About

Hi, I’m Tom Hyland, and this blog is a diary of the build of my R1 engined Raw Striker.

I am a 39-year-old Software Development Manager, living in Reading, Berkshire. I have wanted to build a car for nearly 20 years, ever since a visit to a kit car show at Ingliston. My car building qualifications are minimal, I am not a mechanic or an engineer by trade, but I have always enjoyed tinkering with cars, keeping a Mini going through my student years.

The choice of car was a fairly quick and easy one. I have always liked seven-type cars, and the Striker has always appeared to have the best proportions in my opinion, and it has a very good track pedigree to boot. I fell in love with the Striker when I read the last installment of a build diary in the now defunct Which Kit? magazine, where they had just completed building a then Sylva Striker, powered with a Fiat Twin Cam engine.

I am a Running Reporter for Complete Kitcar magazine, and sections of this build diary are published in the magazine every 8 or so weeks.

This blog picks up my build after I had ordered the kit from Raw, the R1 5VY engine bought and collected from AB Performance, and the Capri uprights sourced and cleaned.