Caterham99

I am looking for an aluminum bellhousing for a Ford T-9 transmission and Kent block.

Defiantly count me in on this one! My wife and I toured this area back in the 70’s, and have always wanted to return. What better way than in a 7 !!! Hopefully there will be a big turnout. If there is I imagine there could be a several people looking for trailer / tow vehicle storage around Edmonton. Depending on demand, maybe one could find a storage facility that would provide space for a reasonable fee.

I hope all is well with everyone and we get some rain soon. Below is a registration form I would greatly appreciate those planning to participate in the tour fill out and mail back to me as soon as possible. If you prefer you can of course email me the information. I have checked with the Holliday Inn and so far they only have 4 reservations. If you plan on going on the tour I strongly suggest you make reservations as soon as possible. The registration link for the discounted rate is as follows: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/redirect?path=asearch&brandCode=6c&localeCode=en&regionCode=1&hotelCode=MSHTX&rateCode=6CBARC&_PMID=99801505&GPC=SST I have been busy making maps and pulling tour information together. Everything will be in the mail to the participants before the end of September. If you have any questions, please contact me. Phil E A S T T E X A S 7’s TOUR 2 0 1 1 Registration Form Please print off and complete the registration form as follows: Name: _____________________________________________________________________ first last Address: ___________________________________________________________________ street city state zip Email: __________________________________ Cell Phone: ______________________________ Number of people attending: ________________ Days participating (Y/N): Friday: ________ Saturday: ______ Sunday: _______ Meals (Y/N) needed to finalize restaurant selection and reservations: Thursday:-- Dinner_____ Friday:------ Lunch ______ Dinner ______ Saturday:-- Lunch ______ Dinner ______ Sunday:---- Lunch ______ Dinner ______ Please mail completed registration form and mail it to: Philip L Anderson 2034 Keese Sagebiel Rd. Fredericksburg, TX 78624 The tour package will be sent out prior to the event, and contain detailed maps and other information that hopefully will make the tour more informative and enjoyable. Participants are encouraged to make motel reservations early. Everyone will be responsible for their own expenses. If for any reason you will not attend the event after you have registered, please let me know as soon as possible.

Thanks for the photos!!! A very nice collections of 7’s in a beautiful setting. Hope I can join you for a blat.

Patty and I have just returned from another trip to east Texas to add some refinements to the 7’s tour scheduled for October 21-23. That’s not to say there won’t be a few more adjustments as we go along, but things are just about set. Tour accommodations will be at the Marshall Holliday Inn Express. They have accommodated several car clubs with trailers and should be able to handle us okay. We have reserved a block of rooms for the “Sevens Tour” at a reduced rate of $89.00 for either the “2 Double Beds” or “King Bed” option. An on line booking account has been set up for us so everyone can directly reserve their room at: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/redirect?path=asearch&brandCode=6c&localeCode=en&regionCode=1&hotelCode=MSHTX&rateCode=6CBARC&_PMID=99801505&GPC=SST Enter dates, occupancy, number of rooms, then room choice and smoking preference. Use either rate preference. We have not blocked rooms other than double or king, but if you want something else, make your selection and you will get a discounted rate. If you have any trouble with the above link, please let me know and I will work it out with Holliday Inn. If you plan to attend the tour and need a room, please reserve your room buy the end of the month. Several motels in the area are already booked up with other events this October, and they can only hold our block open for a limited time. We are lucky to find a suitable location, and your cooperation would be much appreciated. For those arriving Thursday in preparation for Fridays tour, we have 6:30 dinner reservations at the River Bend Restaurant on Caddo Lake. Catfish, steak, shrimp, frog legs, crab, alligator and other east Texas favorites. It’s about a 20 minute drive from Marshall, so we will leave the motel around 6:00. Friday’s tour will be an approximant 200 mile loop north of Marshall. Several rest stops are planned along the way. We will be stopping for lunch at the Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards just south of Pittsburg. We will be able to sample some wine, have a leisurely lunch, and if you like tour the vineyard. Next we will stop at the Heritage museum in Pittsburg to check out the full scale replica of the Ezekiel Airship. The original was built by a local minister in 1901, supposedly flew in 1902, but was destroyed in a rail accident in 1904 while on its way the Worlds Fair in St Louis. Friday evening we will have dinner at Blue Frog Grill in historic downtown Marshall. They have a limited, but excellent menu of steak, fish, shrimp and chicken. Saturday’s tour will be an approximately 240 mile loop southeast of Marshall along the Texas / Louisiana border. Again with several stops along the way. Lunch will be at Mary Kay’s Country Dinner in San Augustine. While in San Augustine there should be enough time to visit the site of the 1717 Mission Senora De Los Dolores, stroll around the court house square, or take in some of the other historic sites. We will then proceed through Nacogdoches, Henderson and back to Marshall. Saturday evening we will have dinner at OS 2 Restaurant & Pub in historic downtown Marshall. Steak, fish, pork, chicken, and pasta. Sunday’s tour will be an approximately 270 mile loop southwest of Marshall with stops along the way. We will travel through Kigore, Jacksonville, and Rusk before stopping for lunch at Giovanni’s Restorante Italiano in Palestine. Not much is open on Sunday, so after lunch we will head back to Marshall. I have checked out several excellent places for Sunday dinner, but haven’t selected a place yet. We have not mapped it yet, but have given some thought to also working up a half day tour on Sunday for those needing to return home early. Let me know if you are interested. There will be additional tour announcements in the coming weeks so I encourage you to frequently check the USA7’s site for the latest official information and comments. Those planning to attend are encouraged to forward me their name, address, phone number, and email and I will add their names to the list of Sevens Tours attendees to receive direct email announcements and other information. Those already on the list of potential attendees include: Brink Jeans Kwan Long Newlin Thomen White With Patty and me that is 8 cars so far not including a couple of maybes. Phil Anderson Se7en@ctesc.net

I just found out about this a few days ago. My wife and I visited this part of North America many years ago and we have always wanted to return. The chance to do it in a 7 is just way too good to pass up. Count us in, would not miss it for the world !!!

Thanks for reminding me about the motocycle web site. I already have included several of the roads identified, but look at the others as well as we move forward.

A few weeks ago Patty and I spent the last several days driving the back roads of east Texas to see if it would be a good place for a 7's tour. For those of you who may not be familiar with east Texas, or the "Piney Woods", it is heavily wooded gently rolling landscape, with numerous lakes and streams. It is not dramatic as the Texas Hill Country, but does offer many good roads, and interesting places to visit that I think everyone would enjoy. Plans are as follows: • The tour dates would be October 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. The date could change, but Texas weather in October is usually good, and the date doesn't conflict with this year Las Vegas LOG. • The tour would be based out of Longview, or Marshall Texas with three 200 to 250 mile loop drives to the north, southeast and southwest. The concept is to stay at one location, and make each loop a day trip. This may allow one the flexibility of participating in a one, two or three day tour. • There are only a few small B&B's in the area, and as yet we haven't found a suitable one for the group. I have, however, made contact with several national chain motels (La Quinta, Holliday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, etc) in the area which may work. The big question, and this is very critical, is trailer parking. I have found one place with plenty of room, but there are potentially better places, but trailer parking is limited. • Along the way, Patty and I have identified points of interest, gas stations, rest stops and unique places for lunch. • There will be a $10-$20 registration fee to cover the preparation and mailing of an East Texas Tour Guide. There are many details yet to work out, but how we proceed from here all depends on the level of interest. Several have already signed on, and If you are interested in joining us on an east Texas 7's tour this October, please let me know in the next week or so. It may seem like a long way off, but October will be here before you know it. Also please indicate: • The number of days you would be interested in driving. • The number of people that would be in your party. • If you would be pulling a trailer or not. I will let everyone know where we stand in a week or so. Phil & Patty Anderson

Plans are being made for the 2010 Southwest 7's Festival at the Motor Sports Ranch in Cresson Texas on the 7th through the 10 of May. Details still have to be worked out, but this years event will follow last years format with several 30 minute track sessions on Friday, six 20 minute session on Saturday with Apex Driving School instruction as requested / needed, and a tour with overnight stay on Sunday and Monday. The track has limited us to 10 cars on Friday and 17 cars on Saturday. Expense is based on participation. Response has been very positive to date, so if you would like to attend, please let me know as soon as possible so I can get you on the list. Philip Anderson Se7en@ctesc.net

First let me thank all those who attended this years Hill Country Tour for making it a most enjoyable and memorable event. It was great to see old friends and make new ones. We had 11 cars participate this year. In keeping with the spirit of USA-7’s, cars manufactured by Birkin, Caterham, Stalker, Ultralite, and Westfield were all represented. It is always wonderful to see such a variety of great cars. Of course it adds to the complexity of answering “what are these things” at every stop. Friday, Patty and I hosted a “welcome” event at our place in Fredericksburg. Good food and times were had by all. Saturday was a 300 mile marathon over the best the Hill Country has to offer. We left early in the morning, had lunch in Leaky, and dinner at the historic Old Spanish Trail restaurant in Bandera. A long but enjoyable day under sunny skies. Sunday was a more leisurely 200 mile drive on several roads around Fredericksburg. We stopped for lunch at the Alamo Springs Café for some fantastic burgers. It was then on to the Sisterdale Winery to sample some Texas wines before returning to Fredericksburg. Sunday evening was spent on our deck enjoying more eats, good friends, great conversation, and absolutely perfect weather. We hated to see the event end, but look forward to the third annual Hill Country Tour next year. Again, thanks to everyone who joined us for this memorable event. If you could not participate, keep us in mind for next year. It’s going to be great. Stay tuned as we have several new and exciting possibilities to consider. Phil PS. Check back in a few days. We hope to post some photos.

This years Hill Country tour is scheduled for October 25th & 25th. Responce has been good, and it's going to be a great event. Twelve 7's have signed up, and there are 3-4 more that hope they can make it. If you would like to join us, please send me a email at Se7en@ctesc.net for all the details. Phil

Several people have expressed an interest in having a Hill Country tour this fall. We are looking at the weekend of October 24th. Hopefully it will cool off a little by then. If there is sufficient interest we can try to put something together similar to the tour we did last year. There is not a lot of time to get things organized, so if you are interested, please email me back in the next couple of days. Thanks, Phil Anderson Se7en@ctesc.net

Thanks to all those that attended this years Southwest 7’s Festival. A great time was had by all. Each of our unique cars is a lot of fun, but it is the people who make it truly memorable. The two day track event at Motorsports Ranch was held in conjunction with Apex Driving Academy. This proved to be an excellent track format for both beginners and experienced drivers as well. The driver’s school format allowed first timers (like me), the opportunity for seven 20 minute driving sessions with an Apex instructor, while the experienced drivers took to the track by them selves. We had 10 cars on Friday. It was a “members” day at the Ranch so we had to share the track with a couple of Porsche GT3’s, 2 race prepared Vipers, a Vet, and a pretty fast Mustang. It was tense at times, especially for us new guys, but by in large we did our thing, and they did theirs so we got along ok. Saturday was better in that we had 15 Seven’s, and the track all to ourselves. However, Apex pulled a fast one. After running the course counter clockwise on Friday, they had us run it clockwise on Saturday. It was a whole new track. Even those that had driven the track many times had to learn a whole new line. We were able to squeeze in two technical sessions into Saturday’s busy schedule. Blaine Ballentine a lubrication engineer for Central Petroleum Company gave a most valuable presentation on engine oil, gear oil and grease. We all learned a lot about the slippery stuff, and his paper “Lubrication for Se7ens”, pointed us in the right, and in some cases a new direction. Carlos Fenny also educated us on laser chassis alignment using inexpensive readily available tools. Accrete, and a far simpler than the old strings. Defiantly worth a try. Saturday’s evenings BBQ dinner gave us all time to socialize and talk about our experiences. Some very nice door prizes were also given away. We would like to thank USA-7’s for donating a signed Publishers Edition of Lotus 7 & The Independents. Tim White, the owner of a very rare Datsun 7 took home the prize. Sunday’s tour was an opportunity to slow down a bit from the previous two days and enjoy the back roads west of Fort Worth in beautiful Palo Pinto County. Alfredo Aperezcalva who was driving his newly acquired Stalker from Florida to his home in Mexico City joined us for the first part of the tour. Anyone that passionate about their seven is always welcome! The tour was a bit cool for this time of year in Texas, and the wind tossed us and our little cars around a bit, but it was still a lot of fun. Our stay that night at a rustic log B&B overlooking lake Palo Pinto proved to be one of this years highlight. Plans are already being made for next years Southwest 7’s Festival. We plan to keep a similar spring format so please check the USA-7”s web site for future information, and discussion. We want to hear from you. Thanks again for all those that made this years Festival such a memorial event. For those that were unable to join us, plan to attend next year, it’s going to be great. You don’t want to miss it!

We still have some spots open for additional cars in this years Southwest 7's Festival. If you have a friend who would like to join you, or know of someone who would like to take advantage of this unique opportunity, plaese have them contact me at se7en@ctesc.net or post intreset on this site.