Kitcat

Nice! I think that Miata passed Tom just as fast tho:)!

Thx, if anyone has a spare 195x15 CR500 to sell, new in that price range or slightly used (for less $), let me know.

Out of curiosity, what was the price of the now-sold 195's?

Hmmmm. Here I am, too lazy/busy to fix my Birkin's sticking E-brake and John is redesigning his steering system from ground up. And having witnessed John's obsessive attention to detail and doing things the "right way", I am sure his end product here is a work of art. Old timers may recall that when Mazda did the Miata, purists cried so much about it having power steering, they finally offered manual (I had the manual version). Everyone (including me) agreed the power version was much better, better feel, easier to place the car where you wanted, etc. But car prejudices die hard.

I thot abt buying that car-so I must have cursed it w/my magical ability to make se7ens fall apart:). Seriously tho, as one who has recently blown up an engine on a new se7en purchase, I feel your pain. Take it a step at a time, build per your budget, dont be in a hurry and, as noted, what better excuse to upgrade???

I have avoided PCA events because I know they have safety concerns about our cars. You have to have a instructor sign off on your driving and you have to provide him/her w/race seat, 5 point harness, arm restraint, all properly installed, per their opinion, not yours. None of my cars ever fit their rules (incl present 2, 1 of wh/has no passenger seat). When I have done PCA events in my other cars, they were well run, but way too many drivers, cars, and run groups for my tastes, so never felt I was missing much by being excluded in my Caterham. All that being said, I do respect PCA and their desire to make events safe. Ditto Audi club and BMW, all of whose events I have done and are clones of PCA.

Not sure about the Nitto Proxis, but suspect 225 what-evers will be fine on a 300 hp Miata. I ran 225's on my plain old Miata at the track, with good effect.

Very impressive! Interesting, logical evolution of the original Stalker. Looking forward to seeing some "road test" results. Performance shd be amazing. Cost for a turn key like this?

I look at cars like this and think-if only Birkin and Caterham did such good work:). Only 1/2 kidding. The car is v lovely with excellent colors. It is the only home-built I have seen that got the slanted door cut-outs right. The Lowcosts just make it parallel to the ground, wh/hurts the aesthetics, to my eye (apologies to all you Lowcost owners/builders out there).

Have had some recent inquiries as to whether car is still available. It is, tho I am not pushing real hard. Will get more serious next Spring. In the meantime, keep the e-mails coming.

Thx, Croc, I never met a se7en owner I didn't like:). Tom: Car is back in shop for 3rd fuel pump. Why? Other than the fact that my cars are cursed, I have no idea. Sure is a beast when it is running tho. When I had it at N Ledges, where it broke again, I was in a group of SCCA racers and the word "humbling" fits. Man, the talent level really jumps up w/them. I thot I'd be waiving good bye to everyone but point-byes were the order of the day.

If you force yourself into the se7en you will hate it. But when the mood is right, ka-blam!

Whose car is #151? haven't seen it before (that slow yellow 7 looks familiar tho:))..

Ditto Pi7ot's comment. And, when I added Cat Tilets to my Birkin, arm room improved a lot. And I sit 1-2" lower so I can actually see the instruments. So, the Tilets were a huge improvement, and much more comfortable than the Birkin seats-the Bikin is a faithful copy of original 7, the Cat has improved that design w/longer cockpit (IMHO). And at 5'9", I am not exactly huge. My steering wheel is bolted in, not removable.

Such a competition wld be banned in USA. Were your penalty points for passing, or did you miss cones? Looks like a blast, at least as you did it.

Paul: The Birkin-specific suspension setting is this: distance between the front eye bolts has to be at or v close to 294 mm. And it needs 1/2'-1" rake. After that, it's customer preference. I run abt 1 1/2 neg camber all around (and have the excess outside tire wear to prove it), caster is at max, a bit of front toe out as well helps with turn in tho hurts straight line stability. I dont have the exact specs tho, I put them some where "safe...". My set up is more track oriented as that has been the main use of my Birkin.

I know I am a skeptic but mfg hp claims often are a bit puffy. For instance, Birkin says my engine makes 210 hp, dyno says 165. Caterham said my X-flow made 135 hp, dyno said 95. Wld love to see real world back to back dyno results, you vs. Tom. Your car is fast and your top speed is consistently much more than Tom and me, so clearly, you have more power. Still, I'd love to see a dyno sheet on your car, or Karl's, added to the dyno sheet smack down thread.

I run 18lbs rear, 16lbs front on my 1100 lb Birkin (Toyo R1's). Hoosiers apparently "like" air so maybe a bit more?

Josesh. Congratulations on a remarkable achievement! The level of competition at Nats is amazing. I once came in second in a local auto-x and still have the trophy:).

Who needs that stuff: Speedometer will be wrong, you can wear a full face helmet and those parts will fall off anyhow, just go with what you have (or don't have:)). Seriously, tho, good luck. It gets harder to wait when you get so close to the end.

Croc: Tom's dyno sheet shows something like 195 hp at the rear wheels (compared to my Duratec's paltry 165 hp). I know you have an amazing Cosworth Duratec, with many demon tweaks, but I suspect it isn't 1/3 more powerful than Tom's hp at the rear wheels. Wld be happy to be wrong (dyno sheet time:))? Also, am amazed that heat makes such a difference in top speed (hp). I know GPS #'s dont lie, just very surprised. I mite have guessed 2-3 mph.

Birkin USA has very specific recommendations regarding alignments, and front end in particular. Ditto rake rear-forward and basically says: ignore at your peril.

Croc: if you do a digital audio recorder, is that plugged into the GoPro unit? Or, is it a stand alone that has to be synched up later w/the separately recorded vid? I mite just keep my GoPro1 and its non existent sound as the vid quality is excellent. Tho, "faffing" around w/synching up electronics is not something I especially have the time/talent/interest in doing.

Looking forward to lots of pics!

Looks fun, nippy tho! Nice to see all you hard core guys out there amongst the mountain roads and scenery in your beautiful cars.