Kitcat

Michael: How much extra weight, counting bolts and everything? When will you add a serious driver's seat? It will help, even in the tight fitting Caterham cockpit. Mike M.

Just finished looking at an internet slide show of the damage. Truly unbelievable devastation. I had no idea it had been so incredibly destructive. I am sure the aftershocks are terrifying. It will definitely be years of recovery. Words fail me. Hang in there!

Bessie: You have definitely got the upstarts beat on "attitude". $$$ just can't buy your kind of swagger!

I somehow hadn't seen it. I am with you Tom, Wow!. If anyone ever asks what its like to own/drive a se7en, I am going to show them this video:). It definitely captures the visceral experience & crowd reaction.

Ditto what the others say. The thing that is hard to convey abt a se7en is just how different it is than anything else you have ever driven. Both good and bad. It is exhilarating , yet can be extremely hot/loud, etc. For me the high of a 15' drive to work lasts all day and vastly offsets any inconveniences occasioned by the car's lack of practicality. And you better like people, because EVERYONE one will want to talk about it. I agree a ride is in order. I was shocked during my first test drive how unlike anything I had ever ridden in it was. It took me a few weeks to process the experience (neighboring cars' hub caps being at eye level, deafening noise, people hanging out of car windows snapping cell-phone photos, instantaneous acceleration/braking/turn-in-it was total sensory overload). Mike M.

Maybe it's like the T-shirt says, its not the destination but the journey that's important? And your journey has been impressive. FWIW, of all the cars, tame and wild, that I have owned in my 64 years, if I could only have one from this point on, I would chose my '05 Honda Accord, 4 cyl, auto, 4 door. It got 33 mpg at 70 mph, was quiet, comfortable for 5 adults, was totally reliable, and had excellent handling. When I took it to the track it was consistently faster than, say, the Miata's there. Mike M.

John: Performance Alignment in Blue Ash has scales and can also align the car with you in it, corner weight it, etc. All the Cincy racers get their cars done there. They are 20' from you. Mike M.

The "rule" for tweaking handling is just make one change at a time. Hopefully that will let you isolate the result. My wild guess is that the wide track alone will resolve things. It wld be interesting to put Karl's wheels on before changing anything else to see effect. Of course if car is torn apart, house surrounded by snow etc, that may not be feasible.

I didn't realize it had been driven. Never mind:). You can fix under-steer by playing w/air pressure sometimes, or adding more anti-roll bar in the back, wh/makes the front stick better. Or by adjusting rake it seems. Let us know if the tweaks help and if you like the (hopefully) more neutral handling.

Ditto what above posters say. And, isn't it only relevant in 1st and top gear? If you mostly auto-X, a tall 1st gear can be a real asset as you may never have to shift out of first. When I was running auto-x's here in Cincy, the courses were very tight and the dedicated auto-x'ers wld set their gearing up to stay in 1st (top speed 55-60 mph). If you drive a lot on the highway, (to and from track days?) then a tall top gear makes everything better (less noise, better mileage). At the track you wont need 1st except to launch wh/is irrelevant at a track day given the rolling starts, and you will never be in top gear except maybe a place like VIR with a mammoth straight, but probably not even there. Mike M.

Why not drive it first, see how it handles, then dial in/out rake if its not right? I have never measured my rake, but the car handles perfectly, balance is excellent, etc. I think I have abt 3 1/2" ground clearance below the oil sump.

I watched w/o sound and still laughed!

The Top Gear guys loved this car. So much so that they devoted an episode to it in which it challenged a (really slow) airplane to a long distance race. Just to even it up, the airplane guys also had to ride motor-scooters to the airport and then do a full and time-consuming pre-flight check. Meanwhile the car is motoring along. But since it was on public highways, it mostly went the speed limit. So what was the point you ask? Me too:)! I won't spoil the ending by telling you who won. If I have to suffer thru a long and pointless show, everyone does!

Thx Speedcraft, I had no idea it was possible to get a wheel tire combo under 20 lbs. I think my M3 combo wheel/tire is abt 55 lbs.

LOL! That's me. Even has my hairline. I just have to upgrade to the sunglasses. OK, the "People worship me, I am rich" part mite be slightly exaggerated. And, speaking of Trackday Gods, the video of the R8 at VIR is worth a look/listen. Its part of the You-tube options once "Mr sunglasses" is done explaining his greatness.

Karl: Perhaps weigh yourself holding a wheel/tire combo and then not? If tires are that much lighter than RA1's (wh/are considered heavy), I'd consider replacing my RA1's with them also, when they wear out. I Googled your tire but was unable to find a weight.

Thx Karl. I was interested in the combo. As I recall my 15" Prisoner wheels w/205/55 RA1's weigh abt 31-32lbs. The tires alone are 20 lbs, per Toyo's website. Given that it's unsprung weight, and rotating weight to boot, those are big pounds.

Thx Tom/Mike. I HAVE just purchased a new X-flow. However, it's the same spec as the existing (advertised 135 hp, real world, subtract 40 hp). Mine was smoking a bit, leaking a bit, etc., so I purchased a refurbished X-Flow from Craig Chima. It MITE have a few extra ponies over the existing engine as it was blueprinted, ported/polished by a Crossflow specialist who does racing engines. We'll see. IF I was going to upgrade, I'd have bought the 185 hp BDR engineCraig's putting in his Caterham rebuild (See for-sale section). I talked to him abt it ($10K vs $3K for what I bought). It was tempting (the ultimate sleeper se7en). But I don't have $10K and I love my little underpowered car. Can you drive flat out everywhere:)? Hopefully all the current ice/snow will be gone by April, when it's set to be installed. His shop is abt 4 hours from Cincy. As to competing w/your uber se7ens at the track, I am thinking abt zip tying my se7en grill onto my 414 hp M3 and passing it off as a se7en. Mike M.

Michael D. The 13", and 15" tires you compare look nearly identical on paper. Does one have a track or street advantage over the other? I am running 15x205/50 RA1's all around on my car. Have been very happy w/them both at the track and on the street, tho it takes some work to get them heated up. Michael M.

We snow-bound types use this down time to enhance our secret powers. For instance, did you notice how soon after his post gloating abt the great CA weather that MoPho's car sprang a serious oil leak???

Interesting: My stock 14x6 Miata R package wheels were 10.8 lbs.

Ditto what others say. Fastest se7en in US is a V8 Stalker. Used Caterhams are available at more reasonable prices than new-see this Forum's For-Sale section. A nice track ready BDR engined Cat is there, ditto 2 lovely Duratec SV's. The good thing abt the relatively steep price of used Cats is that you can sell them for not a lot less than what you bought them for. The depreciation hit is mostly at the first resale.

Very curious abt weight of wheel/tire combo, front/and larger rear-purely in the interest of science. Glad they found a good home. Your car on slicks shd be a track terror. I am working on some James Bond-worthy devices to add to my car to offset the advantages you, and others, have (Hmmm, I wonder where those tacks could have come from, etc?).

When Karl upgrades, someone else always benefits too:). Karl-any idea what they weigh? Approximately? Bathroom scale accuracy is fine. Mike M.

Wd 40?