Rocket pic for Peloton

Le Man

02-18-2006, 01:47 PM

The thread this pic was going on, has gone. so I thought I will post it anyway, The only info I have on this Rocket at the moment, is that it now resides in Holland. I shall seek more info about its interesting paint scheme this week. Look forward to hearing your comments Peloton.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4161/rocket64yr.th.png (http://img503.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rocket64yr.png)

PatrickT82

02-20-2006, 04:46 PM

Do you know where in Holland? owner?

Maybe I can track it down As I live here:grinyes:

RubenRocket

02-21-2006, 02:35 PM

That car looks very familiar, last time I saw it, it was in my garage! :)

What do you want to know??

Regards, Ruben (#R029)

Le Man

02-21-2006, 03:40 PM

Hi Ruben, Had an interesting conversation today, with your cars previous owner ,do you really use it as your daily drive !! you Dutchmen certainly now how to live life to the full. The main reason for posting this pic, was for the benefit of our moderator. (who I think has taken up lurking) and the Gordon Murray/McLaren connection. That being, the main reason for the paint scheme. Well patrickT82 looks like you have your answer.

Regards, Another Rocket fan.

F1 monster

02-21-2006, 08:55 PM

Ruben,
I love your car! What do you enjoy about it? Can you give us a detailed description of what it's like? How do you enjoy the large number of gears? What is the comfort level like? Is the ride decent, or is it harsh? Do you feel safe in traffic? Do you get to enjoy its handling capabilities fully? Anything you dislike? Is it quiet enough, or do you have to wear earplugs?

Would appreciate any and all details...oh, and a big welcome!

F1 monster

02-21-2006, 08:56 PM

Also, we would love to see pictures, especially of the footwell, dash, from underneath the car, etc., etc. There are only a few side pictures on the web. Anything you can do to add to our knowledge and picture collection would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thank you! :)

F1 monster

02-21-2006, 08:59 PM

Peloton25

02-21-2006, 11:16 PM

F1 monster

02-22-2006, 01:15 AM

Thanks!!! And good to have you back. If we don't end up in McLarens, at least we can aspire to Rockets...

Peloton25

02-22-2006, 02:06 AM

I'm buying my "Rocket" this weekend actually - or at least as close as I can get to one for now. More on that later, but probably offline as it's not really appropriate content here.

>8^)
ER

RubenRocket

02-22-2006, 05:34 AM

Thanks for the welcome guys!

The Rocket has been my personal dream car (even more than the F1, sorry :)) ever since it was introduced when I was still in highschool, but considering only 38 were built (and most dissapearing either in celebrity owners collections or off to Japan) I never even dreamt one would actually be available for me. But I was VERY lucky on that point...

I have always had a 'thing' for small, nimble cars with low weight and fantastic handling characteristics offering more than enough compensation for large amounts of horsepower. My first car was a classic sportspack Mini Cooper S 40th anniversary edition, followed by a Lotus Elise S1 as a daily driver (80.000 miles in 3 years, with no electronic gadgetry at all, not even a radio) and an old, rusty, race prepared Mini for the track. Both the Mini and the Elise I still love to bits, if I didn't have the Rocket, I would either have one of those.

After the Mini and Elise I made the mistake of buying a classic Porsche 911, mainly because I always loved the 'clean' look of the older cars and the sound of one driving by. Because of its reputation I was very careful at the testdrive and impressed by the grunt and unmistakeble classic atmospere I basically 'overlooked' that its handling was nowhere near that of my previous cars. I should have known better considering all that weight all the way in the back, but luckily these cars (especially one in extemely good nick, like mine was) are very popular and I got almost all my money back after I sold it.

Which brings me to the Rocket. I had actually already planned a new visit to the Lotus dealership when using the search option on the Pistonheads site (small chance, but you can always try, right?) I actually found one for sale! Of course I got in touch with Larry, its previous owner, straight away, who has been a great help in every aspect. The trickiest part was getting it road legal in my country. As it is the very first one ever to be imported here, it had to undergo some very heavy testing, which was rather stressful I can assure you. But it passed!

Driving it is exactly as I had always imagined, having had both a Lotus and a few sportsbikes before, I kinda knew what to expect. The Rocket is literally best of both worlds: the perfect balance, close to the tarmac feel and great handling of a Lotus combined with the extremely high revving, screaming enigine, superfast sequential gearchange and fully open central seating position of a sportsbike. The features I love most are the + 10.000 rpm and the central seating position. Even today, no other road car gets this close to a serious single seater race car, not even the F1 road car.

The extremely low weight also has its downsides: Even with a bit of side wind and fast gearchanges, the car feels like it's going to be blown off the road during the few millisecs when you have no traction. And just a few weeks ago when I took it out when it was freezing I slid straight off the road simply because of the low temperature of the asphalt. I wasn't pushing the car to its limits at all and the road was dry, but apparently I should have been even more careful considering it runs on Yokohama semi-race tyres which are much better when they are warm. Luckily I spinned into the grass and didn't hit anything, but it was definately a very scary moment!

At the moment the car is ondergoing a total engine transplant. Larry used the car only for trackdays and had fitted a full race spec engine with flatslide carbs and a VERY delicate throttle response, which is great for the track, but because I want to use the car mainly on public roads with traffic lights and other traffic in the way I decided to put the original engine and carbs back in, which still should be fast enough to say the least (at the time, only the Rocket and the F1 were able to reach 100 mph in sub 7 secs, a big compliment to Mr. Murray!).

When the transplant is finished, I am planning to have both the optional roll bar and the 'passenger room cover' modified as they can not be fitted at the same time (which is the only real unnecessary design mistake I can think of) and after that, I'm sorry to say to those who like it, the paint scheme will have to go... I think it is very funny and beautifully done as a tribute to Mr.Murray, but it is a bit too modern for my liking. The body design of the Rocket is directly based on single seaters from the sixties and I think it should have a matching classic color scheme. If all goes well, it will look like this in the summer (without the number and lettering):

http://www.motoringpicturelibrary.com/preview_image.asp?query=lotus%2049&all_words=&without_word=&one_word=&fleID=5288

I already ordered a matching vintage helmet & goggles to go with it :) Finishing touches will be replacing the Mota Lita steering wheel, Willans harness and Tillett seat by exactly the same items in red (and keeping the black ones as spares), I will keep you posted! By the way, my daily driver is not the Rocket, but an old bicycle, I am Dutch, remember? :)

Peloton - Please go ahead and post the pics I e-mailed you, thanks!

Patrick - This is a real coincedence, but I live only about 20 miles from you! Feel free to come & check the car out when I have it back after the engine transplant, you are most welcome!

Cheers, Ruben

Peloton25

02-23-2006, 08:26 AM

Le Man

02-23-2006, 01:44 PM

Hi Ruben, Thankyou for your very indepth reply about your Rocket, very interesting read. I,m sure it is going to look very good in British racing green with yellow stripe, very traditional. Please post some pics when it is finished.

Glad to see you back Peloton, Thankyou for posting Rubens pics. Concerning Internet content, I agree with you. But for anybody who is interested, I have a reasonable amount of magazine content, such as Autocar road test, articles from Car, Performance car, etc also if it is still in my archive. One from autocar, with journo Colin Goodwin going backwards at over 100 mph. I do believe this is in the Guinness book of records. Please email or pm me.

If any of you guys, have not already done so, click on Rubens link. Run search for Mclaren F1. Ten pics in total, Size only small, plus copyright. But at least prints can be purchased, for those who like them.

8 off White (kenwood car) studio images.

2 off XP3 at an outdoor car show.

1 off XP1 LM from goodwood 96.

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Rocket pic for Peloton