Hello everyone

[thomas]

Hi there

My name is thomas. I'm new to the forum and I'm considering buying a kit from Hawk or CAE.
So I'm really interested in reading about your experience and I appreciate the possibilities of this forum.

Does anyone have pictures of the chassis and suspensions without enginge and front/rear body section?

What are the major differences between the two manufacturer's kits?

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Hi Thomas - welcome to the forum.

There are a number of differences between the two kits. To make a long sotry short, the Corse was designed primarily as a race car where the Hawk is designed primarily as a replica. Both cars look exactly like the original at a distance. Up close, there are some things that can give them away as replicas but most people will not know what these are. Because the Hawk tries to be as much like the original as possible, it is harder to spot the differences. Some of the things you might notice about the Hawk would be:

Fiberglass Roof (All Cars)
No Left Hand Drive (Some Cars)
No 5 Bolt Wheels (Some Cars)
No Sloping Rear Bulkhead (Some Cars)
No Ferrari Dino V6 (Most Cars)
Different Gauges (Most Cars)

Some things you might notice about the Corse would be:

Fiberglass Roof (All Cars)
No Left Hand Drive (Some Cars)
No 5 Bolt Wheels (Some Cars)
No Sloping Rear Bulkhead (All Cars)
No Ferrari Dino V6 (All Cars)
Different Gauges (Most Cars)
Different Interior Floor Layout (All Cars)
Different Front Suspension Layout (Most Cars)
Very Different Rear Chassis/Suspension Layout (Most Cars)

So it is possible to build a Hawk where the only noticable difference between it and an original is that the roof is fiberglass. With a Corse, the interior floor, front and rear suspension will always be visably different.

That said, the Corse design does have its advantages. First, because the floorpan is symetrical (the Hawk and original weren't), it is very easy to convert them from LHD to RHD or vice versa. This could be very important if you were planning to buy a car from another country that might need to be converted. Also, the reason the suspension of the Corse is so different is that the chassis was re-engineered to make it stronger and more rigid. This could be a big advantage if you were planning to race your car and wanted maximum performance more than authentic looks.

I should mention that Hawk is developing a lightweight racing version of their chassis. John R. will be able to tell you more about this than I can.

I should also mention that Corse might not be producing new kits at the moment. I'm not sure what their current status or plans are but David & Chris might have more information.

I guess that's about it - hope I didn't get anything wrong. Somebody please correct me if I did.

John B.



PS - Here are some pictures for you. They are:

Stratos Tail / Nose
Hawk HF3000 Tail / Nose
Corse Tail / Nose
Hawk Chassis / Stratos Chassis

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Hmm - It didn't pick up the image... I'll try again.

John B.

[chris.richard]

The CAE stuff has been taken over by Lionel Gooch of Hennessey racing. I don't think they are producing kits at the moment. His number's 01202 249027, or his email (not
always promptly responded to) sales@superstratos.co.uk

[GMC]

John,
I knew I saw that spare wheel and engine somewhere before :D

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Glad you didn't mind me using the pics.

I try not to use anything I shouldn't but I have collected so many that I lose track of what's what or rather what's whose. Just let me know if I post anything I shouldn't and I'll remove it right away.

John B.

[rutthenut]

Originally posted by JohnB_SPY8808053
I guess that's about it - hope I didn't get anything wrong. Somebody please correct me if I did.

Don't think there's anything wrong with those lists, but if you do know what you are looking for there are some differences in the actual body mouldings too, when comparing Corse/Hawk kits.

These are apparent in the leading edge of the front panel, the windscreen surround, the roof edge and the door guttering. The Corse also uses a single piece front louvre, whereas the Hawk uses four separate panels, and the Corse rear panel includes the rear louvres and does not have the 'lower deck' of the engine cover. This doesn't apply to the earlier Allora and I don't know when the change was made on the Corse, probably when the chassis design changed at the rear.

Other detail differences would become apparent if you tried swapping parts between the cars, which is to be expected as they were both separately designed and manufactured. For instance, the wheel offsets are totally different between the kits, as they have different suspension components too. The front windscreen from the Corse also will not fit a Hawk (or an original Strat, I believe).

Again, the premise is that the Hawk was designed as a replica is the main reason for these differences, whereas the Corse was a modification from the earlier Allora with changes intended to move away from the original design with the intention of producing a better competition car.

[thomas]

Thanks for the info and pictures!

Looks like hawk is the only competitor in the race. Makes it easy to keep the prices high, which is my impression after I saw the HF3000 price list, especially if you take into account that the kit is far from complete.

So i'd be interested in buying a unfinished kit for a somewhat better price. How many kits have been produced by the different manufacturers? Is there something like an official number?

[rutthenut]

I don't know the number for sure, but I'm pretty certain the Hawk/Transformer sales are somewhere over 250 (could be quite a bit more).

The figure is higher than the number of originals that were sold by the factory - regardless of whatever number they claimed to put together for homologation (not all of those built where sold, unfortunately).