Kitcat

Thanks! As we all know, lightness is a good thing. Relatively stock Caterham SVs weigh about 1450, quite a bump up from 900-1000 lbs. Of course Classics are a bit less & deleting all of that unnecessary luxury equipment helps too (heater, windscreen, spare tire, roof, etc.).

Is the big advantage of BEC's the reduction in engine & transmission weight? If so, what is the weight savings? Also, is the vehicle chain driven, like a motorcycle?

Speaking of retained value, an orange 2005 superlight w/under 1K miles, Zetec, 200 hp, 5sp, long 1st gear, full weather package, sold for $32K on the Lotus Elise talk forum a few weeks ago. What a deal! I get the shakes every time I think about it.

I took my portable blood pressure monitor to an Auto-X once and scared myself. About 5' after my "run" it was 240 over 180. It took forever to get a reading since I had never had to pump it up so high. I kept getting "error" readings. Normal for me is 135/70. Shows what a little adrenaline can do to rev up the old cardiovascular system.

Please share what you eventually decide and why. There are others on this forum, like me, also thinking about getting our toes wet. There are numerous 7 options both at Caterham (pronounced Kate-trum, I am advised), and with the various other 7-clones. Its all sort of overwhelming, in a wonderful way. This site used to have links to the other car vendors but I don't see it now. Perhaps it was blitzed in the switch last weekend when the forum switched software?

In!

Very lovely. I even like the "boxes it came in"! They are evocative, a bit like the orange Lionel train boxes.

And speaking of Keith, he did "write the book" on Lowcosts and now is becoming a Westy expert.

The Weather Channel says it will be sunny and in the low 70's at the track this Sunday. There are still many spots left. If interested, register now and bring the $300 entry fee in cash Sunday morning, along with your seven/clone. One Lowcost has signed up so far.

The race shop that aligns my cars has a special concrete section of its floor that was poured to exact specifications, just to be sure it was totally flat.

1315 lbs per their website, with a nearly full gas tank (70lbs?) minus a few bits still to be added.

Keith, it is lovely. How much does it weigh?

Every time you go to an airport you look at all that concrete and fantasize about what a great auto-X course it would be. When the traffic light turns green, you cuss out the drivers ahead who are not launching instantly. You think of the mom next to you in the mini-van as a competitor and the purchase of endless tools as an "investment". After years of watching me fiddle with my Miata my neighbor came home at twilight one evening as I was sitting in front of the Miata on my work stool with the hood up and the owner's manual out in my lap. My neighbor shouts out to his wife:" Look honey, now he's reading it bedtime stories!" He was even more impressed when an acorn fell off the beautiful oak tree in my yard and put a small dent in the car's aluminum hood, so I had the tree removed.

Thanks for all the info. It doesn't look like an overwhelming problem, especially if you check first with the organizers.

A 7 owner on another forum complained that he was frequently not allowed to participate at track days because he had a "race car." Although this sounds a lot like the too-fast-to-race complaint lodged against the original 7, as a prospective owner I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. If so, how often? To my mind, a race track is the 7's natural environment. Not being able to access a track with it would eliminate much of the reason I would consider owning it. What have your experiences been?

The owner of the only Caterham 7 I have driven showed me a beautiful aluminum scale model of it and said it had taken more time to construct than the real thing had.

Speaking of "headroom to grow", the sky is pretty much the limit with the Flyin Miata turbos. Mid 200's for HP & torque is routine but some of their dyno charts go up to the mid 300's & higher. In a 1300 lb car it would be like strapping yourself to a rocket!

From what I gather on the Forum, you are heard before you are seen.

It is nice, but I gotta say, the red & polished aluminum 7 listed on this very web-site's "For Sale" section looks just as good to me, altho I am no expert.

A friend tried this in his auto-x Miata and the car handled very poorly (altho it apparently launched wellhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif)

7:20 would be impressive indeed, 23 seconds faster than a ZO6 and about the same as a Porsche Carrera GT. Wikipedia reports a Westfield Megabusa doing 7:50 and a Caterham R500 Superlight doing 7:55, which are extremely good times, especially on a car that is so top-speed challenged. I got the impression that the bike was videoing the 7 as a favor-it seemed to have no trouble closing at will on the straights and often was mid-range in the revs, rather than up higher where the power is.

It does have a Seven-ish quality about it!

For the Predator event, go to their web-site and click on "Register here" under Lapping Day, on the home page.

Isn't it a little nose-heavy? If so, what is the impact on handling? What is total weight of the vehicle?

Keep the transporter, I want the car! I saw that the original is valued at around $10M.