Alaskossie

With my wife's assistance, I have put together a 2012 monthly calendar featuring Slomove's 2011 Black Hills Tour, which was USA7s' "official" national tour of the year. I used the Apple publication services, and the result is (if I may say so) a fairly professional-looking calendar. (We did the same with my 2010 Seven drive from Colorado to Alaska, and scannon and some others can attest to the nice appearance of those calendars). I had intended to use a number of the photos that various Tour participants had posted on the USA7s site, as well as my own photos. However, their resolution as posted was insufficient for Apple's calendar purposes, I didn't have specific rights to those photos, and I was running out of time to obtain high-res originals from these other folks. So I used all of my own photos in high resolution, which cover the majority of the Tour fairly well. Since I rode shotgun during much of the Tour, I was well-placed to shoot photos while on the move. The calendar is titled (admittedly, somewhat presumptuously), "USA7s 2012 Calendar," and is subtitled, "Black Hills Tour July 9-21, 2011." Recognizing that one month of 2012 has nearly passed already, my calendar is a 13-month calendar. This calendars cost me about $19.00 each, not including postage from me to you. Since publication is "on demand," I would be pleased to offer these calendars to all 2012 Black Hills 2011 Tour participants, and to all other USA7ers, for US $25.00 each, which will include postage to you. I'm not intending to make anything on this, but want to cover my postage costs if possible. Please let me know if you want one of these calendars, as soon as possible, and provide me with your mail address. Payment can be made to me by PayPal, at the address tmeacham@gci.net I'm hoping that this calendar will bring back some good memories for Tour participants, and might inspire other USA7ers to put together or participate in similarly ambitious tours in the future. Thanks, Gert!

With my wife's assistance, I have put together a 2012 monthly calendar featuring Slomove's 2011 Black Hills Tour, which was USA7s' "official" national tour of the year. I used the Apple publication services, and the result is (if I may say so) a fairly professional-looking calendar. (We did the same with my 2010 Seven drive from Colorado to Alaska, and scannon and some others can attest to the nice appearance of those calendars). I had intended to use a number of the photos that various Tour participants had posted on the USA7s site, as well as my own photos. However, their resolution as posted was insufficient for Apple's calendar purposes, I didn't have specific rights to those photos, and I was running out of time to obtain high-res originals from these other folks. So I used all of my own photos in high resolution, which cover the majority of the Tour fairly well. Since I rode shotgun during much of the Tour, I was well-placed to shoot photos while on the move. The calendar is titled (admittedly, somewhat presumptuously), "USA7s 2012 Calendar," and is subtitled, "Black Hills Tour July 9-21, 2011." Recognizing that one month of 2012 has nearly passed already, my calendar is a 13-month calendar. This calendars cost me about $19.00 each, not including postage from me to you. Since publication is "on demand," I would be pleased to offer these calendars to all 2012 Black Hills 2011 Tour participants, and to all other USA7ers, for US $25.00 each, which will include postage to you. I'm not intending to make anything on this, but want to cover my postage costs if possible. Please let me know if you want one of these calendars, as soon as possible, and provide me with your mail address. Payment can be made to me by PayPal, at the address tmeacham@gci.net I'm hoping that this calendar will bring back some good memories for Tour participants, and might inspire other USA7ers to put together or participate in similarly ambitious tours in the future. Thanks, Gert!

John, What does your V-8 Stalker weigh, just out of curiosity?

In addition to the state requirements for whatever state you will be registering the car in, you have to consider the US Customs, US DOT, and US EPA requirements to get the car across the border, from Canada to USA, in the first place. That may not be an easy task, unless the Canadian car meets US federal requirements applicable to its year of manufacture. (You're home free if the car is 25 years old or older). If it is a car assembled in Canada from a kit, it will likely not be on any federal agency list of approved cars that will be used to decide the issue at the Canada/US border. Juist a word of caution.....

Mickrick's car is reminiscent of the Sugino Seven, which was as close to a piece of automotive jewelry as I've ever seen. What became of the Sugino Seven? It was for sale a couple of times..... Did it ever get out on the road?

Dave, Since I'm assuming that you have some polishing compound and sandpaper left, I think you need to bite the bullet and go for the all-ali look, by getting the aluminium nosecone and front and rear wings from Andy Wiltshire (Axminster Panels) in UK: http://andywiltshire.com/web%20site%20lotus%20page.htm Now, that would be one ultimate, knock-out Seven! (not that your present one won't be, of course!).

Funny, when i first posted this item, i didn't pay any attention to the odd photo Caterham had chosen for its press release..... Looks like a WW II-vintge central telephone switchboard... (not that I would have any personal experience with that, though...not that there's anything wrong with that, of course!).

Just announced today -- a UK Karting series for young drivers (darn!), with Caterham-designed and supported karts: http://life.caterham.co.uk/motorsport/caterham-karting-series

Who'd have thought it? A Caterham SV on display next to a Caterham F1 racer at the Racing Car Show in UK: http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2690012900104067410GhsJiw

There are still 20 minutes left in the year 2011 up here -- 0 degrees F., two+ feet of snow on the ground, and 5 1/2 hours of daylight. No Seven blatting here for awhile yet... Happy New Year 2012 to all USA7ers, wherever you may be!

Dear USA7ers in USA, Canada, and around the globe, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012 from Anchorage, Alaska USA, where we have 30 inches of beautiful, fresh white snow on the ground, 19 hours of darkness, and temperatures around +10 degrees F. Not conducive to Sevening, but perfect for Santa's sleigh tonight, I'm told......

rikker, Not a chance....not on OUR watch!

Skip, Not so tough at all.....

7ers, I believe the Pontiac (RIP) Aztek is fairly universally considered to be the ugliest, most design-challenged modern-day automobile. I have long held that opinion, but I find that recently I am coming around to nominate the Nissan Juke for that dubious honor. The more I see the Juke on the road, the more I react to "Juke" with "puke." My personal judgment received some confirmation in the latest CAR Magazine's interesting interview with Marcello Gandini, designer of the Lancia Stratos, and the Lamborghini Miura and Countach. To quote: "The car he wished he'd designed was the Citroen DS19; the one he's glad he didn't is the Nissan Juke, calling it 'contradictory' and 'nonsense'." At least the Juke (unlike the Aztek), is consistently contradictory: it looks like a short cartoon, from one end to the other. Why anyone would want to be seen in one by choice is beyond comprehension. So I vote to bury the Aztek (along with Pontiac), and level all deserved ridicule at the Nissan Juke. All Hail the Puke!

Here is another approach for CHMSL. I got two red rectangular LED light units, and two amber ones. Together, they just fit the space between the roll bar back braces. The lights are mounted to a piece of aluminum angle, powder-coated black. The angle bracket attaches to the roll bar with black nylon cable ties through slots in the bracket. The amber lights are wired to the turn signals. The wires run through a small hole drilled in the right back brace, and down to access the signal wiring at the rear of the car. The bracket sits low enough on the roll bar that the SoftBits bikini top does conflict with the lights, and this top has a clear plastic center panel that lets the lights shine through. i see that I need to renew the black electrical tape that seals the top edge of the lights against the roll bar.

Doug, I'll be sure to let you know. If your Seven is not on the road yet, there is always some bench racing that can be accomplished over a beer or two... Happy Holidays! Alaskossie Anchorage, Alaska

I bought a pair of lower A-arm c/f airfoils from SevenSpeed (formerly SevenTweeks?) in UK, before Linds decided to move on to other things. (The website is still up, at: http://www.sevenspeed.co.uk/carbon-fibre.html) I liked SevenSpeed's airfoils better than the Mog/Fluke items, because the former have the airfoil moulded in, but also have a rear lip that fits over the trailing portion of the A-arm (I believe the Mog/Fluke items attach to the front A-arm section only). Unfortunately, the foils I received from SevenSpeed have front and rear attachment flanges that fit only the standard (round-section) Caterham wide-track A-arms; my car has the narrow-section "aero" A-arms. It seemed like a good idea at the time.....I still have the SevenSpeed items, and may use them for an A-arm airfoil pattern designed to fit the Caterham aero arms.

Doug, Fascinating resurrection/rebuild journal! Can't wait to read the next installment. I graduated from Dartmouth College in 1965, and lately, I've made it back to the NH/VT area about once a year, and at class reunions. I'll let you know if I am going to be in the area, probably mid-June of 2012. I'd love to see your Seven's progress. In about 1978-79, I read the DSK Seven test in Car & Driver. I called Dave Kaplan and made arrangements to drive on a very long Saturday in a borrowed car from Washington, D. C. (where I was on temporary legislative duty for the State of Alaska), to Marblehead, MA to visit the shop and see the DSK. Well, it was a longer drive than I had anticipated, and I arrived considerably after the shop had closed. So after a quick dinner and a brief night in a roadside motel, I turned around and drove back to DC. Don't know what I expected to see at DSK (or to do with any newly-gained knowledge), but I must have been looking for some close contact with a real, live Seven...... It took me nearly three more decades to get one of my own.

DRCorsa, Yes, that is what I am talking about (see photo), but they would have to be made slightly wider (extended slightly further out from the body side) to account for the wide-track front suspension. I would plan to provide a pattern, with the originals in GRP. I don't know if others might be interested, or not (I posted an inquiry on the Seven-club BlatChat in UK last year, but got no positive responses,....perhaps that is just too much carbon fiber...?). Please contact me by e-mail off-line (tmeacham@gci.net). i have a couple of other much smaller c/f projects I am considering, and I am not set up to do any c/f work (I'd require a lot of practice first, anyway).

Beautiful work! I'd love to see photos of it on the car, as well as a report on its effects. Do you do custom c/f work? (I'd love to have a set of c/f wide-track clamshell front wings for my Seven....!) I had a possible project going in UK, but then the custom-shop owner, known to the Seven community as RiF ("Richard in France") unexpectedly passed away, and the project died with him.

Skip, That CSR you are referring to (that was wrecked in a race) was a Seattle-area car, and it was yellow (I saw it at RMSC in Denver, and borrowed one of its rear wheels/tires to test-fit on my SIII, and later and your SV). But the fellows who owned it were a father-son team who did a lot of racing (the son was driving when it flipped on a wet track). From doublesnaggle's description, his grandfather did not use his Sevens for competition. So apparently this is not the car you referred to.

John, You might compare the 6:00 point in the 2011 Monster Tajima film clip with the 2:55 point in the 1988 Ari Vatanen "Climb Dance" film. I believe it is the same corner (paved in 2011, unpaved in 1988), or at least a very similar corner. Which version is the more thrilling and skillful demonstration of driving courage and car control?? Thank goodness we have a film like Climb Dance, because a hell of a lot has been lost forever, with the paving of the Pikes Peak Hillclimb course.

John, Notwithstanding Monster Kajima's record-setting drive on almost all tarmac in 2011, the Pikes Peak Hillclimb will never be what it once was: all dirt, and no guardrails. Your inclusion of the film clip, "Climb Dance," brought it all back. I was a spectator at Pikes Peak in 1988 when Ari Vatanen and Juho Kankunen ran Peugeot 405 T16 Group B "Evolution" cars, and Ari set a new course record. We watched ann early morning of practice, and then the race itself. The course was 12.4 miles long, all dirt, with 156 turns, no Armco, and frightening, steep drop-offs. I was at the Devil's Playground at 13,000 feet when Ari charged up the hill, through a mid-course snowstorm, and set a new course record. I could hear his car leave the start line far below, and eventually he came into view. From my high vantage point, I could see at least 15 hairpin turns below me. Ari flew around them like a slalom skier, car never pointing straight ahead, power-sliding right to the road's edge time and time again, and leaving a huge rooster-tail of dust behind. What a drive! John, you are so lucky to have driven the Pikes Peak race during its glory days.

Herb, I see from the photo that the Audi R8 was a V-8, not the V-10...wonder if that might have made a better impression? You may recall that during the Black Hills tour last July, I mentioned something about thinking of buying a V-10 R8... There are no R8's in Alaska, so before the Tour, Skip Cannon took me to an Audi dealer in Denver to see one first-hand (I'd seen one on display at Heathrow in London when they first came out, but had never sat in one -- and I've not driven one yet). I was impressed (and eventually, I guess not favorably) with the sheer bulk of the car. But it does look intimidating.... I eventually concluded that even if I had the money (which remains to be seen), that was simply too much to spend on a car with a potential that I would never fully use (where are you going to sustain 160+ mph?) and with running expenses to match its initial price. Too much Beverly Hills for me, I guess...

What's a little more damage, anyway?