Kitcat

Southwind 25: It's unlikely that I will head to Nelson's Ledges. The track days there are cancelled if it is raining much (Wimps!). As you know, it has been raining off & on for 3-4 days with more projected tomorrow. It's a 10 hour round trip from Cincy + hotel + dog boarding, missing work etc, etc., and is too much & too far for maybe not getting to drive.

Manufacturer's horsepower claims are right up there with diet claims ("Lose 30 pounds in the next week!). The dyno is merciless in exposing the puffery. For the record, I would kill to have 148 rwhp. As the dyno showed on my "135 hp" Crossflow recently, I was putting out 93 hp. Where did the other 42 hp go? Maybe it never existed, except in the advertising claims of Caterham. BTW: what did 9 hours and 25 dyno runs cost, if you don't mind my prying (I paid $500 for a dyno tune up of my carburated Crossflow 3 weeks ago)?

Tried stickier rubber?

The Sept/Oct LOG magazine lists a '99 Caterham for sale in Canton, OH. Mite have been mentioned here, or elsewhere on the Forum, who knows w/all the pseudonyms. Mite be long gone at this point. Anyhow was asking $28K, has 185 bhp Raceline Zetec, Webers, various goodies: Call Craig 330-807-0742. The price is fair if is as represented.

My experience has been a bit like scda7's. I bought a Caterham sort of cheap ($22.5K) and have spent a lot bringing it back to spec, including upgrades for more serious track use. At one point I had the chance to buy a 4 year old Caterham Superlite w/220 hp etc, all goodies for $32K, a price I am fast approaching in my 93 hp Caterham. I am a dyed-in-the-wool Caterham lover-think they look just right, etc. But the Dragon meet convinced the the alternate cars are just as nice. And, if reliability is an issue, and if my car is at all representative, you will spend a lot of time fiddlin with every kind of mechanical problem imaginable. In 4 months of ownership, my car has had more mechanical snafus than all my other cars combined, over the last 20 years. Not that I don't love it:)!

No problemo here-the last thing I need is an even more tempting diversion from gainful work:).

The bright yellow 99 D-Mod car behind Michael's 7 is featured in this month's "SportsCar" magazine-the official publication of the SCCA (On the cover & nice article inside). The car has a ton of customized and trick parts. The rebuilt Duratec engine alone cost $18,000-about what I paid for my entire car. Some of those auto-X's are serious.

Someone on this board, who has a 7, lives in Canton, OH, sister city of Akron, not sure who. My hope is to do a track day at Nelson's Ledges (about 45' northeast of Akron) at end of the month (Fri 10/26). If that happens, feel free to stop by, check it out & even and go for a ride with me around the track (bring your helmet). I guarantee you won't be bored! Mike Mooney

Yes 35,000 RPMs. It's a pretty trick set-up, tho the engine life is reduced considerably:).

My test was also on a Mustang dyno at a place that specializes in Ford V-8 engines. Hey, the Crossflow is a Ford engine! I continue to be amazed at how nice it is running: starts right up, no issues while engine warms up, much more drivable between 2000 RPM's and 35000 RPM's, etc. The Big test will come after I take it on a trip: we'll see if the dreaded large gas deposit on the clam/windshield/rear wheel arch occurs.

The car: she is beautiful. How much? What additional features, if any, does it have (cam, oil cooler, etc.)? More pictures. As I have posted elsewhere, I boughty my Seven from this site because I was transfixed by its pictures, which I looked at every day for 2 months, before finally sucumbing.

Wow, your wife drives a Porsche at track days, sweet! Your Seven should not be squirley, just the opposite. If you have decent tires, you will have predictable handling, tho maybe not optimal handling, which takes a proper alignment, good shocks, etc. I recall a story about the Miata engineers, in 1987-88, buying an Elan to "benchmark" the newly designed Miata with. The Elan was far superior. Only later did they discover it was way off spec but its basic design was so good, it still shone. Why do a track day with out head resraint, seems dangerous, no?

I got the car back today. Wow, it runs so much nicer! No coughing, spitting, popping, backfiring or wheezing. It's almost like a fuel injected vehicle. The guy who tuned it wasn't there so I have no details as to what he did except the power level is the same per the dyno: 93 ponies, just a lot smoother delivery and the correct air/fuel %. The work sheet shows it had a damaged venturi that had to be replaced and some parts were loose and some jets replaced.

I have a heater but I also noticed this summer that when I took off the shroud that covers the pedal box, that the interior was even more flooded with heat. A possible strategy for what will be my first winter in my Seven. Keeping my ears warm will be a different issue. I have lots of ski stuff so that should work. In fact I am hoping to drive the Seven to the nearby slope to ski this winter (top down so the skis fit).

My bias is obvious since I own one. But as an owner for just 3 months (after a mere 45 years of waiting), my impressions of the car are still fresh and I have to say: there are cars, and there are Sevens. I have driven and owned many exciting cars but the Seven is an entirely different experience. It is extremely small, low, responsive, cool looking, fast and fun. You will be dreaming up excuses to drive it. The experience is totally intense, all of your senses, even smell & feel, are heightened. As noted elsewhere, most modern cars make 100 mph feel like 60 mph. In the Seven, the opposite is true: Cars are decaf, Sevens are double shots of espresso. You will make friends at every gas station and stop light and everyone, even the cops, will smile when they see you. It's like nothing else.

Sounds good, thanks. My oil pressure had dropped to a steady 22lbs, after warm up. The previous oil change, with Mobile 1 15-45, pure synthetic, had 1500 miles on it including one track day. When I went to all new oil, again Mobile 1, 15-45, the oil pressure bounced back up to 40 lbs, warmed up. I will try some Redline 20-50 next to see if it holds up a little better. Are people doing a routine oil change after every track day?

My Crossflow came with a spare oil filter: Fram PH2874, made in the UK, according to the box. I can't find them in the US. Fram's website doesn't list them. So what oil filter are people using on their 1700 cc Kent Crossflow Super Sprints?

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!