Kitcat

So is my wife's patience. When I brought home my Evo for her to admire for the first time, a friend pointed to the huge wing and said "What's that?" To which my wife quipped: "Grounds for divorce!"

The thought has crossed my mindhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif. There are actually a surprising number for sale, including two very similar to yours. You are asking the least money so that's a plus. But as you know, there are so many options it's not always apple to apples. Anyhow I have decided to just continue to live the 7 dream vicariously for now.

Estimated HP? Any recurrent issues (intermittent short, etc.?). Where did you do the track days & what were your times?

Little stuff I can live with: it's the leaking transmission that fouls the clutch and requires pulling the engine/tranny to get at or the mystery electrical glitch that shorts out the ignition intermittently which is of concern.

He had a roll cage which I am sure helped. It's not the damage to the car but the damage to the driver that concerns me. I enjoyed watching his video: I can see where the go-kart analogy comes from now (zero lean, instant turn-in, very collectible when the rear steps put, huge stopping power).

Track days only-no organized competition. I hadn't thought about the rain issue. Many of the track days I ran in my Miata & my Evo were in rain. Also many of the trips there and back were in the rain. You can't just put the top up and run your 7?

Like new, low-milage Elises are going for $32K. Any thoughts on how they compare with similarly priced 7 clones (Caterham or otherwise) as a track car? My family has lots of daily drivers('05 Prius,'03 T-Bird, '07 Accord) so my interest is in a car that is streetable enough to drive to the track in minimal comfort, then excel at the track. I don't want to have to buy a tow vehicle/trailer as I don't have room to store them and would rather put that extra money in to a car.

As a newbie I have a couple of concerns about a 7 clone as a fun car/track car/auto-x car. One is mechanical reliability (see my "fiddlin" post). Another is safety. I test drove a classic Caterham last year (Is it pronounced Kate-erham or Cat-erham?). It was so narrow that my arm was actually outside of the car. What if you are rammed from the side by someone running a red light or by another track day car that gets out of shape? Does the aluminum honeycomb provide meaningful protection? What about the slightly larger SV model, does it provide more crush space? Is it necessary to install a large SCCA type roll cage (Exoskeleton)? Are the non-Caterham options any safer (Birkin, Ultralite)?

I have been toying with getting a Caterham or other 7 derivative. From reading about them I get the impression that there is a sizable amount of fiddling with things to keep the cars operational: Drive, fiddle with something that is loose or broke, drive, fiddle with some thing is loose or broke, repeat. How true is this?Kitcat2006-10-28 11:50:33