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Ibex or Tomcat


Ben Jordan

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In your opinion which would be better for UK style winch comps?

I am slowly upgrading the drive train and suspension of my RRC but regrettably one day the body will rot beyond economical repair. I was thinking when I end up with a good drive train and suspension without a body what will I do with it? Turn it into an Ibex or Tomcat! The next question is which one is better for winch comps, well I couldn't answer that one so over to you.

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I think the Ibex is more practical as you can see out the back window and you can store things in the dry,

but the Tom cat is lower and in my opinion looks prettyer.

In the scorpion Racing AWDC challenge series A Ibex won overall but A tomcat didnt do too badly either

In my opinion the tomcat is better suited to speed events

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But the central winch system of the Ibex has got to be a good advantage.

Unless you want to winch front and rear idependantly and at the same time.

Given the same engine, transmission, suspension, winches etc and all prep'd and driven to the same standard then IMHO there really isn't much to choose between a tomcat, ibex or a 90, except wheelbase choice, weight differences and panel vulnerability. Personally I like Tomcats, or maye even a more basic version like the QT ones or early Bowlers.

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In your opinion which would be better for UK style winch comps?

I am slowly upgrading the drive train and suspension of my RRC but regrettably one day the body will rot beyond economical repair. I was thinking when I end up with a good drive train and suspension without a body what will I do with it? Turn it into an Ibex or Tomcat! The next question is which one is better for winch comps, well I couldn't answer that one so over to you.

Ibex i dont see a Tomcat as a daily driver my ibex weighs in at 1960KG without acage?? approach and departure angles are something to consider cheers Chris

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Ben - a guy in our club has just built a Tomcat from a Disco, he took out a 5k bank loan and is now living on bread & water :blink: but he seems happy with it.

IMHO an Ibex is stronger and has more practicality, but I'd choose a Tomcat because of the weight / COG / and yes, looks :D

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Ben - a guy in our club has just built a Tomcat from a Disco, he took out a 5k bank loan and is now living on bread & water :blink: but he seems happy with it.

IMHO an Ibex is stronger and has more practicality, but I'd choose a Tomcat because of the weight / COG / and yes, looks :D

Ibex.

But an original Bowler Special would be interesting, or a QT Ultra-light.

If you have a good RR chassis and drive train, why not just build a 100" Hybrid? It is simple enough to fabricate the Bowler Special/Series 1 less than curvacious panels, make your own bulhead and use series wings. It would take the same time as re-building the Tomcat kit. Or just buy an engineless 90 and chuck on your drive train.

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With an Ibex, you'll need to get hold of a complete defender bulkhead, to strip off the pedals, column dash and loom etc.

Obviously I'm biased :lol:

But advantages of an Ibex over a Tomcat etc

* Decent doors, and therefore the option of a warm dry cab

* Option of station wagon/king cab

* Awesome build quality

* Cheap and easy to replace GRP wheelarches, all the rest is ali/galv

* Will last a lifetime

* Centre winch is pretty cool and useful on challenges

* You get a new chassis

Tomcat would be lighter, and has a ARC spec cage, whereas the Ibex has a spaceframe that the ARC can't get their head around

Tomcat build quality.... I'm sure V8camel will be along in a minute

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No ones mentioned the Dakar (Anika Rice grp buggy)

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or Traka (space frame with galv panels)?

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Personally I'd love to build a Bowler/Tomcat/QT on my Disco when it dies just cos they look so good. The Dakar looks fun and might be as capable but I'd be concerned about the repair costs. Blitz, well more down to earth and probaby more my style/budget at the end of the day. Ibex is probably the best choice but just not my thing and quality costs.

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