Kitcat

Interesting patois you have there Brunny.

Mike: I pitched the instructor out after the 2nd lap (added Lightness:))! Actually, as Tom notes, after 4 sessions w/an instructor, I got to solo on my final session. Since Tom spliced various segments, sometimes I have company, sometimes I don't. Tom is too modest, he had a snafu on the first lap of the most confusing track I ever drove on (Unlike Tom, I let my instructor do the entire 1st session as I was as confused as Tom as what was where on track). Then he got black flagged and used the any-port-in-the-storm approach to getting back in to the pits. Since returning home, I play a video of a hot lap every day, just to keep the multi-faceted track track imprinted in my brain. It has several blind apexes, a corkscrew, the karossel, various multi-apex curves and what I call a false apex curve(seems like you shd apex at "X" but have to learn to apex at "Y"). And just to make things interesting, the pointer cone was misplaced on one corner, and my 1st instructor taught me a totally different line on several turns than the 2nd instructor. Again, all this on what was already the most confusing track I have ever driven. I felt like a champ when I finally mastered it. Scot and Michael D were incredibly fast and much speedier than I was. A result of their extra power and knowing the track, not to mention driving talent.

I noticed a beautiful orange Superlite at LOG 30 had the bleached and spotted carbon fiber fenders, so some type of protection for them seems in order for you owners w/newer CF.

Read it this a.m. I loved the car w/no reverse so it had a handle on the back!(are you paying attention Busa engined se7ers:)?).

Hey, I love the nose on your car. I suspect the ultimate buyer will too.

Croc/Mike: Let me know if your car carrier passes thru Cincy. Mike

Anyone have a photo/diagram of the valve or screw that one uses to adjust the balance of the Weber carbs? Or a link to such a photo/diagram? I have the balance meter, just need to know what to adjust. On my LOG trip my engine started acting poorly, it wldn't rev cleanly and wldn't go past 5K. I tried the "Italian tuneup" with excellent results (ran the engine hard under load for 5 minutes-accelerating thru the rev range and held it as high as it wld go for a coupla seconds each time). It seemed to clear out whatever was gumming up the works. Now I know why owners of these engines blip the throttle occasionally. I thot it was for effect, it turns out they were cleaning out any carb blockages.

As I posted elsewhere, I found the Lotus folks very friendly and inclusive and they showed unfailing interest in my Caterham. Unlike Croc, I didn't attempt to interact with any of the SimpleSevens owners, which seems to be where some of the bad vibe originated. So, other than being banished to the far corner of the parking lot, there was never a sense of being treated differently. And its a Lotus event, their members do all the work and we show up and play. So what's to complain abt? I will say that the entire auto-X was a Caterham affair, it was put on and staffed by Caterham owners-so we did make a bit of a contribution. And, sorry abt the lotus badge on my Caterham, guilty as charged. It was there when i bought it 3 years ago, having been so affixed by the prior owner. I just never removed it. Finally kudos to Dean and his crew for putting so much sweat and time into making this LOG, my first but hopefully not last, so terrific. Mike.

Just back into the office, totally exhausted. No pun intended, although I did breath Crossflow fumes for 1400 miles! The weather was in a word: "perfect"! Five days of sunshine and cool temperatures. What a great time! And the usa7s group are a ton of fun. I now think of myself and the folks I hung out with (Box/Jon, Croc/Mike, Yellow SS/Tom) as "the brotherhood of the camel toe" in honor of the many conversations inspired by a lovely lady admirer of Mike's and Tom's se7ens:). The concours/ car show was fun. It was held at a huge facility with mammoth parking lots and whose sole purpose is the retail sale of teddy bears. Who knew there was such a large teddy bear market? We had fun off in our own little corner of the lot to which we had been banished as non-Lotus owners. I have to say, tho, the the Lotus owners were unfailingly nice to me and totally inclusive and admiring of my car. So other than the parking lot slight, we were all family. The trip thru the Gettysburg battle grounds, led by Croc (thanks for the super write up of the entire weekend and photos Mike!) was inspirational. My biggest discovery was how flat all the famous high points were:Seminary ridge was maybe 100 feet higher than the surrounding land and this rise occurred over hundreds of yards. And Pickets famous ill-fated charge was across a rolling meadow, not up a hill side. The auto-X the next morning was great. I hadn't done one in 6 years so was a bit rusty. I DNF'd 3 of 4 runs and only made it thru on the one run when Box jumped in and pointed out where i was supposed to go (Thx Jon!). Anyhow, my time put me at the quicker end of the 1st group and I felt I cld shave shaved a coupla seconds more off if I'd ever figured out the course-but that's auto-x-ing. The banquet was great and we had 2 USA7s tables and I sat at the one that included Taber10 and his lovely and gracious wife, Joan. Always good to put a face with an internet name. The banquet speaker, Satch Carlson, was reasonably entertaining. After the auto-x I went for a tour on back roads. Along the way I trouble- shot my zero oil pressure problem and found an open farm store that had the special tool to tighten the loose bolts in my front suspension that were other wise impossible to reach. And this on a Sunday. Then it was off to Winchester for a hotel close to the Summit Point race track. I met up there with Tom, and his cousin John, a non-sevener but a big car guy and all round delightful person. He and I enjoyed ganging up on Tom, the ultra-conservative, with our crazy liberal ideas. Tom of course was unfazed. John said:"I've been arguing with him for years, he's impervious:)!" It was obvious that our political differences were irrelevant to having fun with our cars. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant and returned to our rooms around 10:00pm. At their suggestion I went back out and moved my car to a more visible part of the lot. Thus leading to one of the more memorable parts of the trip. As I jumped out after moving the car, a loverly lady, totally dolled up, came over and expressed great admiration for the car. Big deal, I am used to admiring compliments so I thanked her and looked away. But then she said she'd sure like a ride. Again I brushed it off too, I mean, who wouldn't like a ride in se7en? So I got out my somewhat unwieldy car cover and started to put it on the car. She reached down and grabbed one end and started helping. So I said thanks, you are just what I need. And she said, looking me straight in the eye:"You are right, I am EXACTLY what you need!" Wow, it hit me that she was much more than an ordinary se7en fan:)!!! Then she said I REALLY would like you to give me a ride in your car. She was staring at me, smiling, expectant. So I said basically, thanks for the love but no thanks and went in to bed (without her). Wimp, I know, I know. After recounting this moment of excitement at the race track the next day with both Tom and cousin John, they said, "You idiot, that was a prostitute!" Hey, I am just a small town boy, what do i know? It's hard to believe but the track day was even more memorable. Wow, the Shendoah circuit was sooo complicated. The highlight for me was on my last run when I had finally figured out what corner was what, I came upon one of my instructors and was eventually given the point by as he was so much slower. I stayed with my son, who lives 35' from the track that nite. Tom and cousin John went back the the motel from the evening before where they had 2 nites booked. I expect they spent many hours cruising back and forth in Tom's Seven hoping my lady friend would materialize again:). Then back to Cincy yesterday, 450 mile in 8 hours, 7 hours travel time. The car ran like a top, used a 1/2 quart of oil and got 20 mpg overall. I cant wait to do it again but Nevada is a non-starter for me-too far, too hot, etc. But we cant let "The brotherhood of the cameltoe" die! Mile

This trip has been a great excuse to do much over-due maintenance. Thanks to torque specs kindly provided by Skip Cannon, I have done a nuts and bolts check, at least of the items I can get to. Boring. All ckd out perfectly as I worked my way from front to back. In fact, since I didn't get to the back over the weekend, I almost didn't bother. Fortunately, I had some extra time yesterday: 6 critical bolts in the rear suspension were loose-2 were so loose I was able to hand tighten them, 4 took several turns to bring up to spec. (radius arms, both ends on both arms, etc.). Needless to say, handling has improved. It is doubtful I wld have made it thru the 1500 mile round trip and Summit Point track day with things so close to falling off.Also tightened the clams-wow, they don't shake at engine idle anymore, I thot that was normal! I also discovered a leaky lower radiator hose. Last time that happened I was stranded, so I had to fix it or not go. Following advice of BBall, I ordered a set of silicone hoses from Classic Silicone Hoses in the UK, as a long-term solution. They had never used an American credit card so that was its own adventure-I had to call my card co and get them to bless it, the hose place had to do the same on its end. It is in a remote location and kept losing its "signal" to the credit card place (while I was listening on the transatlantic call to them I made-can't wait to see that bill). Speaking of bills, as a short-term solution, I was able to get the needed hoses from Ben at Caterham. He overnited it to me. Since I was desperate, I didn't bother to ask the cost of shipping. Wow! Let's just say I have bought cars for less, and driven them. Packing: I have two large piles of tools & parts, one large pile of track stuff (helmet/HANS, etc) and one small pile of clothes (3 pairs of blue jeans, 5 black t shirts, 2 sweatshirts and, for the "formal" dinner Saturday, a sweater-simplicate and add liteness). Where I will put it all, I don't know. I mite just leave the tools at home and take a Swiss Army knife and some duct tape. I cleaned the car up, waxed it, added vinyl finish to all the rubber parts. Man, it didn't look this good when I bought it. I almost hate to drive it. Weather report is, in a word: perfect. Five days of cool nites, mild days and sunshine. What's not to like? Let the adventure begin, I am ready! Assuming all goes well, I will leave tomorrow around dawn and arrive in G-Berg whenever the combination of road gods and Se7en gods ordain-hopefully before dark. Mike

Perhaps they are produced by a division of Lucas?

Thx Steve. I have ordered one overnite from Sevens and Elans and, for the long term, a backup from classicsiliconehoses. Mike

A close inspection yesterday indicated I shd replace my Crossflow's lower water hose to the radiator. I replaced it a mere 3 years and 13K miles ago but its cracked and weathered looking. The more recently replaced top hose looks like new. Ideally I'd like to replace it before I leave this Friday for LOG 30. The orginal hose gave up the ghost after 13K miles (hmmmm...) and led to me being stranded. Does anyone know of a replacement that fits that mite be purchased at a local auto parts store (part number etc, if possible). Or is this a Caterham specific item? Thx, Mike

Interesting se7en, niteflyer, what make, year, engine? Mike

Dean: How many to a table at the banquet? Mike

Just noticed that the weather report for Gettysburg for Friday 10/8-Monday 10/11 is zero (0) percent chance of rain, all 4 days. Lows in the mid 40's, high in the upper 60's, and sunny. Of course , weather predictions are like stock market predictions, but it is an encouraging sign. Especially for those of us who wld prefer to leave the rain tires off and the top and doors at home.

All great additions to this post! Not slighting any as they are all keepers, but GBolt's is especially striking to me, MoPho is peerless, of course, and pretty women and Se7ens can not be topped.

Thx Jon. Offset?

I am toying with adding a set of dedicated rain tires on a set of new wheels for my clamshelled '97 Caterham. GRM has a nice article comparing various rain tires this month, so the tire part is easy. My search here has not shown any definitive data on specs for my 15" Prisoner wheels. They are 15 x 7, 4 bolts. Does any one know the bolt circle, bolt size, offset, etc., and anything else I wld need to order a set from TireRack? Any wheel recommendations? (something that has already been tried and works? No reason to reinvent the wheel, cough, cough). I love my nearly bald Toyo RA1s but will have a trip of approximately 1500 miles for LOG 30 and if there is any serious chance of rain, I don't want to try the trip on bald tires (great in the dry/frightening ion the wet). I do have a modest budget so cost is a factor. Thx, Mike

I wonder what the "Supersprint bonnet" is? More vents? 5 sp to 4 sp seems unlikely, but who knows?

Oh, it's definitely purple!!!!

I recently used WD 40 to take off a ton of tar that my car got into-use it liberally, let it soak overnite, add more, then wipe off.

It is truly amazing how much difference a talented driver makes. What a great story! Mike

I don't think the government is forcing you to buy expensive health care-I think you are allowed to buy the least expensive you can find. But ya gotta have something. It's sort of like car insurance in Ohio, if you don't have it, you don't drive. Pretending you will never get sick or injured (and then heading to a super expensive ER when you do-and where the rest of us are paying your freight thru higher premiums) isn't much of a solution.

I have Toyo RA1's (naturally shaved) on my Cat and have no trouble sliding them. Maybe go faster:)?