Kitcat

The weather Gods smiled! Looks like a great time.

Shot at for backfiring? I'd never make it in my little X-Flow:)!

Mike: You da Man! What a great experience you had and it was terrific to be able to tag along vicariously, thx to your great write up.The showroom was a se7enr's dream come true. The track experience was amazing. To rent a track and provide cars and personalized instructors of such high caliber was very ambitious and had to cost some long $. It is now on my list of things to do. I was happy to hear how well the plain vanilla Academy cars did. I think they are about equal to my basic Super Sprint Crossflow.

My '08 M3 has a power button that re-calibrates the engine. If I hit it when accelerating, the car leaps forward. Interesting that the Mustang GT now offers the same performance as my car for about $30K less. The Boss 302 should leave me in its dust, and still will cost less $. Ford seems to be on a roll. Glad to see it.

I called Ben at Caterham USA and used the plug wires/and spark plugs he sent (didn't pay attention to the source, tho). I left the Diz cap and coil alone and have had no problems. Also changed trans fluid, diff fluid, oil and coolant soon after purchasing my car.

When Car and Driver tested the Atom at VIR for its Lightening Lap issue in Feb, 2010, its big complaint abt the car was it was so twitchy. Nice to hear that trait is being dialed out.

Edit: Actualy a Caterham, not a Catermam(:. Listed on Texas Motorworks site. A claimed total of 500 miles, 1700 cc Crossflow, 4 sp, DeDion, disc front, drums rear. In need of TLC (and tires/wheels/interior). Price will go up as cosmetics are finished, per website.

Drool, drool. Ditto Skip's rocket ship observation. Santa provided the parts, who assembled them? I say, "Bring on the "pesky Elise". Mike

Gert-make em chrome or black. As is, it's kinda like wearing a yellow hat to match your car, it starts to get too cute-IMHO. (and it is humble). Lowcost: Wow! Yours is among my favorite se7em photos from this thread of amazing photos. Mike

I have marked my calendar!

The original 3 wheelers were a response to Britain's tax code wh/was much higher for 4 wheeled vehicles. Now it seems to be pure nostalgia-certainly the 3-wheel driving dynamic is not as favorable as 4 wheel. It is beautiful, but I'll take a $46K Se7en.

Didn't think abt the anti-roll bar either!

I have seen a tree impact 15 feet above ground level at an auto-x. A friend borrowed my Miata and hit a tree on the inside of a curve with the far side of the car (nearly impossible to do)tho if you slide wide, go off, keep the gas floored, lurch back onto the track, then the spinning wheels will catch and continue to rotate the car in a perfect 360 throwing it into a trajectory opposite of entry into the turn and allowing the car to then hit the tree on the opposite side. And we had drivers at 2 different sites launch themselves totally off site and land in the middle of a busy adjacent highway (Previously considered impossible). Kiss those two sites good-bye:).

Will do-I suspect I have the standard rack as you say, with longer steering rods. At one point my steering was acting up and I ordered a replacement and all they had was the one fitting a wide track. Chris T said just take off the longer rods and use those from my existing steering box. Naturally, as soon as I got the new box, the steering issue cleared up. Didn't think abt brake lines, good point.

First guy= cold tires. Second guy=never saw the turn. Never even moved the steering wheel. Auto-X poles/trees=if they are there, someone will figure out a way to hit them, regardless of course design.

Thx Tom. I just happen to have a brand new wide track steering rack in my basement. If Paul doesn't grab these, I will. Mike

Wide track front? Are these SV suspension components interchangeable w/S3? What are the available adjustments on the shocks: perch height, rebound, compression? If rebound/compression, how many separate adjustments are there and how accessible are the adjusters (Do you have to take the shocks off to adjust). Are the rebound/compression separately adjustable, or does adjusting one, adjust the other? Thx, Mike

This car is listed elsewhere here as: "Caterham FS in Michigan". The Goodyear rims are a dead give-away.

SG: The link's installation instructions says it only works with "Two independent momentary turn signal switches?" Is that what you have described above? It sounds like you have a single switch. Or, am I misreading the link's info -or your comments (Or both)? My Caterham uses the single on-off-on toggle switch you describe. So the toggle has to be physically returned to the off position to cancel the signal. One that cancels on its own after a timed period, as the linked switch seems to, would be ideal. Mike

I have the same issue. Hard to believe, but the non-canceling turn signal is my least favorite part of the car. Since I have clams, with a blinker lite on top, that's what I typically notice, 5 minutes after the turn, and am reminded to cancel my signal. I have a cockpit lite that blinks (imperceptibly) and is of no use unless I am driving at nite, when the lite becomes visible. I doubt that I'd notice any beeping sound w/my ear plugs and sound muffs.

After reading WestTexas's post about the adventures of 7evin at the Texas Mile, I think the above was what they saw during their 11th hour thrash. As for me, the only difference I noticed was that the dolphin on the right jumped further out of the water than the one on the left. Is it possible to be too calm?

Very impressive collection! I have no idea what the H. Manney book mite be worth, but wld pay $20.00+ shipping. PM me if interested. Mike

I have used the identical costume the last 3 Halloweens. It is more effective if you park the Se7en right in front of the party house:)! Mike

This month's "Caterham Life" newsletter has a short article on enhancing the handling of our cars. The basic message is, it's a lot easier to screw up the balanced package that Caterham delivers than make it better. It suggests that enhancement can be found by following Colin Chapman's rule of thumb:75% spring adjustment, 25% Anti-Roll-Bar. Getting the wheels, tires, springs, shocks, rake, ride height, camber, castor, toe in, toe out to work in a harmonious way is predictably challenging given so many variables and their effects on each other. Tinkering with just one component (say, stiffer shocks) can cause disharmony-and worsened performance. The biggest bang for the buck, per this article, is tinkering with tire pressures and then alignment settings. And, for owners of cars like mine to switch to Caterham's wide track option via the longer front wishbones (and longer steering rack) is a recommended route to enhanced performance. Driver preference is a key to suspension tuning also. It notes that F1 cars can have vastly different suspension set ups yet run identical times. Mike

Ditto:):).