Blokko

I've driven long distance a few times in the UK (Normandy beaches in France to the Trossachs in Scotland for example) and for me the only things that made covering large distances bearable were headsets with comms and a 3.5mm audio jack so we could natter and listen to music, plus a SoftBits for Sevens Half Hood (for the crappy British weather). I know that the aeroscreen guys use helmets when transiting but I'd have thought it would be very hot and uncomfortable to try that in the US.

Have you already inspected the car or will the visit be the first time that you have seen it? I once flew out to see a car with the intention of driving it back the same day. When I got there the car was not quite as described and if it had been a local car I'd have walked away. The guy had driven 90 mins to the airport to pick me up and I had no easy alternative method for getting home - I'd put myself in a stupid situation where I ended up buying a car that I would not have taken in other circumstances.

I've just PM'd fmorser regarding his photos in this thread that show storm clouds o'er the karting track. I've submitted an article to Low Flying and the editor has asked whether hi-res images of this scene can be provided. I have no idea how frequent a visitor fmorser is to this site, so I'll wait a little while to see if he gets back to me. If anyone has another line of communication through to him I'd appreciate if you could let him know about my PM. Many thanks Steve.

Hi Rich - I live just down the road from you in Arlington, MA I've owned 2 Caterhams in the UK and fully intended to get one here when I first moved over. Echo the comments about trying out a 7 first. I've had an S3 and an SV and whilst I could get into an S3 it would be tight. The Westy is meant to be somewhere between an S3 and an SV in size, but I feel it is closer to the former than the latter. If you are less than 6' and built for speed rather than comfort the S3 or the Westy will be fine. If you are into SV territory then you will be looking at newer cars, which will mean laying out more cash and having potential issues around registration in MA. Until recently there was an R300SV Caterham very close to you. The owner has moved out to Colorado but right now his car is still in MA with the mechanic who did a lot of work on it. Probably the same person that MPG is referring to. I'm sure that Baer can get you in an SV to try it for size. He often turns up for cars and coffee @ Larz Andersons. There are at least three other 7 owners who turn up to Larz shows occasionally - only one of whom I'm in contact with. The next cars and coffee is 27 Aug - if you are free we could arrange to meet there and I could see if any of the guys I know are going to be in attendance. http://larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events/cnc16/ All good points from the previous contributors. I'll chime in with some additional things to consider - There seems to be quite a gap between asking price and selling price. You need to do research to work out whether a price is realistic or optimistic There isn't a big market come time to sell. If you need to sell quickly you might have to drop the price considerably and this is where you would most likely see a depreciation hit If you buy in the winter and sell in the summer and pay a fair price in the first place, I'd expect depreciation to be negligible Think about how / when you would use the car given the poor roads in MA and the short driving season due to climate. Presume you have decent garage storage - chassis and ali skin will suffer if you are storing the car under a carport for example If you are 'price sensitive' (as I am ) then I suggest that you avoid the temptation to go for some fire-breathing, high power car. Lower power cars will be cheap to run in terms of consumables and repairs. Something Mazda or Ford based would be ideal. My cars ran 125bhp and 135bhp and that was plenty for me

Hi. Sorry, can't help you on the tall rollbar, but is a lowered floor an option and / or tilting the seat by fitting spacers. Bruce at Arch in the UK may be able to get you a floor (presume he would post overseas, but not sure how much that would cost). I had a 2003 S3 and I made a foam seat in place of the Tillett as my head was too close to the cage. Easy and cheap to make and probably a better short term solution to get you out on track than finding a tall rollbar.

A big, big "thank you" to Tom and Mike for organising the event. I last drove a Caterham on the road exactly two years ago (a tour to France) and I guess my last time on track was shortly before that (at Donington, with Mike as luck would have it :-) ). I'd reconciled myself to not being a 7 owner in the US, but the day on track has got me thinking again as to how I can make it happen. Maybe sometime...... I was expecting my track-time to be limited to the karting so it was a great surprise to get the loan car - many thanks Mike! Here are my photos from the Saturday. Dan, here is the link to the Westfield Sports Car Club in the UK. They might come in handy for you in the future....

The Robin Hood was right at the bottom of the kit car food chain. There were some concerns about the suspension / steering design at one stage and at another point there were questions as to whether the monocoque design was strong enough. As with Westfield, I believe that Robin Hood Engineering had some court time courtesy of Caterham defending their IPR. Robin Hood did a couple of things that were innovative. To keep costs down they did bulk orders with a load of people picking up their finished kits on the same day. They also tried to source all of the parts from a single donor car. For a lot of people this meant procuring a Ford Sierra about a year before building the kit and stripping it to bits. Theoretically this was cheaper and easier than getting bits from several different marques, which was the norm with other kit car manufacturers of the time. Hats off to the people who completed these projects - they really required build / fabrication skills that would shock the average Caterham kit builder. One of my colleagues started this process many years back - he never even finished off butchering the Sierra before running out of interest. There was a time when it was quite common to see part built kits up for sale for next to nothing. For those of you who were on the Se7ens List 2005 USA tour, I'm not sure if Trevor Joel made the trip (I think he holds the record for most tours attended). He still drives a Robin Hood built by cannibalising the Triumph Herald that had been in the family for years. Here is a pic from Eilean Donan Castle when we toured Scotland in 2010.

Can't help you in terms of US options, but as a last resort you might want to consider Radtec in the UK. I presume that they will have or can make what you need and will ship overseas, but it doesn't specifically state that on their website (http://www.radtec.co.uk/) Their place is about 5 miles from my place in the UK. I dealt with them direct and they seemed a good bunch of people (managed to get me a new rad for my SV just before I was off on a tour of France). I believe that there is (or at least was) a discount on offer for members of the Lotus 7 Club.

Also just signed up for the go-karting, spectating and BBQ'ing :smilielol5::smilielol5: Will have my camera and might even put a few words together for Low Flying....

Oh man, can't believe how different the market for 7's in the US is compared to the UK. That Robin Hood would fetch less than £5k. The S4 Lotus7 would probably be sub £10k.

"The foot extension when engaging the clutch is a bit long for a guy at my height, but I am getting used to it." What settings are the pedals on? Maybe they are on the middle - moving them to the forward position might help you. My second 7 was a pain to drive sedately - too easy to kangaroo like a learner driver (no problems if I just put my foot down, mind :-) ). Such marsupial behaviour can normally be dialed out with an engine remap and / or adding a stop to the accelerator pedal. " I think the 620R is actually a bit quieter as well" I spoke to a well known 7'er in the UK who sold his sequential equipped 7 (I think it was an R500) because it was just too damn noisy and uncomfortable for him on the road (even with ear plugs). This was 5-6 years ago - not sure if they are still using the same sequential 'box? Is the 620r only available in RHD?

I see! Nice colour scheme - a wrap I presume?

I'm perplexed by the photo. RHD car on Brit plates - was it taken in the US?

Back on topic. I've spoken to a few people who have owned or driven bike-engine 7's - the ultimate light-weight sevening experience. Meant to give a very different experience on the track compared to a normal 7.

I ran one of these on my Caterham - it might solve one of your issues (but might create another in the process). AGM batteries (sometimes, incorrectly, referred to as Gel batteries) offer better cranking capacity than the equivalent lead acid battery, which might help with your start up. These types of battery are typically smaller than a Banner, so it won't sort your spacing issue. You might be able to get a new bracket though. The thing to watch with AGM batteries is that once flat they are toast. There are differing opinions as to whether they can be charged. The best bet is to remove any parasitic load when parked up (immobiliser / alarm) - an FIA cut-off is ideal. With no load they do not lose charge - I once left my car for almost 6 months and it fired up first time.

Booked Millville tonight using the SCCA rate. Looking forward to seeing you guys hooning around in your 7's :-)

The sudden death of Nick Judd from Soft Bits for Sevens. I was a SBFS fanboy throughout my Caterham ownership and dealt with Nick on a number of occasions - I always found him helpful and enthusiastic. Sad to hear of his death at such a young age.

The verdict is, you have an SV :hurray: If you look at the photo of my SV from earlier in this thread it should be exactly the same as your screen

The number of poppers across the windscreen is an easy way to spot an SV. If you have 11 it is an SV

Here is a better pic. Taken at the secret hideaway in the French countryside of one Norman Verona

How very dare you, ,Mike :jester:

Tom, in my defence I am taking the wife to Montreal and Niagara as an early anniversary present in June..... The fact that it coincides with the Formula 1 GP is purely by chance :party: Not only have both my 7's been Rover K powered, the last one I had was bright yellow :cooldude:

Hi both This event falls on the weekend of our 10th wedding anniversary, but I'm working on a plan to visit you before moving on for a couple of days to visit either Philly or DC. So I'd say we are a possible rather than a certainty - hoping that I can convince the bread knife that driving down Friday and sticking around until Sunday morning before moving on for a mini 'city break' is a good way to celebrate a wedding anniversary :-) We won't have a 7 by that point so we will be spectators only.

I did a factory tour of a UK kit manufacturer a couple of years back and was told that they had been approached by Ford WRT supply of crated ecoboost engines. There were 2 big problems - the engine is too tall to fit in most 7 type cars unless you are prepared to live with a 'bonnet bulge' and (crucially) the cost was way, way over what they were paying for Zetec, Sigma and Duratec engines at the time.

Sean posted about this on the L7Club. Did a bit of digging and came up with this