Kitcat

Chaz: Your birthday tradition is a great one. I guess we all owned Miatas at some point (I have had 2 and extensively auto-X'd one in SCCA's CSP class). I write to note that I bought my used '97 Caterham 2 years ago w/13K miles on it for just a little more than I paid for my last Miata. So maybe your birthday dream car isn't as unobtainable as it might seem?

Steve: Are you using 3d ignition? I have a vague memory that you are. If so, do you like it? Has gas mileage improved? (I get 10-14 around town, 18-20 on the highway). I know you are making more power than I am, but your hotter cam may explain that somewhat. Mike

Spaz: I would be surprised if the Honda motorcycle engine in your car weiged 400 lbs. Even my mighty Crossflow lump isn't that much. I would guess 175 lbs for your engine. Or do I have your car mixed up with someone elses? Overall weight of 1100 lbs seems believable. I wld guess Hank tips in around 1050 lbs, rollcage and all.

Ditto: Redline MT-90, 10K miles thus far and no problems.

Dumb question: How do you know if your exhaust gasket is leaking? In the driver's seat of my Crossflow there frequently is an exotic cocktail of smells: exhaust blow-back, carburetor blow-by, evaporating engine crude, etc., etc. Can you feel it with your fingers, do you need to rev the engine? Mike

My non-SV has a 9 gallon tank. Gas guage hits empty when 1 1/2-2 gallons are left in the tank. I ran it all the way down til it died last year (w/a 1 gallon gas jug at the ready) and then put 9 gallons in it.

Evo school was best $ I ever invested in improving driving skills. Nothing like 3 National Champions providing in-car advice and getting 40 runs per day to get it right. If you can auto-X you can track day. The biggest leap is from street driving to auto -X (IMHO).

A Westfield w/those specs? Looks perfect. And for $20K???? I paid $22.5K foir 93 hp!

As Freud said: the unconcious never sleeps. He'd say, I think, you weren't really ready to say good bye to your Seven (or were at least conflicted). So you "accidentaly" left somethoing in the Seven to stay connected. But you already knew that, so who needs Freud!

Peter Egan (of R & T fame, and a consumate Seven fan) says the ultimate BRG paint for Sevens was that used on the '91 (approx) Mazda Miata. Yes, it is ironic.

I had had it w/my Caterham after last summer after using it pretty much as my daily driver for 5 months. Final straw was it rained on a track day I had been looking forward to for months. So I wasn't able to drive the Seven there & do the event, after all those months of sacrifice. So I announced to my wife the Seven was going, I was buying a more civilized daily driver/track toy. And I bought a '08 BMW M coupe. But then.... All winter I remembered the many amazing Seven-only moments and entered a period of severe "Lotus-Loss". So now I use the BMW as my daily driver and use the Seven for those special times when the elements and the car's capacity are in total harmony.

Will there be a car above yours? What if it leaks oil, etc? Ask the shipper how that is handled.

Google "California Caterham Club". Their website has info on registering Sevens. Or, ask Dick Brink, he would probably know. If it is already titled and registered in Texas as a '64, that should simplify things tho I don't know for sure. I do know that when I bought my Caterham (built in '98) it had been registered and titled in New Jersey, where I bought it, as a 60's vehicle`. There were zero problems switching everything to here in Ohio.

No, no, no. Every one's wrong! Think of your Caterham as you would a woman. You haven't looked at her all winter and have spent every moment in the company of her rivals. Now that it's Spring and you are back in the mood, you are trying to get her to turn on, but guess what, she's miffed. I think there is hope but don't expect it to be easy. She just wants to see you suffer a little. And you have to make amends and show your sorry: start spending some money on her. Offer her a new starter, or maybe a solenoid, pull the hood and touch her wires and keep saying, "What's wrong, I want to make it better" If you treat her like a (trailer) queen, she will eventually come around. I speak from personal experience (about Caterhams, that is).

Unless I am missing something, this is a great price for a beautiful looking 1988 Zetec powered Caterham, assuming it sells for the reserve. It has the De Dion suspension, 5 speed T-9 transmission, 4 wheel discs. Caterham went to an enlarged foot box in '94, stiffened the chassis in '96 and redid some of the suspension settings (per"The Magnificent 7", by Chris Rees), so it's not state of the art Caterham, but still ....

The company gets a brief mention in Dennis Ortenburger's "Lotus Seven and the Independents". It confirms what you say. Hard to believe you can beat a Stalker's price structure, tho. How do they compare?

Amazing what a little paint will do! The photo next to the graffiti wall is perfect. And the hood cut-out adds a great wow-factor!

I added a 250lb passenger at a track day last year and handling was unfazed. But, as I quickly discovered, braking distances were a bit longer and brake pedal pressure went way up. Nonetheless, the car stayed totally neutral and toss-able in the curves.

I believe "Rotus" was a politically incorrect way of saying "Lotus", not a reference to a rotary power source.

A Noble is on my short list of cars-to buy-next. Don't know about the various car design theories but I think Chapman's "Add lightness" concept pretty much defines the Seven. Lightness makes everything better: acceleration, cornering, stopping, weight transference. Add in a great suspension, make it low, and a convertible, give it adequate power and you have a great track car (sticks great, limits are predictable, and can be exceeded without catastrophic results). It can also be driven aggressively on the street (as mine was this a.m. on the way to work).

ALL track events require appropriate Snell rating and some times motorcycle approved wont cut it (As noted, track approved helmets have to be fire proof-if you fall off your motorcycle, fire is probably the least of your problems). Anyhow, you have to peel back the helmet lining and show the appropriate Snell rating, or you will be watching the fun from the bleachers. I think Snell 2005 is the most recent standard. Typically, '00 is good enuf, '95 is not. Snell approved motorcycle helmets are sufficient for SCCA as apparently they have necessary fire retardant. It's DOT only helmets that don't cut it.

If the car will do some track duty it should have the Caterham FIA roll-over bar, not the standard one (The FIA weighs abt 20 lbs more and has a cross member). A 5 point or 6 point harness is recommended too. With 185 fuel injected hp, you shd have little trouble keeping up with competitors, including 996s, on all tracks but those with very long straights, esp if you are running race rubber. Since the Caterham is so light, it doesn't wear out race tires like a normal car does. I have about 7k miles on my Toyo RA1's including 5-7 track days and still have tread. The driving experience in a Se7en is so different than anything else, on the road or on the track. You are sitting 4" from the ground, you are packed in tightly, you hear and feel everything the car does, the wind buffeting is incredible, it's true sensory overload. So even if you are no faster than in the 996, you will achieve speed and fast times in a different manner and you will have a much more intense, involving experience-for better or worse. Mike

Yesterday must have been the semi-official USA7S First Blat day. I too took my Seven out for its first spin of the season. Thanks to the Griot's Garage battery tender that I got for X-mas, it cranked hard and eventually, and reluctantly, fired up. Ran great after a bit of warming. I looked down at one point and saw I was doing 80 on a city street. OK, a little too much pent up exuberance. Will Sevens on the street become like daffodils: an early sign of Spring?

I can see my standard Caterham gauges fine. However, when driven hard, like at the track, the tachometer needle bounce up and down wildly and is useless. I now rely on the time honored "ear-tach". My Crossflow sort of peters out at high revs anyhow, so I typically shift when the engine runs out of steam. The speedometer doesn't bounce, but reads 5 mph fast. Since I know the shift points on the speedo-I can use it to double check my "ear-tach."

Wow, a V6, I am sure the Stalker/Super Stalker owners here are impressed! What advantage does the all carbon-fiber body have over the standard aluminum cladding? Does the advantage(s) justify the enormous cost? Or, is it all bling? It can't weigh that much less than the standard Caterham aluminum/fiberglass setup, can it?