The Sylva Striker is a model of Sylva kit-car based on the

Lotus Seven The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight, two-seater, open-top, open-wheel, sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering) between 1957 and 1972. It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Cha ...

. The Striker has proved popular and successful on UK race tracks, most notably in the kit-car race series run by the

750 Motor Club 750 Motor Club is a motor racing club in the UK. It was founded in 1939 to promote the sporting use of the Austin 7. '750' refers to the near-750cc Austin 7 engine. It later led to racing and the 750 Formula where specials are raced. Famous member ...

. In 2002,

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

acquired the rights to the Striker and made a number of modifications and variations.

Development

The car was a radical evolution from the Star and Leader models, dropping the

Viva Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...

donor car in favour of purpose-built suspension and lighter bodywork. The car was aimed at two markets, the home car builder that required an economical kit that could be built using readily available mechanics tools and the more demanding race car builder who favoured good handling and simple design.

Technical details and variations

The Striker was available in kit form, and could be built with a variety of engines, for example a Ford Crossflow,

Ford Zetec Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...

, Toyota Twin-cam or even a motorcycle engine. These cars have high

power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measuremen ...

s and are best enjoyed in the summer due to minimal weather protection. The Mk 4 version of this car, known as the Phoenix, was manufactured from 1988-1999 and also manufactured in New Zealand from 1989. The front suspension initially had outboard springs and shock absorbers, but with later versions, this was moved inboard with a rocker arm upper suspension arm. There were two types of rear suspension offered: one with a live axle, located by

trailing arm A (semi) trailing-arm suspension, sometimes referred to as (semi) trailing-link is a vehicle axle or wheel suspension design in which one or more horizontal arms (or "links"), perpendicular to and forward of the axle, are connecting the axle or ...

s, leading arms and a

panhard rod A Panhard rod (also called Panhard bar, track bar, or track rod) is a suspension link that provides lateral location of the axle. Originally invented by the Panhard automobile company of France in the early twentieth century, this device has been ...

. The other had

independent rear suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in w ...

. In the UK all kit-cars are put through the SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) to obtain a road vehicle licence.

References

{{Lotus Seven Sports cars Lotus Seven replicas Kit cars