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For Sale: A Rare, Road-Legal Brooke Cosworth Double R

This is a Brooke Cosworth Double R, it’s a lightweight sports car that tips the scales at just 510 kgs (1,124 lbs) and it’s powered by a supercharged 400 bhp 2.3 liter Cosworth/Duratec inline-four cylinder engine.

Fast Facts – The Brooke Cosworth Double R

✱ With 400 bhp and a curb weight of 510 kilograms, the Brooke Cosworth Double R can go from 0 to 60 mph in under 3 seconds, and 0 to 100 mph in 6.5 seconds.

✱ Just 15 examples of the Double R were ever made.

✱ The Brooke has a tubular spaceframe chassis and this was the only one built with an alloy body – a £15,000 option over the regular car.

✱ The car can accommodate drivers up to 6’4,” thanks in part to adjustable CNC machined pedals.

✱ The Cosworth Double R has on track performance on par or greater than most supercars, at a vastly reduced cost.

The Brooke Cosworth Double R

In 2006 Brooke Cars released a completely redesigned car called the Brooke 260 Double R, it was destined to be a direct competitor for the ultra-lightweight sports cars built by companies like Caterham and Ariel.

The 260 Double R is essentially the naturally aspirated version of the car you see here, it left the factory with a 260 bhp Cosworth-tuned 2.3 liter four-cylinder engine.

The engine mid-mounted behind the driver and passenger, it’s installed longitudinally and it feeds power into a 5-speed transaxle rear end through a Quaife limited-slip differential.

Above Image: The engine is rear-mid mounted and power is sent to the rear wheels via a 5-speed transmission and a limited-slip differential.

As you may expect the car uses all-round independent adjustable double wishbone suspension, allowing you to set it up for the track, the street, or some combination of the two. One of the keys to the design of the Brooke Double R is the obsessive, Lotus-like fixation on weight reduction.

The car has no roof or side windows, and things like heaters, air-conditioners, stereos, and heated seats never even got a look in.

The Brooke’s closest rivals are the above mentioned Caterham 7 and Ariel Atom, though it probably has more in common with the Atom given the fact that you can order a 7 with a folding roof and side windows, making it almost practical.

Although some do use these cars as daily drivers it’s not really what they were designed for. These are ideal second or third cars for use on sunny afternoons and trackday weekends, and probably not the sort of thing you’d want to be driving stuck in traffic on the M5.

The Brooke 260 Double R originally started life all the way back in the 1990s when the company was known as Brooke Kensington, and the car was the Brooke Kensington ME 190.

The company was sold in the early 2000s and its new owners completely reengineered the car, to the point where there were apparently no interchangeable parts, despite the fact that outwardly the cars did still look quite similar.

Above Image: The Spartan cockpit has seating for two but it’s designed for low weight and speed, so don’t expect any creature comforts.

The most extreme iteration of this new vehicle from Brooke Cars was the model you see here, the supercharged Brooke Cosworth Double R capable of 400 bhp and powered by an engine that was assembled by the same technicians who built the Cosworth Formula 1 engines of the period.

While it does seem borderline insane to have that much power in a car that weighs slightly less than an economy-sized bucket of popcorn, it does create an entirely unique driving experience – with the wind in your hair, the bugs in your teeth, and the delicate sound of supercar-owner’s tears falling to the asphalt after you’ve spend the afternoon embarrassing them around Silverstone.

Just 15 examples of the Double R were made, and this is the only one with the £15,000 alloy body option, making it entirely unique.

It’s currently being auctioned live by Collecting Cars, there are two days remaining and the bidding is sitting at £22,250, which works out to roughly $30,700 USD.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

The post For Sale: A Rare, Road-Legal Brooke Cosworth Double R appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/brooke-cosworth-double-r/
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The GSM Dart – A Rare African-Built Race Winning Sports Car

The GSM Dart was one of South Africa’s first production sports cars, it is believed that 116 were built over five years of production, making them...

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The Road To Monterey: A Free, Award-Winning Porsche Racing Documentary

The Road To Monterey is an award-winning feature film about vintage racing that centers on Australian racing driver Ron Goodman and his highly-tuned Porsche 356...

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/the-road-to-monterey/
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Curious Contraptions: A Wooden-Bodied Triumph Spitfire Mark I

This is the first in a new series we’re doing here on Silodrome called Curious Contraptions, we’ll be regularly finding weird, wonderful, and woeful machines...

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The 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Corvair Motorama Concept Car Reborn

Fast Facts – The Corvette Corvair ✱ In 1954 at the Motorama Show held in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Chevrolet unveiled a new take on...

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A Porsche 356 Outlaw Powered By A Radial Engine

This is the new three-cylinder radial engine from Australian company Radial Motion. The engineers behind it originally began the project back in 2017 specifically to develop a new aircraft engine however they quickly realized that it would also have both automotive and defense applications also.

The first vehicle that a prototype Radial Motion engine was fitted to was the Porsche 356 Outlaw you see pictured above and below. Later versions of the engine have been fitted to a VW Kombi and a VW Beetle, and these have also been used for testing purposes.

The fact that the engine could be used in cars was a major win for the engineers during the development phase as it meant that the engines could be tested very inexpensively, allowing them to hone the design before it was used in aircraft.

When people first see the Radial Motion triple-cylinder the first thing they want to do is see the specifications, so I’ve included all the information we have about the engine below.

Radial Motion Three-Cylinder Engine Specifications

Initially, Radial Motion will be offering two engines. Both will be largely identical apart from the swept capacity difference and resulting power output differences. You’ll be able to choose between 2.0 liter (1,998cc) and 2.1 liter (2,104cc) naturally aspirated versions, with forced induction engines in development.

Above Image: Footage of the first production engine from the company being started.

Power output isn’t listed at the moment but they do explain that the engines can achieve 100 hp per liter in naturally aspirated form – theoretically meaning these two engines would be capable of 200 hp and 210 hp respectively.

The architecture of both engine sizes is the same with the obvious exception of capacity, they’re both four-stroke 120º three-cylinder, all-alloy radial engines with twin spark ignition systems, an integral dry sump with separate cylinder head scavenge pumps.

The bore x stroke of the two engines is 99mm x 86.5mm and 101.6mm x 86.5mm respectively, and the compression ratio can be anything from 8.5:1 to 11:1 depending on final specification. The engine has water-cooled cylinder heads and barrels, and it’s mentioned that air/oil-cooled versions are available.

Unusually for a radial engine this design uses a common journal crank for all three connecting rods and gear-driven triple camshafts, the two overhead valves per cylinder are operated by pushrods. Both fuel-injected and carburetor-fed versions are available.

The engine weighs in at between 75 and 95 kilograms depending on specification, that works out to 165 lbs to 209 lbs, and it measures in at 330mm x 776mm x 606mm which is 13″ x 30.5″ x 24″.

Above Image: This Porsche 365 Outlaw is powered by an air-cooled version of the new Radial Motion engine.

The Three Radial Engine-Powered Vehicles Shown Here

Due to the relatively small size and low weight of the Radial Motion engine it’s likely to become a popular choice for people in the automotive world looking for an unusual engine swap option.

“It was designed as an aeroplane engine, but early on we realised that with a few minor changes it could fit into a car. That made testing prototypes a lot easier and safer, and also turned out to be a lot of fun.” – Nick Mebberson, Director

The Porsche 356 Outlaw you see here is fitted with an air and oil-cooled version of the Radial Motion engine. This is likely to be a popular choice for many Porsche 356 Outlaw owners as this engine is lighter than the original Porsche four-cylinder, and it’s vastly more powerful. Not to mention the cool-factor of having a radial engine powered Outlaw.

The other two vehicles we see here are a VW Kombi van, sometimes called a VW Transporter, and a modified VW Beetle cabriolet. Both of these Volkwagens are fitted with the liquid-cooled version of the Australian radial engine, which will almost certainly prove to be the most popular in most automotive applications.

Unfortunately we haven’t been able to nail down much more information on these three vehicles however we’ve contacted both Radial Motion and their PR company hoping to track down some additional specifications and images.

We do know that a number of other engines using a similar architecture are in the works by Radial Motion, including 6, 9, and 12-cylinder radials, as well as V2, V4, and V6 layouts. We’ll bring you more information on those as it becomes available.

If you’d like to read more about these engines you can click here to visit the Radial Motion website.

Images courtesy of Radial Motion

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The Isuzu 117 – The First Japanese Car Designed By An Italian

The Isuzu 117 was the first Japanese car to have a body entirely designed by an Italian stylist – the great Giorgetto Giugiaro. At first glance many mistake the Isuzu 117 for the earlier Fiat Dino, however this should probably be no great surprise as both cars were designed by the same man within two years of one another.

The Isuzu 117 – Isuzu’s Halo Sports Car

Though it’s largely unknown outside of Japan the 117 was an important car both for Isuzu and for the Japanese automobile industry as a whole. It was the first production sports car in the world to be offered with a diesel engine and one of the first to be offered with a double overhead cam (DOHC) engine.

The project to build the car that would become the Isuzu 117 started in the mid-1960s. It was clear that a sports car was needed as a halo model to get people into showrooms – many of whom would leave with a less fancy model of course.

As with a number of Japanese manufacturers, Isuzu had started out building cars under license from a British company – in this case Wolseley. Originally called the “Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd.” this company that would become Isuzu got its start building Wolseley vehicles knock-down kits sent from England, it later progressed to building automobiles designed by Wolseley under license in Japan.

Above Image: The Isuzu 117 became a cult classic in Japan, and it’s now becoming more popular overseas as interest in vintage Japanese sports cars continues to rise.

In 1923 the great Kanto earthquake struck Japan, destroying many railway lines, roads, buildings, and other infrastructure. Japan had very few heavy vehicle manufacturers at the time so many earthmoving vehicles were imported from the United States to aid in rebuilding. This was the inspiration Isuzu needed to begin building trucks, and today almost 100 years later heavy vehicles are still the company’s bread and butter.

In the mid-1960s when Japanese cars were starting to catch on in the West due to their low cost and good reliability, a few Japanese manufacturers decided to build sports cars to help elevate their image. As a result we now have cars like the Toyota 2000GT, the Datsun 240Z, the Honda S600, and the Isuzu 117.

Rather than start their sports car project from a blank slate, Isuzu opted to use the Florian sedan platform. This greatly accelerated development and reduced costs. Giorgetto Giugiaro penned the steel body for the new car, there can be no doubt that he drew heavily on the Fiat Dino design, however the 117 is its own car in every way despite its similarity to its older Italian cousin.

When it was released in 1968 the 117 was offered with a 1.8 liter single overhead cam (SOHC) inline-four cylinder engine that sent power through a four-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels. Later models would be offered with a DOHC engine, an automatic transmission, a 5-speed manual would become available, and the engine would increase in capacity to 1.95 liters.

In Japan the 117 became a cult classic in its own lifetime, the combination of Japanese engineering and Italian styling proved a hit, and the car was considerably more affordable than contemporaries like the Toyota 2000GT.

Above Image: This car comes well-equipped, with air-conditioning, power windows, and an AM/FM cassette.

Over the course of the 1968 to 1981 production run Isuzu built 86,192 examples of the 117. When they replaced it they did so with another Giugiaro-designed coupe – the Isuzu Piazza.

The 1975 Isuzu 117 XE Shown Here

The car you see here is a 1975 Isuzu 117 XE that was very well equipped from the factory, featuring luxury options like electric windows, air-conditioning, an AM/FM cassette player, slimline chrome bumpers, and a wraparound backlight.

Inside you’ll find seating for four with more room in the rear seats that you may expect from a coupe of this size. The 117 also has a decent amount of trunk space and this example is fitted with those classic JDM front fender rear vision mirrors.

This car is due to cross the auction block with RM Sotheby’s on the 30th off June, the price guide is $30,000 – $35,000 USD which puts it well into affordable territory for vintage JDM royalty of this calibre. If you’d like to rad more about the car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.