Dreaming, Designing, and Building Bugatti Cyclekarts
Welcome to my journey as I develop and build a series of Bugatti Cyclekarts. I discovered Cyclekarting a few years ago but waited until retirement to embrace it. I found that the builders within this community are awesome people who like building and coming together to race, share ideas, and socialize. The opportunity to develop new building skills, stir my creativity, not spend too much money, and make new friends was just right for me. So join me as I venture forward in this newfound sport.
What Are Cyclekarts?
Cyclekarts are a type of gocart racing where competitors drive single-seat cars styled to resemble race cars from the 1920s and 1930s. These cars are compact, lightweight, sports machines, home and hand made by their drivers for the pursuit of classic motoring sporting excitement. They are not built to be serious race machines or show cars. They’re built purely for the personal satisfaction and fun and of driving a machine you’ve built yourself. As a driving machine, the cyclekart formula loosely limits certain aspects of the machines to maintain good sporting performance without jeopardising the light-hearted nature of these machines and the people who build them. Learn more.
Designing a Cyclekart
Cyclekarters are encouraged to select a pre-WW-II race car as the inspiration for their car build. There are no Cyclekart plans for sale, only guidelines and sketches that builders share, so you will need some skill in creating your own car. Many of the parts can be purchased from gokart suppliers, eBay, Amazon, and even your local junk yard if you are resourceful.
To ensure the sport remains safe and affordable, the cars are limited to 212 cc size engines, employ 17″ diameter Honda 90 style motorcycle wheels, and meet certain size requirements. Here is a link to the Stevenson Rules for this sport.
Fitting full-size drivers into down-sized cars while maintaining the original car lines and character can be challenging yet a lot of fun at the same time.
I’m always fascinated by seeing and studying others’ interpretations of these early race car designs. The designs are quite imaginative and diverse, so you’re not likely to see any two that are identical. The choice of color, building materials, fabrication detail, and builder skill sets help separate the designs even for identical car types and models. The incredible imagination and diversity of the builders really deliver awe-inspiring designs that fuel my own imagination and motivate me to push myself.
My Cyclekart Project Goals
Before selecting an inspiration car, I set a few goals that I wanted to achieve in building a Cyclekart.
I simply had to push myself and make this project a journey aimed at learning new skills in my life. The learning process during a build has always brought me great pleasure and self-satisfaction, so that’s the route I chose. It may not be right for anyone else, but it was right for me and that’s all that mattered.
So after some thought, I decided my project had to meet the following key criteria:
- Help me develop new building skills
- Loose weight so I can be somewhat competitive
- Build an attractive looking car
- Challenge my creativity
- Be affordable
My first cyclekart project will be one of Bugatti’s first successful race cars, the Type 13 Brescia. I initially had high ambitions of building this entirely out of carbon fiber. But common sense and reality finally set in. In the back of my mind, the sage advice by Kelly Wood about keeping my first cyclekart simple kept playing over and over in my mind. So I ended up building it with standard steel and aluminum construction, and I’m glad I did.
The second picture to the left is how it currently looks. I’m pretty happy with it but plan to continue making improvements.
While I initially intended to stick to Bugatti builds, I keep finding other interesting cars that peak my interest. This is the third change in cars for my second project, and it’s a beauty. Since building my first Bugatti, I find I enjoy driving it around our small town and up in the hills. I wish I could share this sport with all the youngsters and adults who long for a ride. The 1910 Pullman Model O Roadster is just the ticket. I’ll be able to take my wife, grandkids, and friends on rides all the time and that excites me. I guess it’s the grand-father in me that wishes to share these simple pleasures.
This style cyclekart is more inline with the Edwardian class rules, although it will be larger in size and therefore not a racer like the standard vintage style cyclekarts. This design will sport a front mounted engine, rear suspension, larger 18″ wheels and much more. It won’t be a speed demon, but a great pleasure cruiser.