[riziali]

hey dippy,

:-) thanks for appreciating the work buddy. but its jus that i'd promised a few people from a few car magazines that they'd get a chance to shoot the car in detail. thats all buddy. thought they would not like the idea of someone else doin it. thats all. puts me in a tight spot with them. i know i cant ask everbody with a camera not to click but i could request you to keep it off the net as far as possible. thats all.
anyways, the web site is a great way to keep people with the same passion strung up together like this.
cheers
riz

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by riziali

has been built by two other friends of mine and myself. put in a lotta hard work over the last seven months and the workshop at Shivaji park
besides, the name is, Superlite 1200.

Hey Riz
Great work....she's a beauty. Did you buy the kit from Caterham/Westfield or did you build the frame yourself ??
How bout the body. Is the rear axle from the 118NE as well.

[MrMarketng]

Guys,

LONG time lurker, just signed up to tell you this is RIZ's car. SMS'ed him and he had allready found this thread.

I was in Mumbai this July, but only for a week, and didn't get to see the project.

Can I ask you guys a favor? You guys - and me - are car nuts but on a budget. We don't have the super cash of the elite set in Mumbai. Riz epitomizes that fanaticism. I've been partying with since all the way back in 99. He had his blue maruti, lowered down, yellow calipers etc and always talked about building or owning something fast and cool.

I had a '89 Porsche 944 Turbo at the time so that took up some attention.

This guys worked his ass off in his field (actually he's my friend, architech and kinda sorta relative) and finally acheived his dream.

The point, one of 'us' did this, looks like he has promised an exclusive to a car magazine, why are we ruining it by posting pics? Lets keep this an inside secret for now. If we keep this thread active, he might give all of you a sneak peek party. Why steal his thunder.

That's all. Just a request. If you want we can talk about some of my toys

Cars owned

1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88. HUGE but it had a unrestricted V8 engine and man that sucker could haul in a staright line. Tuned to about 300 BHP. Sadly , by 1995 the core components had starting breaking down and I had to sell it for parts. Couldn't afford to keep it as a restore project, was in college

1998 Ford Thunderbird. I liked the older body style so I went with the older model - last model year of its style. Burgundy, limo tint windows, chrome wheels, had it tuned to 250 BHP. Man, I loved that car but some friend of mine totalled it.

1989 Porsche 944 Turbo. Last year of the Turbos. Black, black allow wheels, spoiler, tint all around, 5 speed. The other ones were autos. They were so powerful that the auto never did matter.

Crashed the Porsche. Do you guys see a pattern here?

Decided to go with a CIVIC for a while to lay low from the law :-)
Bought a Ninja 600 to ease my need for speed
Played around with a Ford Expoloer Eddie Bauer edition (1995) again tuned to my specs
Went back to the Civic.
Now, no car. I'm finishing up a grad degreee. I'm actually sick of 'commuter driving' so I'm getting an apartment next to the office in LA. Beverly Hills actually.

BUT,

BUT,

WAIT FOR IT

I'm looking at getting a late model Ferrari 308 GTS. The most beautiful car I have seen. Will keep y'all posted

Anyway, point is --- lets give Riz his secrecy. Maybe have the mods start a private thread in the restricted area. Let him have his day in the sun and get the car magazine to put him on the cover

[MrMarketng]

BTW, I'm not some super rich son of some super rich dad. Made my own fortune by hard *** work here in the US but have strong strong ties to Bombay.

Riz, should we tell them about a certain builder in a certain building in Pali Hill that you and I are VERY familiar with .....

[v1p3r]

Rizwan, does the name Ron Champion sound familiar to you?

Great work man...the car looks stunning, the proportions are spot-on, the colour is my favourite, and the wheels are lovely. It's brilliant!

I assume you're using the 8v Esteem unit now...by 1.8 I guess you mean the Contessa unit? That can go upto 130bhp in naturally aspirated form, so it's a great choice...

[riziali]

hey there guys

the name ron champion does definitely sound familiar but we must all thank Mr Collin Chapman for his basic engineering which went into the first lotus 7 and is still being built pretty much on the same sub structure as it was then, by caterham in the UK and kit car builders worldwide.
we had to fabricate evrything here from scratch, including the body and chassis.
really glad u guys like the work. will keep u'll posted on any further developements as they come along.
and Krishna, buddy...........thanks a ton.
cheers
riz

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by riziali

...My name is Rizwan Ali and the caterham we are all discussing here has been built by two other friends of mine and myself. .....

Originally Posted by riziali

...its jus that i'd promised a few people from a few car magazines that they'd get a chance to shoot the car in detail. thats all buddy. thought they would not like the idea of someone else doin it. thats all. puts me in a tight spot with them. i know i cant ask everbody with a camera not to click but i could request you to keep it off the net as far as possible. ...

Well, the thread was moved offline on riziali's request - and then re-instated many many months later - but has gone unnoticed since then!

I however remembered this car today (since ive always been interested in the build) and dug the thread up!

Rizwan, its been a long time, but we want details!! More pics!! Stories etc!

cya
R

[Mpower]

Rehaan, story has been featured in one of the mags, ACI or OD. I see my question is still unanswered..who made the kit.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Rehaan, story has been featured in one of the mags, ACI or OD.

Ah, i did not get a chance to see the article though - so thought i would ask here and get it straight from the horses mouth.

Originally Posted by Mpower

I see my question is still unanswered..who made the kit.

? >>

Originally Posted by riziali

...
we had to fabricate evrything here from scratch, including the body and chassis....

cya
R

[absynthguzzler]

just a few queries

1. Is it road legal ? or only allowed on tracks ?
2. If so , then whats the paperwork that needs filling.
3. Do insurance companies provide cover and how do they evaluate the car ?

thanks

[GTO]

Originally Posted by absynthguzzler

Is it road legal ? or only allowed on tracks ?
If so , then whats the paperwork that needs filling.

It will be a nightmare, if at all possible, to get a roadworthy certification for a custom built car. However, and as always, a certain amount of palm greasing and using old chassis numbers could help.

Do insurance companies provide cover and how do they evaluate the car ?
thanks

Don't count on it.

[veyron1]

Originally Posted by GTO

It will be a nightmare, if at all possible, to get a roadworthy certification for a custom built car.

Erm. Not quite. Chinkaras are custom-built, but road-legal. Well, in the sense that they can be registered and driven on-road with a proper license plate....

Remember the Ford GT replica from Chinkara that had been spoken of long time back? Apparently, there's a registered one doing the rounds in Alibaug....

More to the point, custom builds can be registered, provided you're getting it apporved from the requisite authorities. Read:local RTO. But like we all know, lots of greasing 'n' oiling involved..plus euro-III compatibility..worth it if you wanna see your baby on the road, and wipe the smirk off of the local pandu's face....

[DKG]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Here are pictures I took when I visited my friend's workshop at Shivaji Park

From the pictures it looks more like a Caterham kit assembled. If this wasn't a kit car why did the guy copy a Caterham??? I wouldn't have put in so much effort to design/build a car from scratch and have it look identical to a off the shelf kit car you can buy from the UK.

Should the creator ever consider doing this as a business he'd get into legal issues with Caterham for copying their design.

[absynthguzzler]

Originally Posted by veyron1

Erm. Not quite. Chinkaras are custom-built, but road-legal. Well, in the sense that they can be registered and driven on-road with a proper license plate....

Remember the Ford GT replica from Chinkara that had been spoken of long time back? Apparently, there's a registered one doing the rounds in Alibaug....

More to the point, custom builds can be registered, provided you're getting it apporved from the requisite authorities. Read:local RTO. But like we all know, lots of greasing 'n' oiling involved..plus euro-III compatibility..worth it if you wanna see your baby on the road, and wipe the smirk off of the local pandu's face....

what im suprised is that the words ARAI has not popped in any of the comments !. this is a good thing !!!! ....... unless maybe none of you'll brought it up . coz i can envisage dealing with the RTO , but when it comes to safety regulators, i think it might be cheaper to buy an arnage.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by veyron1

Erm. Not quite. Chinkaras are custom-built, but road-legal. Well, in the sense that they can be registered and driven on-road with a proper license plate....

But there, we are talking about a car manufacturer (however small) versus a one-off job by an individual. Isn't there a difference in procedures, approval & certification?