Sean

I might like one, but I'm thinking Lego will probably ruin the Caterham experience by including all of the required parts. Ha!

Consider taking a few more days. Work and school are certainly important, but bonding time at this age cannot be made up later! Anything over 400 miles per day will likely seem like torture more than pleasure after the second day. I did a 1,330 mile solo blat over three days in 2014, and while still fun, the last day had me thinking it should have been a four-day event, if not more. And that was without a passenger.

I liked the part about FUEL: Electric

poor Croc. I don't get here often, but I'll volunteer this time to fill in as the Croc stunt-double this week while he is otherwise preoccupied. Pith! Pith! Pith-pith! Super double pith! Hey, I was in Dallas just a few days ago. Pith-o-rama. Pith-agorean theorem. I'm sure these are all fine vehicles, except for any that may be suspect. I don't know, as I didn't actually look at any of the ads. It's tough being a stunt double for the master of taking the pith!

Personal preference aside, what can they do when a run of 500 cars generates interest from 5,000+ potential buyers? I don't think it's just an ego thing. I can see how being chosen as a buyer would be a bragging point for those who end up with one, but I don't see it as the driving force behind the "audition" process (maybe not the best term to use?). How can it be narrowed down to 500 in the best possible way? I like the fact that they're trying to weed out the speculative buyers just looking for a quick buck by asking for proof that the car will be driven as intended. I remember the story of Ferrari doing this with the F50, where owners were forced to lease the vehicle for the first two years, and at servicing intervals, driving history would be downloaded from the ECU. If the car wasn't being driven as intended, the contract gave Ferrari the right to terminate the lease. Or so the story went, anyway. Not that it's something I'll have to be concerned with, but I think I could find a way to be happy with any of the Ford GT/GT40 variants in my garage. edit -- Hey Skip, best of luck to your friends with getting one!

The article Bruce was referring to can now be viewed on the R&T pages: here.

Serial number list: http://www.lotus7.club/guides/frequently-asked-questions/chassis-numbers-what-do-they-mean#h9 Have you tried contacting Caterham in UK?

Ha!

Agree 100%. But that line about moving to China scares me - perish the thought! That would be the death knell for Caterham. I have no experience with the 620R, but I damn well know (like everybody else here) that it is one HELL of a lot of car performance-wise. What one might pay for it is up to the individual, but I agree with R&T on this one, even if I'm not sure if they are actually under $100K or not. Still curious to know if drivetrain is included in base price. Historically it was not, at least not in California, as the law here stipulates (or used to?) that the engine and gearbox must be purchased from a separate entity than the chassis. But that may have changed; I haven't been concerned with this for a few years now. I may look at a new kit in a few years to enjoy the build experience with my son (not a 620 R!), so curious if pricing model has changed.

Bruce - Curious if that $93K base price includes engine/gearbox?

Seemed kind of like back-handed compliments to me, in the context of the article.

I'll guess you haven't seen the GQ article on the 620S yet. It's from the UK version; likely different content than the US version GQ, but still, not exactly a complimentary article.

R&T pages search for "caterham" results. Lots of Caterham content in R&T over the past few years.

Searching this site using the terms "register" and Texas" yielded this thread: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?10361-Texas-street-registation SEMA's SEMA Action Network (SAN) pages contains a page with a PDF file for each state's titling and registration requirements: http://www.semasan.com/page.asp?content=tag_title_toolbox&g=SEMAGA QUALIFIER: I have never registered any car of any kind in Texas myself.

Good one, Skip! I've gotten some good laughs with colleagues re-telling this one. Gonna steal it and post on BC.

I put a 10-12" long braided stainless line between the Raceline filter mount and the standard Caterham oil pressure sender, which I mounted with a rubber-lined P-clip to the frame rail, under the intake and in front of the footwell. I believe this will help reduce it being subjected to vibration and moisture, because the Caterham ones (from Caerbont) are notorious for "going bad", which is probably caused by one of those two things. Or not.

Did you install those in front of or behind the stripper pole?

You didn't by chance take a temporary job as a Vietnamese spammer going by the name "aventador", did you? I see lots of activity recently in visitor messages!

Banner is the brand of battery that Caterham typically supply with the 7. I have never had one. I have read that the Banner weighs around 32 lbs. ready-to-use. I use an Odyssey PC625, which is just over 13 lbs., and the EVO2 is under 4 lbs. Each of these brands use a different type of technology, so are difficult to compare, but all three are well-proven in our application, depending on your operating environment. I am not at all an expert in this field, but have learned a few pointers here and there.

You read it correctly, but author Jonathan Burnjust wrote it incorrectly. If you search using the terms "caterham" and "reynolds", the results provide many other sources writing on the same story, which got the numbers correct. Seems to me like a lot of cash to save 5.5 kg. One can save twice that much weight for a bit over 300 bucks by ditching the Banner battery for a Ballistic Evo2 16 cell LiFEPO4 battery or similar.

Auto Express made some kind of error here. The butted tubing is expected to shave around 5.5 kg according to all the other sources of this story that I have seen (The chassis weighs around 55kg, so losing 50-60kg from that would be... difficult).

I just hope the keys weren't left in the ignition, or you're really screwed!

He has already, here. :seeya:

Looks pretty damn amazing to me. Love it! Congratulations, sir.

Well, if you couldn't get the amazing house, it's still good to hear you got a nice one.