ottocycle

Looks like they came up with the male contraceptive!!!

Hello, Although it is not a direct 7 item I am looking for some 2" SU carbs for a Jaguar engine and thought some of our Brit car fans might have some packed away somewhere. Also I want a seat for a Seven. Any takers? Thanks, Dermot.

I wanted to start a thread on a subject that may prove to be a gearheads version of the medieval debate on how many angels fit on the head of a pin. What I want to get peoples feedback on is this: From a vehicle dynamics point of view what is it that makes a cars handling predictable, balanced and fun. That sense of flattering security that some cars have that gives you loads of feedback and tells you when you are close to the edge. I have been cruising the 7 builders site and people get very excited about torsional rigidity, roll center heights, camber angles, the quest for optimum geometry and so on but I feel they are applying race car priorities to street/recreational applications. I think race cars are inherently "unstable" which gives them their cornering abilities but with better dynamics comes the need for better driver sensitivity and abilities. There is a reason why only few people can drive a formula 1 car competently. I have never driven a modern racecar so I may be completely out of line here but it seems to me that when the driver is sitting close to the rear axle he feels the cars behavior more readily and consequently has more time to react to it. My theory is when you are at the axle you can feel 6" of sideways slide as 6" of slide whereas in a mid engined car you feel 6" of slide as 3" of slide and therefore you need faster reactions and greater sensitivity to control it. I drove a friends Noble a while ago and while I did not push it very hard it felt brilliant and I knew that each corner could have been taken faster but I the car was so planted I was not able to taste its feedback. I did not want to loose a friends car. The lasting impression I got from it was the brakes. They were awesome- like the hand of God came down and retarded its progress or magnetism. No pitch or drama whatsoever. The most fun car was a 1969 Mallock clubmans car. I could stick the tail of that thing out there and steer it on the gas pedal. It talked to me big time. I know we have a number of racers, engineers and owners of more exotic machinery out there and I wanted to start a discussion on what makes a great trackday car or FUN drivers car as against racecar. If you were building a drivers car what would it have to have? Cheers, Dermot.

I think we are due a Saturday morning coffee meet, say the first weekend in April in Potomac. We can arrange to have a few 7's there and debate the pro's and con's of each. "Exlondoner", as you probably have gathered by now, there are a great bunch of guys & gals on this site and you have found a good source for educated opinion here (present company excluded). I am planning on doing a NASA track school at Summit at the end of April if anybody in interested in partaking/spectating I would love to hear from you. It would be nice to have a few of us in the pits together. Cheers- Dermot.

I am playing with the Heretic and going through the process of lowering the engine for hood clearance reasons. What I want to know is how low your oil pan is. What clearance do people have between the road surface and the bottom of the oil pan and have you bottomed it? I remember Mazda telling me what clearance he is running but cannot remember. Any takers? Cheers- Dermot.

Thats a really cool car -Love the gear linkage- thanks for the posting. Perhaps we, I mean Mazda , could put a gallery page together to show off the multitude of photos members post. I know I have a few that would generate comments and I bet Bruce has a number also. I think I can say from all members a big THANKS to Mazda for his work on this site. Cheers- Dermot.

I love these discussions on what constitutes a LSIS. It is a 21st. century version of the "how many angels fit on the head of a pin" debate for gearheads. As one who loves lightweight sports cars but born with a physique more suited for a Cadillac cannot fit into an original 7 or 11. I have owned a variety of cars over the years and while they were beautiful and fun I can say right now the most fun car I have driven was the lightest. I have had to modify each small car as legroom is an issue. That said I urge those of you with an interest to check out Mallock cars. They were built in England for a class of racing called Clubmans and are magnificent in my opinion. Not beautiful in the traditional sense but brilliant in the purity of their design: simple and effective. They make a 7 look like a Cadillac- think minimalistic seven. They took the seven concept as far as it could go. Up to about 20 years ago they were building cars that could lap some English tracks within a couple of seconds of Formula 3 cars of the time, with a live axle! Pretty dammed impressive. I have a 1969 MK8 with a Lotus Ford twincam that weighed 875 lbs. when I got it. It is a blast to drive. I love the Lotus 11, (I am a big fan of the work of Frank Costin) and consider it to be one of the top 10 most beautiful cars. I would consider it a LSIS even though it was a lot more car at the time. It was a lot more expensive to produce and was targeted at a different demographic and had a more complex rear in series 2 form. If you look at the spaceframes of both cars they are a joke by todays standards and they only work as well as they do because the cars are as light and relatively underpowered as they are. I would bet if you compared the original 11 frame to the Westfield, the Westfield would be stiffer. There is a beautiful 11 racing in SVRA on the east coast. It has a polished alloy body and looks like a silver bullet. Stunning. DB6; I too had a 1961 E type coupe, a beautiful car as you said but nowhere near as fun to drive as a LSIS. Sir Sterling Moss called them "the dumb blonde of sports cars". Not my opinion.......his!!! Welcome Westfield 11 builder, there are a great bunch if guys here. Cheers- Dermot.

Hello, I have a set of Falken Azenis on the Heretic that work fine on the street and are a reasonably priced tire. To be honest I think on a LSIS any of the modern street performance tires will probably rot before we wear them out (assuming they are not used for track days) based on the average annual mileage, the load on the tire and the fact that if you drive a LSIS on the street at the limit you will probably end up in jail or the morgue before you wear out the tires. Most street tires are designed for cars twice as heavy as ours and we need to work them hard and play with pressures in order to get them into their optimum heat/traction range. I had a set of Toyo R1's on my Alfa and thought they were the best street tire I ever had. I can only imagine their successor is as good if not better and Yokohamas have a stellar reputation. I think if you are shopping price check on the Falkens, I think I paid about $70 each for 205/65/14's. Just my 2c worth. Cheers- Dermot.

Hello all, Does anyone have a recommendation and source for a reasonably priced set of surface mount tail lights and front running lights. Cheers- Dermot.

I will be there with the Heretic, with a new stronger rear axle than last year! We DC locals can arrange a convoy closer to the date. Cheers- Dermot

I will not try to add to the list of superlatives justly rained down on the drivers talent, but I must add a comment about the expense of the Subarus in question. My thinking is not on the cost of the car but on the number of cars trashed in the persuit of such excellence. While a Subaru can run from $30,000 to $300,0000 how many ended up in the crusher as a result of the learning curve that gave us that amazing video? Just food for thought. Cheers- Dermot.

Skip, I agree. Point well taken. Cheers- Dermot.

Thanks guys for the input. I appreciate your design input and understanding of what I want, but I agree with the idea of torquing the the BVD's of those with "more serious cars". Aside from my having lots of room for improvement on the driving side of the equation, it is not in my personality to pour gasoline on a fire and an inverted Tutonic shield or prancing horse would be a lot less cordial an impression than I would like to make. Think "sleeper". Somewhere between the bottom logo and a pink teddy bear : ) Innominatus and Martin, I sent you guys a PM a few days ago but do not know if you got it. Let me know and I will send it again. I got no confirmation on my end. Thanks, Dermot.

Awesome video, It seems each generation ups the ante. When I flew hang gliders, or rode skateboards down steep roads people said I was nuts. Then I saw the video of the guy with the land luge suit passing a motorcycle lying on the road at 50-70 mph. If I had "huevos" that big I would need to walk around pushing a wheelbarrow!!! BTW-Norway looks beautiful. Cheers, Dermot.

I mmust be getting old, but I was referring to the car : ) Dermot.

Is it just me, or does anybody else think the black/white model is cool? Any details? Dermot.

Thanks guys, Well I guess it is time to break out the sawzall and fiberglass again. Obviously not modified enough! Yes it started life as a Fury, I bought it in England with a Rover V8 and no legroom. The changes I made include replacing the rear axle and brakes, the front hubs and brakes, modify front of frame, change the engine/trans to a Hayabusa setup, new dashboard and instruments, paddle gearshifter, modify hood and wheelarches, move pedals 13" forward, change pedal assembly. That is all I can think of for now. I am mocking up the hardware to put a turbocharger on her but I will have to make a hole or blister in the hood to acomodate the plenum and additional injectors. I really hate to make more fiberglass work for myself and would love to find a clear lexan blister about 14"X3" or bigger that I could incorporate, like the 50's sports racers that I love. Any ideas? As those who have done this stuff before know, when one is making changes with unclear outcomes I need to redo a few of the details to make them more efficient or aestethically pleasing, but overall I am very happy with the outcome. Thanks for the input on the design and please keep the ideas coming. Cheers, Dermot.

Back to the fountain of wisdom. I noticed a lot of the members here are artistic and creative types and thought I would ask for ideas. My car has been modified so much from the original state that I now consider it my own. When people have asked me what it is I have not had a new name for it. Last fall I was doing a track day and realized I could hang with cars above my paygrade, and it came to me: "This is heresy. This combination of steel and plastic should not be able to do this". So I thought I would call it the Heretic. I am posting this to ask anyone who has the talent and inclination to come up with a graphic or logo and a font for the word Heretic. I would like to put a name on her and perhaps an emblem. Any takers? It might be fun to see what comes up. Thanks in advance, Cheers- Dermot http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/272869002_101_0769.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/272869002_101_0769.JPG

Bruce, For price, try Forward Air. They have depots near all major airports but you must drop it to them and have it picked up at the other end at their depot. You could strap the frame to a pallet and fill in the "holes" with the boxes. Wrap everything with cling film wrapping plastic and it should be secure. An engine builder friend of mine built a small block Ford for a customer in California and they shipped and insured it for about $475.00, including $10,000.00 worth of insurance (Maryland to Sacramento). He got a quote from another company for $1,100.00. When I got the engine you kindly checked out for me shipped the guy used another company because it was close to his home but it will be worth it to get a quote from Forward Air if they are close enough to you. Please let us know what you find, I think a lot of us will find it helpful. I hope this helps, Happy New Year and I hope to see you guys at Carlisle. Cheers- Dermot.

I cannot believe I am writing this. A number of adjectives will be used in my obituary but if you read terms like "fashion sense" and "sartorial splendor" it is definitely a case of mistaken identity. I took my car out for a quick blat this morning in anticipation of my annual "Frozen Nuts Rally" New Years day drive and was remindes how cold things can get. I am writing to find clothing recommendations for winter driving that do not involve wearing so many bulky clothes that one ends up looking like the Michelin man. I thought some of our northern friends or outdoorsmen might have recommendations for comfortable thermally efficient windproof clothing. In these days of engineered fabrics and so on has anybody got any suggestions, from socks to hats ( and everything in between) that might help keep out the wind and cold. Thanks in advance and best New Year wishes to all. Cheers- Dermot.

Seasons greetings everyone, I wanted to extend an invite to all (who are not hung over and have been to bed), to join me for a New Years day drive. The 5th annual "Frozen Nuts Rally" is for those who appreciate an invigorating drive in the country to welcome in the New Year. For details go to www.octaneclub.com and let me know if you can make it. This is a weather sensitive run, ie if it snows or rains the drive is off but we can still meet for lunch, if there is sufficient interest. Additional points are given to those in the most unsuitable car for the day (7 owners are at a major advantage here!). Thanks. Dermot.

If anybody in the DC area is interested I have been running a New Years day drive for the past 4 years. This year will be the 5th annual "Frozen Nuts Rally", so named for mechanical, psychological and anatomical reasons . I will post details in about 2 weeks when I finalize the route. It is a polar bear swim type event for gearheads. We gather at a local spot and drive about 2 hours to a lunch spot and socialize. Last year one couple came dressed in their formal wear from the night before, not having been home yet. Bonus points for those who arrive topless, oops, roofless!! Dermot.

As the saying goes: "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". I was in my local CVS today and browsed through the magazine rack and found December Hot Rod magazine. Inside is an article on their Hot Rod of the year, none other than the Murray Bros. Special, a car I just learned about from Bruce's post....Go figure. Cheers- Dermot.

Bruce, I agree. I too like the Stovebolt Special, strongly influenced by the Maserati A6GCS. It is currently owned by Simon Taylor the writer for Motorsport magazine in the UK. He campaigns it in hillclimbs. With the small block Chevy I bet it goes like stink!!! I must check U tube to see if it is on there. You are right about the bare aluminum car in the parking lot. It was built by the same guy who built Eric Zausners Ferrari engined hot rod in the earlier photos. his name is Jimmy Kilroy, a countryman of mine (Ireland), who works for Steve Moal in San Francisco. A gifted craftsman (he also did a set of aluminum bodywork for his Ducati motorcycle and a huge cowl for a Russian radial engine he put in an aerobatic plane styled like a Pitts Special). I was fortunate enough to meet him a number of years ago when I visited Steve Moal's facility after been completely smitten by a hot rod he built called the California V-8 Special, the most beautiful hot rod I have ever seen. The comedian Tim Allen got him to build a "copy" called the Licorice Special, a beautifully crafted car a little bigger than the sister car but not as beautiful. If anybody has a copy of "Street Rodder" July 1996 I would like to buy it. God, I know too much about this S**T. I need to get a life!!!!!!! Cheers, Dermot.

Only one of the "big three" could make LSIS look so heavy!! : ) On a more serious note I like the concept, strongly influenced by (or stolen from) the Toniq, a LSIS car designed and built by a couple of English engineering students, currently in production. Ottocycle.