Kitcat

I'm 73 and I have had a se7en continuously since age 60. I am still hopping in and out of my 7- which has a full cage that I have to climb up over to get in and out. In all honesty, I am in better shape than my se7en:)! I am lucky tho, as Croc is right, for many of us, age related back, hip, and knee problems can become barriers to ingress/egress into the seven. All is not lost tho: witness Skip's fabled "butt-extractor" solution:)!

The other wild card, I have discovered, is that with very minimal tire/fender clearance, wind pressure at high speeds will shove the fender onto the tire and cause significant rubbing. My efforts at bending the stays were minimally successful. I had more luck with imaginative shimming (as long as aesthetics aren't a concern, and on my Cat, they are not:)). Even then, I have trouble fitting a 13x185/60 on the front.

Nice Croc! And your adjoining racetrack(s) are far superior to the little go-kart-like track on the Florida property. Even your adjoining go-kart track is better than his. Still, for an old guy like me, having 26 bathrooms under one roof would be an asset that your place can't match.

I took the virtual tour. I think this place would be more than adequate:). The game room, which looks like it was inspired by Dave and Busters, has side by side virtual racing machines. That alone makes me want this place. Annual taxes are only 6 figures. I think I'd use that to insist of the county naming the high school after me (Kitcat High). It doesn't say anything about living quarters for the staff needed to keep this place going. Maybe I could use that as a way to get them to knock a mil or 2 off the price?

Sounds like this car (KAR?) found the right home!It is nice that such an original/interesting Seven has an appreciative owner. It is enjoyable to read this disassembly/reassembly thread along with Pokey's build thread of his 55 year newer version of this car.

Less wind resistance = higher top speed:).

NY Times has an article today on this very subject. Lots of expensive track clubs around. What about joining the Thermal Club you se7ers in Calif: 4 tracks, 2 restaurants, initiation fee is $85K (cheap) monthly dues are $1.2K and members are obligated to buy a lot and build a house there within 5 years (lots go for a very reasonable $750K and finished homes going for $3M, again, totally affordable:)). And more of these are opening up in mostly high income areas around the country including The Concours Club in Miami (a 6 figure initiation fee, etc). The happy members all seem to say the same thing: they just don't get the same adrenaline rush from golf that they get on the track. Tell me about it.

I think NJMP is 2x what the Palm Beach club costs. There is a little racecourse 3 hours from me called Putnam Park racetrack. Membership is a mere $7.5K plus $5K a year for a minimum of 3 years. It's in rural Indiana among the farms. Every year they do a fundraiser for the local FFA. Shane knows what that is:). Different vibe than Europe, south FL, or NJMP.

Steve: Sevens and Elans used to do the same thing: add my order to "the container" that was coming to them from Caterham and then billing me for shipping cost from their shop to me. Seb, define expensive. Does it make sense to order a custom cage built here to your spec?

Here is a shot of my custom flared-out roll cage. As you can see, it allows for some crush space before a driver compartment intrusion can occur. Seem like all se7en cages should be designed this way?

I agree that the RHD is a negative, but don't consider it to be fatal. These cars are so narrow that it isn't a huge disadvantage to be on the "wrong" side. And, per my measurements of my first car, which was of identical spec, but LHD, the driver's side in this car is 10-15 degrees cooler thanks to exhaust being on opposite side. Also this set up helps with balance on clockwise tracks. I don't esp like all the rust on the undercarriage/space frame, per last photo. Also, Dedion or live, 4sp or 5 sp, short cockpit or long? And the price is $10K high. It does look great.

Shane: So you are sayin I am faster than stink:)?

Croc: By my count your recent itinerary will total around 40K miles (or more) in 3 weeks (or less). You have been breathing second rate, germ infested airplane air for much of that time. And you will have been through maybe 60 time zone changes? I can't believe you can still type your name!

On my track-only car I dont have a speedometer. If I get really curious, I take my Garmin GPS with me to remind me what RPM is 70 mph, etc. I have a progressive series of shift lights that I depend on to decide when to shift, but watch the analog tach as well. I couldn't function without the shift lights. They are bright enough that they reflect perfectly onto the top edge of my wind deflector so serve as a sort of poor-man's heads-up display. Very handy when racing, where looking down at the tach isn't always convenient.

NS = engine Not Supplied. I don't have the decoder but it's been posted here before. Maybe Croc will add it?

Sorry for the further hijack Bruce. Many of us here seem to have a mild case (or worse) of ADD. Back to this lovely 310SV. How hard (or, how much $) is it to add power? Are there any standard upgrades to the 1.6 engine? Or has that already been done by bumping it up from a 280 to a 310 engine? It seems to have plenty of power for normal use, but maybe is a bit shy of having enough to be a track threat. The ready-to-rumble price is excellent/amazing for a new turn-key Caterham of any spec, and esp for a SV with a bit more power than the base engine supplies.

Interesting Croc. I have to say I am not impressed with the Caterham cage. It hugs the contours of the car so there is no "crush" zone. My Caterham's custom cage sticks out 6-8" on the driver's side so, if hit and deformed, it still stays out of the narrow driver's seat. The Caterham cage is better than no cage (where, basically, your left elbow is the barrier to intrusion), and I am sure is decent in a roll over or, "climb over" (where another car lands on top of your car), but still, the driver's left arm is at risk, even with arm restraints. I think the odds of something catastrophic happening at a track day are very minimal, given the point-by rules and policy against aggressive driving. I'd be much more concerned in competition.

Shane: You must be referring to the massive 4 wheel, flat spotting lock-up I applied, to the accompaniment of clouds of blinding, billowing tire smoke, in an effort not to be mowed down by Croc's careening Mustang behemoth right in front of me at the '18 NJMP event? I was so terrified I think I even put the car in reverse and tried to back up:)!

Lotsats: I don't think so. Based on my ever worsening "memory": the Caterham FIA bar weighs 31 lbs, the standard bar weighs 11 lbs. I weighed both on my bathroom scale many years ago. So, it is much stouter than the stock bar. An occasion where adding lightness is not a good thing. A knowledgeable Caterham pro once analogized the protection provided by the stock bar to being similar to that afforded by a Kleenex box.... This was for a '97 Caterham, so its very possible that the current "stock" roll-over bar is far superior to the flimsy unit offered in '97?

I DO deserve more power Croc, ask anyone who has raced with me:)! And I agree that the price for this 310 SV is a deal. I recall when you paid that much for a Caterham kit, that you then had to assemble AND then had to add the cost of the engine and transmission on top of that $.

It seems Caterham sells 2 types of belts and the FIA belts, with their expiration date tags, are required by many track organizers. The belts you reference may not have expiration dates on them. If not, you risk flunking inspection. Typically the bigger the organization, like Porsche Club, the pickier they are. For instance, the folks at NJMP, where we have our annual event, won't let cars on track with expired or no belts tags. Others, like the small clubs I run with in the Midwest, never check belts. To be safe, I'd say use the FIA belts. As you will discover, once assembled, it is a huge PITA to change belts out in a Caterham.

Hi Bruce: What is a ballpark price for a turnkey version of this (you supply the 310 version of the 280 Sigma 1.6 engine, and have your supplier install it and you do all of the other assembly and fettling, with no upgrades or improvements on the above spec)? Thx, Mike M.

Skip: Caterham, Morgan, Ginetta, etc., have been using the MX-5 gearbox for a few years. Apparently it was a combination of the T9 becoming scarce and the MX5 being both available and more reliable than either the T9 or the Caterham 6 sp,which I think is no longer available. I wonder who it was that first thought of using a MX-5 gearbox in a Caterham:)?

Nice to see that Croc isn't the only one having bucket list experiences. What a great write-up!

I like the custom cone-collector/storage unit combo. Original thinking. A whole lotta car for someone.