Anaximander

Bruce, As a former owner of a Cobra clone car and a sevenesque car, you have reinforced an issue that had been told to me and reportedly was personified by a group of Cobra owners excluding Sevens due to being badly shown up in a racing venue. I have long admired Shelby's design but have come to recognize that for a fraction of the cost, I can own a car that is as fast and can in some circumstances handle better than a Cobra or clone. OTOH, it is a real testament to cottage manufacturing in the USA that FFR has done so exceptionally well in the kit car business.

Mike, My 2012 Stalker came with unassisted brakes with EBC Green Stuff on the rear calipers and Wildwood B10's on the front. The braking pressures were incredibly significant to me having had two previous Storkers with power brakes. I had Scott Minehart install the power unit that had come with the car and it made a world of difference. After the installation, Scott noticed that the bump steer was very prominent and the front geometry had not been set up properly. I took the car back to him and he did the adjustments such that the car's wheels now pretty much lock up in a relative hard pedal application uniformly. It was a bit tricky to get all four corners to work in unison IIRC. Bob

Mighty Mike, That Storker is absolutely beautiful!!! And with an LS3 engine to boot. Man, it doesn't get too much better than that. Congrats on coming close to the end of the build. Oh wait, that car of yours is a continual work in progress. It is like the Winchester House out in California. As long as you keep modifying it, you will never expire according to Lady Winchester. Love the paint color and the interior treatments.

I am 5.5 weeks post surgery for a complete left hip replacement. I have been diligently working both with my initial home health Physical Therapist (PT) and my current outpatient PT who I have been seeing for 4 outpatient visits. Because I was pre-morbidly in pretty good shape and had done my pre-surgical exercise regimen, it was determined that I could safely get in an out of my 2012 Brunton Stalker without risk of injury. Earlier in the week, the clutch seemed a bit heavy to depress but later in this week with continued rehab, healing and diligent exercise, I was able to get in the Stalker and drive to my PT appointment this morning with no difficulties whatsoever. I even left the PT session with two new sets of G-Force 5-point harnesses and had my local indy shop replace my 5-year old belts. I cannot tell you how happy I was that in doing my pre-surgical research that I elected to use a surgeon who specializes in the Anterior Approach which allowed me significantly more comfort and less limitations post surgically. I don't plan to even consider autox for another couple of months but after almost 6 weeks, just being able to get back in the cockpit and feel the wind in my face was PRICELESS! I should mention that I was able to safely mount and dismount my Harley Tri Glide Ultra one week ago and have gone on several rides with that machine so accumulating more wind in the face:hurray:

Croc, Your weekly listings really do serve as a significant market maker for sevenesque cars. I am on my third Stalker and I think two of them were identified with this weekly update you provide us. The third Stalker was the charm and it is likely that it will be my last 7 style car. It only has 3500 miles and is a beauty to look at and run heck out of it. I both enjoy riding around the countryside and autocrossing this fun machine. Like others, even though I may no longer be in the market, I look forward with great anticipation each week to seeing what is available. Thanks for your hard work. Bob

Mike, Thanks for the very detailed response to my plethora of questions. It appears that in many respects, the Caterham's are more plug and play than the Stalkers that are built by a variety of people with varying skillsets. Scott Minehart of Stalker Cars has often opined to me that when someone calls him out of the blue and asks if such and such Stalker is a good car that he responds "I don't know? I would have to see the car in person for a closeup inspection". As you so aptly pointed out, there appears to be more variability among some of the kits that have been put together by various builders. I think your practice of staying ahead of the curve on maintenance issues for your exotic cars is a wise one and likely keeps you from having many unexpected problems cropping up. I am surprised that someone has not yet hit the "buy" button but suspect that someone will be feasting their eyes on your car in their garage before the Thanksgiving holidays. Bob

Mike, I showed your Caterham to my wife and she thought is was absolutely beautiful! She has an eye for good looking pieces of rolling art. I watched your on-track video and that car runs like a scalded cat. I am now on my third Brunton Stalker and my current one was one of the very last ones built by and exceptional craftsman with the old frame pre-Minehart chassis design and ultimately very sorted by taking it to Scott Minehart and having him do a bunch of things to get it really dialed in. As you know, it primarily uses USA sourced components so the availability of replacement parts is not a big deal. I have long admired the Caterham's as they are the official Lotus 7 sponsored manufacturer when Lotus sold the manufacturing rights. Over the past few years, I have watched the distribution system for cars coming into the USA varying in all kinds of ways and have reportedly lead to long lead times for parts from the UK. I guess my questions are: How reliable are these cars overall and how difficult is it to currently obtain replacement parts for these cars in the event of breakage or a mishap? Are the parts costs significantly greater given that these are low volume cars and the source is in the UK? BTW, I am not trolling in any way shape or form. I am really curious about how ownership of the Caterhams is in the USA?

Sold a few month back to a fellow in Virginia. Thanks

I am not jealous; I am not jealous; I am..........JEALOUS!!! You are no longer missed. Well, maybe just a little.

Shane, Suave better not get ALL of our characters riled up while he sips his Shar-donay. My wife has her own menagerie that does not take kindly to recalcitrant storks! BTW, absolutely loving your build! I think Suave's butt is a great shining tool when you get light dust on that four-tired beauty.

Things are turning into pandemonium at this Storker house. Pee Wee just jumped into the fray and is bashing Mr. Bill while Les just looks on in utter Stork amazement. Looks like your color choices may sicken your opponents on the track thus giving you the edge you probably always wanted. I am not in the same camp as my group of garage crazies other than maybe the blistering blue seat covers. Where is Gumby, my color consultant who has a different take on green?

Shane, Les and his friend Mr. Bill are outraged at the abuse poor Suave is getting in being subjected to vomit (aka seasick) green and blistering blue. I just heard Mr. Bill exclaim "Oh Nooooooooooooo!"

Suave, Your older brother Les is concerned that you were never seen as a fashionista in our flock. He told me this afternoon that you used to wear your diapers backwards and he never understood how you got to be called Suave whereas he ended up Les Suave. I offered to take him on a ride to the coast this afternoon but he was busy preening his feathers. He seems to be more self-conscious than Suave and would never allow me to use his butt to wipe my hood. He did however ask me how the new Toyo r888r tires felt on my Storker and I told him that the jury is out at this point. Addendum, I got home and inspected the new r888r's and found that the outer 1" strip of rubber on the two front tires and about 3/4" on the rear tires was not really making contact with the road with 19 pounds of air. I decided that I am going to lower the tire pressures to 17psi and see if I get a more uniform contact patch. 19psi may just have been a tad over-inflating?

Croc, I have been looking at those wing vents and thinking how cool they look in black. To my eyes, it is a striking contrast with the bright "lime" green or whatever color it is called.

Shane, Suave will be ticked off if you buy another car before getting the Super Chicken ready for the track.

I am going for blats now before surgery and am going to do one more autox before surgery. It looks like I will be out of the game for 5-6 weeks. I will give everybody a heads up after I get the surgery in September. My surgeon's schedule is pretty full but should be done with rehab by the end of October. I finally have my Storker really dialed in just when I am going to be taken off the track for a couple of months but I am going to run like hell on this next event to have smiles on those days when I am feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Shoe String Racing and M Worth, Thanks for your inputs. I have decided that if my non-invasive Orthopod agrees with my decision, I am going to move forward to a consultation with a surgeon and get this funky "football shaped" femur head replaced with something that is round and glides in a new cup. I hate the thought of major surgery but I dislike decreased ability much more.

:iagree: Les :hurray: Astro Bob

Shane, Did you think Lester was a fig newton of your ignition? He is real and definitely Suave's corrupting influence. I have been threatening rehab if he doesn't stay out of my liquor cabinet. He says that he is bored and not getting enough action here in North Florida. I told him that when it cools down I was going to be autoxing the Storker and he would see more action but he says that it just sounds like words during this muggy Summer weather. He will get to see a little more action when I take my surface grinder and shape the new calipers protruding edges to not interfere with my lightweight race wheels that have limited clearance compared to my street wheels. BTW, both Les and I think that your car is looking extremely good! Les has been chiding me about how plain-Jane my car is looking every time he sees a pic of your new chassis and how beautifully it is coming together. I keep trying to tell him that I have no building skills but can sure admire quality from afar. Les says that you might have to drop the tag line about having one very broken Storker. Seems like "fake news" at this point. Hehehe.

Shane, Less aka Les aka Lester Suave, Suave's older brother, said to "quit using my brother's butt as a polishing rag flyboi!" If he wasn't helping me to change out my brakes/calipers on my Storker, he said he would be flying your way immediately to rescue his brother from your evil tape-hanging ways.

Teamking and Kitcat, Very sobering takes on the situation. I hadn't given as much thought as I do now to the issue of clutch engagement if I proceed with the operation. Thanks to both of you for some excellent insights. That is why I love this site. Everybody is so helpful!

Shane, Now I have gone and done it. Suave's uncouth older brother, Suave Less, came flying in yesterday to squawk at me in stork language mixed with English about having called his younger brother a duck. I apologized and told him that my buddy Shane had properly corrected me to understand that Storker owners are friends with storks, not ducks. He seemed to be less ticked off after the apology and agreed to take a picture with my new "7" emblem I am going to put on the nose of my Storker. Further pictures to follow now that Suave Less and I are getting along.

Mike, I went to the Stalker photo gallery and looked at what you have done to #159 over the years. Simply amazing workmanship and innovations. This new diffuser is just a continuation of your interesting journey with your Storker. Good job!

Lucky Dawg, Your new Jag will only do 195mph! Is that fast enough for you? . Life is definitely good!

Silk, You are the second person, one privately, to advise that the hip replacement will not be an impediment to continued enjoyment of my Stalker. I am now fully committed to moving forward on that because I enjoy so many other activities such as hiking, stand-up-paddling, etc. Thanks again for your input.