Kitcat

If Derek Whitis brings an Atom, it will be the world's fastest, most well-sorted Atom. He seems to have a full time crew of mechanics, a tractor trailer rig, and cubic racing bucks. His Noble is the fastest, most track-ready out there. It was hitting about 170 mph on the VIR North Course's fastest stretch at a NASA Time Attack event recently, and was banned because it was overtaking the other cars in his class at unsafe speeds. So if he brings an Atom, my money is on him (But I will be rooting for the 7's).

The Grassroots does suggest that the result may have been due to the Atom needing some sorting whereas Keith's car is spot-on. So, the Atom owners can always say it was apples to oranges. With regard to "stretchers" being told with about weight and hp, I echo Keith's sentiments. That was the reason I had my '97 Caterham weighed as soon as I bought it and was surprised that it was right around 1225 lbs, as advertised. When I parked in next to an Ultralight at a track day recently, my car looked tiny, but the Ultralight owner insisted his car weighed 1225 too. (Helium in the tires maybe?). I love the Ultralight and am not knocking it and admire it's amazing product/price ratio, reputed reliability, etc., but am slightly sceptical about its weight claim (I would believe 1425 lbs).

Hudson: $3-5K round trip to ship the 7. I'll bet you could find some volunteers here to drive it out and back for far less:).

When I had my car weighed recently on professional scales, by a racing shop, it was nearly perfect as-is, at all 4 corners when empty. When I was added as a passenger, the front driver's side was about 40 lbs more than passenger front (So, that's why the battery is on the far right front side), rears were still almost even. I don't auto-x and track days are just for fun so perfection is not essential. Bedsides, with a Crossflow engine, it's not especially competitive in class anyhow.

Back in the late 50's or early 60''s the Chevrolet ad for the Corvette showed a guy tooling down the road in his 'Vette with the caption reading, simply:"Some guys have it made!" Seems to fit the participants in this tour that you are torturing us 9 to 5 types with:).

I subscribe to Hemmings and have not yet gotten this issue. Hopefully soon.

Price is realistic. I paid $22,500 for same year/model 2 months ago. It had 13K miles. Price may vary depending on which of the multitude of options you have, the color, etc.

I have Caterham's FIA roll-over bar on order (about $450). It has the cross bar (triangulation) and seems to be beefier and slants forward. When I asked Rocky Mountain Motorsports about the standard bar which I have and which the "r-500 " in the E-bay ad has, he said it was little better than nothing. Maybe he was just trying to make a sale but I didn't want to take a chance since I track my car a lot. A full cage would be even better, but I also use it for the street a lot too and it is not very practical for that (as if the 7 is a practical car:)).

The seats have no headrest-they look "home-built". It has the wimpy roll bar too. I'd want to upgrade both before exploring its performance limits.

Day 11???? That's not a tour, it's a marathon. Does no one work? Not that I am jealous.

I topped off the clutch reservoir and all has been good for 2 days with lots of driving. No further loss of fluid, I check the level daily. We'll see. I now keep a can of brake fluid with me. I will replace/rebuild if the problem resurfaces.

Because of repeated issues recently calling for the adjustment of both the clutch system and accelerator cable, I left the foot well/pedal box shroud off the last few days. Talk about hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For instance-the key got so hot today I cld not touch it to remove it. The hard plastic on the key base got soft. After I finally got it out, I tossed it to one of my teens whn I got in the house and he couldnt hold it. My feet were on fire. Driving was torture as movement pushed all that extremely hot engine compartment air right into my footwell. Next project. Now that I have put the shroud back on, cover the whole footwell area with insulation. Full report to follow.

I ordered one from RMSC recently and it just got there. But then I noticed I had a hydraulic clutch system (Insert "Duh"). Anyhow I canceled the clutch cable order a few days ago so there shd be one sitting there. Tell Ben that Mike Mooney sent you. I have bought so much stuff from them in the last 2 months I think they are expanding their building.

Thinks it's cute-thot my Miata & Evo were ugly & wastes of $-so I am makin progress.

Please expand on "etc." Pictures are essential. I looked at the pictures of the Caterham I bought from this site every day for months until I could no longer resist. Overall, sounds like a fair price for a nice car. Who built it?

15". When I recently upgraded the 195 x15 Michelin's it came with by using 205x15 Toyo R-1's, I discovered the marginally wider spare tire could barely be jammed into the spare tire holder on the back of my Caterham. Be forewarned.

Turns out it's a bit more complicated: Did I mention it's a hydraulic clutch system, not cable? Probably not since I hadn't noticed that little detail myself. So yes, my tweak solved the problem, for 12 hours. It stopped working totally, & stuck in 3rd gear, as I left the parking lot for home yesterday. Thanks to incredible luck, clever driving and a wanton disregard for the rules of law, I got home without stopping or shifting out of 3rd once. BTW: There are 8 traffic lights and 2 stop signs on the way. I parked it and noticed that the hydraulic fluid reservoir for the clutch which I think had been full the day before was totally empty. So now I am on the Internet trying to determine the best way to bleed the air out and add new fluid, for starters. For the "I built it myself types" its no big deal, but for some one like me, who doesn't know the difference between a cable and a hydraulic line, its a big adventure. Trail of parts: Overheated (boiled over) 4x, coolant shorted electrics 1x, replaced coolants hoses 1x, ignition developed a short and refused to start-too many times to count, speedometer broke 1x, speedometer fell out of its housing 1x, driver's seat back has come unglued and all the foam has fallen out 1x, webers out of tune 1x, gas spewed out of carberators and on to the front clam, constant. What's amazing is not just that this happened in 2 short months of ownership but that its all happened in spite of the fact that its been non-operational much of the time! That, and the fact that I love the car!

Well, that was easy. Just undo the foot well cover, loosen lock nut, spin the clutch adjuster bolt a few rotations to provide about 1/4 " more movement, tighten lock nut, reassemble, drive off a wave of relief. While an amazing # of things have stopped working in my 2 short months of ownership, most have been easily self-repaired, thanks to the erector-set design of the Caterham.

Yes, a Ford T-9. I was counting on it to be the one thing not to break. I will fiddle w/the clutch cable now that I am back in town. It seems weird that sometimes it works perfectly some times, other times not at all. Back in the dark ages in the early 60's, my US manual transmissions would jam up -there was some type of linkage issue-the transmissions were fine. This feels just like it. But-enough speculating, I will adjust the cable & see what happens. I do remember doing this, again in the dark ages, and screwing it up so that yes, the clutch disengaged fine-too fine actually, it never fully engaged after my tinkering and I ran thru a clutch in no time. Hence my motto-give me a good set of tools and I could destroy the world (inadvertently).

The shifting in my 5-sp '97 Caterham is getting progressively more difficult. Sometimes I can not get it into any gear unless I shift into neutral and let the clutch out. It started as a race occurrence but now it is happening 20-50% of the time, even upshifting from 2nd 3rd, etc. Clutch engages just off the floor. Time to adjust the clutch cable or is this something more serious? I have learned that these early warnings of trouble usually foreshadow total failure (Like my intermittent starter failure, occasional speedometer wackiness, intermittent miss, etc).

Wow, you really moved the tire wall and it did a fantastic job of absorbing the blow. I have no side protection on my 7 except for my left arm, do you have a cage?

I noticed that Grassroots Motorsports car mag matched Keith Tanner's $10K Lowcost against the megabuck Ariel Atom at the race track. According to the October '07 issue it was no contest: Lowcost 1, Atom 0. Congrats Keith! Also noticed that it's possible to rent Bruton Stalkers for trackdays at VIR. Go to www.rent-a-racer.net for details. Seems like a great way for a person to find out if its their cup of tea, before taking the plunge.

It is totally whacked to run race speeds on public roads. When I was there I dodged a few errant bikes whose speed exceeded the rider's skill/experience. The Dragon & other public roads are fine places for "spirited" drving, say 6/10th's. But if you respect the center line, you can't come close to a racing line and if you can't do that, you ain't racin. Also, the lack of run-off area makes any mistake a potential jackpot and oncoming traffic must proceed at its own risk. If you are serious about speed, find a race track. You might be shocked at how slow you are at 9/10's, compared to experienced drivers in theoretically slower cars. Being relatively speedy on public roads, only because you are willing to risk your safety more than the saner drivers around you, proves nothing. Rant over!

My '97 Caterham Crossflow has a faulty ignition switch. Is this switch available at the local parts store or do I call Rocky Mountain Sports Cars? If locally availble, what is its name/#? Thanks, Mike (I am looking forward to not having to always park on a slope)

The best solution is to switch to RHD: 20 -25 degrees cooler. Also, puts the driver inboard which is where he wants to be on all these clockwise race tracks. Putting a vent on the driver's side as currently configured mite just draw in more warm air as that's right above the headers/exhaust.