MIDAS MkII - Competition Build

[bjw970s]

After a couple of false starts and advertising it for sale, I have decided to prep my MIDAS Bronze for Competition use.

Like any kitcar or car that has never been raced it won't be straight forward but I bought the car because i beleived it had potential for competition use and was Mini based.

As was alluded to in other threads, there has been some thought gone into this and it has now started.

I delivered the car to Alistair at Alternative cars to undertake the first modifications. It was a pleasure to meet Alistair who is equally enthusiastic about the project and immediately offered some incitful advice as to a way forward.

The Mods on the car thus far will be:

- Dropping the drivers floor for better seating position (leaving the passenger as have decided that I won't be able to rally it due to competition equipment limitations).

- Undertray for rear (Alistair has them) and he is looking at making a front undertray.

- Lightweight door cards to replace the standard ones (to be made by Alistair as he is considering them as an option for the car).

- Adjustable rear camber and toe for the rear beam.

- Replacing all glass bar front screen with perspex (All glass will be for sale - including rear screen).

- possible replacement of front shock setup with coilovers with adjustable platforms for corner weighting.

Work undertaken thus far:

- Replacement of front tiebars and bottom arms with HD adjustable ones.

- Replaced front and rear shocks.

- Interior completely stripped for lightness (dashboard still to come out and will be available).

- Minifins on the rear.

Additional work to be done:

I used to race an MG Metro and when it gave up due to a rusty shell I kept a number of parts:

- Fit full race MG Metro Morspeed engine with miglia dog box. (Having checked the bulkhead i will be using a 45 weber as well which is what the head was ported for).

- Fit MG Metro turbo breaks (including running additional brakelines for 4 pots).

Additional competition Mods:

- Run all lines internally.

- Move battery to rear.

- Fit rollcage - challenge to come.

- Fit appropriate competition seat - another challenge.

- Possible fitting of a floor mounted pedal box to offset race seat position.

That is probably enough for now apart from the only worry I have is removing the sunroof as it will be expensive to do and may require another shell instead.

So a small list of jobs none of which are insurmountable and will be done in stages as budget permits - The help and encouragement of Alistair from Alternative Cars will be invaluable to the project and I will thank him up front for embracing the project.

[bjw970s]

As Research is free i have begun...

I have decided to opt for a 6-point bolt-in cage whih will be more flexible on cost and range of competition events that can be entered. It will also provide a known template for further cages if anyone is interested. multi-point and weld in are more expensive but more importantly, as mentioned above the exclude you from some road-going classes as they are deemed to add rigidity to the shell.

I have already carried out the standard 'mini' mods to the front subframe - adjustable HD tie bars and botton arms and GAZ adjustables. The rear coilovers are new but I will check that they have adjustable platforms to allow for corner weighting. I will be adding hi-lo's to the front to support that as well (had some in a box...!) . Front coil overs would be better but an expense I don't need at the moment.

What I won't be actively doing is keeping a cost breakdown just in case however I will attempt to make is as cost effective as possible!

[rocketron]

Dear Brian, this sounds very interesting, especially the 6 point cage. I assume you're not too bothered about door bars and any possible access restriction, blah, blah. The Legends race cars have, I'm fairly certain, "swing out" door bars to aid entry etc. If they can have it, then, why not others?

For someone of my size, I would modify the door to take out a section of roof with it, similar to GT40 doors!

Go to it, Kiddo!
Ron

[1380Pete]

I like your thinking with this
Are you getting one of the established companies to do the cage?
Perhaps Alternative cars could market them. My interest is that the 1981 and before Midas look like they might be a good option for the growing historic movement and much cheaper than a Imp based money box.
Keep us informed and any pictures of the build would be good too

[bjw970s]

I will be fitting one door bar to the cage on the drivers side. The aim is to get an established cage manufacturer to make it. There is one very near to me in Wiltshire and I have emailed them.

I will probably fit at least a B-pillar bar (bolt-In) and probably a dash one from small car experience.

I notice that 2 MkIIs went for reasonable money recently on ebay so maybe they are on the up

Pete, having an mini based money box I know what you mean! ( My wife rallied in a stilleto this year - interesting cars!)

[MikeW]

Hi

How's this going and how is progess with the rollcage?

I am interested in building a similar car for hillclimb/sprints in Scottish road car classes. I remember there was a maroon Mk2 in Scottish speed events in the mid-late 1990s (A606 BCN). It had a rear cage, and later on had part of the front bodywork removable, presumably to made changing the plugs and points easier, but compromising crashworthiness and shell stiffness. Driver I think was Stuart Wooler, or Wooller. Hans has a pic on his website. I've got a pic of it at Doune hillclimb, and maybe I can find interior pics taken at Kames sprint track. If I can work out how to upload these I'll post them.

As far as full rollcages go, I've only found evidence of one competition car (a rally car), which according to this forum, had an alloy Aleybars rollcage. Safety Devices bought out John Aley many years ago, so there may be the jigs there. Obviously I'll need to be made of CDS not alloy, and also have 3 bolt fixings.

Thanks
Mike
Ayrshire

[rocketron]

With your rollcage fitting, even though I'm a Scrutineer of some years, I couldn't say how the cage is best fitted to a Midas shell.
Would you glass in the required 3mm spreader/reinforcing plate to the floor and then 3 bolt the cage mounting foot through the whole lot? How long/wide would you make this spreader?
Would you glass the whole cage in like many Darrians that rally here and in Ireland?
Suggest you speak to MSA first.
Regards,Ron

[bjw970s]

Hi,

Due to snags with my current Race Car (Diff re-build, clutch explosion (twice)) and trying to get a Rally Car on the road oh and work, progress has been slow.

My intent is to get it racing next season.

I have been talking with Alistair and we have a way forward for the mods needed to fit a race seat and then I will take it down to 'caged' who are very close to me, and discuss options. Both he and I have been busy so it's been a bit on hold.

I would like to make it bolt-in so that other owners can benefit from the build.

I have been studying other race cars that are composite construction and my intent is to go for the sandwich option with a metal plate bonded into the car as well.

I also aim to have the seat mounts made from steel and part of the rollcage so that you effectively sit in the cage as per spaceframe cars.

I will used CDS even though it is heavier and more intrusive (larger diam) than T45 unless I can get a good deal!

More to follow when I have progress

[d.woodspeed]

Hi!
I am hoping to use my recently purchased Midas MK2 for hillclimbing/sprinting, and one of my requirements will be a rollcage, did you get one made and if so can you give us some info. Alternatively, if you have'nt got that far, a progess update would be interesting for us all!
Thanks, Dave.

[MikeW]

Brian - how's the project and a quest for a rollcage going?

Might be worth swapping stories with other grp monocoque racers/rallyists on rollcage mounting - e.g. in Clan Crusaders. Not sure if anyone has put a full cage in a Rochdale Olympic or a Lotus Elite (but I guess if you've got the latter, money is no object!). The Rochdale Owners Club forum has chat at the moment about getting cages made.

Memory suggests that Rollcentre or Caged may have produced a Clan cage, so used to GRP cars (but may have been a 'weld-in' kit which I seem to remember from an article in the Clan OC mag was a tricky job to say the least, requiring very careful tack welding, and lots of removal and refitting). A finished bolt in front and rear cage would be a better bet. You might want to ask for donations to subsidise the first 'one-off' so that a jig can be made for susequent cages which are cheaper.

Does anyone think that a suitable marine ply spreader plate under the rollcage feet would be acceptable to the RAC Scutineer and Blue Book, combined with a similar plate laminated on the underside with steel large washers under the bolt heads? It would make much more sense as the plywood would laminate well with the surrounding GRP, rather than trying to use a thick steel plate which will not laminate in well, no matter how many holes you drill into its edge outside the minimum plate area given in the Blue Book. The Blue Book seems to assume all cars a steel monocoques that the strenthening plates can be welded into!

An alternative to plywood could be making 10mm grp plates and laminating these in. It'd good to work out a standard method on how to do this, so that any series rollcages will fit (allowing for likely higher spreader plate heights compared to steel plate).

Cheers
Mike

Cheers
Mike