WestTexasS2K

I like the idea of progressive rate springs and have had them on several street cars and the handeling was very good. But I have not had them on a car that I tracked hard. The rate seems about right. I run 225 on the back of my car but I have an IRS set up instead of a live axle. It would be interesting to see what some of the other guys think, that have tracked with a progressive spring.

Thanks I knew someone would have a source. But like you said be ready to open your wallet. Holy cow thats alot of money for a seat. Anyone else of suggestions for comfortable affordable seats that will fit in the 7. The Ultralite will hold a 18" and 16" seat.

I am looking for some seats for my new Ultralite. When the British invaded during the Southwest sevens tour I noticed several of them had a molded carbon fiber seat. It had no padding was just molded carbon fiber. They all stated that they were very comfortable. I have searched the web but have come up dry. All I have been able to find is 5000.00 Sparco units. A little steep for a public servant. Surely someone in the community has these or knows where to get them. Loren

I love the idea. Maybe instead of making the seeker scroll thru hundreds of names and locations. We could have and area call "hitch a ride" They just sign up and put in their location and members can just look on the list and see if there someone in need in close proximity. Or have a section broken down by states. Members who are willing to give rides can put their contact info down. And then the prospective owner could choose from that list.

I concure with Pwrbrake on the XR7. I was ordering my car when the 1st XR7 was in its final stages and had a chance to buy it or the S2K. I went for the S2K, I did this for several reasons. 1 The S2k has been around for several years and is very proven. 2 The XR7 is pure race car. It could be driven on the street but if you think the S2K is low and hard to see take another 4 inches off of it. The XR7 has all new frame and suspension layout that makes if very low. I do like the power adjustable seat and pedals though. That is a nice touch that coul help on a street car. As far as durable. I cant imagaine a car going thru as much hell as my Ultralite without a hicup. I have multiple high speed off track incidents with only a dinged muffler as a result

Went crazy for sevens at age 36. Got my first at 37. I just hope I get to enjoy mine as long as the red baron. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/hurray.gifWestTexasS2K2007-01-01 13:54:18

you might not be familiar with the 1 Lap of America. It consist of a week of racing on different tracks road coarse, wet and dry skid pad, drag racing, oval track all accross the US. The kicker is you have to drive the car from track to track. No support teams or vehicles allowed. Last year we drove 17 racing events and about 4300 miles on the road during transit legs. YOu are at the track all day doing 2 sessions per day then drive all afternoon and night to the next event. All this takes place in 7 days. So the trailer is used to carry spare parts, 2 spare tires, tools, a few clothing items. We also had a 18 gal fuel cell in there so we could pump on the go. The front is a sleeping quarters where we could catch a nap whenever possible. It was also equipped with a 4500 watt power inverter to supply AC power to the car for lap top and for recharging phones video camera etc. It was a challenging experience especially since we drove about 2000 miles in the rain no to mention the rain sleet and snow run to Elkhart lake Wisconson in 22 degree weather. I just now got thawed out from that one. Anyway thats a little history. You can go to www.onelapofamerica.com for more info

Thanks for the help.Ultralite pics, a few from 1 Lap by buddy Kevin having some fun on the skid pad after the event. a few track pics and pre sticker pics. Notice the flush mount rear tail lights. http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061231_145030_oloa-2006-02sr0.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061231_145234_oloa-2006-13al0.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061231_145504_oloa-2006-01al0.jpghttp://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061231_150251_oloa-2006-05al0.jpgWestTexasS2K2007-01-01 07:35:34

Mike I use my Ultrlite on the street all the time and it is a blast. Hope you have alot of self control with any of these cars or keep you license where it is easily accesable. LOL. But honestly the ride is comfortable even as heavily sprung as my car is because it gets tracked alot. If you were going to striclty street the car put some softer springs on and it will ride better than most compact cars. You have to drive very defensively just like on a motorcycle because these cars are so low they can easily hide in blind spots. Eighteen wheelers are giant in comparison and could run over you and not even know it. Just be aware there is going to be wind buffeting, exh. noise, some engine heat depending on your level of insulation. If you expect to drive down the road listening to the radio and talking on the cell phone you might want to look else where. If you just want to get out for a weekend drive and releive some stress and unwind you came to the right place. Good luck with the difficult decision process.

Welcome RV-4 Mike. I was in similiar mode when I started looking at the 7. I was from a hotrodding background as well. I was a little unsure of the 7 at first. I had just finished a 5 year build of a 77 280z with a big block chevy with six speed and the works. (It is on the hybridz.org site under the photo gallery it is orange and is the most viewed car on the site for the last two years). Anyway I had seen the Ultralite in a magazine and was passing by Lancaster Tx and decided to check them out. I stopped in the shop and talked to Brian Anderson the owner. We visited for a few hours as he was finishing some work on a car. He asked if I would like a test ride? I jumped at the chance and have never been the same. It was one of the fastest cars I have been in, And I have been in some pretty quick cars. The Texas sevens fest was the next day and they invited me out to see all the cars. Luckily I was able to get a ride in the Ultralite on the track. I was impressed beyond belief what that car was capable of. So soon as I got home I put the Z up for sell to buy an Ultralite kit. I don't regret the decision for a second. The Ultralite kit comes alot more complete than the Stalker which by the way is a very fast in the supercharged version. I completed my kit in about 150 hours. I had talked to Dennis Brunton at R&G this year he said their car took about 400 hrs to finish. Stalker kit requires several trips tp the salvage yard to source parts then you have to clean, paint, rebuild some of the pieces you get. The reliability of the Honda engine in the Ultralite cant be touched IMHO. I have put 8K miles on the car this year with over 2k miles of track time. The only thing I have had to do with the engine is change the oil. It still has the same plugs it came with from the junk yard. The Birkin and Catherham are nice cars but are considerably narrower than the Ultralite or Stalker. The Ztec powered cars run about the same money and you end up with about 70 horses less than the Ultralite or Super Stalker. The finish on any of the cars can be as plush or as spares as your heart desires. The Ultralite has a little diffrent styling than the other 7s. It has a shorter nose and has a bit of a wedge shape to it and the cowl bumps on the hood. Others have the longer nose and have a little less shape to it. I prefered the looks of the Ultralite more than the others, but to a purist they are a bigger departure from the original. I do alot of DE weekends and it is consistantly one of the fastest cars on the track with 220 wear street tires running with cars with full slicks and you still pass them on a regular basis. Best of all when you come of the track just fill it up with gas check tire pressure and go do it again while everyone else does repairs. I won all three events at Run and Gun this year in prepared class and was 2 seconds faster than the SuperStalker in my class. I also ran the Cannonball Runs 1 Lap of America and placed 31st out of 88 cars and I was the cheapest car in the field by a 30K dollars. Parts for the U.S built cars seem to be more readily available than the Euro built cars. There are several Ultralite in CA. Brian at World Class should be able to give you a few names. I know my comments are biased to the Ultralite because I have one and love it. I have seen Birkins, Catherham, Locost, Stalkers all in person and feel I still got the right car for me. I liked the experience so much I am building another one.

Jerry that weight is with you in the car. Mine is 1280 with a half a tank of fuel and me not in the car. But I have a few things on mine that you don't. Trailer hitch, cruise control and a little bigger fan assy. I think also my wheels are a few pounds heavier than your SSR. I think you are going to be close to 1240 with you out of the car.

There are a number of in car videos from the tracks we ran during the 2006 Cannonball Run. You can go to the blog section of our website. You can read about our adventure and check out some of the videos. Just remember every track we ran was our first time on that track and we had no practice runs. So our lines are not ideal in some instances. We get one warm up lap and then three times laps then one cool down per session two session a day most days. And remember we only slept about 11 hrs the entire week. We did 17 race events and drove 4200 + miles with no top or windscreen. About 2k miles were in the rain, and some sleet and snow. click on the link http://www.organicracing.com/TheBlog.html

How hard would it be for the administrators to add a members car photo section to the site. It would be a good place for everyone to post their car pics and gives other members ideas for any changes they might would like to make to their cars. Most web sites like this have a section to do such a thing.

I attended the Fourniers metalwork school last year. It really isn't hard as it looks. Once you get some of the basics down you make about anything. The class is 650.00 a few grand in tools and you can make what ever you want. I moderately skilled person can make this item in two day. It will take as long to make the buck as it does to make the panel.

Follow the link and check it out. It is more about having a good time with a bunch of nuts than winning. It is like a scavenger hunt on a large scale with race tracks thrown in for bonus points. 4000 miles in 9 days. Not as grueling as the Cannonball. The Cannonball will be 5080 miles with 18 racing events in 7 days for 2007. I am tired just thinking about it. >http://www.fireballrun.com/event.asp Edit: Fixed the linkslngsht2006-11-05 21:26:17

Just joined the list today. Enjoyed reading the member profiles. I am from Texas I have been a firefighter/paramedic for the last 11 years and run a few small business on the side. I was in the Air Force for 4 years. Then went to work for Ford Aerospace later bought out by Loral Aeropsace for 6 years. I enjoy building cars of all kinds mostly hot rods until I found the 7. Since then, sold all my hot rods and built an Ultrlite S2K. Just started driving on road coarse events in January of 06. Since have competed in Cannonball Run 1 Lap of America, numerous DE weekends, and Run and Gun 2006. We are preparing for 2007 Cannonball, Dragon 7/7/07, Fireball Run from Florida to California.

If I could make a few suggestions. I pull trailers about 40k miles a year. I have built 5 trailers over the last 7 years and have a few suggestions. Aluminum is nice for a trailer but is very cost prohibitive. Alot of the aluminum trailers also suffer from stress fractures. I know this because I have repaired alot of aluminum horse trailers and they are built very sturdy and still crack. For a 7 type vehicle a single axle trailer works very well and reduce your expense by about 500.00 dollars. You have 1 less axle, 2 fewer wheels and tires, smaller fenders. Electric brakes are a better way to go as well. Most surge hitch system will start about 400.00 compaired to 99.00 for electric. You just have to put a 60.00 controller in you tow vehicle. If you are using a full size truck or SUV trailer brakes may not even be needed. The disadvantage to single axle is if you suffer a blowout the trailer can become a bit unstable. Usually managable, but with high degree of pucker factor involved. Use only a quality trailer tire. Do not use radial car tires on a trailer. If you do you are just asking for trouble. I have never had a blowout on a trailer tire equipped trailer ( at least 400k miles of towing) I have had several with car tire equipped trailers. A few of you have complained about trailer whipping. This is usually associated with not enough tounge weight. If the car is loaded to far back unloading the tounge a severe whip is a gaurantee. You should have a minimum of 150-200 lbs of tounge weight. Brian Anderson from World Class Motorsports has built a few trailers for the Ultralite. Both were single axles. 1 had flat bed that was ten foot long it had a tilt bed. You could load the car with no ramps and it can be easily pulled with a small van or car. The second was still ten foot with tilt bed but had a frame top that had a heavy canvas cover. It pulled well and kept the car dry in the wet weather. During the Run and Gun event last month Dennis Bruton brought his Super Stalker to the event in a single axle trailer that was enclosed with aluminum skin much like any other enclosed trailer. It had a sloped front about 2.5 feet tall and wedged up in the back to clear the roll cage. The back section lifted up so that it is easy to get in the car to remove from the trailer. It was also a tilt bed so no ramps are required. He was pulling it with a fullsize older Chevy van but most suv or small truck should be able to pull it easily. Might be to big for a car to pull. This unit will cost quite a bit more due to extra materials and labor to attach all that aluminum. If there is anyone near Texas that wants a trailer I would be happy to build it for you. Shipping cost can eat your lunch on trailers. Most areas have a custom fabrication shop that will build a custom trailer for you. They are typically reasonable in price and they finish them quickly.