Martin Keenan is a clever chap. He started MK Engineering from a pile of Locost bits spread on the floor at Stoneleigh one year. Pretty soon he launched the Indy and it’s now one of the leading Lotus Seven inspired kits on the market. About two years ago Martin wanted to move on, having already unveiled his trackday-orientated GT1 model, and moved aside from volume kit supply and left brother Phil in charge trading as MK Sportscars, while he retained the MK Engineering name and set about refining his GT1, which although clearly had potential, he wasn’t quite happy with it.
A few months later saw the introduction of the finished, article the GT-R which built on the promise of the GT1 and knocked off most of the rough edges and to these eyes was pretty impressive, I drove the first prototype at Elvington complete with fifty quid engine lifted from a stricken Audi 80 and enjoyed it.
Martin being Martin he though had other things in mind. He has also created a booming little engineering business based around pipe bending plus he has one or two more hit ideas bouncing around his head.
Back at the start of 2005 he took the decision to move the GT-R project onto Robert Lewis of Evolution Sportscars an inimitable tireless character. Mind you Rob is another one with loads going on in his head and couldn’t devote the time to the GT-R and so again this highly promising kit looked like standing still. At this stage enter Paul Nightingale, proprietor of a heavy plant hire company called Spire Plant. Forget HSS shop cement mixer for the day stuff and instead think 50 tonne Euclid tipper on long term quarry contracts.
Paul is a former farmer who has successfully competed on four and two wheels and once beat Nigel Mansell in Formula Ford 1600. Spire Plant has been running for 15 years, and as a relaxation from the often-intensive day job he built a corking STM Locoblade in 2001 and then took the considerable step of using an STM chassis and his own body to create a hybrid special. Again this was meticulously built and powered by Kawasaki ZX-9. A period of nasty illness, that changed his views on life, followed and having sold this car he needed another challenge having quickly become bore being idle! For the third project, Paul became the first customer for the MK GT-R and from the outset his build was going to be top notch. The polar opposite of the low budget MK demo car, it would want for nothing and feature a very high specification. Apart from the quality so typical of his efforts the speed of build was also very quick and his car was finished before the MK demo!
Anyway having enjoyed the MK build and now being truly bitten by the kitcar bug he did a Victor Kiam of Remington fame and bought the project and in June this year become a bona-fide kitcar manufacturer.
Fact is he has a superlative demonstrator, and any foibles faced during his build have been dialled out of his production kits. Also, he eliminated the Audi components from the package and has settled on a choice of two donors. The customer can now choose to use Ford Sierra or, and this is innovative, a combination of Sierra and Toyota MR2 Mk1, which donates a lot of its components including its Toyota 4AGE engine, and as Raw UK have demonstrated this has plenty of tuning potential and is ideal for such a car as the GT-R.
The Toyota option makes my ears prick up and want to find out more. Paul reasons that the first generation of MR2 is now extremely affordable with half decent donors available for around £500. Spend £1500 and you’ll bag a minter. The Toyota donates engine, diff, gearbox, wiring loom, dashboard, radiator, steering column and exhaust among other components. To this you’d add Sierra steering rack (modified by Spire on exchange basis), hubs front and rear and driveshafts. The 4AGE power unit simply pops straight into the GT-R chassis in one-piece, with the basic package at £3525 inc VAT. Add wheels, tyres and seats and you could feasibly be on the road for as little as £7000.
The alternative of course is using a bike engine. Paul has designed the chassis to accept the Kawasaki range of superbike units: ZX-9, ZX-10 & ZX-12, because they are strong and fit nicely with burstproof gearboxes and of course go like the proverbial clappers. Alternatively, if you want R1 or Fireblade they will also fit.
The bike option will cost a little more, as you’d save a little by using all Sierra parts and you’d nab a donor for around £200, but the bike engine will cost extra. Even so a budget of £8500 could see you DIY build a ZX-9 version.
As mentioned earlier, Paul’s demo would probably cost you double that. For a start it wants for nothing and features an 180bhp ZX-12 engine, Spire’s own electric reverse gizmo, mounted on the nose of the diff with a mod to the drive sprocket and Cosworth 4x4 LSD. In the cosmetic department it’s one of the nicest looking cars of its type I’ve ever seen and I’m hoping that the car will drive as good as it looks.
Cockpit is bare, but that’s exactly what you’d want in a car like this but what there is, again features Paul’s meticulous attention to detail. One amendment for production kits will be the slight change to the dash panel, which is now incorporated into the scuttle with a tasteful carbonfibre option. I really like the Caerbont gauges, which look great, while those highback GRP seats might look a little unwelcoming but take it from me offer good support.
Enough of looking at the pretties, I want to sample that ZX-12. Boom, as if fires into life and refreshingly doesn’t vibrate or rattle the stainless panels, but instead settles down to a purposeful idle.
Initial impressions reveal a solidly built car that again betrays the more usual bike engined attributes and it’s notably good. Another plus point is the way she behaves in traffic, showing no signs of petulance, which is impressive, while the clutch is tactile in use rather than hair-trigger.
I head for the hills around Chesterfield and some clear and testing roads, where I’d found out soon enough just how good in anger the GT-R is.
A few minutes of exuberance places a huge grin on my face as the ZX-12 reveals itself to be incredibly powerful. Although of course we don’t condone or endorse speeding at totalkitcar, I chose my moments carefully and quickly realised that this car would be a revelation on a track, and although superlatives are over used, all I’d say is that it’s one of the very best engined cars I’ve ever driven, it’s that good, and a real bar raiser.
In action it’s to automotive subtly what Liberace was to grand concert pianists, in other words she’s meaner than a junkyard Alsatian. It’s not just outright straight-line speed where the GT-R excels. Show it a corner and you can feel the spaceframe chassis working underneath you, and cornering is flat, with the front end tucking in and revelling in sprinted cornering. Meanwhile ride quality is spot-on with 300lb springs at the front and 225lb items on the rear, coupled to Gaz adjustable dampers.
Brakes offer good stopping ability despite using standard Sierra parts, with discs all-round vented at front, standard at the rear. EBC green stuff packs aid the ensemble. You could upgrade the brakes if you wanted, but items such as AP Racing parts are undoubtedly fabulous, and work well but I’d question whether you’d need to in all honesty especially as the brakes have such fine balance as they are.
Paul tells me that the ZX-12 will rev to 12,000rpm although of course on the road I don’t see half of that, even though she is as mentioned performing admirably.
A word too for the gearchange, with each cog engaging reassuringly with a typical bike clunk but without the worrying jolts often experienced. I like the read outs from the SPA three stage digi-dash which give rpm and speedo read-outs and linked directly to the steering wheel.
As mentioned the kit costs £3525 inc VAT and is quite extensive, and from the outset you’ll need to budget for paint as the body supplied in three pieces, is comes in grey gelcoat.
In addition you’ll need to spend another few pounds for such items as ally floor, pedal box, wiring loom and dampers, while if you want your chassis powdercoated add another £170.38 inc VAT, and a further £111.63 plus VAT for the carbonfibre dash inlay.
The GT-R is a project that has always had lots of potential and Paul’s demonstrator is a real credit to him, that will serve fine as a demo car for his new role of kitcar manufacturer and having experienced this car I think it’s a superb piece of kit, that will I predict soon make its mark on the sales charts.
For more info contact:
Spire Sportscars; Brookside Farm, Kelstedge, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S45 0DZ
Tel: 07836 355 785
Website: www.spiresportscars.co.uk
