Maverick1

Hey Mike how you doing? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Actually I only got my Atom back on the road a few days ago. In Sept I had a massive exhaust leak which melted some of the wiring in the car and melted the gauge of my masterlube accumulator which then caused an oil leak on the race track. Not very fun. I had a long wait for a replacement exhaust system. But I got a really good one. Same guy makes Indy car exhausts. Many Atom owners have had exhaust failures. It was a piss poor design from the start. Never should have had flex pipes on it. I am just thinking about a Caterham. If I can sell my Atom for a good price then I could almost do a swap without putting that much more money in. Haven't decided which one I would go with the CSR 260 is more of a 50/50 street track car, while the R500 is more track oriented. Don't get me wrong, the Atom is a beast of a car and I love driving it, however I like the idea of the Caterham because I will get similar performance without having to wear a helmet every time I get into the car. Not only for me but I always need a helmet for any passengers that ride with me. Also you can get a wet weather package for the Cat which would be great for long distance drives. How is your RV coming along? Have you test flown her yet? I should also ask, how is your super light coming along? I almost forgot to mention that I bought a house, closer to you in Lake Elsinore. Just a small bungalow with great views of the lake and mountains. In fact you could fly in, apparently there is a runway at the south end of the lake. Lots of parachuting goes on. Let me know if you would like to do lunch sometime. D

Ya, I tried it again and got an answering machine. Must have had a dyslexic moment. Thanks

I am interested in the Caterham CSR 260 and was wondering if there was one located in southern California that I could look at and maybe get a ride in. I was surprised that the price of the 260 was $15,000 less than the R500 even though the CSR is a more sophisticated car(independent rear suspension). Does the CSR have more interior space than the standard Caterhams? cheers

This is the car in question. http://www.pd-go.com/index.php?action=website-view&WebPageID=18978&WebSiteID=409 Cheers™

Very nice ride. Do you get much turbo lag in that car? A friend of mine is building a 500hp Ariel Atom powered by a Rotrex supercharged Honda motor. Why I bring this up is because he mentioned that going with a big turbo setup can be problematic due to having turbo lag especially in corners. Apparently, the Rotrex supercharger is like a turbo offering high boost levels but linear power with no lag at all. Cheers™

I really like the look of the S1, too bad it only has 175hp. Love the orange color as well. [admin edit: moved link to another thread] Just curious, how do the S1's perform/handle compared to Caterhams? Says it hits 60 in 5.3 seconds....sounds a little slow. They must weigh a little more than Caterhams. Cheers™

Thanks scannon. I guess it was beginners luck. I actually went past the staging lights on my first run and had to back up. Live and learn. Cheers™

Guys this has really surprised me. I have yet to be challenged by anyone at a stop light. I thought for sure some ricer in a done up Honda Civic or other Japanese car would have challenged me to a race but not as of yet. I think it might have something to do with the Top Gear video which really shows the performance of the Atom. They probably know that they will get smoked so why bother. I have yet to see a street legal Honda civic that can get to 60mph in under 3 seconds. And if some nut case decides to challenge me I will leave the line just like I'm driving my fathers Buick....nice and slow. Speaking of drag racing, here is the link for my first time at any drag strip. It was fun, but after going to a circuit track I don't think I will be hitting a drag strip any time soon. I think with the sevens it's a little different because there are so many makes and models with varrying amounts of HP. cheers

For those of you who have the WCM ultralight sevens, do they offer a vinyl top for your cars? From the pics I have seen you don't have doors like the Caterhams. cheers

Heaters....windshields......come on guys. Try driving in the cold without any of those luxuries. A guy from 5th Gear drove an Atom to the Arctic circle and back in an Atom, so driving your sevens equipped with heaters and windshields should really be a piece of cake in cold weather. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ7Xp9ZbdFE True....he is still thawing out after his ordeal but that makes it more fun......burrrrrrrrrrr. Cheers™

The way the "New" posts work on the Atom site is, you click on the "New" icon and it takes you to that thread and onto the newest post that you have not yet read. cheers

slngsht, if I may be so bold as to invite you to check out the Atom forum and see what I mean about the blue "New" tag. http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/board,24.0.html It makes navigating through the forum so easy because it shows you right away what topic has new posts. Anything that makes life easier can't be a bad thing. Cheers™

Bud it was just a suggestion to make things easier, not an order. No worries mate. You've got a great site. I just thought it might be a simple addition. Cheers™

Regarding the 7 forum format. I was wondering if you guys would like a feature added to this forum which is on the Atom forum. The feature is the word "New" which appears right beside a thread that you have not yet read. If you have read all the posts of a certain thread if you go onto the forum the next day and there has been another post added to the thread it will say "New" in color. It is a great feature because it lets you know when there is something new to read. Just a suggestion. Cheers™

WestTexas, if you really enjoy events like One lap of America and RunNgun you might like an event called the Targa Newfoundland. Looks like a lot of fun. http://www.targanewfoundland.com/theEvent.asp Cheers™

West when you compete in RunNgun and the lap of America has an Ultima GTR ever competed in those events. It seems like a natural for that kind of event. Cheers™

Thanks for the tire info guys, I think the RA-1's are the ones I will try next. I think they will be the best R compound choice for running both on the street and the track. From what I have read the AO-48's would wear out a lot sooner and I'm not sure they would give me any more performance, and definitely are not good in the wet. WestTexas, don't you think you would could benefit from going with an R compound tire for the track?? When I flew out to test drive the Atom the demo car had R compound tires on it and I can definitely notice the difference between street tires and R compound. With R compound tires you would definitely improve your lap times. Cheers™

Thanks for the info WestTexas and for the complement slngsht, beginners luck I guess. I think your car should be able to hit 60mph in under 3 seconds from the stats you have listed above. My Atom is supposed to hit 60mph in 2.8 seconds and your car has much more hp than mine and our cars roughly weigh the same at 1,350-1,400 pounds. Have you ever tested out your 0-60 times? Cost wise, probably going with the Ultralite S2k is the better choice as the Caterham CSR260 will cost around $69,000 and that's before any options. What would an Ultralite S2k and the S2K supercharged sell for? I am thinking of getting some kind of lap timer for the track, because that is really the only way to see if I'm improving as a driver. Do you have any suggestions on a lap timer. There is one called Traqmate and one called performanceBox, both are GPS based units. Most Atom owners opted for the Yokohama AO-48 R compoud tires, however when my car was being built there was a shortage of the AO-48's so I got the Yoko ES-100's which I don't really like on the road or track. I've been thinking of getting either the AO-48's or the Toyo Proxes RA-1's. Do any of you gentlemen have any experience with the RA-1's, or do you have a suggestion for tires for my Atom for the track? I've read up on them and most give them a great rating and say they don't degrade with too many heat cycles as other tires do. cheers

Your right I did get a tip. They told me not to wait for the green light to flash, but to let her go after the 3rd yellow and by the time I reacted I would have a good time. It's still not that easy as my other runs were in the low 12's all with missed shifts. Live and learn cheers

Here is the time slip from my first run. I was in the left lane. Due to the wedge shape of the Atom it is not very aerodynamic so as the speed increases the wind resistance increase even more. I would guess you guys know a lot about wind resistance also, as the 7 shape is not much better than the Atoms. Can you imagine how our cars would perform if they were aerodynamic like the Radicals? cheershttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1990296095_drag strip.jpg

WestTexasS2k, how would your 7 stack up to the Caterham CSR260 from a performance, acceleration, handling standpoint? I saw a video where they claim a CSR260 set the fastest time round the Top Gear test track. Not sure if it is legit but it did look real. About a month ago I took my Atom to the drag strip, and it was the very first time I have run any car at a strip so talk about being a complete rookie. I even missed the staging lights and had to back up and reset. I set my best time on my first run....I did 11.9 seconds at 114.8 mph, this with crapy street tires on it. I probably could have done a little better with a set of proper R compound tires. It was a lot of fun. cheers

For those of you with the WCM Sevens with the Honda S2000 motors, have any of you thought about forced induction of that engine? I have read that many S2000 owners have supercharged their Honda's and have gained lots of HP. Comptech and Vortech I believe makes one for the S2000's and they clain a 100hp increase. WOW Just curious if it might be possible in the WCM ultralites. I guess room in the engine bay is probably one deciding factor. cheers

I really don't know much about 7's, all I know is that there are many, many different manufacturers of 7 kits and complete cars to choose from, and that Caterham purchased the right to build 7's from Lotus a long time ago. I don't want to start a fight or anything but I was wondering if there is a consensus out there among 7 owners as to which one is the better handling model/better on track performing model? Do any of the non origional 7's (ie not Caterham) outperform the Caterham models when powered with similar powertrains? Just wondering if any other 7 manufacturer has improved the breed even more? Cheers™

Just curious, from the pic of the 7's lined up, are they the WCM 7 model, with the Honda S2000 motors in them? Cheers™

You know just to be different®. LOL Hey Mike....you know that if I was down in CA, I would have offered you a long, spirited ride in my Atom... Cheers™