Anaximander

Bruce, I went over to BAT and looked at the Deronda which I was totally unfamiliar with. It is just my opinion, but I think your Superlight R400 is sooooo much more attractive. The Deronda is sort of appealing from the front but looks fugly to me from the rear. Things have a way of working out an you still retain a very fast car that has parts support. It would seem to be a nightmare to have to source some of the body parts if they got pranged on the Deronda. Your R400 will get you in all the trouble you can handle BTW, what is the source/name of that third stop light that is on your roll cage?

John, When I first saw the build, I thought, wow, like some mechanical engineers I have known, they go way beyond thinking things through to the point of incredible minutia. I think there is some of that in this Stalker build but I don't think I have ever seen a more thought out Stalker than the one we are talking about. My fourth Stalker which was an XL was assembled by a former professional experimental aircraft builder and that Stalker was opined by Scott Minehart, the manufacturer of Stalker cars, to be one of the best builds he had ever seen. He advised that he could not have taken all of the extra time necessary to add the little touches done to the car or he would have lost his butt on a similar build due excess labor involved to get it to that level. Most likely, many of his customers would not have wanted to pay all of the additional labor costs involved to take a car out to the "enth" degree. As Lightguy had mentioned, buying a complete kit would be a whole lot easier than all of the thinking that went into this M-Spec build. Due to my own lack of engineering skills and complex parts modification and fitment, I am glad that I did not have to go through the enormous tasks undertaken to make this one-off car that our thread is discussing. As I continue to read the story of the build, I continue to be amazed at the plethora of decisions that had to be made to fit and adapt that BMW engine/transmission into the kit he had purchased from Stalker Cars. Bob

I think the GM engineer is a very smart guy that built a one-of-a-kind Stalker. However, I LOVE the LS3 series of engines for their power and relative lightness. They fit beautifully in this M-Spec Classic R.

Jason Minehart placed Second at Nationals in the E Modified class with a Stalker AXR. Scott Minehart, his younger brother and the designer, builder and owner of Stalker cars placed Fourth in E-Mod in his other brother's K-20 Supercharged Stalker that Scott helped him build.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Rahul, I guess I am developing Covid brain. It just seems like yesterday that I read the fun thread you started of bringing home the Stalker. I guess this last 18 months has been sort of a wash in terms of adventures. Sounds like you had some fun with the Stalker which is all that one could ask for. Seems to be getting great play on BAT and I am glad for you. Good luck with your next project.

That's kind of sad that the California buyer of Mighty Mike's Stalker put it up for sale so quickly. Mike put a TON of energy into modding that car over the 6-7 years he was developing it into what it is. I think the second owner owns a couple of muscle cars like a Viper, etc. I have come to realize that here in sunny Florida, as is likely the case for California, that open cockpit cars are only fun to drive on temperate days that are becoming fewer and farther between. Folks in the NE, Upper Midwest and some parts of the NW have more comfortable days to play with these cars.

To watch Sabine hustle a Transit Van around the "Ring" gives me hope for autocrossing my new 2020 Honda Civic Si that is a national class winner in SCCA G Street. I am having to get used to the turbo hang of the 1.5l engine and relatively low horsepower (206). And, the fact that I am driving a 4-door sedan. I did put 200 DOT Yokohoma's on the car and am looking forward to my second autox with the car in mid April on a track with excellent grip. Croc, Thanks for sharing your story about Sabine. In watching a few videos about her, she appeared to be larger than life! She may have had her life cut short but certainly did not seem to miss any tricks in living a very full life. BTW, I sold the Corvette after 14 months and 9300 miles. Too porky for my tastes after coming out of sevenesque cars.

Shane, I have been following part of a thread where there is talk about vehicular conspicuity related to the color of the se7en. When it comes to your Stalker, I don't think that too many people would be able to use the defense that they did not see your car. I don't think it blends in with the scenery unless you are in a Peter Max movie. Happy New Year and somebody needs to buy your hot rod Stalker.

Dale, I very much appreciate you waiting up for me on the second day. That was an act of kindness. I wasn't calling anybody stupid. I was saying that I felt our group behavior on public roadways was stupid. As you know, years earlier, some of that behavior resulted in the tragic death of an Ambush participant. I cannot think of any reasonable rationale for using quiet country mountain roads as a playground for out of towners exposing the local innocents to potentially catastrophic carnage over numerous days of an "event". That is just my personal opinion and others may not be as concerned? Wishing you and your family the happiest of Holidays and safety until we get this pandemic behind us. Bob

Shane, Sorry to see your Storker go. I am sure that people do not know how fully sorted that particular car is since you rebuilt it (updated chassis) with many components that were not available to the earlier Stalkers. Someone looking for an exceptional track weapon without a lot of finicky bits will love your car for sure. As Croc and others have mentioned, good on you for getting a couple of Miata's and bringing your son up in the racing tradition and learning about momentum as opposed to brute horsepower. Like my friends Krista and Glenn Minehart, all of their children can outrun them in SCCA autocross events and they are very proud of their brood. Whatever you do, keep the secret from Suave that you are selling his fellow Storker. I won't mention this to Les Suave, his evil twin who could somehow try and derail your plans. Much good luck with the sale and somebody is going to get a very well sorted Brunton Stalker! Happy Holidays. Bob Schilling

Thanks for your thoughtful insights Kitcat. Croc, Kitcat has admitted by self-proclamation to hold the secondary title of Sir Spinsalot! Someday, when things settle down, I would love to see both of you at NJMP and heft a glass or two. Bob

Kitcat, Can't say that I am overly impressed with your fellow Cincinnatian wandering all over the double yellow lines of country lanes demonstrating his 7 on BAT. I sold my last sevenesque car after disregarding my common sense one day a couple of years ago in the NC mountains with a bunch of Johnny Racer wanabees (Stalker Stupidbush aka Ambush) that should have been taking their stupidity onto tracks designed to have fun and reduce the chance of injuring innocent bystanders. I was frankly very disgusted with myself and remember giving up my sportbike buddies who were doing similar things at very high speeds on public country roads many years ago. When I mentioned to my sportbike buddies that we would all be going to prison if we had killed someone, their response collectively was "what's your point?". Having been a prison psychologist, I advised them that prison isn't a really fun place and you don't get time off for blats when you feel like it. They still didn't get it and at age 52, I actually grew up a bit and left my buddies that I had been hanging with for a couple of years in what I considered to be a stupid state of mind. That's what tracks are for. Sorry about the soap box and I will get off it pronto.

Bruce, Happy Holidays! I have been enjoying the 2019 Stingray as a fun bopping around car in the countryside. My wife is not all that excited about riding along and feel exposed in low slung cars so I do most of rides by myself which is still great fun. That 620R at Hillbank would be quite a fun car if you could buy it right. However, I really like the business models of Mark IV in New York and Bruce B. in Washington State. I think they offer good value for the dollar and seem willing to work with customers in a very fair way. Much good luck in your search. Searching is half the fun! Astro Bob

In my above comments, I added some confusion concerning the Classic XL Stalker that is out in California. After talking with Glen Minehart, he advised that the Classic XL's have the same frontal dimensions for the shock placement of the wider rearend XL's but the rear of the car requires that the shocks be placed lower in the rear end to accommodate the less tall design. Glen also said that if someone wanted to put smaller tires than the 17"s that come with the car, that the rotors would have to be downsized and the attach points for the calipers would have to be modified. Glen advised that for all around street, autocross and track performance that the Stalker AXR's are the model that can do all of those tasks exceptionally well. The proof of that is that Jason Minehart, running a Stalker AXR has been placing second pretty consistently in the SCCA National Autox events and is also reportedly running the car on tracks in Texas. Hope that clears up any confusion over the particular car that is for sale in California.

Lightguy, Croc's answer to the build issues of a 420r vs a Stalker XL are spot on. Shane (aka xcarguy) has numerous builds with the original Brunton Stalker classic chassis. I have owned both the classic chassis and the first M-Spec Stalker (LS1) with inboard shocks as well as a magnificently built Stalker XL with an LS3/480. I also owned for a brief period,a Caterham 300r Superlight with 400r specs. The Caterham is of course much truer to the original Chapman 7 design and the steering responsiveness is nothing short of like it is wired directly to your brain. The Classic Stalkers did not have the modern inboard suspension due to the limitations of the chassis dimensions. The Stalker XL I owned had about the same wheelbase dimensions as my C7 Corvette. In other words, a fairly wide stance as opposed to the Caterham. There is a Classic XL Stalker for sale out in California that because of the body dimensions, does not have the same inboard setup as the more rounded XL's and cannot support the length and shock position of the more rounded tail XL's. The advantages of the Stalkers are that they source all USA components and everything is readily available in the USA and there are no hassles with importation. It is also true that the Stalkers have a bit less panache than the Caterham. I have found Bruce Beachman to be an exceptional seller of Caterham's and came very close to buying a 420r kit that he just had landed a month ago. However, I decided to keep my 2019 C7 Corvette because I don't find myself autocrossing during these pandemic times. Some of our venues in Florida are respectful of the virus and some seem to think that it is unnecessary to utilize much precaution and I decided that it was not the best of times to swap spit (aerosolized droplets) with my fellow autox'ers .

I am sure you are going to gives us curious folks more pics, any lingering problems with the car and an asking price. Neat looking car from the one picture.

Congrats Richard on the very fun car. If you want to zip around cones faster like in slaloms, you can consider installing a faster steering rack. The rack that they typically come with is more track oriented. The width of the XL is pretty similar to my Corvette.

Hey Dave, I went from se7esque cars to a Corvette. Time to start shredding:smash: Just kidding. Vettes are indeed quite porky compared to the lithe Caterhams but have some amenities that are usually not found on the more raw sevens. I do miss the visceral feel of spunky 7's. There is a wealth of information contained here and as Mike (aka Croc) pointed out, no limits of people willing to help you spend your money on these delightful and esoteric cars. Good hunting!

Spitfun, I was talking recently with Glen Minehart, the father of Scott Minehart who makes Stalker cars, and Glen was mentioning that Classic Stalkers with LS engines are less than ideal for autocrossing. He advised the the 3.8L supercharged V6's are better because they do not tend to spin the tires all over the place. On a track like xcarguy is using it for, I suspect that the extra power of the LS engines is beneficial. OTOH, the Stalker AXR's with LS engines which are specifically made for autox are really kicking butt and Jason Minehart is currently about the second fastest autox car nationally on a fairly consistent basis. Jeff Keissel in his specially prepared Midget continues to dominate the national autocross segment with something like 8 National titles in E Mod but Jason is working hard to try and catch him.

Congrats on the spectacular Caterham Yogi! Bruce really spec'd this car out exceptionally well. After watching Croc's video of his RHD 420r in Europe, I realized even more, what a potent track machine this will be for HPDE's. I can only imagine how much fun you are going to have driving the twisties outside of Seattle on warm Summer afternoons. The build should be a really wonderful experience and we look forward to lots of detailed progressive pictures. You will know your car much better than most who own sevens. Have fun! Bob

Kitcat, That is great information for myself and others to know about. I am not sure how many Caterhams Kampena Motors is selling in the Sonoma, CA region but as you and others know, they too have extensive experience with Caterhams and racing. Like you mentioned, I have also heard great things about Tom Carlin's operation and I suspect that he works hard to insure the reliability of the Birkins he is selling and like Bruce, tries to keep an inventory of spares so that his customers can get certain parts in a timely manner based on the hearsay I have paid attention to.

Yogi, In my exploration of buying this car, I had the same question about the seats because I have shrunk to 5'7". In talking with Bruce Beachman, he said that the seats are on sliders and that all I would have to have done was mock up the seat with it in the full forward position to determine if I needed to drill a few holes for the rails a bit forward from where the holes have already been drilled. So, no problems whatsoever with seating position. I too asked about leather seats as opposed to the composite seats and Bruce mentioned that one of his customers who had spec'd a car with leather seats had traded them out for the composite seats and would likely like to sell his leather seats. I had a 300r Superlight with the composite seats and in terms of them being useful for HPDE's and other spirited activities, composite seats are much more preferable because the excess padding of leather seats disconnects you from the car. I have had several Brunton Stalkers, 3 with aluminum seats and minimal padding and 1 with more padded seats and for any kind of really spirited driving, the composite seats are the way to go. You can always add a bit of padding or some cushions when just driving around on leisurely drives. I used to be known as "flat butt Bob" which suggests that I have not had a significant amount of padding on my backside. I found my Kirkey race seats with minimal padding to be quite comfortable. Unfortunately, I did not own the Caterham long enough to really understand how long I would be comfortable but I did appreciate being "one with the car". The first picture is of my former Caterham with 208hp and the second is a partial shot of the Brunton Stalker XL with 495hp with Kirkey seats and thin padding. Hope that helps. If you are in the Seattle area, you are going to be sooooooooooo fortunate because at this time, essentially Bruce and one other company in the country down in California are the leading selling experts on Caterhams. You would also be able to get high-performance driving training from Bruce as well as be close enough to have any questions concerning the build answered first hand. Much good luck in your decision process. I only wish that my wife and lifestyle would have supported enjoying the car beyond the build. If it did, this car would not be up for sale . Bob Schilling