What other “raw” cars have you owned ?

[DJW]

Always felt some of the Lotus cars offer a “raw” driving experience vs other marques. It’s defintely one of the characteristics I look for from a fun car.

So post up a pic and a bit of detail of any cars you’ve owned that you feel in to this category. I’ve had a few, so will drip feed them in starting with a British classic.

140bhp K Series Caterham with 6 speed box. You can thrash the car around country roads without risk of losing your license . Biggest bang for buck fun of any car owned for me. Every petrol head should own one at some point

 

[Nick in Sydney]

1971 Porsche 911S . . . analogue in all the best ways.

 

[freefall_junkie]

The two rawest cars I have owned were my S2 Exige, seen here on a wet track at Croft, shortly before I spun it going into the Jim Clark Ss at about 70mph A Larini exhaust and zero sound deadening added to the visceral driving experience.

More recently I had this 180 bhp Caterham Duratec SV. It was in Roadsport spec, which is supposedly the softer more road biased option, but it was still very raw by normal standards.

The only car I have been in which I could say was even more raw than a Caterham was an Ariel Atom - that is super bike raw

 

[Speedluvver]

I also had a 7 and then an s2 Exige (which I still have)

 

[Billyidoliser]

Triumph Spitfire, 1500 with overdrive! What a beast...... Not😂😂! Loved the looks though back in the day!

 

[DJW]

Caterham number 2. R300, great little car and possibly the sweet spot for road use.

 

[1500 GT]

The first real 'raw' car for me was a Caterham R300 Superlight with a 1.8 K series and 160bhp, fantastic car. Also a 997.1 GT3 which I loved but have somehow sold recently to make way for an Emira! I currently have a Caterham CSR260 Superlight with the 2.3 litre Cosworth Duratec which some people consider 'soft' for a Caterham as it's the larger chasis and all independent suspension but still very 'raw' and extreme fun, even compared to the GT3.

 

[DJW]

@1500 GT always fancied a CSR for that little extra comfort. Strong residuals too.

 

[1500 GT]

It's quite a rare car these days, especially in Superlight trim, fantasic handling and the noise at full tilt is just epic.

 

[DJW]

GTD replica . Epic sound, so small on the road but real presence. Unfortunately didn’t have aircon so was like a greenhouse when the sun came out.

 

[Justcallmemac]

Started my love of Sevens with a very well-sorted 220bhp Westfield Zetec. Miss that car to this day.

Sold that to buy my dream Cateham R500 Duratec. It's absolutely epic on track and off, although I quickly swapped out the shocks for Quantum two-ways and ditched the roller barrels in favour of dth throttle bodies to make it much easier to live with on the road and playful, at all speeds, without it being a murder machine. After almost 6 years of ownership Will never sell it unless my hand is forced.

Completely stripped and rebuilt a 172 Clio Cup for track-use only, , as a project for my lad to get his hands dirty and to learn with on track. With 230bhp, (TBs again plus engine work), in something resembling a tin can, it's pretty hardcore on the limit, and is a heap of fun although, having ditched the power steering, a serious sweat and aching shoulders are unavoidble after a good session. All part of the drama though and the car has bags of character. Another one I won't be selling.

Cayman GT4 is probably the least hardcore but, in 981 guise and with that Flat 6, visceral enough. More for road use than track though, as my days of burning through eye-wateringly expensive consumables are pretty much done and I prefer lightness anyway!

Emira will be my first Lotus. Have come close to Exige ownership a fair few times but never pulled the trigger.

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

Here you go!

my first and only Raw car,
back in 1978, I was 11 years old and learned to drive in this thing:
Jeep Comando S
Perkins Diesel Engine
Max Speed : 90 Km/hour downhill
NO Disc Brakes, NO Steering wheel assist, NO Radio (Just the hole)
Cannot get more "raw" than this. Not very good on track, but great for the mud.

And NO ADAS!!!

 

[Green]

1979 Porsche 930 with 500hp built motor.

 

[Mknight702]

My very first car was a Spitfire 1500, this was followed by a Westfield SE (in which I did 38,000 miles). Then there was a gap whilst I didn't have a garage. Once I had a garage again, I built a Marlin Roadster with a 3.5l V8, then I built a Westfield XI. The XI was my favorite car to date, it used to dance on the throttle, 4 wheel drifts on track and so controllable. Unfortunately, I sold the XI to a chap in Finland to fund the purchase of my next toy the Ultima GTR, this was night and day to the XI, a 6.2l V8 vs a 1275cc A Series, but, for me, nowhere near as much fun, too capable to be enjoyed properly on the road. This was followed by my current toy car a Caterham 360R.

 

[DJW]

Had so much fun in this car on the road. Never wore a helmet, so got the full on immersive experience. Mental acceleration and pretty good handling too. Did feel bad for a passenger who burst their eardrum from air intake from one rapid drive though

Did a few charity events in the car on track and took a while for the front tyres to warm up due to lightness.

 

[dave355]

F355 last of the non computer assisted Ferrari But with down force and plenty of grip/power great fun on track. hope the emira will be similar (the Elise I once drove on track was epic)

 

[Lankan]

Some cracking cars have been listed here so far.

Below are the cars I would consider 'raw enough' to be included here, listed in order of preference:

Porsche 964RS Lightweight for an unadulterated experience at sensible road speeds. The 964RS was all about keeping you focused whilst giving you the thrills. No sound deadening, air-conditioning, or any creature comforts to speak of but absolutely loved it. Owned for 5 years, and I still miss it!



Next in line is the Exige S RGB. Superb on the road and quite capable on track too, having 260hp to only propel 935Kgs along provides ample thrills. The RGB is the lightest car I have owned, so “Simplify, then add lightness” certainly works! Don't think I will part company with this one...


Porsche 993RS was the longest surviving fun car I have had to date. Owned it for 11 years. More comfortable on the road than both of the above. It did have air conditioning and was a more civilised ride than the 964RS, even though it did not have any sound deadening.


It was fun having the 964RS, 993RS, and a 968 Clubsport as a daily driver, at the same time for the ultimate Porsche experience, which lasted 15 years and included 7 Porsches in total. Post-997 cars are now too large and heavy for my liking.

Much as I would like an Ariel Atom, Caterham, Westfield. etc. for their rawness, I simply know that they would not last long due to not having a roof. Same with front-wheel-drive cars for fun use; such cars must be RWD (or rear-biased like the GR Yaris) and must have a manual gearbox.

 

[DJW]

Some great cars so far, keep em coming.

Was never sure of these until I drove a friends, then bought it off him. Removed the seat padding to go back to carbon fibre monocoque and then taped on a layer of carpet underlay so I could sit lower Drove it like that all the way from Midlands UK to Nurburgring….not advisable

Very impressive build quality and g forces it could pull in the corners were impressive.

Even had a go at different colour scheme for wheels and roll bars. One of the cars I regret selling

 

[DJW]

View attachment 1365
F355 last of the non computer assisted Ferrari But with down force and plenty of grip/power great fun on track. hope the emira will be similar (the Elise I once drove on track was epic)

Best looking Ferrari in my eyes

 

[DJW]

Some cracking cars have been listed here so far.

Below are the cars I would consider 'raw enough' to be included here, listed in order of preference:

Porsche 964RS Lightweight for an unadulterated experience at sensible road speeds. The 964RS was all about keeping you focused whilst giving you the thrills. No sound deadening, air-conditioning, or any creature comforts to speak of but absolutely loved it. Owned for 5 years, and I still miss it!

View attachment 1360 View attachment 1361

Next in line is the Exige S RGB. Superb on the road and quite capable on track too, having 260hp to only propel 953Kgs along provides ample thrills. The RGB is the lightest car I have owned, so “Simplify, then add lightness” certainly works! Don't think I will part company with this one...
View attachment 1362

Porsche 993RS was the longest surviving fun car I have had to date. Owned it for 11 years. More comfortable on the road than both of the above. It did have air conditioning and was a more civilised ride than the 964RS, even though it did not have any sound deadening.
View attachment 1363 View attachment 1364

It was fun having the 964RS, 993RS, and a 968 Clubsport as a daily driver, at the same time for the ultimate Porsche experience, which lasted 15 years and included 7 Porsches in total. Post-997 cars are now too large and heavy for my liking.

Much as I would like an Ariel Atom, Caterham, Westfield. etc. for their rawness, I simply know that they would not last long due to not having a roof. Same with front-wheel-drive cars for fun use; such cars must be RWD (or rear-biased like the GR Yaris) and must have a manual gearbox.

Loving the old Pork. Mad prices for these now