Kitcat

Very impressive! Se7en miles are like dog-years: one Se7en mile is about the same as going six miles in a normal car. I wonder if anyone on this site has gone further? I suspect not. Mike

Great car and sharp color. Bears a passing resemblance to a WCM Ultralite to my (admittedly blearly) eyes. Interesting front license plate holder-does the plate retract with wind pressure?

Well, that was fun! One less yellow flag or a few more ponies and he might have gotten 2nd. Still, he was on the podium. Apparently a 40 year old Lotus 7 w/a 1600 cc carbureted engine? Any idea what approx engine power was? Loved the blinking shift light. What a track, tons of elevation changes and huge straights.

See above Jim, I got them from Sevens and Elevens, a Caterham dealer in MA. THx for posting , Skip, and thx for the compliment. BTW, I am running Caterham's "Prisoner" wheels, but without the center caps, wh/I think enhaces their appearance. Mike

Great car, let the adventure begin.

V-Robb, congratulations, cant wait for the details, including engine choice. It is a very pretty car!

Yes great photo above, wh/captures the se7en experience. Just caption it with 7evin's comment about the "adrenaline squirting from your ears", and you have the whole deal in a nutshell. I went w/the Brooklands vs. the carbon fiber lip strictly for aesthetics. I have a clam fendered Caterham, so it seemed to fit that classic look better. If I had a cycle fendered car, I might have gone with the lip, wh/is much cheaper. (I just checked my receipts and I spent about $1.5K on my set up, with mirrors, not counting my mechanic's charge for installing it all). Mike

Can't seem to upload pixs. This site keeps saying "connection to server was reset" when I try to post them. Then nuttin. Feel free to send me your e-mail address and I can attach them and send via e-mail. Mike

As I noted elsewhere, in passing, I switched over from a standard Caterham windscreen to a Caterham Brooklands screen set up. I added the aftermarket 3 mirror setup suggested by Chris T at Sevens and Elans. After running it for a month, here are my impressions: First, it looks way cooler-always important; Second, the cockpit isn't nearly as toasty; Third, it runs faster: more acceleration and higher top speed. It is noticeable over 35mph. I had read somewhere that a Brooklands screen was like adding 20 hp. I can't quantify the difference that precisely, but it is quite noticeable in my modestly powered car; Fourth, better gas mileage-best I have ever gotten (wh/isnt saying much), by about 25%. In part because the car pulls so much stronger in higher gears, so I routinely am one gear higher everywhere. Downsides: Lots of wind tho not hugely different, zero protection from the elements, when it rains, you get very wet, instantly. Less protection from flying road debris. I now wear a nice set of safety goggles over my glasses. While the Brooklands screen is a peiece of art, the mirrors, wh/are next to impossible to adjust, are a piece of S%&*. And, for those of us too busy and/or too mechanically challenged to fabricate/install our own creation, or even these off-the shelf pieces, it ain't cheap. I carry a car cover and when it looks like it might rain, I toss it on and hope the rain will be over when I need to drive it home. It's about a 1/2 hour job to swap back in the standard windscreen. Bottom line: I am sold on it. It's way cool and the pluses far outweigh the negatives. Mike

BTW, there is an interestng round tube-frame Se7en replica for sale on e-bay (Look under Lotus-other).

I have made many, many parts purchases from Chris T and never had a problem. He also built my car for the person who later sold it to me, and he had no complaints about Chris. Since Chip is taking the time to share his knowledge here tho, I will probably start ordering parts thru him.

One of my fellow auto-xer's famously remarked that if his daughter ever beat him, he'd wear a dress to the next auto-x (which he did:)).

I enjoyed watching a Caterham win the Runoffs in '05, when I was a spectator there. As I recall, all the top runners took each other out on the last lap in an incredible display of overly aggressive driving. This left what I recall was the 5th place Caterham in line to inherit first. It was clear then that the Caterham is not allowed to run competitive power levels by the SCCA and that good handling alone is not enough, at least not on a horsepower track like Mid-O (and I wld have assumed Road America). Forty six years and still racing? Gives me hope!

My memory is some A-Mod guys claimed that the effect of the wing was noticeable above 30 mph.

MoPho: I appreciate the slight advantage my super-speedy paddle shifts give me at the track, where I am usually trying to catch someone, or not be caught. I also put it in auto mode and let it shift itself at the track. Having one less thing to do seems to help me focus on braking points, turn in, check my mirrors, etc. At my first track day recently, my M3 was the fastest car there. Am I a driving hero? Well, the second fastest was not the Ferrari, not the ZO6, it was the, er.., Miata. It was a race prepped well driven Miata, but, it was still a Miata. I also like shifting tho. My 5 sp Caterham offers plenty of opportunities for that, both on and off the track. Mike

I love the dual clutch, computer operated, paddle shifters in my '08 M3. They never miss a down shift and cut 1/2 second off the 1/4 mile time. Also, I am shocked 1/2 dressed woman draped over the Miata engine bay. That's just a terrible example of sexual exploitation! I am wondering if anyone knows where I can get the poster as I'd like to hang it in my garage as a warning to others as to what I find offensive....

I have a friend who works in a Ford factory. He's getting overtime for the first time in a long time. He now feels he can afford to send his son to the local state college. He's not complaining.

I owned a Miata 1.6 and a 1.8. The 1.8 was faster. Both were a ton of fun to drive. I did many track days in the 1.8. With a few mods to the 1.8 it was about as fast at Putnam Park racetrack as my 283 hp Evo VIII, and about 2 seconds a lap slower than my Caterham. Mike

Standard Caterham, non-adjustable suspension, 15" Prisoner wheels: 3 1/2" oil pan to road. Never had a problem with speed bumps and have never scraped bottom in 10K+ miles of driving on & off the track. Mike

I haven't driven it, but all the performance data I have read on the Noble M400 would put it in the top 5. The magazine is clearly are using some kind of subjective "fun-to-drive" factor. At the track, the Miata ranked # 9, would lose to most cars on the list, certainly to an M3-I know, having owned both. On the other hand-I would agree that from a purely fun perspective, a Miata is hard to beat.

As our local auto-x hotshoe and multi-time solo champion, Danny Popp, likes to say:"How do you know where the limit is unless you exceed it?" He also constanly asks:"Are we having fun yet?" Sounds like you just needed one more run to put it all together and that you were definitely having fun! Mike

People talk about saving money building or assembling things themselves, then mention the scary hours of time invested in scratch building, or even assembling something. I understand the investment of 1000's of hours from the I-built-it-myself perspective. It's the journey not the destination. But, if what you want is a car to drive and the fun of screwing it together is attractive, but a luxury you cant afford, then buy something someone else has made. From a purely dollars and sense perpsective, you can make a great deal capitalizing on some one elses tireless efforts. I am not sure what Martin is hoping to get for his amazing scratch built Se7en. But if his hours invested were fairly priced (let's say $100 hour for his talent and skill at car fabrication) then he will probably take a loss when his car sells. If you just value the car by the cost of its components, then he will make a killing. But the components didn't build themselves. When I factor in what I make an hour in my vocation, then it makes sense to have some one else do the construction. My dad used to spend hundreds of hours trout fishing. For him the occaslional trout was incidental to the effort, which was the point of the enterprise. If building a car is something you have the passion and talent and time for, do it. I think the happiest people on this site are in this group. But not because they saved money. Instead it's the love of creating something with their own hands. I think the next happiest group are the folks, like me, who think that just driving the car is reward enough, regardless of who built it. So, you decide.

I can just see the top of my car's roof for about 2 seconds. An unforgettable moment tho, especially after a little more than a month of se7en ownership. Car broke down on the way to the Dragon from Cincy, broke down at the photo site, and then barely made it home, covering the passenger side wind screen with oil. No mechanical issues in over a year, however, after finally getting the car sorted. Mike

Craig: Yes, that is a speedy Caterham! In my Caterham I was able to hit 95 mph where you hit 141 mph at N Ledges, and was lapping in the '19's. When I was there 4 weeks ago in my '08 BMW M3 w/414 hp, I hit around 130 mph there. The track is so bumpy it doesn't really reward a stiffly sprung car either, making your times that much more impressive. Mike

I think an Ultralite is a lot of vehicle for the $. I think the Miata powered Westfield is also. And you can get a turbo-powered one from Flyin Miata that will have a bullet proof engine and more power than you could ever really use. Texas is home to Dick Brink's Texas Motorworks (go to Google). He sells a new IRS Birkin se7en that wld be near the top of my list at the moment. The "Fastest Caterham" in the states is also for sale for around $50K-pretty tempting IMHO. So many choices. That's part of the fun. Mike