FE07

An interesting and old argument. The racing would likely be closer and less limited by all the typical aero issues, you'd certainly see more oversteer and understeer! People like technology though. I'd rather see continued aero and getting rid of all the fake stuff to make the racing closer: DRS, push to pass, etc... And get rid of batteries and all the systems needed to control them. My 2 cents. Jim

Have had the misfortune of racing there once in the rain in an FE. Going down the front straight around pit in, I look to my left and see a P1 passing me. Start to move slowly right to let him by and get passed by another P1 on the right that I NEVER saw. Would’ve been really ugly squeezing the P1 into the inside wall, or the side of me. I’ve had an Elise since 2005. You’ll love your Caterham. MUCH different feeling on track. Won’t trash any front clams though. Keep it on the black stuff!! Enjoy. Jim

VIR in the snow! That should be interesting Jim

Look at some of the karting shoes as well. Same design and fit of a race shoe without any fire protection. Less expensive and same appearance. Jim

So I have a diesel Cayenne (bought with 90K miles and 2 yrs of CPO) and pull a Thule trailer. It's 16' box and 4' V nose. All aluminum. Not sure what it weighs. The Cayenne pulls it like its not there. Fits mutiple smaller cars but the gate is a little steep so hard to get in cars with large front overhangs. I used to have a set up like Blakes with a Trailex. When I started racing formula cars I went to the enclosed trailer. Found the trailer close to me also on Racing Junk. Jim

I can't respond to the car cutting out and then starting with just the clutch. That's just bizarre! I can however tell you that I also have a Zetec powered Cat that has always idled high since I've had it. Both Chip Bond (the original builder with GT classics) and George Alderman looked at it and tried all kinds of things to figure out the idle issue. Changed the seals for the intake and injectors, swapped injectors, messed with the PCV system. We swapped the stock ECU for another one and it seemed better for a little while but then ultimately returned to idle around 2200. Sometimes it will go down to 800-1000 if the car is warmed up but it's not consistent. I just live with it. The cutoff though could be dangerous.

Thanks for the replies guys. Unfortuneately, it's a T9 without a drain plug. It's been a slow leak over the past 8 years which is what prompted me to finally look at it. Was a little less than 1/2 empty. Gearbox was working fine. Think the only way for me to empty it full will be from the top. Put the drain plug back in, tightened it down and I'll keep an eye on it. Jim

Decided to drain and fill my gearbox (Ford T9) George Alderman had welded a 1/2" bolt to the top of the drain plug which made it easier to get to. Drained it- well sort of. Didn't really get more than 5-10 cc out of the box. It filled with approx 1/2 quart of Redline MTL. Obviously wasn't empty but certainly not full. When I put the plug back in, it went in easily for probably the first 2-3 full turns. The plug appeared to be going in perpendicular to the hole, not angled. Then it started getting very hard to turn as though it was cutting new threads. Removed the plug and no signs of any new threads on it. Can just see part of the threads in the hole which appear ok. My pinky didn't feel anything sharp on the threads. So- maybe there were threads sticking out on the plug when I went to remove it?? About 1/2 of the threads are in. Anyone with any thoughts or suggestions (other than pulling the engine and trans to look at it!) much appreciated. Jim

Looks good. I remember Kitcats car from the 7's events. Only thing I see is the name of the dealer in Virginia was Chip Bond (not Lamb). Jim

C & C at Hunt Valley. That red car next to yours sure does look familiar. Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you. Jim

Straight piece is 9 1/4" in length. Curved 26 1/2" in length. Both are 1.26" internal diameter and 1.39" external. Where would one go to have these made?? Thanks, Jim

I have some rusting on the metal piping in my cooling system so I took it apart to have it sandblasted and powdercoated. I saw however on the inside of the tubing some oxidation and thought maybe it would be better to replace this and start fresh. They have rolled, raised lips on both ends. Has anyone ever looked into having replacements made or bought new ones? Thanks for the replies. Jim

wdb- Just received my kit from Newton. When UPS dropped it off (which literally took 3 days from England) they collected $34 which the driver told me were due to tarrifs? I don't know, could've been customs? It's likely to only get worse. Jim

Two sheets of thin aluminum with some bearing grease between them works well. Just make sure the aluminum is wide enough for the front tires. Jim

WOW! So sorry for your loss. Can't imagine. Jim

I used Bears transport to send an Elan from Austin TX to Baltimore. They are brokers but had excellent reviews on Rennlist. They were easy to deal with and since the car did not start, I did not want a large trailer that the car might need to be moved on and off a bunch of times. They found a 3 car trailer for me and fulfilled everything I asked them to do. You can try them at (847) 810-7641. Ask for Liz. Jim

Does that work for the Elan as well? Jim

Thats pretty impressive Charlie- especially living in NYC! Jim

Posted June 12, 2005 The thickness info is AP vented Front disc 18 mm thick new replaced at 16.4mm Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here My racing info site here Above is what I found online. That is all the guys who inspected mine wanted when they signed my car off. Jim

Demoray, I did my inspection quite a while ago and unfortunately I’m not sure if the gas station I used still does inspections. I would tell you to stay away from a larger franchise type of place like NTB, Merchants etc…. I don’t know anywhere to send you down in Millersville. I looked online. Try- https://97automotive.com. Just looks like somewhere that may work. Call them first and ask if they have any problem inspecting a Caterham. Hope it helps.

My suggestion for dealing with MD red tape is to talk to some of your car guy friends and find an inspector who is "car friendly". I registered mine about 9 yrs ago but all my inspector wanted to know was the min. thickness of the front brake rotors. I did take it one place first where I thought they would happily inspect it and they gave me MULTIPLE BS reasons why they couldn't inspect it. Jim

Legs, That mint looks nice! Look forward to seeing the build. Jim

Great seeing everyone over the weekend again and chasing each other on track. It's always nice to see people who have come down just to look at the cars and decide if they want to pull the trigger on a purchase. Love what they've done to turn 1. It's now basically makes turns 1 & 2 into one big sweeping turn with a blind track out over turn 2. The weather on track held out great. I left around 3:00 on Sunday and 8 miles west of the track, it was pouring and really windy. Thanks to Mike and Tom as always for organizing! Hope to see everyone again next year. Jim

I'll be rolling in early Friday AM. Look forward to seeing everyone.

All signed up and ready to go. Crawled under the car to nut & bolt and found 6 rivets missing from the floor on drivers side!! Repaired with some stainless rivets instead of the aluminum ones that were there. That should fix it but I'll keep an eye on it. The harness won't keep me in the car if the floor falls out. See everybody Friday AM.