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Kitcat

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Everything posted by Kitcat

  1. I suspect Al Navarro, a founding father knows who came up with the symbol. Or Mazda (our first administrator not the car brand). It shows a “7”, representing the many iterations of the Lotus 7 and the curved arrow shape representing the twists at the Tail of the Dragon highway where we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Lotus 7. The event, as well as this Forum, were noteworthy for welcoming everyone who had a Seven inspired vehicle (Lotus, Birkin, Caterham, Westfield, Stalkers, etc). There was no “purity” test(Lotus only). Surprisingly that was considered a big feature of this group although now it’s no big deal.
  2. I put 10K miles on my first Caterham using Proxes R1’s. Mostly street use but many track days as well. Good rain tire when new. Much improved grip as the tread wore down, though rain performance suffered. The Yoko Advan AO52’s are excellent for combination street/ track on the much heavier Miatas that they are often paired with. Ditto the Falkens you mention. I liked the R888R on my Caterham as well for street/track. Their decent tread makes them driveable in the rain and sticky rubber makes them good at the track(when warmed up, which doesn’t always happen with street use). Also will deposit much road debris in the cockpit….
  3. As they say: Youth is fleeting but immaturity can last forever:). A perspective that helps when you have mid ‘40’s birth year.
  4. Well, it was 16 years ago and the memory is still absolutely fresh:). I learned that adrenaline makes it possible to do almost anything. I launched myself back out of the footwell, upside down and while holding my breath, in under 10 seconds. It took much longer to clean out the spent fire retardant. Just one of many indelible Caterham memories!
  5. In my first month with my Caterham I was in exactly that position on the passenger side replacing a fuse. And I thought to myself, I have no idea how I am getting back out. And then I set off the fire extinguisher mounted in the footwell next to my ear…:)!
  6. Like Steve, I have seen this pretty little Lotus 7 several times. The pictures don’t do it justice. I also followed its build, as detailed over many posts here in the past. It is a gem. What does it weigh Al? A standard issue Caterham seems to be around 1225lbs. I would assume this is a bit lighter? i think that Lotus/Caterham expert mechanic, Nathan Down, helped with the rebuild? In any event it is one of the cooler Lotus Se7ens around, built and maintained by a perfectionist:).
  7. Just went through part 2. I am at a loss for words to describe the unforced carnage wrought by the Porsche drivers! Actual racing doesn’t typically cause this level of destruction. How to explain it? Maybe a total lack of track experience combined with indifference to the money consequences of wrecking as a result of having so much $? The cumulative damage to all cars on track during of my 30 years of track days doesn’t equal this several day event.
  8. Magazine quality writing and photos, enhanced by featuring high end cars, especially Caterhams, on a historic race track. Ya gotta love a track with corner names like Double Gouche, Pif-Paf, Paul Frere, and Bus stop. I will definitely reread this one!
  9. The ‘62 “Lotus” in Hemmings looks like a home built special. Everything about it is off; the body surrounding the rear wheel arches is totally weird, ditto the roll bar. The gauges on the dash are round, but they don’t look like those in a ‘62 and their placement is very different. Plus the name Lotus” is plastered everywhere, which is what non-lotus folks do. Finally, there is no manufacturer’s plate shown. And, even if there were, I still would have lots of questions.
  10. Hmmm, my Caterham got its fender gash when I bumped into our snowblower:). This car seems to have been given significant love: $11K in maintenance receipts from Kapana in ‘18 and a subsequent $9K BDR rebuild. It is far from perfect but seems to have been well loved. I agree the dyno results from the rebuild could add a lot to knowing how to value this. For instance, my “135 hp” 1700cc X-Flow made all of 98 hp on the dyno. I suspect this BDR was mid 120’s(similar to a stock Zetec). Maybe more depending on how comprehensive the rebuild was. As I recall, Stuart/Jeffs’s similar older blue Cat with a BDA/BDR sold for roughly $50K last year on BAT.
  11. I never had a problem running without a front plate in Ohio. In fact I always ran my untitled track-only Caterham on the street without any plate, front or back. I was only stopped once: “Sir, I like your car a lot but now you have to drive it home and park it”. No ticket. No guarantees, of course.
  12. Per the seller, your Birkin comes with the standard Birkin wind deflectors, as a starting point. Like the stock Caterham deflectors, they do help quite a bit (change it from intolerable to tolerable).
  13. With the presumably stock Zetec engine (making maybe 115-120hp at the rear wheels) the 168 rear wheel hp powered Birkin is the superior car(IMHO). I would love this Superlight with the Birkin’s Zetec! Given how well sorted the Birkin is, that makes it even more attractive. It doesn’t have the cachet of a “Caterham Superlight R”, but is the better se7en(Again IMHO).
  14. Attention lurkers: the above ‘02 Superlight Caterham just listed for $25K in Massachusetts seems seriously undervalued? Definitely worth looking into.
  15. Small world:)! Yes, I do recognize myself in the photo(or at least the Rhinegeist t shirt…). And when you say late 70’s, smile!
  16. Here are some seat photos. The top one is of the prior owner and pre-refurbishment. The bottom one is the custom interior which I was told cost many thousands of $. I suspect that the existing seats were refurbished. As BudL has noted, stock seats back then were torture chambers and were immediately replaced by CF Caterham seats when I owned my Birkin. That gave me a lot more room and dropped me to the floor. It shows what the owners interest was. I would have spent the $ on track prep and fees. But his approach was totally legit. He says he has put under 1,000 miles on it and that it has a total mileage of around 8K. He never exceeded 3,500 rpm’s on our test drive. That was his driving style. So it has been gently used under his ownership. At my request he took it to 6K revs, tho redline is 7K.
  17. I didn’t check for sliders. I only noticed it at the end, so didn’t explore. The seller said he had a long torso,so? He was 6’ approximately.
  18. Anaximander seems perfectly normal to me:). I did look at the car today and it’s the real deal. Some highlights. It was commissioned and first owned by George Hilliard(sp?). George was probably on this Forum at one point. I know he participated in the 2005 Southwest Sevens event. But not necessarily in this car. Anyhow, his name is familiar to me. This Birkin seems to have been touched by the various speed gods. Built by Eddie Archer, motor by FocusPower in NC, maintained by Pauls’ Automtive in Cincy. For those not familiar with Pauls, they entered and won the Grassroots Motorsport Ultimate Track car challenge a few years ago, beating out, among others, a NASCAR team. According to this Birkin’s owner, they rebuilt the engine and did all the maintenance work on the car. In my opinion, that means it was done to the highest standards. The car looks new, thanks to the repaint job. There are a few chips and the rear wings are chipped up, but not nearly as bad as 99% of most Sevens The motor pulled strong and there are no oil/coolant leaks. The owner has a lift so I was able to inspect the underside which was clean and dry. All wiring, hoses and tubing was neat and tidy and squared away. Nicer than any se7en I’ve owned. One of the most impressive moments on my ride (passenger only) was when we went over a series of big bumps and road irregularities and the car was nearly squeak/rattle free. It made big power above 4500RPMs. Sort of night and day difference with lower rpm’s. The rear suspension looks like the preferred version discussed above. I will post a picture later and people can determine for themselves. Issues: the car has a custom built interior which is truly lovely and remarkably comfortable, but it seems to leave the driver and passenger sitting way high, and 3-5”above the rollover bar. A proper race seat would likely fix that? Or it may need a taller rollbar? It doesn’t have a weather package. The passenger seat belt didn’t retract. No idea about the driver’s. Tires have lots of rubber but not sure about age. They are 225 in back and 195 front, on 15” wheels. Summary: A like new, but older Birkin with an impressive refurbishment and strong engine. Is it worth $24K? I have no clue. Though if I were in the market I wouldn’t hesitate to pay that. If it were a Caterham it would probably be a $35K car. It goes on Cars and Bids Monday, unless someone buys it in the meantime. So we should know it’s value soon:)!
  19. 11Budlite: The paper work describes the rear susp as a 5 link with Panhard rod. Does that sound like the Woody Harris version? It has adjustable Carrera coil overs as well.
  20. It has a Zetec built by Forum member 1Turbofocus. It dynoed 168 hp, 149 torque on the dyno that I have also used locally and can vouch for. Those numbers are very good for a Zetec engine and are just slightly better than my Birkin’s Duratec showed on the same dyno. It was built as a track car, though the current owner has just used it for blats.
  21. Cueball: check your mailbox for an update. I am inspecting the car this Friday a.m., and will send you my thoughts then.
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