Kitcat

Phew, I am worn out after watching the 2' summary:). And this thread got over 22K "views" so people have been interested. Certainly the finished product looks great and justifies the endless hours of meticulous preparation.

Dingo: For some reason your car looks like an 8/10's scale version of a se7en. Even the wheels look tiny.

My solution to this whole thing would be to push harder on the brake pedal:).

If you like his garage you guys would love his toy hauler:)! Unfortunately no pix of it, tho here is a shot of the Ginetta engine.

I went to a vintage race in Pittsburgh a few years back. For whatever reason the race I watched had a new Porsche GT3, along with the vintage cars including a BMW 2002. The Porsche got killed by the BMW, as did the vintage 'Vettes, etc. So I suspect the BMW's are hardly stock. Still it was interesting here to see the Cats win on the straights and lose on braking/cornering. All in good fun I suspect.

Some shots from my visit to Craig Chima's a few days ago to pick up some Caterham parts. First photo is his 2 liter BDP engine. It has a redline of 12.5K and can make 400 hp on alcohol. It is detuned to make 250 hp at 9K in its Caterham S3. Then a 240 hp Ginetta, a past SSC Runoffs champ MG Midget, a Lotus 7 he has restored for a customer, followed by a shop photo of some, but not all, of his and his customer's car. As is obvious, his work is impeccable and his shop is spotless.

Talk about hp deficit! Interesting mix of vintage cars. The track seems very narrow and bumpy? You held you own, tho, the only car that whooshed by was the wedge shaped one (McClaren?).

The "Oregon" Caterham is pretty old. Caterhams have evolved since that version. Reasons I think its an $18K car, at best, include: solid rear axle, 4sp, no weather package, short cockpit, bench seats, modest power. Toss in the RHD and it seems way overpriced. For that $ you should get a late 90's-early 2000's Cat, likely with a Zetec.

It is fixed. The clutch pressure plate was in the process of separating from the flywheel. Various broken parts were floating around and gumming up the works. A new pressure plate, clutch, throwout bearing and slave cylinder were installed. As I am sure you know, that requires removal of the engine. See the thread with the "exploding clutch" heading for a discussion of what might have happened, but didn't.

As far as the WCM car goes, I drove one at the gathering at NJMP 2 weeks ago and it made my Zetec Caterham feel incredibly slow. Easily the fastest car I have ever driven. Shifting was quicker, more width in the cockpit, forward visibility over the hood was worse (the bodywork rises to form a bit of a windscreen). It stopped great and turned great too.

Craig: I am interested in the front headlights/turn signals, if available-I will e-mail you. And what is cost of shocks and are they compatible w/'03 Superlight? Mike Mooney

Crossflow powered Catehams seem to run from low 20's to mid 20's. Much depends on spec and condition. Zetec and Duratec powered Caterhams seem to go for high 20's to mid 50's. Again spec and condition are factors. Keep an eye on the for-sale section here. There are a couple for sale at Sevens and Elans outside Boston. Mite be some on e-bay, haven't checked. Also see the thread here that is updated semi-regularly by Croc listing all sorts of se7en variants for sale. Its called Ebay and Craigs list ads-Lots of Sevens for sale. We have a member named Tony Vaccaro who, for $500, will put you together with the Caterham of your dreams, assuming he can find it for you. He seems to know the folks interested in selling theirs. Happy hunting.

Whoops, double post, see below.

Do a search for "ubiquitous" for a recent similar thread.

I have posted this issue on Slowmove's engine rebuild thread but think it deserves its own thread. I will attach another picture here of my failing pressure plate. My question today, is, for those of us with Zetecs and Caterham 6sp transmissions, what is the best insurance against this potentially catastrophic failure? It is also relevant to anyone one with a se7en and a high rev-ing engine. As Skip and others have noted, my pressure plate and clutch were close to exiting the bell housing and my ankles were the likely to be removed in the process. That was my mechanics comment as well:"Man, you don't know how lucky you are...." Some have mentioned a SFI rated clutch system. But there don't seem to be many (any) for this set up. Others says a bell housing wrap/scatter-shield. Again, rather than reinvent the wheel, what is out there already. Since our Caterham 6sp apparently use the T9 bell-housing, someone must have an off-the shelf item?

Thx Skip, that's just what my mechanic said. The car is 12 years old and that is the original pressure plate AFAIK. And it has spent it entire existence being abused on the track close to the 7K redline. I will upgrade all once winter is here and track days are over (all we could find were stock items and I was in a rush to get to NJMP). Will add scatter-shied if feasible.

Here is a picture of my stock Focus pressure plate on recent inspection/replacement. Three mounting points (of 6) had broken off. All on one side. Thus explaining some of my shifting issues.

FWIW-the Caterham S3 carbon fiber seats just barely fit in my Birkin. It was so tight, they would not slide on their sliders.

Definitely not well-suited to my, er, driving "style":). I would be afraid to try it. Hard to believe a new track is being constructed with so little room for error.

I have no idea what the intricacies are, but I do know the used '09 Birkin I bought in VA several years ago was titled there. I think as a '67 Lotus?

Z06 should be on there. It could take the Alfa's place.

Try doing a "Houston" search on the Forum. I think this has come up before.

I enjoyed the last USA7s event at the Tail of the Dragon and it is much closer to me than NJMP. On the other hand, the NJMP event is much closer to the majority of East Coast owners and most likely is closer to many more se7en owners than western Tennessee. It also has a superior amenities than most of the hotels at the Tail (pub, dinning room, pool, etc.). The Tail area offers truly amazing empty roads with almost limitless twists and 15 mph turns. The Dragon is the most well known, but there are so many others. So for folks who like spirited driving but not track days, it is perfect. For those, like me, who covet track days, it is good not great. I would love to visit Barber but everyone says it is hugely expensive. So we'd have to partner with some organizer already planning to run there and get our own run group. The worst scenario would be to schedule both NJMP and a Dragon event at the same time. There are probably too few of us to make both a success. Happy to see what others think. I think it is a great discussion topic, if nothing else.

I think Tom told me the XS was around 1350-1375 lbs. Not sure if that was with a top, gas etc. When I sat in it the new seats were a huge improvement over the customary Birkin torture seats. The extra room was VERY nice also. It is still a small cockpit tho. Maybe a bit bigger than a Miata, maybe the same. More room for one's feet in the foot well.

Here are some photos of our big weekend. Some are obvious, others not. The lovely red/yellow car is an Elva (not a Lotus 21, which I thought). It wasn't part of our group, which just shows we aren't the only guys with cool cars. The Lucas headlight is from Al Navarro's beautiful Lotus 7. In the spirit of this group (started by Al actually), we let him bring his car, even though it is not a real Caterham:). Stewart's perfect blue Caterham is being piloted by his wife, Colleen, who seems to be enjoying the moment.