from the car’s nannying
electronics. There’s no doubt about it, most of the time it doesn’t let you have all that power. The Audi is fun, but driving it is not an event in the way it is with a well resolved kit car. Which is why there will always be a place for the analogue, connected and raw experience offered by a kit car. We’re increasingly meeting people who have added a kit car to their stable of supercars just so they have something that offers something that the mainstream industry cannot. Long may that continue.
Adam Wilkins
