Kitcat

I agree that a test drive is on order. You mite be surprised at how different (for better AND worse) it is than you are expecting. If none are available, ride a motorcycle: the two experiences are similar, from a heat, noise (dis)comfort, exhilration, acceleration, visibilty perspective. Daily driver: sure, if you want this more than anything. Kinda like using a steak knife to eat peas. But, your publc transportation system will do most of the heavy lifting on a day to day basis so you are really talking about a weekend car. Caterham only? I have owned two of them and a Birkin and driven and seen most others. Keep an open mind, there are many reasons to own ''the real thing" and many not to. They do hold value well but buy-in is much steeper. And all suffer a huge depreciation hit between new and used, so buying used can be a $ saver. My Caterham insurance is same $ as my other cars all thru State Farm. But, it is based on not exceeding 5K miles a year, premium is adjusted upwards after that.

Sending a "care pkg" of leftover parts (engine mounts, hoses, solenoid, ignit switch). Werthie says that when car caught on fire, even tho shut off, the starter engaged and the car started to move as it was in gear! And I thot I'd heard it all:).

Can't wait to see how Sabbot's BDA stacks up against the newer engines (It wldnt bother me if he ran away from us:)).

Since someone else has posted on this general issue, I thot I'd update my previous comments. Biggest lesson so far-A trailer is another vehicle, with all vehicle issues/problems: flats, license, insurance, storage, security, etc. And they are often old tech (bias ply tires wh/are easily punctured), wheel bearings that need to be repacked every 5K miles, drum brakes. Yes, they are very handy to have but they do come with their own set of separate issues.

There is an active "trailer" thread at "general discussion" section. Plus many discussions in the past so a search may produce some helpful info. BBall has what I consider the ultimate se7en trailer (lite, small, enclosed, etc). He mite chime in or you may find info abt it w/a search as he has posted in past and included photos.

Termpting. And, my math says it's a total of 3 days also. And if I did all 3, it doesnt mean I'd have to do every possible run, I mite take a break here and there. The Thunderbolt track is awesome and a nice counterbalance to two days of Lightening. IF, I signed up, who else wld be going from USA7's? Croc, Tom, Karl ???

NY Times article today said the whole public school/private school/voucher debate is irrelevant: Either we do intense early education (age 3-5), or forget it-nothing helps underprivileged kids catch up to the avantages that most of our kids had. Why shd we care? High unemployment, crime, prison system come to mind. Folks who hate spending $5K a year on early ed have no problem spending $30K a year to lock that guy up once he turns 18. So let's say normal inflation and the guy does 30 years. That equals $1M. So do I expect things to change now? Nope, just food for thot.

Truly sorry to read this. One of the pieces of advice I got when I bought my X-Flow was, tho counter-intuitive, "If you ever see flames coming out of the carbs, giver 'er the gas, the vacum will suck the flames back in!" Fortunately I never needed to do that. Certainly a good reminder to the rest of us to carry a fire extinguisher at all times.

JBH: You are such an experienced, steady hand at the track, what happened? Apart from this hi-jack, go cheap and save big $ when/if the next "OFF" occurs. And if you sell, as others have noted, then go high end on CF.

Hey, nothing wrong w/specators, if you have a se7en, come, watch, enjoy. If we know anything, we know that you dont have to put yr se7en on a track to enjoy it with others.

It looks totally legit! And I heard that some of the F1 teams have actually started a bidding war for Blubarisax to serve as coach for their drivers since he is a track savey Lime Rocker (apparently he has finally figured out how not to get big air over that one uphill turn and not land in the tire wall!).

If it ain't broke.... And, separately, as MoPho noted, Caterhams have what I will call a "self lowering" floor system. So all you Caterham owners mite want to look at the rivets holding your butt upright. I know my driver's side rivets all started to go south and had to be replaced. A problem I noted only because I had the car up for other repairs.

Kent 1.6L =260 lbs. Per the "engine weight" thread from a while back.

Dual axles tow straighter, not as much wiggle waggle. I had a bearing go bad on one side of my 16' dual axle and still limped home thx to intact 2nd axle. Nice when you are in the middle of nowhere @11:00pm Sunday, 200 miles from home and nothing is open anywhere. The extra length (13' vs.12')will facilitate tie down. Enclosed is nice (secure, dry, more storage), but kills gas mileage-it's like driving up a steep hill the whole way. I always try to have an extra set ot tires at track days. It is cheap insurance. When you consider cost of time off work, gas to event, motel, food, entry fee, etc, all to get to the track and discover that one tire wont hold air, it can be painful. Not to mention missing out on the fun of the track day. I have had tires get ''corded', get punctured and, as Croc faithfully and accurately recalls, punctured and wheel bent in an early lap "off". So I try to have a complete set, or at least one rear/front spare. And rain tires wld be nice too.

Thx CB, that is now the the plan.

Whist being dynoed yesterday my Birkin's alternator died. We tried putting in a stock Ford Focus alternator but it was way too big. Any ideas on what alternator Birkin uses on its Duratecs? (Call to Texas Motor Works has not been answered). Response on Yahoo Birkin forum was-take it to a Autozone and see what fits. Agreed, but was wondering if anyone knew in advance so I cld call to see if they had one in stock.

Getting car back today. Tech said ultimate hp and torque are abt the same (165 hp/150 lbs torque) but I added 8 hp and 10 lbs torque in places "below the curve". AFR's are now very safe all thru the rpm range. Also improved a cold-running driveabilty problem. Car should be very driveable and performance very robust-it was already a rocket ship!

Thx for the interest Rikker. It is listed. Here in the for sale section. Right where you commented. Feel free to buy it.

Car is back at the dyno shop today getting a nice safe "street tune''. The AFR's were a little less than ideal on the above-mentioned dyno day. Then, once I get back from vacation in mid April, I will get serious about selling this car again. There have been inquiries off and on over the winter but nothing serious yet. I plan to drop the price a coupla thosand and make it more tempting. Will put on E-Bay also. Someone is going to get a pretty amazing car at an excellent price (IMHO:)). Some have asked about the top. All I can say is it has one in a box, ditto doors. Since I never put it on, I have no idea how it fits, if all snaps are in place etc. The "build photo diary" shows it with the top up but I cant swear its really ready to be driven that way. Like all things se7ish, I suspect some fettling will be needed. One prospective buyer from Calif was very surprised to learn that sale of the car would not include my Ohio plates so he cld drive it in Calif. Thus buyers be forwarned, title, licensing, and insurance issues are for you to resolve, I just supply the (amazing) car.

Very nice! What engine is that? Maybe a random orbital polisher with various levels of polish would restore the faded aluminum polish? I have one from Griot's garage and the results have been almost miraculous on old, dead paint (all my alu is painted so no experience there).

She definitely ''added Lightness".

Tom: I think VII is available:).

Thx Croc: I used your link just now to reserve a room at the track: $258 for the 2 nites. Worth it for the convenience but ya get a lot more motel for that at H. Inn Express, etc. The track map does not do Lightning justice. The elevation changes add so much that does not appear in the two dimensional representation. Turns one and five are blind uphill turns to the right (you go up and turn right without being able to see where the track goes) Start slowly and memorize where track will be when you ''land" on the other side. Add speed incrementally. Easy to gain lots of time here (especially on 5 as it leads to a straight) as confidence/knowledge rise. The easy-does-it approach throws away a lot of time but, nonetheless, stay in your comfort zone. The 2-3-4 turn sequence is the easiest to get wrong but once ya got it (if you do) yer much faster than almost everyone there except other se7ens. Those twisties really, really reward our nimble little cars (see ya Mr 'Vette). I like going into turn 2 a bit slow and way up on the outside curb then drive as "straight" as possible thru 3-4 using maximun amounts of curb (cars go faster in a straight line:)). This leaves you well positioned way left into turn 5's blind right uphill turn. My goal is to drop the hammer as soon as possible here leading into the ensuing turn 5 downhill which is gentle right bend (called turn 6) into the next straight. If you start accelerating as soon as you crest the top of 5 (or ideally a bit before )then you are accelerating down hill and all the way to the next turns braking zone (see you Mr GTR). If you hit the apex at ther top of 5 just so, your acceleration will cause your car to drift to the left (Arrggh, I'm slding off the track!!!!!) and it will just catch at the outside left of the track, just before you slide into oblivion and you can just keep 'er floored. I consider any part of the track where I can run flat out to be a straight. So turn 6, in our cars, is a ''straight" If you are lifting here, you are losing time. Turn 7. Who knows? It's a sharp left hander that I have never, even one time, felt that I got right. it's a very shallow ''down hill". In my car my entry speed is 2nd fastest on the track so poised, firm, but not drastic braking helps. I try to have all my brakling done here before turning the into the sharp left. Then I try to accelerate thru the apex and thru the uphill hump that is turn 8 without lifting. If you follow the classic line and get left over the hump you can get light and spin (Done it). So, following the advice of an istructor, I stay more to the right here as the hump is less drastic, then move over to the left to set up for the huge, bowl shaped right hand tunn 9. Turn 9. What fun, many different ideas abt how to do it right. Most seem to agree that it's best to start slightly to the right of the center as you enter 9 at the high side of this right handed bowl. Then acccelerate down, down, down to the apex at the far right at the very bottom of the bowl. Lift if you have to to scrub off a bit of speed to let the car drop down to the apex (if you brake, that works too but costs a ton of time). Force your eyes to look down to the turn 9 apex as you initiate your turn into 9 (dont just know where you want to enter nine, know where you want to go once you are in turn nine by looking down at the distant apex to the right at the bottom of ther bowl in advance). As mentioned, if you have to sacrifice a little speed to get way down to the apex do so (your car's momentum will want to keep you high in the bowl and far from the apex way down below). If you hit that apex just right (rare for me), you can run flat out all the way to the braking zone to turn 1. And if you have your wheel turned just right as you hit the apex, you can keep the wheel pointed exactly like that all the rest of the way thru the back 1/2 of turn 9 and up to the top of the bowl again and onto the front straight, where you can finally straighten your wheel, clear your head, and start drifting back left to set up for the blind right hand turn 1. I typically hit 115-120 mph at the end of this straight. The big boys (Croc/Blubarex) can hit 125-130 mph, and motocycle guys say they hit 180 mph there!. And repeat:).

Amazing!

What abt a Stalker or an Ultralight? They have much more room than a Caterham S3 and cost the same or less. Hard to believe there are no Caterhams in the Atlant area tho.