Kitcat

That heat looks unbearable! TG I'm in Ohio! And when did CA pass a 20 mph speed limit? I can ski on the roads here faster than those guys drive!!

Here (hopefully) is my own "little" car, looking much like my life sized car. Purchased from a vendor at LOG 30.

Thx guys. When I went from 185/60-14 to 205/50-13 on my Miata, I lost a gear (4th became 3rd, etc.). Since it was purely for track use I didn't care, car accelerated harder, cornered much better. On Hoosiers I was just 2 seconds a lap slower at Putnam than in my Caterham. The Miata had 15 more hp but weighed 1000 lbs more. Tires help:)! I am toying with a dedicated track wheel/tire set up so 13" mite be the way to go.Love the Pansport look.

As I have posted before (many times, sorry to be so persistent guys), the single best change I made to my Caterham to date was new RA1's. And I have made a LOT of changes.The car's handling was transformed. I have put 10-12K miles on them, including many track days and they are still going strong, tho visible tread is nearly gone, so they are dry tires only. Steve(BBall): Any problem matching your lovely Pansport-type wheels to your Caterham's bolt pattern? Who manufactured the wheels? Do you have the 3.90 diff? If so, does the engine spin like crazy w/the smaller diameter wheels (My car has 15" wheels and 205/55 tires, so 13" tires wld basically subtract a gear, and make highway cruising difficult/noisy). Mike M.

I ran 205/55-14's on my Miata for auto-X. Some guys ran 225's on their 6" stock Miata rims.

Lots of caster is good for auto-x: It helps get the wheels back to the neutral position to start steering for the next turn. John K-the local race shock guru is Kumar. He also did many chassis set ups for OEM vehicles, including the track Viper. Haven't heard form him in a while tho, I know his garage closed. IF you cld find him, he cld take your car for a spin and give you tons of info. He cld revalve your shocks that wld max out car's potential also. Cant wait to see the finished product.

I will be interested in seeing how the advertised hp specs for your engines compare to any chassis dyno results. As I recall folks w/"210 hp" engines were seeing 145 hp on the chassis dyno. On the other hand, at a track day 2 years ago, I watched a CSR 260 stay on a new 'Vette's bumper down a long straight, something unheard of in my car. Also, the CSR package is abt $15K less than the standard (and cruder) Superlight 500. Any idea why? Both are minus engine & transmission so that's not it.

If there is an option you missed, I can't think of it:)! It will be quite the se7en. I am looking forward to more build pix! Mike M

John K: I don't think a person can be too obsessed when it comes to cars, esp se7ens:). Do you have a semi-solid projected date when your thoroughly re-engineered se7en will be done (I see the six year anniv date is approaching)? BTW, as neat and tidy as the Crossflow is, I'd love to have your 240 hp! Mike M.

Ditto Croc:I kept waiting for the blat to turn into a splat!

Tom, I replied, let me know if you get it, I seem to be having a PM glitch. FWIW, Craig said the bolt in bars wld duplicate the welded, just attach w/bolts. From photos above, I cant tell if bar eats up foot/leg space. It is inside the car, but high, so I doubt it.

I have talked with Craig. He is going to make some bolt-in side intrusion bars that connect up w/my Caterham FIA car, and the car's under dash hoop, for track day use. Since mine is a everyday car, I want to be able to use the top so can't weld in the bars. Predicted cost: $100-200.00. Also bought a rebuilt Crossflow from him while I was at it.

Mine ran fine. Quite a place, rain/sun/lakes/mountains/curves/straights/hat/no hat.

The stock Caterham may be under 2 turns lock to lock but it has the turning radius of a Ford 150, at least mine does. So it turns quick, but not sharp.

Bessie: She's all attitude, I like that in a se7en:).

I have been e-mailing Craig about a rebuilt Crossflow. He mentioned he has a new shop that's 3x as big as the one I saw. He has 6-7 Lotus/Caterham projects underway there, including some race cars.

Craig: Why not do a separate post on the forum and add photos? A recurrent topic amongst our members is how to improve existing roll over/collision protection. So you might generate some interest. I know I'd like to see the bolt in assembly you have just completed. Wouldn't hurt either to add some estimated prices for various systems. Mike M.

For those wondering, Craig is a long time Caterham aficionado and has raced them for many years in SCCA. I visited his well equiped work shop/restoration shop a year and a half ago and all was neat and tidy. I expect anything he produces will be top-notch. Mike M.

Wow, you were flying! It was the straightest auto-X course I have ever seen. We used to set ours up so the 'Vettes had trouble breaking 60 mph.

Clues: She was waaaay overdressed. She wore a wrap. (Easy to slip in and out of). It was polyester (no wrinkles). She wore slip-on heels (speedy to put on take off). She materialized out of nowhere and disappeared into thin air. It was a motel parking lot at 10:30 on a Sunday night. But what a pro-she definitely had me going, was super sales woman, I came away with new respect for the profession.

Prostitute story: After enjoying a leisurely late dinner w/YellowSS and his cousin John, prior to the LOG 30 track day, I went to the parking lot and, on their advice moved my Se7en to a more visible spot. As I jumped out of the driver's seat, a lovely, well dressed woman in high heels came up and professed great admiration for the car. Se7en owners know that everyone loves our cars and wants to talk abt them and I sort of brushed her off with the usual thank yous. But she was VERY persistent, she loved it's lines, etc. AND she' really like to go for a ride! I assumed that the car was exerting its usual gravitational pull on females, so I again repeated the standard thank you's etc. I then pulled out my car cover to tuck the car in for the night. As I did, she bent over to pick up one side of the car cover to help me out. Hmmmm. That was a first. Being the polite county boy that I am, I said "Thanks, you are just what I need here." She looked me right in the eye, at close range, and said: "That's right, I am EXACTLY what you need!" And begged for a ride again promising to help with the cover when we returned. Of course, if I weren't such a wimp, this story would get much better at this point. But, sadly, after she finished helping with the car cover, I told her how tempting her suggestion was, but said I had to call it a day. So instead of continuing the adventure, I went into my motel room where I drifted off to sleep entertaining various fantasies abt strapping her into the passenger seat harness and.... The next day Tom and Cousin John, upon hearing my story, simultaneously said: "Wow, you found a parking lot prostitute." It had honestly never occurred to me that the woman had a financial motive when throwing herself at me. I had naturally assumed that it was a combination of my general studliless, combined with the aphrodisiac a powers of the se7en. Ahh, a dose of reality. But, even now, I do occasionally think abt strapping that lovely lass into the passenger seat and.... I don't know what the prostitute would have actually cost but, you know, you can't put a price on a good fantasy, especially when it involves a se7en, and a sexy, willing female:)! Mike M.

Cell phone is of little use if you break down out of cell phone coverage (as I did on my 1st trip after buying the car). I have fixed the following w/elec tape: broken throttle linkage, fuel line leak, busted side mirror mount. Not permanent fixes, but good enough to get me home. I have used a stubby screw driver and stubby phillips screw driver to fix 1/2 the things that have come loose on trips. A flash light is essential, since odds are good that some issues will occur in pitch dark (as my out-of-cell -phone-coverage problem did). I use one that's like a miner's light (it straps to my forehead, leaving both hands free). For long trips, I ditto Slomove's list. I also take a small, portable, jump charger. It has a 12v socket so I plug my GPS and radar detector into it. Mike M.

Tom: I guess my only concern with staying at the track itself is this: Will there be attractive prostitutes in the parking lot like there were where we stayed near the Summit race track:)? Mike M.

New R 500, R 300 and a used '99 Superlight ($39K).

Jon: Yes, 612 miles , one way, I can't wait. I will slap the "knobbies" on the se7en before I leave. After all, I was the next car after Croc went cross country at Log 30, purely on faith. (And I had just met him). All I saw was a hill and sky. He at least had walked it and knew what was on the other side. I was: ""OK, here we go, Oh Sh*T!"