James A

In stock form the Sigma 1.6L has about the same hp as the Zetec 2L but less torque, I suspect it will have similar hp but less torque in its race form. I think the similar hp, lower allowable weight and what I have to think as better handling will make this the car to have. I really think the SCCA is going to have to allow owners of existing Caterhams to go to cycle wings and the wider tires, and the different ratio gearboxes.

It looks like a much newer spec Caterham chassis and engine are being homologated for E Production in SCCA, see the spec below. Anyone know Aaron Hall who has requested the homologation? Wide chassis, 1" wider wheels, cycle wings, Sigma engine, this spec sounds like a real improvement over what SCCA allows in EP now!

Wow, Rick spun big time didn't he? Nice job getting around him on the start.

Since I have two Caterhams I race, I am going to keep the spare. As scannon mentions you can purchase a spare BMW diff in the bolt in cradle. Or there are a number of suppliers in the UK that have the 7" Sierra Diff, here is one that will put the Quaife LSD in that is for the Caterham: http://www.motorsport-tools.com oh take a look at their website, they have sequential Quaife T9 gearboxes, stock rebuilt T9s, alloy cased T9s a lot of toys!

A couple of other cars running in the vintage race!

Our last EP Majors race we were 2nd to Matt Reynolds on Saturday but on Sunday we beat him, this was at Eagle's Canyon. Have fun and podium! Oh we spotted the trailer today but did not unload the Caterham as lots of rain is due today and tomorrow. We have a course walk tomorrow and practice Friday. Jim

When I owned a twin cam two different things did this to me and both were distributer related, vacuum advance issues and the other was the spring loaded rev limiter failing.

Hi Martin, yea we are really looking forward to it!

Good that you found one so easily, these things are getting scarce I looked for a while before a fellow racer got two spares diffs with an EP car he bought and was kind enough to sell me one! I and it rebuilt with an LSD and now have it as a spare, with all new components.

Oh good, a Corvette has entered, this will be a lot of fun. Yea, we get to run after the Indy cars on Sunday, avoid the crazy traffic and stick around and watch the Vintage cars! Oh and the long range forecast is for it to be wet, that is very good!

OK, there is a vintage car support race at the Houston Grand Prix and a Caterham 7 will be running in the "closed wheel" category. We have practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday and are the final support race Sunday. You know you don't want to deal with the traffic so stick around and watch us battle Mustangs, Porsches, Fiats, Datsuns, and a Miata or two! And please come visit us in the Vintage Car paddock. Jim and Andrew

A number of people use a VCT eliminator on the cam and go to a more configurable set up. Tom Lesperance at Focus Power has the VCT eliminator part that will allow you to use a standard cam and update grind.

And if you don't know Tom, he has built Zetecs numbering in the hundreds, including race engines for a number of SCCA E Production cars. We are not allowed to run dry-sump or we would, so the Accusump saves us.

Every time we install the starter, if we don't get the exact right shim washers between it and the bell housing as it cam out with it does not engage. We can get a exact match replacement starter and it will not engage. More often than not we have to install, test, re-shim, re-test more than once to get it right. I have found that our cars to be very sensitive how the starter is shimmed.

I agree with the cooler and remote mount, mine came with a manifold block and I installed an Accusump also as we were wrecking engines on the race car prior to installing it. Haven't had an oil related incident on the car since installing the Accusump.

The one issue I have seen several time with these diffs is that when you remove the bearing housing (part 13 on the diagram) the threads can gall (it is aluminum on aluminum threads), and then you have a real issue. Use lots of penetrant go slow and good luck.

Oh, I just looked and Carbotech has Caterham calipers listed and shows all of their compounds available: http://www.ctbrakes.com/pads.asp

Yea, it's hard to compete in the MCCA, I mean SCCA, what ever Mazda drivers want they get, but the Caterhams, forget it. For rear brake pads, Carbotech will put any of their compounds on the Ford pattern we use. We are racing this weekend at Texas World Speedway, this amy be the last time as it looks like the site is going to be developed in to a subdivision.

Wow, the new Caterham USA site is great news for Westfield!

I have replaced a number of freeze plugs with no issues, there are several good YouTube videos on this.

We had a very bad hop in left hand corners in the race car and found completely dead shock on the right side of the car. Added to that, the rear was over sprung relative to the front so it was a handful on left hand corners. Also check the alignment to insure the rear tires are tracking true with the fronts.

There is another reason you may be right Wayne, and that is I have always used a very high spring rate pressure plate with the 4 and 6 puck disc and that could be a big part of the abruptness. I've always found the "solid" disc to have much smoother engagement, but again that could be the associated pressure plate. Mike has some good info, Focus versus Contour, make sure you know what you are starting with! a 236 versus 224mm friction surface.

Brad, Andrew has had a matt black Super Bandit for 2 or 3 years now, we have had no issue with the finish.

Bill, we have had an interesting time with clutches in the race car and street/autocross car. Lesson number 1, clutches that work are very specific to the car they are going in, don't order a clutch set up until you have the one out of your car and can see the part numbers. We have installed a couple of set ups that looked and measured the same as come out of the car and they did not work... Lesson 2, buy a very high quality set up if you want it to last, we have found ACT to be a good choice but there are others that are likely as good. For combined use go with a sprung, "street" disc, the four and six puck disc tend to be very abrupt and not much fun on the street. While you are in there, replace all the associated bearings including the pilot bearing. Are there any gearbox issues that should be addressed while you are doing this? I can tell you what ACT disc and pressure plate fit our cars but again, it is specific to the flywheel you have. Good luck and have fun!

Welcome to the Houston area, there are a lot of 7 derivative owner's in the area. Jim