Kitcat

I am 5'9", 160 lbs. The only part that doesn't fit well in my standard sized '97 Cat is the left side of my upper body. I need about another 1/2". As it is, my upper torso just under my shoulder is jammed against the snap that holds the "door" shut. Not a big deal on short runs, but it gets painful on trips. I can wiggle around it and get comfortable but would love just a bit more room. If I were a bit taller I probably would clear the snap.

But, no-one can truly explain to a non-se7ener how much fun this continues to be :thumbs: Now that its warm, it's like riding a roller coaster to work:).

I was actually going to take a stab at driving my Cat down from Cincy: Wife was out of town for 6 days; decks were cleared at work, dog boarding was arranged, had the route planned, had called local motels, as where you were staying was booked, etc., etc. Thot I could do 400 miles Thurs afternoon/evening after work, 800 Fri, hang out/drive Sat/Sun, then 2 days back. Don't know if either the car or I would have actually made it. I have my doubts as it was so ambitious. But the weather made it all moot-tornadoes, hail, rain, subfreezing temperatures, possible snow, ferocious winds etc., predicted for the first 2 days of the drive made it impossible. The pictures look great tho, wish I could have been there. Mike

I am headed from Cincy to Lexington, KY Friday for work. On the way back I will check out some of the back roads. I plan to visit Rabbit Hash, KY, as much for the name as anything:). Rabbit Hash is a big bilker destination and is supposed to be surrounded by Sevenesque roads. Then I will cross the Ohio River on the Anderson Ferry's small paddlewheel car ferry south of Cincy-nice to enjoy technology even more dated than my Seven's! Should add about 250 miles towards my quest to be the odometer champ for '08 too.

Jeez Bob, you waited 3 seconds from when it ended to up date us, what took so long:)? Wonderful car/price. About what I spent for my much older/slower Caterham last year.

I will check it out. I am in Madison a lot as part of my job. Maybe take the Seven and get paid at the same time:)?

I thot the car looked familiar.

I'd love to see Al's numbers at the drag strip, someone coordinate that soon please:). A Superlite like his was tested at 13 flat thru the 1/4 mile and 103 mph thru the traps in a roadtest I read a while back. There are some Caterham road tests reprinted on the RMSC site. One is of the standard 147 hp engine (wh/probably makes 115 hp at the rear wheels). It did 92 mph thru the trap as I recall. When tested by Car & Driver, the 260 Caterham went 113 mph thru the trap with a time of 12.1" (PDQ). But enough with the Caterhams, how about the other LISS's?

:):)!

Does anyone have any 1/4 mile times they would be willing to share? There are some numbers here and there from the "Dyno Grand Prix" but little from the real world. The dyno specs on the Demon and the West Texas One-Lapper under construction look amazing. I am sure some of the Stalkers, Dick Brink's maroon Birkin, the Caterham 260's, Ultralights, BEC's, etc.,etc. are all quick. But who's quickest? Of course, the world awaits the results of Frankenstein's performance, especially now that it has been removed from its dungeon in West Virginia:). Since I have an underpowered Crossflow, I am also interested in who owns the slowest, backed up by actual time sheets, of course. Seems to me that the car mags tested my version at 88 mph trap speed, low 15's, back in the day.

As a strong believer in the grass-is-always-greener theory, I drove my Seven clear across Ohio Saturday to find the ideal Sevenesque road. I can recommend State Route 26 north out of Marietta, very twisty, very deserted, lots of elevation changes, but fairly bumpy. I went North on 26 to Woodsfield where I picked up State Route 78 west. Also very twisty, tho not as much as 26. Also, it's also a bit more populated with similar elevation changes but with a smooth-as-glass surface. Sort of a more civilized version of Route 26. I hit 107 mph on one straight section, with the help of a bit of a downhill slope (per my windshield mounted GPS-the optimistic Caterham speedo said 115 mph). Both routes are scenic and rural. Route 26 is heavily forested, Route 78 a mixture of farms and woods, Route 78 offers some lovely scenery and part of it runs along the spine of some ridges offering the scenic vistas that seem that much better when viewed from a Seven. BTW Seveners-if you need to cross Ohio to get somewhere else, use State Route 32 in the southern part of the state. It is a totally deserted 4- laner with no trucks and few intersections. Perfect for our nearly invisible little cars. Any other favorite drives within 250 miles of Cincy, or elsewhere in our Great Lakes region? Mike

Jack-Yes, I will be at Putnam for my first track day of '08. How about you? Mazda-I will do as you have suggested. West Texas-is there a website where we can follow your progress, trials/ tribulations for the One-Lap?

Doesn't look like a Caterham to me.

500+ miles yesterday alone. Nothing like a starter that works! Next weekend's track day is 320 miles round trip, plus the miles at the track, so I am piling up the #'s. Hey Al & Mazda, what about a "favorite drives" section for roads that are particularly Sevenesque? I found two yesterday in southeast Ohio. Mike

Welcome! I like the blue against orange background best but both the shoots of the red car against the fall foliage are excellent too. Are both cars yours? (It occurred to me, about the same time Al's Superlight and the Deman 27 showed up in the for-sale section, that there is no logical reason not to own several). If you get a moment, and are so motivated, you can add some background about yourself and the cars in the sticky at the top of this section of the Forum. Mike

Sweet! What do you anticipate a finished car will cost, assuming you assemble it into a turn-key for the buyer, in standard trim-not a lot of upgrades? How would you expect it to perform compared to your maroon Birkin?

"Build a bigger garage and workshop". Music to every car-lover's ears!

Congratulations (Like you will have any time for cars in the next year:)). When us old codgers were kids, we were just tossed on our sides between our chain- smoking parents in the front seat. When we got old enough to crawl, we'd hang out on the parcel shelf behind the back seats. When dad hit the brakes hard we'd fly off, bounce onto the seat and onto the floor. Whee! Do it again dad!

What a group we are! Who else thinks it's a historical event when their car starts:)! Mine started yesterday for the first time in a long time so I have real empathy for you on this. Congratulations for hanging in there. Ditto your spouse-all of us have very special wives/signif others for tolerating our obsession with these totally irrational, wonderful little cars.

Looks like a promising project for someone w/the talent to put the parts back together. Should be a beast on the track, he seems to have all the go-fast stuff.

Still in the garage awaiting a starter, don't rub it in:(. Turns out, a starter is an incredibly exotic part on my car. After many trials and errors, calls and postings and parts that didn't fit and repairs that didn't work, I ordered a replacement solenoid from England thru RMSC Fri afternoon, air freighting to Cincy, hopefully here by Tuesday. Jeez, and it's 70 and sunny here!

Sweet, a police escort!

Try contacting Feff at his E-mail address. I don't think he visits this forum that often.

Well, obviously the discussion is less than frantic:). Light wheels seem to be every car nut's obsession. People spend thousands of dollars to shave off a few pounds per wheel. Some reasons are: Wheels constitute unsprung weight. Unsprung weight is bad. Because it is unsprung it is harder for the suspension to control it and handling suffers, especially on bumpy surfaces. The ratio of unsprung weight to sprung weight is also important: anything you can do to reduce the ratio of unsprung to sprung is a plus. One (the only?) advantage of the Caterham's DeDion rear suspension over the live rear axle suspension is it cuts the unsprung weight of that suspension component, including the very heavy rear diff, in half. Thus, the DeDion's superior handling on rough surfaces. Wheels are rotating mass. So their weight has to be squared to determine their effect. Thus a 5 pound per wheel savings in absolute weight is worth 25 lbs in rotational mass. Multiply that times 4 wheels and it's worth 100 lbs. Add in the additional unsprung weight advantage and the benefits of light weight wheels can be significant. Bragging rights. Everyone wants the lightest wheel. My Miata came with stock wheels that weighed 9..8 lbs. Everyone was jealous.

I typed "print your own calendar" into Google. Tons of hits, lots of software to do it. We could probably find a commercial shop to do it too. I am not sure we could use the word "Seven" in the calendar title as I think Caterham has it trade marked. We could probably say "Se7en" tho-it's not even a word:). Or we could call it "The cars of USA7s.com". I agree it should feature a shot or two of all of the many brands/makes of LiSS's. Maybe we could get the cost of producing it (paper/printing, etc.) underwritten by Caterham USA/Bruton/Birkin, or by their respective U.S. dealers? Should be an excellent advertising "vehicle". As far as proceeds goes, I am happy if some goes to charity, if the club doesn't need it-I just want a calendar.