| Author | Message | ||
     Rocketman |
Today wasn't so tough, but only for one reason. For a number of months my friend who I bought my 916 from has been looking after it for me. I've been a bit snowed under with Saab stuff and needed some space. Anyway, had my friend not been looking after my 916 for me, well it would have been so much harder to say good bye to it if I'd been looking at it every day. So yeah, I've sold the 916 back to my friend I bought it from. To be honest, I all but gave it away, but at least I will get chance to borrow it sometimes I guess. The other news is, the S1W had a major clean and polish so it's put away for winter looking like a new pin. I kid you not, it looked bloody awesome when it shone today. I am fortunate to own such a unique and individual motorcycle. Yes there is room for more motorcycles in my life, but to be honest, nothing I've ridden in recent years has done anything for me that made me want it over my S1W. The 916 demands you ride it hard for fun, and it is great fun to do so, but my close friends I ride with are selling their superbikes for Hypermotos and KTM 's. All I need is more HP for the Buell, of which secret plans are already in motion, to freshen the performance. I really liked the Brutale 750. It was great fun to rev the nuts off it and dance up and down the gearbox, but I think in my hands I'd kill one in short time. The 910 Brutale bored me rigid. The 1098 was nothing more than a Japanese bike with a Ducati engine. All boring. So what's next then? Well, 4 wheels and 340 HP is what. Today I shook hands on my new sports car, which I should have by January end if all goes to schedule. Yes it's a British Supercar!! Rocket | ||
| Ceejay |
I'm always snowed under with Saab stuff too, and I only have one!!! Brits make cars?  | ||
| Mcgiver |
What kind of Supercar? Please tell.  Brian | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I thought that you'd finally booked that trip to Sweden for the "operation". Good thing you got rid of that 916. From the sounds of it, it steered like crap.  | ||
| Mcgiver |
Maybe not a supercar, but I saw a new Aston martin Sunday, It was gorgeous! | ||
| Tq_freak |
340 hp? ... British? Ariel Atom? | ||
| Anonymous |
Now let's see, would Rocketman consider a Buick to be British... | ||
| Nocompromise |
Pics of your spotless S1 please! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Now let's see, would Rocketman consider a Buick to be British... You a bad man. | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
340HP? I am going guess a Noble. I would have said TVR if it was closer to 400. | ||
| Rocketman |
Now let's see, would Rocketman consider a Buick to be British... No - but would anonymous consider 340 horses to be American ponies? Rocket | ||
| Trojan |
Yes it's a British Supercar!! Jaguar XKR perhaps? (Although I secretly think you are making space in your garage for an RC8  ) (Message edited by trojan on November 21, 2007) | ||
| Pammy |
I am glad you got your dream, Sean. Good for you. It's a beauty! | ||
| Brumbear |
a sunbeam | ||
| Buellfighter |
SOLD THE 916!  | ||
| Bcordb3 |
An AC Bristol with a 260 cubic inch Ford V8. Can't be that, that would be an AC Cobra. | ||
| Pammy |
Now what kind of car is he always going on about? TVR | ||
| Ebear |
Ahhhh...come on Rocket...What kinda Rocketship you got now???? Personally the DB5 has been my most lusted after British car since my first time behind the wheel of one in 1969!.....(wheres that confounded fuel pump toggle!!!)..But if I had the bucks(Euros)I'd probably have that Bentley Sports or a New Aston Martin...So...is it another TVR????????Come on R-man...spill the Beans!! | ||
| Glitch |
Cars...pah....  Let's see a pic or two of the sexiest S1 ever! | ||
| Rocketman |
 Rocket | ||
| Rocketman |
For you Glitch  Rocket | ||
| Anonymous |
My guess was a Buick powered Noble, the 340 BHP is right on target. And from Rocket's photo I was right with the Buick. So what's it in? | ||
| Etennuly |
What happened? Did it get shipped in pieces? | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Lotus Esprit Turbo? If it is that's one of my favorite cars of all time. | ||
| No_rice |
"Lotus Esprit Turbo" those things are so much fun to play with!!! except the wiring sucks. the windows move by them self, so do the wipers half the time. and its only when you dont need them to, lol | ||
| Rocketman |
The Rover V8 began life as the Buick 215, an all-aluminium engine introduced for the 1961 model year. The compact engine was lightweight, at just 144 kg (318 lb), and capable of high power outputs: the most powerful Buick version of this engine rated 200 hp (149 kW), and the very similar Oldsmobile "Jetfire" turbocharged version made 215 hp (160 kW) (both numbers SAE gross). Based on sales volume and press reports, the engine was a success. Buick produced 376,799 cars with this engine in just three years. A comparable number of Oldsmobile 215 engines were produced. The aluminium engine was relatively expensive to produce, however, and it suffered problems with oil and coolant sealing, as well as with radiator clogging from use of antifreeze incompatible with aluminium. As a result, GM ceased production of the all-aluminium engine after 1963, although Buick retained a similar iron engine, as well as a V6 derivative that would prove to have a very long and successful life. In January 1964 Rover gave American operations head J. Bruce McWilliams permission to investigate the possible purchase of an American V8 engine for Rover cars. It is usually said that McWilliams first saw the Buick V8 at the works of Mercury Marine, where he was discussing the sale of Rover gas turbines and diesel engines to the company (Mercury did indeed use the Land Rover diesel engine in marinised form). However, it seems unlikely that McWilliams was unaware of the Buick engine before this. In any case, McWilliams realised that the lightweight Buick V8 would be ideal for smaller British cars (indeed, it weighed less than many straight-4 engines it would replace). McWilliams and William Martin-Hurst began an aggressive campaign to convince GM to sell the tooling, which they finally agreed to do in January 1965. Retiring Buick engineer Joe Turley moved to the UK to act as a consultant. As well as appearing in Rover cars, the engine was widely sold by Rover to small car builders, and has appeared in a wide variety of vehicles. Rover V8s feature in some models from Morgan, TVR, Triumph, Land Rover and MG, among many others. The Rover V8 has long been virtually the standard engine for hot rod use in Britain, much as the Chevrolet small-block V8 is for American builders. Even in the US there is a strong contingent of builders who select the Buick or Rover aluminum V8 engine for use in small sporty cars like the MG MGB and the Chevy Vega. (Note also that the 1964 Buick iron-block 300cid engine had aluminum cylinder heads and a longer stroke crankshaft which with minor modifications can be used with the Buick 215 or Rover engine blocks to produce a high output, very light weight V8 with displacement of up to about 300cid.) The demise of the MG Rover Group in 2005 led to a halt in production of the famed "name" Rover V8 after 40 years. The last Rover to have a real Rover V8 was the Rover SD1 Vitesse which was replaced by the Rover 827 Vitesse with a 2.7 Honda V6 unit, The Rover V8 remained with Land Rover until being sold to Ford by BMW. However, Land Rover desired for production of the engine to continue, and they arranged for production to restart in Weston-super-Mare under MCT, an engineering and manufacturing company. Although Land Rover has switched to the Jaguar AJ-V8 engine for new applications, MCT will continue limited production of the engine for the indeterminate future, supplying engines for aftermarket and replacement use A 5 litre variant of the Rover V8 was used in two models by British sportscar manufacturer TVR. These models, the TVR Griffith and TVR Chimaera used the 5 litre unit in their top-end specifications. The factory quotes up to 340 bhp (254 kW) and 350 ft·lbf (475 N·m) of torque. Rocket | ||
| Rocketman |
TVR Griffith Incidentally, 1994 500's are regarded as the best vintage  Rocket | ||
| Newfie_buell |
There's an old Rover V8 sitting in a cabinet, disassembled in my garage. Always wondered what it could go in. Nice Choice of car Rocket. | ||
| Doerman |
Rocket. That is awesome. Congrats! And your S1W is great looking bike too! Asbjorn | ||
| Anonymous |
Cool car! I drove one of the 289 Ford powered Griffiths years ago and it was shockingly fast. Even cooler with a lighter motor! |
