Kitcat

Thx Tom, I have forwarded this to my mechanic, Jeremy, who is scheduled to work on this in a few days. BTW, my SVT engine has run great since you and Jeremy did the tune 2 months ago.

Stewart: Any progress? I know it will be slow, just curious. Any chance of you coming to spectate at NJMP? We'd love to have you and it might be good therapy. And, bring the family again, I think they had fun last year.

Black Hole : "Now" looking to buy a car?

Fingers crossed! Looking forward to a full report, complete with dyno sheets.

Oooohh, a Chalker-newest rival to the storker:)?

First "racing stripe" I have seen that runs thru the passenger compartment! I think the side louvers on the engine bay are a new Birkin feature? The chrome exhaust sure beats the trusty rusty iron so many se7ens feature. Beautiful car!

Check with Dick Brink, at Texas Motor Works. He used to be the Bikin dealer in the USA. He has a bunch of left over Birkin parts he is selling and he might have the shroud. Or try Tom Carlin, the new USA Birkin dealer. Fire concerns aside, that shroud keeps the majority of engine heat out of your foot well and it makes driving in warm/hot weather much more tolerable. But not cool. When I have measured the heat there it is typically 110-120 degrees, with the shroud....

Nice to see so many 7's at the front of the pack. Nice to see so many still racing! They can be pretty effective track weapons. I know a member who still races his original 7 and who laps Mid-Ohio about 10'' faster a lap than I do in my modern day version. And it is not all driver (tho maybe mostly) as he hiits 135 mph at fastest part of the track, where I hit maybe 117 mph.

AutoEurope in Birmingham, MI has a nice '90 Zetec-engined Caterham, for $39K. It features a unique rollover bar/cage that does pass the broomstick test, but not the laugh test.... I lack the skills to link it but google will find it for you.

Very nice! I assume you had it professionally painted? I spoke w/someone recently whose se7en cost $7.5K to prep and paint! Yours looks very sharp in the photo.

I saw this car a few days ago and can confirm is exactly as represented in the pictures. Craig fired it up and I can also confirm it did so immediately, no smoke no drama. And it made that great X-Flow sound. Craig: 4sp or 5sp transmission? And, where is it titled?

I stopped at Craig's shop this week to pick up the 4 nice Pannsport wheels I bought from him here on the Forum recently. As usual, he had some Great cars, including two jewel-like original Lotus 7's which he has restored and which he and a customer race. He and CarMan are headed to Mid-Ohio next weekend for some racing. He says the Lotuses weigh abt 965 lbs and make abt 170 hp on the dyno with their little 1500cc pre-crossflow engines. His yellow Caterham was there waiting installation of its BDP motor (2000cc, alloy block). And, just to show he is broad minded he was also working on a coupla racing MG's.

VIR is a hp track, especially if the configuration you run includes the two huge straights. Your top speed will likely max out early on those straights and you will be giving multiple point-byes. You will make much of that up in the wiggly parts tho. You mite even be able to go flat-out up thru the "climbing S's". I look forward to a full report!

BTW, I think Dave has been, or was, an authorized Caterham dealer for many years.

Thx guys, all useful info!

Any one using a surge tank to solve fuel starvation issues? If so, what spec? Does anything work (and fit) well on Caterhams? My '03 Zetec has developed a starvation issue coming out of long, long, left hand curves on the track. As it straightens out it just dies for a few seconds, then springs back to life. And I have an unusually large 21 gallon Fuel Safe tank. I replaced the foam with aluminum pellets when I started going thru fuel pumps (tho that wasn't the problem). Anyhow, when I have about 14 gallons left it experiences starvation. If I keep it topped up, it does fine. Anyone experience/resolve this in their cars? My mechanic is proposing a surge tank and additional fuel pump wh/makes sense to me. But what mfg? And where have you mounted them?

If only car buying were a rational experience:). Have you seen how much people are paying for Porsche 356's these days? Six figures for nice examples that a Honda Fit would embarrass at the track. (In addition to more reliability, functionality, gas mileage, etc.). But the high Caterham prices have nonetheless undoubtedly squeezed sales. Until production moves to China, it will likely stay that way.

R&T says yes. I see a new one recently sold at Hillbank for maybe $99,950? I am sure Bruce B can/will clarify.

That the Caterham 620R is on of the 13 best new cars today for under $100K. Per, today's e-mail blast of their newsletter. Hey R&T, how's about a big track-day comparo of all 13 so we can see where it stacks up against the Z06, etc. (The shorter the track the better:)).

960 lbs is pretty light! My porky track-preped Cat weighs 1390 lbs.

Rick: I sold a much nicer, tho similarly spec'd, Cat a few years back for $21K.This is a standard issue, modestly powered Cat. It has bench seats, not buckets, no headrests, and the roll over bar is mostly for show. Not clear if it is a 4sp, or a 5sp, Dedion rear suspension or not. Since it's not mentioned, my guess is it has neither of those upgrades. For that much $, you could get a lot more car (IMHO).

Ad quibbles aside, I really like the BDA engined '91 Caterham. My bias favors the enhanced driving experience (more power, more leg room, stouter chassis, etc.). Who knows what the investment value of the 2 cars is? The BAT seven is not all-original. And I question whether Lotus 7's are ever going to explode in value like Porsche 356's and 912's and early 911's are now. I suspect that if you buy the BDA car you will be able to enjoy in on the street and on the track and then sell it later for about what you bought it. Hard to beat that in the real world of rapid depreciation.

It seems like a nice car with great engine. If the dyno # is correct, it makes abt the same power as my Zetec SVT. Since he calls it both a BDA and a BDR it is hard to know if he is just confused or clueless. And he calls the color of the clams BRD (Maybe a cousin to BRG, since they are green, again clueless or confused?) I love that the owner emphasizes that it is NOT a Lotus replica and then says its a Lotus clone (clueless or confused). And it weighs about 1000lbs. I suspect its more like 1200 lbs(Clueless or....). Finally the white scarves. Let's call that the tie breaker and go with clueless. But it doesn't detract from the car being quite nice and something I'd be proud to own (tho maybe for $5-10K less, depending on engine).

I think that Audi driver had his car at one of our USA7S track events at NJMP a while back:). Same driving "style" at least....

$85K? (I will try to get there by 11:00a.m:)).