Welcome to totalkitcar online…

Had an enquiry last week from a reader asking an interesting question. How come he was quoted £2500 to insure his 17-year old son’s Vauxhall Corsa but just 20 per cent of that figure if the car was a mildly-powered kitcar. Why? Well, I’m no insurance expert but I guess the fact is that because there are hundreds of thousands of Corsas and similar driven by young drivers, who, let’s face it, have quite a few knocks and biffs. However, due to the lower numbers and therefore less incidents, kitcars are cheaper to insure it seems.

Another bonus point for kitcars of course, and the fun a youngster would enjoy in say, a Midas or a GTM Rossa, would be immense and as a devoted advocate of the ‘smiles per mile’ offered by a well-built kitcar even a policy with restricted miles is excellent value-for-money, especially with ‘ordinary’ insurance policy premiums going through the roof…

Welcome to totalkitcar online...

For the very latest kitcar-related NEWS HEADLINES……all you have to do is

CLICK HERE

Tornado TS40 in the NEWS this week.

Don’t forget…………that we’ve joined forces with our friends at Castle Combe circuit for their AJEC Racing Summer Performance Car Action Day on Saturday, September 11th and we’re evoking the memory of the good old kitcar action days that ran from 1985-1999 by having a tkc mag area in the paddock AND some dedicated kit car track sessions. Just like the old days. More information from www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk

Look out in the coming weeks for a competition to win free passes for this GREAT event on Saturday, September 11 (I erred with the date earlier, sorry!) with a free entry tickets and track passes worth £55 each. Stay tuned…

AJEC Performance Car Action Day at Castle Combe Circuit will feature a kitcar area and tracktime, sponsored by TOTALKITCAR...

tkc Mag JULY/AUGUST 2010 is in the shops NOW and if you CLICK HERE you’ll be able to see a couple of snippets from the mag to hopefully tempt you into buying a copy! The link above takes you directly to our online bookstore. You can also order from us mail order as we have ample stocks.

In this issue we have lots of reading matter for you as always including features on the superb, and new, RoadRunner Racing SR2, Sylva J15, Geoff Page Racing, Le Mans Coupes profile, MK Midi, a Michael Quaife profile, a very special reader’s Ultima GTR, an equally lovely Pilgrim Sumo and a visit to Great British Sportscars, plus a bit more besides and all the regular ‘taking care of business’ stuff.

We’d love you to give us a try so if the above ‘menu’ has rendered you smitten you can go straight to the shop and checkout, while waving your fiver, metaphorically speaking (NO POSTAGE, UK), or you might like to ‘sample’ it before you buy by trying our new flipper clicker thingy - HERE!

If you want to purchase from us CLICK HERE - POST-FREE UK or HERE for EUROPE or even HERE for the REST of the WORLD – incidentally, if you’re having trouble locating a copy of the mag in your local shop (remember they are obliged to order you a copy on demand) then our distributors, Diamond Magazine Distribution will be happy to help you – email them HERE or call them on 01797 225 229 – they’ll also be interested to here if you find old copies of the mag still on-shelf, too.

OUT NOW!

SNIPPETS 1……..We’ve teamed up with leading trackday operator, Circuit Days, for a rather special offer. They have a trackday taking place at SILVERSTONE on August 27 with a jolly reasonable retail price of £199. HOWEVER, totalkitcar readers can take advantage of a substantial discounted price of ONLY £169…how good is that? To book your place call Chris or Nadine at CIRCUIT DAYS on 01302 743 827 quoting reference ‘totalkitcar silverstone’. What are you waiting for? 

Special 'tkc ' offer for a Silverstone trackday courtesy of leading operator, Circuit Days

SNIPPETS 2……..Promising sales figures for June 2010 released by the SMMT this week. Production is up 28.6 per cent year-on-year and 55 per cent in 2010 to date, which shows that buyers are feeling a little more confident despite the end of the car scrappage scheme. Let’s hope that this filters through to the specialist end of the market, although Caterham Cars’s sales are up on 2009 for new and secondhand Sevens and a spokesman told me: “We just can’t get enough used stock at the minute.”

Caterham Cars reporting good sales this summer

SNIPPETS 3……..Top designer, Gordon Murray, who rose to fame with his Formula One™ designs for Brabham and McLaren and of course the wondrous, F1 for the latter, plus a bit of work on the Midas Bronze back in the eighties (he owned one for a time), has recently announced his new T.25, which is typically innovative in its design. With a central driving position and six potential internal layouts of seating the car gives more passenger space than many larger cars and as a ‘city car’ it can be parked 90 degrees to the kerb and has between 160 and 720 litres of luggage space depending on configuration.

Composite body panels are used in its construction thus aiding ease and cost of repairs and it can be powered by electric or small petrol engines. More from www.gordonmurraydesign.com 

New T.25 from Gordon Murray Design

We’re delighted to be able to…….announce that tkc mag On Track – the son of totalkitcar LIVE, if you will, is to take place at BRANDS HATCH circuit on Tuesday, October 5, so you’d better get a day off work booked now. It’ll run under trackday rules, so it’s FREE to get in if you want to spectate and take a few rides with manufacturers (some makers might choose to charge a token payment). Yep, that’s right a FREE ADMISSION event for members of the public. Once again it’s in association with MSV...

It’s going to be much more relaxed this time and more low-key, BUT if you fancy a good petrolheads day out and/or you’re in the market for a performance kitcar and don’t fancy schlepping up and down the country to go through your shortlist, then mark October 5 down in your diary because I expect that all the major manufacturers will be in attendance.

CLICK HERE to find out more.

Come and join us at BRANDS HATCH on Tuesday, October 5.

Our TRACKDAYS calendar.......... is now nine years old, although rest assured it is completely updated every month with dates from all the leading operators. CLICK HERE to find the dates for July-September 2010. Please tell the event operator that we sent you when booking.

Here’s a quick glance guide at kitcar-friendly events for 2010. Dedicated kitcar events in BOLD BLUE. 

In BOOK REVIEWS this week……………….we have a new title from Haynes Publishing called ‘Le Mans 1960-69 – The Official History of The World’s Greatest Motor Race’ by Quentin Spurring. A subject matter very popular with kitcar enthusiasts. CLICK HERE.

Sometimes I don't need a particular reason to stick a nice specialist car image on these pages. Not when they are glorious as this Nostalgia Cars Classic 140 (Jaguar XK140) replica. Beautiful.

You can visit the………….tkc mag - FACEBOOK page - HERE. We’d really love you to become a fan of the magazine and just for going to the page, you could win a spot prize from the tkc mag box o' shite!

You can now access the past five weeks NEWS HEADLINES. Just click on the relevant link below…

An example of a monster H1 V8 bike engine built by Jack Frost at Holeshot Racing.

IVA UPDATE……… Here’s our list of manufacturers who we know have had a car PASS IVA. This list is growing and we’ll add to this as we are advised of more passes…latest we’ve heard about is Ultima Sports who has had passes for both Can-Am and GTR and also Birkin Cars UK with their S3.

IVA BASIC INFORMATION – CLICK HERE.  

If you’ve just discovered totalkitcar magazine….BACK ISSUES are of course available, although the issues marked accordingly are SOLD OUT. Apart from that we can supply all the copies you’ve missed out on. CLICK HERE to find the issue you’d like to buy or give us a ring. July/Aug 2009 and Sept/Oct 2009 are now BOTH sold out…

Missed a copy? Most back issues are still available, apart from er, the ones that have er, sold out!

Stevo’s Classic Blues Rock CD Player Focuses This Week On….…BACHMAN & TURNER

No, no mistake, you read that right. Bachman Turner. No OVERDRIVE and a hastily added ‘&’! Randy Bachman and CF ‘Fred’ Turner have got back together again, after several years and are currently touring and have a new album ‘Forged in Rock’ due for September release. Although Bachman Turner Overdrive (with Turner) were last touring in 2005, Randy Bachman left the band for the last time in 1991, so this reunion is a promising one. Former BTO members, including Robin Bachman and Blair Thornton objected to their use of the Bachman Turner Overdrive name and thus they are called Bachman & Turner, for this incarnation.

The rest of the band consists of Marc La France, Mick Dalla Vee and Brent Howard (Bachman’s touring band) and new material sounds promising and includes ‘Rollin’ Along’ and ‘Rock n Roll Is The Only Way Out’ and more information is available from www.bachmanandturner.com 

Until next Friday (July 30) I’ll wish you a superb week, so have a great time, enjoy the summer drives, but take care out on the roads. See Ya.

Best Regards

Steve