1. I was looking at the battery charger circuit and I saw it had a 7805 which if my memory services right, is a linear voltage regulator. I avoid those now, because they are typically very inefficient. Could one use a switching regulator, like the ones max makes. They seem to an awesome job, and i have tons of them sitting around in my room. You can get tons of them for free if you are like that (which I am).

Posted at 11:13PM on Oct 8th 2007 by Steffen Hunt

2. HOLY SHIT thats nice

Posted at 11:55PM on Oct 8th 2007 by alex mccown

3. amazing. fiberglass is sweet, until he hits a bump or something and shatters part of it.

still nice none the less

Posted at 1:57AM on Oct 9th 2007 by jake

4. steffen: what 5v regulators are you refering to?

and a bit more on topic, there is another company in indiana that is going to start selling a similar car but more of an indy/f1 racing style soon very similar to this.

Posted at 4:04AM on Oct 9th 2007 by chewy

5. @4

i may have to check into that, im living in indy right now! haven't heard anything about it yet tho.

Posted at 8:00AM on Oct 9th 2007 by nate

6. But if you want someone else to build it for you and have got a spare £30K, then take a look at the hand built and designed Javan R1 sports car at http://www.javansportscars.com/

Made from honeycomb aluminimum construction with a 220bhp Honda iVtec engine, it weighs in at 670Kg and does 0-60mph in 3.6 seconds.

Impressive huh?

Posted at 8:56AM on Oct 9th 2007 by dave

7. Yes. Daddy likes...

Now get rid of that nasty ICE and put in a sweet brushless electric, with some LiFePO Batteries...

Posted at 10:24AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Alexander

8. lol, even if you thick resin and wax fiberglass it still gradually rots. It also deteriorates urethanes and enamels when heated which means shotty paint in a matter of years. I've seen it happen to professionally done urethane acrylic paint in a matter of 3 years even with routine waxing just under regular sunlight.

I also like the design, but I'd use polymers and improve the circuits. Also use solar and a couple deep cycles. LIPO would be like sitting on a corrosive bomb.

I love how every ignores the most low yield energy source in the world: solar.

Posted at 11:38AM on Oct 9th 2007 by TJhooker

9. Theres nowt wrong with fibreglass, with the correct prep it'll last a damn sight longer than metal bodies do. There are TVRs knocking about from the early 80's with original body and paint, full fibreglass. With modern epoxies problems are minimised even further. F/glass only rots when left unsealed in humid/wet conditions for long periods, it is, after all, just glass and plastic mixed.

Posted at 2:45PM on Oct 9th 2007 by coyoteboy

10. Like I said: solid polymer for the body, and improve the electrical. We're talking about communications satellites for NASA, just a electric car with a neat looking body, and tuner wheels.

Posted at 3:29PM on Oct 9th 2007 by TJhooker

11. For 25k you get pretty much everything you need, except the engine, tranny, paint, and basically everything else you would need... Hell, I'd drive a cardboard box around if it could do 12 sec 1/4 miles. why spend so much without even getting an engine?

Posted at 4:02PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Jordan

12. http://www.7builder.com/

Posted at 6:52PM on Oct 9th 2007 by HE3r0

13. Have the glass-haters never seen a Corvette?

Posted at 8:06PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Spike

14. the indy car one i was talking about is here, they have the prototype done but the website is not updated just yet

http://www.indy-motorsports.com/

Posted at 9:18PM on Oct 9th 2007 by chewy

15. "Have the glass-haters never seen a Corvette?"

Ever seen one of those models after an accident? I have. The engine went threw the taillights. Also try looking at one that is poorly maintained or a daily driver, my previous statements are still going to hold true.

For 25k I'd buy a 07 impreza and convert it to electric, or one of the other 07 tuner cars you can get for that: civic si, rx8 etc..

Posted at 10:24PM on Oct 9th 2007 by TJhooker

16. Lots of people are doing it, take a look @ http://www.dpcars.net/dp1/index.htm Custom Hartley V8, AWD with 375hp yields 0 to 60 in about 2.0 seconds.. Nice!

Posted at 3:22AM on Oct 10th 2007 by Donutsncoffee

17. cool...looks a bit like the body of a Lotus Elise with a Ferrari nose.. or atleast, that was my first imperession.. cool car!

Posted at 4:43AM on Oct 10th 2007 by LoopyMind

18. Yeah, a bit like an Elise is something of an understatement. The back end looks like pure Elise, he might have altered the front a bit but it seems a bit of a cheat calling it an original body design. If I wanted a cheap elise clone I'd buy a vauxhall vx220 and maybe convert to electric :)

Posted at 8:59AM on Oct 10th 2007 by PKM

19. So this is where all the traffic to my website is coming from! Thanks for the mention Hack-A-Day!

If you spend even 5 minutes on my website and get into the diary you will see that I have thousands of photos, and hundreds of diary entries detailing every phase of my build saga covering 5 years. The car was built almost entirely in 1/2 of a 2 car garage using the most basic metalworking tools. I designed and built the frame, suspension, and bodywork myself. One person - Solo. It is a big accomplishment if I say so myself. (pats back)

I feel the need to clarify something that seems to pop up often on these types of comment areas about my car, or any handcrafted low production volume automobile for that matter. When you build a single car or even 10 cars from scratch, you do not have the benefit of the economies of scale that come from mass production. Therefore you can't expect the car to cost $5,000.

One only has to realize that even a lightweight car such as La Bala requires a huge number of components and a huge amount of time/effort to build. Every last nut and bolt does cost SOMETHING, and it has to be sourced from somewhere after all! I have a filing cabinet just for receipts. So until you get into it I guess you don't know what it costs. I am here to set that record straight right now.

I would like to point out to Jordan that the reason for offering the car without the engine is that you can choose an engine that you prefer. I know that people have a preferred brand and La Bala is unique in that it has been designed to accept ANY FWD drivetrain in a mid-engine configuration! You like Honda? it fits, Toyota? go for it! GM Ecotec? great choice. Are you starting to see how this works? A crate GM EcotecSS outputting 245HP can be ordered from the GM catalog for $2,500. Bolt it into a La Bala and you have a 1,500Lb mid-engine sportscar that is totally unique (and not too shabby looking IMHO) that will do high-11's in the 1/4, 0-60 in the low 4's or high 3's, stop and turn on a dime and cost less than $30,000! Too expensive? Gimme a break. The Ariel Atom starts at $60,000!

The track version of La Bala that I am offering is different from the street version and is comprised of all-new race car components. It is made from the highest quality materials. And, if you don't want a track car, then the street version (shown above) based on the MKI MR2 can be built for about 1/2 the cost of the track version, but you have to build it yourself using my plans. So get out your angle grinder, band saw and your welder because you really can build your own la Bala!

Posted at 1:05PM on Oct 10th 2007 by Steve Graber

20. "If I wanted a cheap elise clone I'd buy a vauxhall vx220 and maybe convert to electric"

Then you would have a tesla roadster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster

Posted at 2:23PM on Oct 10th 2007 by matt