Kitcat

I rode with Danny in his 'Vette at Putnam Park race track at a track day 2 years ago. He was turning 1'15's (his best is 1'12'). I was doing 1'24's in my Evo. I would estimate I was doing 1'28 in my Seven there this summer. I was seasick when I got out of Danny's car.

Driver talent is a huge variable at the One Lap, its not all car. Many people just do it for fun and have limited on-track experience/talent. Others, like Danny Popp, in his various 'Vettes, are really pro-level drivers. Danny, who I auto-x'd with in Cincy for years, has numerous SCCA solo national championships under his belt and owns a variety of lap records on various road courses. So any car he drives is going to be fast, or at least faster than anyone might expect. Danny once set up a local auto-x course and then did a practice lap in it to see how it flowed. His time, in his beat-up pickup with about 200 cones still in the bed, was comparable to my best lap in my race prep'd, race-tire shod Miata. Truly a humbling experience.

See the Stalker's photo first. I was stunned at how refined the Stalkers were at the Dragon Sevens gathering. Also check out the Westfields. After driving a nice cross section of makes at the Dragon, one reviewer said, if it were his money, he'd take home the $28K Miata-powered Westfield that was there. If I were still in the market, I might too (tho I love my '97 Caterham wh/I bought for $22.5K, 3 months ago).

RA 1's are great. They stick well and don't wear out quickly, at least as far as race tires go. I have put 1500 street mile on a set I just bought and another 200 track miles, with no serious wear yet. If you want the ultimate in performance, maybe try Hoosiers. If you are competing in SCCA events or other timed competitions, the few tenths you shave off your time are worth the extra bucks and rapid wear. If you are just a track day junkie having fun, the the RA-1's offer a nice compromise between grip and wear. And, on my car, they were quieter and the ride wasn't as harsh as it was on the Michelin Pilots, tho on a Seven, it's hard to notice such things:).

Good questions, but I don't know. Once they redo the jetting/tune I will get the details. I am taking it back next week & then will be on vacation a coupla weeks so won't have details for a while.

1700 cc Super Sprint w/ 135 advertised horsepower: 93.5 hp 91.5 lbs torque-nice and flat from 4K on and pretty good from 3500 RPM. Test done at Paul's Automotive in Cincinnati this morning. Don't ask for the actual charts, I put them in my shirt pocket and as soon as I got back on the highway the vacuum at 70 mph sucked them right out, never to be seen again. Ambient temperature 80 degrees, humidity unknown. Am I surprised/ disappointed? Neither. When I took my "129" hp Miata there it made 98 hp, and it was 100 cc bigger and of a more advanced design. I sort of expected 85 hp, so I was happy. What did I learn? Well, the air fuel ratio was 17.5:1 (Yikes!). So it's going back to spend some quality time on the dyno with their carburetor expert. I should pick up a few missing ponies in the process too. Stay tuned (no pun intended).

Didn't West Texas go the supercharger route, with the result that his Ultralight was transformed: into an Ultra-unreliable:)?

AtomFest: I am not surpised you have passed Sevens at track days. My mighty '97 Caterham 1700 cc Crossflow probably cranks out about 100 rear wheel hp. In my 2+ months of ownership I have done 4 track days. My car is faster than a stock Miata, slower than a Corvette. If the track has no straight I am faster than a Honda S2000 (barely). If it has a straight, it's over-my 105 mph top speeed takes forever to reach. The car is a blast to drive. Someone explained that in most modern cars, going 100 mph feels like 60 mph and that it is just the opposite in a Seven. So true: between the noise/wind/bumpy ride/and lighteneing reflexes it's total sensory overload. But not necessarily fast. Road and Track once published a letter by a guy who said the key performance parameters for him were how great the car sounded, how cool it looked, and how easily it was to contol it while sliding sideways. I think both the Seven type cars and the Atom finish that test in a dead heat. I am sure an Atom will eventually beat Keith's car. But no one, including Keith, ever suggested he had the fastest Seven, just one that was "lowcost" and pretty speedy. And mostly it is irrelevant. I love the Atom, I love the Seven, I'd like to have both. If one beats the other, that doesn't diminsh my appreciation of the losing car. And if we wait long enough, maybe Keith will build a lowcost Atom for $13K and we can all have both cars!

OK-I have August , September, & October Hemmings now (I started a subscription when I was looking to buy a Seven). Which one & what page? I am used to being flumuxed by technical issues but I generally can master a magazine's table of contents(:.

Street racing is more a measure of driver stupidity than car superiority. And I am always happy to let the other guy win that contest.

Day 14, does this mean this daily torture of the non-participants ends? How many total miles were covered? How many mechanical issues/breakdowns, etc? Seems like everyone kept rolling along. What, if anything, would you do differently?

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.