Alaskossie

Tom, Sounds like fun! What month are you thinking of? I'm a Colorado homeboy, but would be without a car if I attended. Perhaps I could hitch a ride with someone... For me, it will all depend on what other obligations I may have at the time.

I myself will be shaking hands with 70 in about 45 days. I just wish I had taken the plunge into Seven ownership when I first became fascinated with them in 1961, instead of 46 years later..... that's half a lifetime of fun motoring that can't be regained. As it is, owning a S1 Caterham is incentive enough to keep my weight down (those Tilletts are narrow!), and to remain limber (I can still enter and exit with the half-hood up and the steering wheel in place, but it's not pretty!). However, no question about winter driving where I live -- with enough outer clothes to stay warm, I'd never fit in the seat. And because it's dark here about 19 hours right now, other drivers might not be expecting to see something that small on the road (though they could certainly hear it!).

Mike, Please let me know what your think of the Tillett B-5 seats after the arrive, and you try them. I'm thinking of one for the passenger seat in my eventual Miata-LS conversion, and a full-bucket Tillett B-6F for the driver's side. Tom

Lancylad, Great photo! Hope you've got your studded tyres. The Seveners in the warmer world just don't the trials we go through to experience Seven ownership, do they?? Happy winter! Alaskossie

Jose, If you did not work from a photo, how would you plan to do a personalized Seven sketch (unless the owner lived close by)? Tom

Jose, I just received the artwork, and it is really fine! i will be having it framed soon. For the personalized sketches of Sevens, do you work from a photo?

Sorry, That should be October 2012.......

The October 1212 issue of Car (UK) is the 50th-year anniversary issue, and is a hefty one at 274 pages. The editors asked the readers to vote their priorities among the best cars from the last 50 years, and the editors compiled their own list. The top car in both votes was the Porsche 911. But results deviated pretty widely after that. The Lotus/Caterham Seven was voted 45th best by the Car staff, but ranked 5th (tied with Jaguar E-type) with the readers. Conversely, the Lotus Elan was ranked 12th by the Car editors, but only rated 49th among the readers. The Lotus Elise ranked 17th among the editors, and 26th by the readers -- a little more consistency there. Regarding the Seven, I'll go with the readers. Attached is the Seven write-up. The magazine's biggest logistical feat was gathering an example of each of the 50 best cars (including Veyron, Ferrari GTO, Miura, and Lancia Stratos) in one place at one time, for a poster shot. That took a bit of work!

jgonzo, I'm confirming that I'd like Comp. 2 (angled, with the CABC background). What would be the appropriate proportionate size between 20 x 40 and 30 x 70? If you can do that in-between, I'd like that. Otherwise, I'd like 20 x 40. The 70-inch dimension is just a bit too large to handle.... Alaskossie

I've got the space in the garage for 20" x 40." I would probably have it mounted on foam-core, and then framed with plexiglas and tensioned frame-clips. i'd like to see it in traditional BRG and yellow.....

jgonzo, Put me down for one also. What will the finished size be? Tom Meacham (alaskossie)

Jgonzo, That sketch would look good as a large framed print on my garage wall.....

Very nice car control, but to what end? I much prefer the more focused, purposeful "drifting" of an extremely powerful rally car (like the late, lamented Grp B), in full chat: http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26408&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=html&utm_campaign=2012-9-25 (Sorry, couldn't de-couple the film clip from the PH website. But some bloody marvelous driving (and "drifting") here.

I'm not planning on p/s for my Seven, but I have a Volvo 6X6 ex-military truck that at low speeds steers like an Olympic weight-lifting qualifying test. A fellow in Europe has developed a p/s mod with a European Opel electric p/s unit grafted onto the Volvo steering column. Even thought I've never used electric p/s before, I'm sorely tempted.....

Croc, The video was spotted on Pistonheads. Nigel Farmer started from the back of the grid because he had a mechanical, and didn't qualify. That seemed to be no problem for him, though, as he moved up like a hot knife through butter, until apparently his driveshaft broke and the video ended. That was apparently the latest Sadev sequential 'box -- almost seamless shifts.... You correctly identified the circuit!

From near the back of the grid, this Caterham R500 rockets past about 8 cars before reaching the start line: Circuit Hero 500km on Vimeo Pretty smooth driving......

Could this be the next-generation, eco-conscious Seven motive power? http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26365&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=html&utm_campaign=2012-9-18 Alaskossie

The Daimler SP250 proves the old adage, "Give a Brit some fiberglas, and he'll do something strange with it." (Not counting one C. Chapman's creations, of course). I've always thought these had the sweetest small-displacement V-8 engine, housed in the strangest (ugliest?) body. That "grouper" front end just doesn't do it for me, and the tail fins were a craven attempt to mimic Detroit's excesses. When I was in my college sports car club in the early 1960's, a classmate had what must have been one of the few SP250's in the US at the time, and he did well in our local autocrosses and the Mt. Ascutney Hillclimb, I recall.

My touring solution was a little more elaborate. For my 6100-mile drive from Colorado to Alaska, via California, and then north up the Alaska Highway in 2010, I designed and built a luggage rack out of 5/8-inch aluminum tubing, and mounted the basic rack between the body and the spare tire. The rack and its three frames were pop-riveted and welded. The basic rack is of two vertical rectangular-section aluminum tubes, and a large hole drilled through the bottom of each slips over, and is supported on, the spare tire mount tubes (the tire mount is cut off, and then reinstalled after the luggage rack frame is in place). I have one central rack behind the tire, and a "side rack" on either side of the tire, covering the entire width of the rear panel (but not obscuring the stop and turn lights on the rear wings). The center rack is removable if the spare tire is needed for a tire change. Both side racks are removable (if not needed), and I can just run with the center rack. I strapped three nylon "High Sierra" brand ski-boot bags (covered with a waterproof nylon drawstring bags) on the three frames. The right-hand bag must be removed when re-fueling, a slight disadvantage. I also used a SoftBits E-bag on top of my rear boot cover. My basic objective was to have a lot of luggage space, but not to have my rearward vision blocked. I found that I had more than enough luggage space for an extended trip, including camping gear (which I turned out not having to use). And the passenger side of the cockpit did not have to double as luggage space. There was no significant "rearward-weight" penalty, because none of the bags had any heavy stuff in them.

If your Tilletts are like my carbon-kevlar ones, you can tilt the seat angle back by installing extra spacers on the front seat mounting bolts. You may need to put in longer bolts. Tillett makes plastic spaces for this purpose.

Getting back to the original issue on this thread, I got my newly re-powder coated "unobstructed" fuel filler pipe back from the powder coater. In looking at the pipe, I see that if the pump nozzle does not fit very far down the filler pipe (as it couldn't, with the flap and the inverted "unleaded" cone in there), the vent for the fuel tank may actually be venting the displaced air from the tank directly back at the pump nozzle. With the pump nozzle now fitting considerably further down the filler pipe, perhaps this potential "auto-shutoff" factor won't happen..... We'll see after I install the filler pipe. On a related subject, Caterham's carelessness in supplying fuel-related hoses that are not rated for contact with fuel is becoming better known. My length of large-diameter hose between the filler pipe and the tank has split along its entire length.. after 8k miles of use. So much for CCV's use of petroleum-rated components where petroleum is involved...

MoPho, It's evident what you do for a living -- what a great Seven shot! Is that the Stig behind the wheel?

When I assembled my 2007 Caterham, one of the recommended upgrades was to remove the spring-loaded flap in the fuel filler pipe. I did that, with a pair of needle-nose vise-grips, before installing the pipe. But I still find the gas station's nozzle kicks off every 1/10 gallon or so. I bought an aero cap from Caterham (Newton brand) that supposedly had a re-designed opening to allow more of the pump nozzle to fit into the filler pipe. Turns out that the "improved" aero cap opening is just the same as the one I already had on my car. But looking at the Caterham filler pipe gave me an idea. Where the spring-loaded flap used to be, there is an inverted cone-shaped metal insert that narrows the diameter of the filler pipe, to restrict it to an unleaded-gas pump nozzle. It is held in place by three spot-welds. I took my trusty Dremel and a grinding disc, and cut the spot welds, and grasped the small end of the cone with vise-grips, and wiggled it free; then I ground down the remaining spot welds. A test-fit at the gas pump showed that the entire pump nozzle now fits into the filler neck. After I get the filler neck re-powder-coated and installed, I'll see if this leads to an uninterrupted flow from the pump; or if there is some other limiting design factor. Stand by.....

I have the windscreen frame adaptors from Seven & Elans, for the Spa c/f mirrors, and they work fine. No new holes needed.

Skip, Forgot to mention, my comparison also involves my fabric half-doors installed, but no side curtains.....