Kitcat

Petronix Flamethrower is a nice upgrade...

My Birkin's builder faithfully ripped off the 40th color scheme (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, etc.). Tom: In visiting the SCDA website I see they offer a 10% discount to the featured marque. Any chance of getting the generic "7" nominated? The 2 day cost of the event is a hefty (tho fair), $550 so every little bit helps.

I posted this event on a Birkin list serve that I belong to. Hopefully more Birkin owners will join us.

My X-flow was tuned 2x and ran strong for years, didn't need any fettling. It did drip, smoke, backfire, etc., and got lousy gas mileage. But as noted above, it sounded great and, tho it didn't make lots of power, it had a nice fat, flat torque curve and was perfectly matched to the car's charater.

Hey, is it MY fault they made that turn too sharp???

The Evo is far from stock and the driver (Killboy) has tons of experience on the Dragon. He was there in an Evo when our club did the 50th anniversary thing there. I suspect the se7en driver was new to the "track" and it showed in the video. His car did look tail happy tho.

Zus: At my last track day I ran new CR500 195's all around and the grip was good, not great. Then I swapped in an old set of Toyo RA1 205's, in the back only, and the grip was identical, the car stayed neutral & balanced.

Birkin USA has a supercharger option for their Duratec engines and say they are developing one for Zetecs. Mite be worth an inquiry.

Terry, the Cat dealer in Canada reports more speed w/top up/doors on. I found switching from full windshield to Brooklands was worth abt 5 mph, and I got there faster. And turn head lights backwards or sideways (If nothing else it will make you feel faster:)). And, while it's a brick, at least the the se7en is a small brick and a lousy cd times a small # is still small. Check the dyno-sheet smackdown thread for some real world numbers for our engines. Those of your spec seem to be cranking around 145-160 hp at the wheels.

My '08 M3 was (much) faster than my X-flow at the track. I sold the M3 after 2 years tho, because the Cat was so much more fun to drive. Then sold the X-flow for my Duratec Birkin to try to gain some speed back and keep the wonderful handling. Croc, you were pulling me the last 1/2 of every significant straight at NJMP. Not as much as the event before when I was in my X-flow (Wh/my GPS said topped out at 106 mph), but ya definitely owned the top speed contest.

DavidD: I think you need a rollover bar that is higher them your helmet. Not sure if the stock S1 has that.

Fastest so far in my Duratec powered Birkin is 118 mph (per gps, not crap speedo) w/600 rpms left til redline in 5th (6800 rpms). So theoretical top speed is abt 128 mph. This was w/lights, windshield etc. And, on a tight track. I suspect I can hit redline at a bigger track, like Mid-Ohio. Top speed isnt really these cars' forte tho.

It's on my calendar. Mike M.

Triggered by comments on the ethanol in gas thread: How far are folks driving to work, in distance and time? I live 5 miles from work, and can get here in 8 minutes if all goes well, 15 minutes if it's slow. I ride my bike weekends if in the mood. Or, take the long way if in the se7en on a pretty day (8 miles/20'). I drive a 5000 lb 2011 Touareg TDI that gets 23 mpg in the city, 33 mpg at 70 mph (12 mpg when used as my tow vehicle for my se7en). The car before was a '08 BMW M3, 12-13 mpg city, 22 mpg @ 70 mph). Also have a Prius that gets 35 mpg in short commutes w/cold engine starts, 48 mpg at 70 mph.

Skip: I think the (now next to the) last shot is worthy of the "Best seven picture ever" thread.

You have made my wife sooo happy! (And there is nothing wrong with a happy wife:)).

She says in cold weather, the inside of the car will warm up to 75 degrees just as fast when the thermostat is set on 75 degrees, as when set on max (abt 90 degrees). She uses the oven analogy (ovens dont warm up to 350 degrees any faster when the thermostat is set on 400 degrees). Assume car's heater fan is not turned on till engine is warm. I use the boiling pot of water analogy (see why we need your help?): A gallon of cold water heats to boiling faster if max btu's are used (flame at max, not medium). If (as I pray:)), my wife's analogy to the oven is wrong, why? Full disclosure: This came up on the way to a joint book club poker nite deal. After dropping her off at book club, I "laid my cards on the table," so to speak, at poker and sought the learned male advice of my fellow players. Sadly (tragically?) my poker buddies all sided with my wife's logic (And they call the selves men!). Can you help a brother out here????

X-flow sounds better, has (much) less power, worse mileage. Depends on use of car. If auto-x/track days, extra power is nice. If blats, who cares? For blats I preferred my X-flow due to the glorious sound. Naturally, it's nice having 2x the power at the track (tho harder to actually stay on the track!). Very difficult, not impossible to swap X-flow out for Zetec, even harder to swap for Duratec (intake/exhaust are opposite). Happy hunting. And remember, there is no bad se7en, just varying degrees of goodness:).

Croc: Just be glad you weren't towing your se7en in a trailer. All of the bridge and turnpike fees are approx triple. And the Google says the "surcharge" (such an innocent sounding name) is now $250 for 3 years following the speeding tkt-even the 1st one.

GoPro 1 does not have an external mic port, right? I am stuck w/GoPro's abysmal built in mic? Mine doesn't work anyhow, so maybe it is irrelevant.

Thx, Terry sign me up for a single 195x15. PM me when it arrives and we can arrange payment/shipping etc.

Terry, I need a single tire. Do you sell individual tires, or just in sets of 4? Mike

Egan's the best! Wow, 5000 miles in a cross country trip in a car with no top and a 5 gallon gas tank: true courage.

All my F1 heroes. Seems like yesterday.

Who says engineers can't write:). (I love the unique $ back guarantee. Just think of how many more Miatas wld be on the road if Mazda had thot of that one!). Sure wish this had been 4sale 5 months ago(:. You have $52K invested, any estimate of hours of your time spent constructing, fine tuning, debugging?