My Lotus Clone ("Locost")

This is my Lotus 7 clone as of January 2019 (right) and May 2020 (left). It's a clone of the famous Lotus Super 7, based on the popular "Locost" open source design. These are homebuilt versions of the the lotus 7, and every one is different - depending on the components used, and local regulations for licensing and registration. I'm about 90% done.. more on this later. I started the project in 2002 - parked it for about 15 years, picked it up again in 2018. if you on a mobile device click on the drop down menu at left for more pictures and progress information.

Over the years people started building their own versions of the Seven. In 1996 Ron Champion wrote a book "Build your own sports car for as little as $250" (actually British Pounds) which inspired hundreds, if not thousands of people (including me) to do just that. Since I was a kid I wanted a seven - with Caterham Sevens running $70,000 + this seemed a way to fulfill my dream. Of course, the $250 was a joke, I have spent far more than that! He called his car a "Locost Seven" (get it? "Low cost Lotus"?)

Ron's book inspired many imitators - Ron's book plus some of the imitators below. But all good - there are many variations on this design. In particular, a number of enterprising Australians did a finite element analysis of the standard "book" chassis (which in turn was copied from the original Lotus 7 chassis) and came up with a number of improvements to improve stiffness and strength - I've incorporated these into my design.

Below are some "Locost" sevens - Everyone is different. These are really good examples - Like I am expecting mine to be - but many out there are not so good :-(

Common to most of these are square tube fabricated frames, modified to fit different engines, drivetrains, and suspension setups.