James A

The engine appears to have the intake and headers needed for some serious horsepower, but... To get 200 hp at the rear wheels is a lot for the Zetec, you would need to up the compression and get some serious cams with more duration and lift. I would ask the following: What is the compression and how was it arrived at (name the components;rod, pistons) What Cams are in the engine (make and grind number) What size valves are in the engine and what springs are being used? What head studs, main studs, and rod bolts are being used (if it has 200hp it better be ARP) What porting has been done to the head and by who? What ECU is being used and who has tuned the ECU for the claimed hp? I see a lot of claims about 200 hp on a dyno from a Zetec, I think 90% is BS, it takes a lot of work to get 200 reliable hp from a Zetec. Yea, there are a few out there but those engines are very well built and developed.

Nike batting gloves are perfect for autocross! Does the R25B compound ever get enough temperature in autocross to really stick?

The individual who did the T9 work and Sierra Diff work for Taylor Race Engineering left and started Taylor Race Preparation, his name is Dan Taylor and has done a Sierra diff for me already. Dan can be reached at taylorraceprep@aol.com And Taylor Race Engineering also continues to stock parts for and repair T9s.

What is a cambered rear floating hub ? I understand the rear camber plates and the hub set up but m not sure what is meant by floating hub.

Mike, nice battle with Mark B.!

The SVT Mike refers to is the engine out of an SVT Focus, seems that the heads breath better and are capable of some hp over the standard Focus or Contour Zetec. The downside is you are required to run an extra 100 pounds of weight, but as Mike says the hp advantage on the straights would be a big help. Although, I have never seen any Caterham run as fast as yours Mike, I need to figure out your hp secrets! The Jerico transmission that "production" Miatas can run is a racing "dog box" that is worth seconds of time on many tracks. This is another example of the screw ball rules SCCA has handed down, Mazdas can run a purpose built racing dog box in a production class, Caterhams must run the bone stock Ford T9 box with stock ratios.

Well, I know the answer, I was instructing all day at the Lambo Fest, and the fastest cars I saw were three Caterhams, a CSR 260, an R400 and a certain Roadsport SV with a rather stout Duratech! What a fun day.

Yea, I saw this one, he says it is a 7" but it is a 7 1/2". Someone who buys this is not going to be very happy. I guess I am going to have to breakdown and buy a rebuild from the UK.

It is likely a 7 1/2 inch diff that would not fit. You can tell by looking at it, the upper through bolt mount on the 7" is cut away, the 7 1/2" is solid where the bolt goes through. Everything is see out there from a Sierra looks to be 7 1/2" from what I have seen.

Yea, there is a lot of debate about the SM "double dipping" in to the Production class as an STL car and some good arguments both ways. Our issue throughout the weekend was that the some SM drivers continued their races in to the Production class as STLs and did not pay attention to passing flags as they were lapped or saw them and ignored them and in several cases turned down in to us after seeing the flag. Look they are involved in a race also, but need to understand that this is the Production Class and when you see the passing flag you need to get the frick out of the way of the race. Or as one SCCA official described it, when the passing flag is waved at you it means that there is a race going on and your not in it! And your right, SM drivers have no reservation about "bumping" each other and those around them, and it does not take a lot to knock a wing of our Caterham. The rules say they can run in STL, the club generally wants the revenue, and that's fine, but if your running the the Production class, watch your mirrors, obey the flags and allow the P cars to race each other in their class. A lot of discussion about this subject in the SCCA and Production racing forums, and I have to say some good points on both sides of the debate.

I posted our results in the racing section of the forum, but we had a great weekend. Impressions of the track; super grip levels even after hard rains!, very wide surface so fairly easy to pass but all the blind corners make to important to see the flag stations, having said this the flag stations are very very hard to see as most are not in the racing line of sight and they blend with the catch fence, tire wear very low and uniform, tons of run off room if something goes wrong, Caterham did much better than we expected but slipstreaming is so important and you will need to leapfrog slipstream down the back straight to get a good time. This track has such a flow designed in to it, it is not just a bunch of corners and straights that are connected but a really well thought out test of all aspects of driving and car dynamics. What a world class facility!

A great photo on lap one from Sunday. The run order is Mazda, Mazda, Caterham, Mazda, Mazda, Mazda, Mazda, Mazda, Mazda, Caterham, Mazda, Mazda. and yes that is an RX-3 in the lead, that car is a rocket ship, and well driven by Aaron Downey. The eventual winner is in second in the silver MX-5.

To run a competitive EP Miata is some serious dollars, getting a chassis is not cheap and the engines are so stressed at a competitive hp that you go through one a season. Add to that a dog box that won't last very long either. But, I would love to try a competitive EP Miata back to back with our car, I suspect we would find the Caterham out brakes the Miata, has similar grip levels, Caterham turn in would be sharper, acceleration to 80 - 90 mph similar, above 80 Miata runs away because of both hp and far superior aerodynamics. Don't get me wrong, the Miata that won EP is driven by a fantastic driver, Matt Reynolds, add to that a professionally built car, and a professionally maintained car. Our effort has an engine built by me and a car maintained by me. But it is fun driving up in our 18' trailer and seeing all of the transporters, and big dollar teams we pound on. The same is true of Mike Caterham, he has done all the work on that car and he beats most of the field at any given race.

Trust me these are not your run of the mill Miata's these are FrankenMiatas that the SCCA has given free hand to for mods. The winning Miatas are built by Prather Motorsports and are have very little in common with the street car. Basically you have a stock Caterham with maybe 160 hp at the rear wheels racing a purpose built race car with 230 hp (?) at the rear wheels. If you look at the results sheet I attached you'll see that something like 50 of the 85 cars in the small bore production class are Mazdas.

Well, Caterhams fared quite well at the SCCA Super Tour event at COTA! In a field of 85 cars in the Production class Caterhams finished 2nd and 6th, and that is in a field that included 4 podium finishers from previous SCCA National Run Offs. It seems that our lack of hp was not so much a disadvantage as we thought going in, that's as long as you used every drafting opportunity you could on the long straight away. Even more rewarding is the fact that many of the teams we beat are quite well funded with professionally built engines and maintained cars. I know that Mike built and tuned his own engine for his Caterham and I did the same for Andrew, and when it comes to support mechanics Mike does all his own work and Andrew and I do all the work on his car. Below are the Sunday results. Oh we did well on Saturday finishing "third" but,,, got moved back three finishing spots due to a flag violation, and the car was stuttering the last two laps due to low fuel, brain lapse on my part on the fuel. Great track, and much more Caterham friendly than we thought it would be. Jim COTA results 3:13.pdf