Kitcat

Like Croc, my Zetec Cat has occasionally leaked oil into my footwell. It only happens when I, or my mechanic, add too much oil. The oil catch tank is right above the footwell and it overfills then spills. I had a similar problem with my X-Flow powered Cat, but the extra oil would come out of the breather cap and onto the headers, where it was converted into a spectacular smoke cloud!

Having seen this Cat multiple times, I agree with Croc: one of my favorite Caterhams ever. Terrific price as well, in any of various offered specs, IMHO.

Subtle license plate:)!

Thx for the vid Shane! As you can see by watching Croc trying to get the Mustang to turn, it was veeeery twitchy. I learned the first time I saw this video a while back, that my new front brake rotors and pads resulted in a huge braking imbalance, with the rears locking way up and causing mammoth clouds of very expensive Hoosier rubber smoke:). Just learned in an e-mail with my car's builder, Bruce Beachman, that there is a rear brake proportioning valve under hood, so I will start playing with that and try to dial the balance back in. And, as is obvious, I made an immediate exit following Croc's moment of excitement for a new set of underwear:). What is pretty impressive on his part is that he didnt shoot back across the track, roll over, etc., all of which that twitchy car really wanted to do!

Dave:Weren't you/aren't you also a Caterham dealer? This seem like a great price for a pretty high spec Cat that has just enough miles to have been sorted out.

Great words, great driving, I was on the edge of my seat! Amazing lap time as well!

Owner's Facebook page says he has 2 Caterhams for sale: an '03 S3 and a '14 SV. That seems to be as of a few days ago. The company, which has sold a ton of Caterhams over the years, is now in St Augustine, FL. They were in Massachusetts for decades. Owner is semi-retired but still involved in Caterhams, among other vehicles, per Facebook.

Lotta car for the price! Roll bar won't pass muster at track days, if that matters.

Congratulations! Hard to top a BDR for classic power, sound, mystique. And your car looks great, I dont see the crustiness.

BG, thx for sharing this thread with everything but the kitchen sink:). Shane:Nothing dramatic, it is a 7 year old budget trailer and it seems that everything wore out in the last month. The safety items are the trailer brake system and the trailer's emergency brake trip wire. But you name it, it broke (door hinge, tongue winch, door stop, interior, light, on and on and on-ya get what ya paid for).

I agree, having se7en company on (and off) the track is great. At the moment I am grounded, pending trailer repairs. I will PM you once that gets resolved for possible meet-ups in the future. It's great that you have a local track that you can easily access via your membership. My track visits take a lot of planning.

I am in Cincy Ohio BG. Road America is on my list of epic tracks to visit. Now THEY have elevation change (and great brats:)). Probably not a great fit for our aerodynamically challenged se7ens but who cares! Most of my tracking is nearer to home (Putnam Park, Mid-O, Nelsons Ledges, Gingermann, Waterford Hills). Never been to A Bahn, not likely to go, tho would if I were in IL.

Your car sounds exactly like mine, but since both are Zetec Caterhams from early '00's, that's not a surprise. I never met a race track that i didn't like, tho have to say the flat-as-a-pancake Autobahn is not a fav. Even in the NJMP flat lands they built in just enough elevation (blind uphill turns, steeply banked corners, etc.) to make it interesting.

Left NJMP Saturday @ 5:45 a.m., picked up 6 year old grandson Max, in Frederick, MD, on the way back and instantly went into "grandad mode" for last 4 days, hence my absence here. Once again, Croc and Tom outdid themselves! This is a ton of fun for all of us mostly because they do a ton of work in advance. We had a progressively more interesting dinner option, starting Tuesday with great pub food, seafood on Weds on Delaware Bay, culminating in as nice an Italian dinner as I have ever had Weds eve in Millville. And the NJMP Pub/Clubhouse/pool is a great place for breakfast lunch and cooling off with adult beverages post race. And, there is even racing:)! I was pleased that I only slowed up by 1/10 of a second on Lightening. Also happy that, to Croc and Tom's evident disappointment, I did nothing (much) to embarrass myself (for a change:)). I had fun catching up on everyone's news. And, as I mentioned in my "acceptance speech" for the debris award, I enjoyed meeting the amazing women who have somehow found it in their generous hearts to overlook our se7en fetish. Final shout-out to Shane, first for bringing his entire lovely family all that way, and second for mentioning the air museum at nearby Wright Patterson airport, where grandson Max and I and grandma spent 3 happy hours yesterday. And yes Shane, I once put the closed and locked trailer hitch on top of the ball, not over and around it. And drove all the way from NJMP to Cincinnati w/o incident (I wonder what is causing all that squeaking????). It even survived a panic stop on the Penn Turnpike for a wreck when a lady flipped her car in front of me. Who says all the driving excitement is on track?

Made it to the track. It IS hot. Bring tons of water, Gatorade, etc. Also suntan lotion and bug spray(lots of flies this year). Both the heat and bugs are offset a bit by the stiff Breeze.

Buy it, drive it, enjoy it, and when time comes to sell it it will still be a rare Cat and much of the depreciation hit has occurred. So you won’t get hit like sellers of, say new Evoras or Alfa 4C’s. I think I suffered a $30K depreciating loss when I sold my ‘08 BMW M3(:.

Hard to put a price on something that comes up for sale so rarely. If you compare it to a standard S3, the price(in U.S. $) is still a bit rich. But it is not a S3, it is a more advanced design.And I think they have stopped making them, so they will remain rare. The power is down a bit from the standard U.S. versions, but is still very strong. I find it pretty compelling at that price but await Croc’s thoughts.

Bare aluminum can oxidize a bit into a dull patina or be polished to a mirror finish. Even paint takes time(wash, clay bar, wax, dry- add in polish if it has oxidized.

When I first brought my Caterham to my mechanic and asked if he’d give fixing it a shot he said:”Why not, it’s just a car, right?”

Good work Steve! I see that your famous St Louis arch has been rehabbed for a mere $380M. That would give me extra thrill when passing thru it:). I am locked and loaded here, doing last minute chores then shoving off mid afternoon. Seems like I have a 100 loose ends to tie up (Find Go Pro, battery charged, charger with me, Go Pro mount, Cat, steering wheel (dont laugh), all the necessary, racing stuff + some spares, race gas, RED gas cans to refill (Illegal in NJ to fill any container other than a red one!) clothes for track, clothes for after track, cooler, beer/wine, ice, map, GPS, I phone, I phone charger, Cat stuff for BBall, etc. What will finally bring this annual adventure to an end for me is not the intense on-track driving but all the little details that have to be right in order to get there with everything I need. Sad:).

Croc and Tom, appreciate the travel love but.... If I could recover all the minutes/hours I have lost over the years looking for Tom's mythical "shortcut" thu SE PA, I'd be at NJMP now:). I get lost both going and coming. I have tried. And let's face it, if we are honest, the directions are probably stellar and it's my fossilized brain that's to blame. But I have to face reality: I-95 is slow but simple. So the plan, cast now in stone, is I leave here miday, hit I-95 around 11:00-ish, cruise on into Vineland to the Hampton Inn and crash. Sleep in, head to NJMP by noonish Tuesday (Yes, way early).

Croc: That is still a pretty stout attendee list. And you are right, Wednesday being the 4th didn't help. At the moment, my plan is to be there Tuesday by noon but that could change to arriving Tues very late. I am trying to avoid the I-95 bottleneck and all the 4th traffic headed to the shore. I-95 is a nightmare in the best of times, but add in holiday traffic....I went 25 miles in 2 hours last year, and felt pretty accomplished. Hauling a trailer in traffic jams is also a challenge. As to BBall, I know he's working on his seven and hopes to have it done in time to participate. Why he doesn't just retire and free up time for this important stuff is beyond me:). I am bringing some Caterham parts that he bought from me so he's very hopeful he can make it.

Jae: Of my 2 Cats, one had a "7" in the grill one didn't, tho my Birkin did:). Vov: Welcome to our hardy band of lightness admirers! Yours will be particularly light (and fast!).

Great story, thx Shane!!! Love the mechanics showing up, so cool. Those guys are hard to impress. When I look back from my lofty perch of age 71, I wonder how my wife and I ever found the time and energy to raise 3 boys! It's all I can do now to read the paper and see if my SS check has arrived:). And you are building cars, raising kids, earning a living, keeping the missus happy,...., I think I need a nap!

Safe travels Tom. See you in a few days! I too have started loading, repairing, replacing, resupplying, etc. I only have 620 miles, half of your distance. Croc: At one point there were 30 possibles, now 12 definites. How do you come up with a coherent plan with such a variable attendance? You have my sympathy!