Kitcat

Thx. Not hard to push. Just hard to modulate-like when driving up a steep ramp at slow speed into my trailer.

My new Birkin as the optional annular clutch, made by Tilton. It is supposed to be more reliable, have quicker release, and better feel. So far my experience has been it's either off or on. There is little "feel" or sense of progression during engagement. And I am getting a really bad smell. My experience so far has been very limited (mostly driving my car on and off my trailer on trips to my mechanic's- 3 so far), but I am not sure I like it. My old Evo VII had a similar off/on clutch along w/terrible smell unless shift was perfect. I owned it 3 years and never mastered it or got very comfortable w/it. My Caterham clutch has a nice progressive bite, plenty of feel, and has been going strong for 30K miles approximately. Any thoughts on whether the annular clutch is an improvement? Do I need to change my shifting style and not let the clutch out as slowly? Anything else? I think I am either missing something here, or the clutch is a step backwards. BTW, the Birkin site notes the engine has to be pulled to change the clutch slave cylinder(!).

Don't let Karl see that photo! Mite be best to keep Croc away too:).

Good question Martin, I dont know. I haven't shifted it more than a few times and always made sure to go to the floor, tho, like your car, after the 1st inch of clutch travel it can be shifted w/o grinding, at least once on the move. What is the logic behind a system like yours?

Heim joints are very noisy, not a pleasant noise either, and it gets much worse with use. Altho they provide a small competitive edge, if not competing, mite be worth finding something less rattly.

Wemtd: Yes, the panels are coming out. There is plenty of room on the inside of the seats: they dont touch the transmission tunnel. But their outsides are totally jammed into the leatherette interior side panels. Question abt clutch pedal set-up: Mine is set to allow shifting just as my left foot touches a cross member on the interior wall next to the foot assembly. But that is about 3 inches from the floor. So I am shifting with the clutch pedal still in mid air. I am used to pushing it all the way to the floor. Is yours set up like mine? Also, where do you have the adjustable pedal assembly set? Mine is fully extended but unless I grow longer legs, it will have to come closer to the driver's seat (wh/is all the way back so I can extend my arms a little). Karl, we added washers to add a bit more rake to the seat. We'll do some trimming as well, if the body panel removal doesn't do the trick.

Nah, not ticked off, it's just the breaking in process. Got the car back from shop w/high expectations yesterday. They were able to shim the fenders over the Toyo RA1's. Also squeezed the Caterham race seats in wh/made an amazing improvement in comfort. I sit 1-2' lower and 3" further back in the race shells. I now can see the gauges between the wheel spokes, arms are comfortably extended, etc. I can barely touch the pedals but it has an adjustable pedal box which even I can manipulate. So it's perfect right? Well, the new Simpson race belt adjusters are behind the seat so to adjust you have to slide the seat up. Even tho it's on a slider the seat will not move. Yes, Caterham race seats fit, no they don't fit well. How tight cld it be: I finally tied a rope to a tree and then to the seat and backed up hard, while holding the seat adjuster lever, to tug the seat forward. Nuttin. So it's back to the shop for a seat belt fitting. So close, so far. The car is same spec and same color as Onken's R400 so I am dying to get to the track and do what he does:). My doctor grounded me for my event at Watkins Glen this weekend so the car's lack of readiness is not a issue. I just had my first, and hopefully last, experience with kidney stone. (To duplicate, have someone kick you in the nuts, hit you in the back w/a bat, then jab a hot poker into your stomach). So the car's lack of readiness is not a problem. Now I have a Mid-Ohio event in 2 weeks. We'll see.

Your poor passenger, I don't think she was having fun! Amazing how much her head moved around compared to yours.

Too busy chasing mechanical issues/upgrades. Car has been in the shop 12 of 14 days of my ownership, as it is now and has been all week. I have driven it 2x, once 3 miles when it had to be towed and again 5 miles when it ran great but needed many upgrades for track use. I am scheduled to pick it up today. We'll see if the upgrades have made it more user friendly. Stay tuned, it is pretty.

Migetracr: What does your V8 engine/tranny weigh/cost?

Kinda embarrassing to be sitting at a traffic light, lookin so cool in my awesome car and then tendrils of smoke start wafting out of the engine bay. I agree tho, it seems to be part of the whole X-Flow experience.

Dont know but my garage replaced my X-flow's cork valve gasket recently as it was leaking fumes. But the new cork one does the same thing. So maybe I need a better sealant also?

Had a '93 and a '94 R package (for 10 years), sold for an EvoVIII, then Caterham, then added an '08 BMW M3. Unlike Ruad, I was not smitten w/my 414 hp M3. Sure, it was incredible at the track. But it had so much wasted capacity on the street. So I sold it for a more practical daily driver, a VW Touareg TDI. A vehicle I love and can get 35 mpg cruising at 73 mph. It tows my new Birkin in my new enclosed trailer at 70 mph (you can afford a lot of car stuff when you are not paying for a M3). I averaged 85 mph towing the trailer over one deserted stretch for 2 hours (and got 10 mpg).

The trailer is $4-5K new, right? Having recently gone on a long trailer-purchase odyssey, I think this is an excellent deal, if an open trailer is what folks are looking for.

The Avon 195's are tiny, even compared to the 195 Firestone street tires on that were on the car. So they shd fit easily. I have ordered a set of Birken spec 949's (8" rear, 7" front) and will use the for now. Once I get the fender issue sorted, I will have a street tire set and track tire set. Anyone one running a staggered tire set up (225's in rear, 195's up front)?

Not sure who supplied what, but car was built by Birkin USA (Dick Brink) so whatever they use. I will play w/brackets. I know I can shim w/washers etc, but just eye-balling it, the tire just looks way too big, esp w/respect to the horizontal bracket at the back of the wheel. The top bracket doesn't seem as short. On the plus side, more discoveries: the anti-roll bars front and rear are adjustable, there is a brake bias bar, shocks are adjustable for stiffness (in addition for height).

Got the Birkin back this a.m. Man, it scoots! Many ergonomic quibbles, all resolvable, I believe. As noted elsewhere, it is impossible to fit my Toyo RA1's (15x205x50)under the front fenders. So I am currently fender-less. While I work out a solution, I will mount the Avons I got from Karl a coupla months ago (15x195x50). They are much smaller (not as wide and not as tall), so shd fit fine. Wheels are not interchangeable Cat to Birk I am advised. Steering seems a bit slower, susp seems a bit stiffer, gas is harder to modulate as well w/result that I was slower thru my favorite twisties and around my 360 "skidpad". I am sure I will get it all dialed in over the next few months. Hopefully it all holds together and I can make it to W Glen nxt weekend.

Tom: Yes, that WAS quite a run group! Where is the beach house?

Michael D. See my Birkin first impressions post. Lots of teething problems Too put it mildly-just discovered my Toyo RA1's do not fit on the front end of a Birkin, too wide and too tall. You can have any size front tire, up to 195 X 15 x45 . My Toyo 205 15 x 50's are too big: too wide and too tall. Dean-wow, 11 days, hard to imagine! I have a Honda generator here for such eventualities. MichaelM

As a person who had a near miss w/a hurricane (Felix) many years ago when vacationing in Chincoteague, VA, I can say that a near-miss is still a riveting/stressful experience. You stay glued to tv/radio non-stop as it gets closer and you try to determine when/if to cut & run. And the wind never stops, its relentless & exhausting. If you are near the ocean/bay, the storm surge can be huge, we watched our dock go totally under water in a mater of a few hours. Then wondered, how high can it go? We got v lucky as Felix lost interest and backed out into the middle of the Atlantic and fizzled. Nonetheless, certainly one of my more memorable experiences. You realize you are totally helpless and completely at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Man, I'd get in my se7en and drive to Nebraska! (Or at least Ohio). You wont have elec, phones, internet, water, toilets, air condit, etc., etc, at least for a while. And when it finally sinks in that it's going to be much, much worse than you ever imagined, it will be too late to duck out. Just the sound of the screaming wind, howling away for 36 hours will be unnerving and make sleep difficult. Even if it "misses" you, it is going to be incredible. Glad to hear your CRS has a nice warm place to hide Croc. That is a good start.

BBall: Terrifying thot, that little Caterkin! Ya know, both cars are in the same repair shop, side by side. And when the lights go out every night, who knows? Street-wise, but simple minded Caterham, next to a sophisticated, but inexperienced, Birkin??? I am calling the shop today and telling them to chain both cars to the floor. I only hope I am not too late. Supersport: I had all sorts of teething issues w/my Caterham that took a year to work thru, including an intermittent short that killed the starter and left me stranded, many, many, many times and on wh/I spent tons of time/$ trying to track down. So I am not close to giving up on the Birkin. Paul: At least you know what to ck 1st on your elec situation (start w/battery terminals, then cutoff switch-remeber, it does work (some of the time)-then conectors). Let me know what you finally discover. Ian, I am pulling out the $1.7K carbon fiber driver's seat, and replacing the track rubber with newer street tires, that's about it. Automoda-as noted, my wiring is the '09 version so it shd be as beautiful as yours. Because it looked fussy, the prior owner spent a lot of $ cleaning up the engine bay wiring and making it pretty (He succeeded). Since the rest was invisible, he skipped it. Bottom line for me-even w/its current probs, this Birkin is very high content and assuming glitches can be fixed, a real deal.

If you look under the Caterham's dash there are abt 6 wires, under the Birkin's it looks like abt 10 thousand wires, all spaghetti style and in untethered clumps, a total rat's nest. So there is something to be said for keepin it simple/light. Once I get it back on the road, I will have to do something to anchor the mess of under dash wiring so the gravitational pull of track days doesn't cause connectors to separate. One of the big challenges, per the techs, was no wiring diagram, so everything was done by feel.

Croc: If I touch it, it makes it worse, that's my sad history w/cars. Still, its an interesting thot and I will ck out the stuff.

Stock Duratec makes abt 140 hp, like a stock Zetec, and way more than an X-flow. Shd be plenty of hp for a se7en, except for the power crazy crowd (like me). Dick Brink told me pays $700 for them.