NeoBear

Thank you for the replies everyone. Heat is for sure going to be my number one concern living here in California. I am lucky that E85 is fairly common around where I live but of course a friend told me "Just drive the car" maybe I should stop over reacting.

Hello everyone. I am having a Seven (Birkin) built with a 2.5 Duratec motor. I was going to reach out to Tom to ask about E85 as an option but was wondering if anybody knows off the back if that is an option with these motors and how much of an additional cost I may be looking at? I am not necessarily looking to make more power but I was told that running E85 for AutoX or track applications can help with temps anyone have any experience with the Duratec's in this application, Is it even worth it if you are not looking for power gains? thanks in advance.

Thank you everyone. There has already been a huge bunch of info and I am very excited. I think I’ll just keep everything spec’d the way tom recommends but opt for the 2.5 cause while I’m not a huge horse power guy I do like having my head slapped back in the seat haha.

This car is going to get driven! I will be putting many miles on it and doing track days when time and $ permits. One of my big concerns is cooling hopefully the car will be able to take the heat.

If the car doesn't have one I will have to ask Tom about it. That is probably the number one reason I sold my last car is it had cooling issues that could not be solved without spending some real money, even if I had it would not have been street legal after the fact. I have driven a 420r and road in a 620r that is why I am ready to buy in to the platform. I want to put it together myself to learn as much as I can but I have asked Tom to run all the electrical for me cause I cant even!

Answer time buddy! 1. I wont be doing any competitive racing if anything maybe time attack. I mostly like to do AutoX and Track days but I'm not trying to be competitive just trying to learn and not kill myself. 2. I am definitely the later, I cant be on the razors edge especially in a car that is not going to have any computer safety's. I got spoiled driving my RS I am going to have to be much more respectful about throttle inputs and whatnot. 3. The Birkin Tom has spec'd for me will have IRS which I didn't even realize was a thing. I wish I had more general knowledge about some of the things people have mentioned if I am being honest I am just asking questions and really relying on Tom and the info I am getting from people to set me up strong.

I did, and I may come off as a jerk so excuse me. I just don’t really like the look of the Stalker. Especially the new ones just a real turn off for me. And I don’t think I want to go north of 300hp, when I drove in a 620r it was so fast I honestly thought “I would be dead in a weekend” :/ I think before I go too crazy I should just try the car stock I’m just hopeful the 2.5 feels punchy and has some room to grow down the line. Most of all I hope it doesn’t overheat.

Oh god don’t tempt me!!!

So I had a 2016 Focus RS I got it they month they came out and I sold it this Monday. I loved that car and am going to miss the hell out of it but about a year ago I drove my friends Ariel Atom and that got me thinking. No matter what I did to my RS it was never gonna gonna be able to break like a 1300-1400lb car, and here in CA I wasn't going to be able to do much to it regardless. So I decided to go light and that's when I came across the 7. I am not chasing top speed I really only care about handling so this cars cornering speed and breaking performance are really attractive to me. I also want a car I can beat on for 20 mins or so on a track without something overheating a problem I was never going to be able to overcome in my RS. I was going to go with a 420R but my Atom friend pointed out Birkin and I feel like you get a lot more car for less money with a Birkin. Again though I am still very new to this. Also talking with Tom he has been very upfront with me, he just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Based off of some of the things you and Papak pointed out when I am ready for a little more performance assuming that ever happens, sounds like the engine is going to have to come back out. I am just looking to avoid that for as long as possible.

Thanks for the info John that’s a lot of stuff I didn’t consider don’t know if you can tell but I’m new haha. honestly I think the car stock is going to blow my mind. I’m just excited I’ll have a car I’ll be able to do things to in California.

(Blinks) I don’t know if I’ll be able to get used to the way most of the seven community answers questions with actual information haha. I am going to be ordering from Tom, he is looking into some incidentals for me. I guess my concern is that Birkins seem to use the same motors as Caterham but either Caterham motors are built more stout or tuned more aggressively? I see that the 420 2.0 makes a little over 200hp but the Birkin duratec’s 2.0 seem to lag behind? And I mean I have no doubt that can be addressed after the fact but I just want to make sure I have the best platform to build on. Based of the initial quote Tom gave me, most of the things you listed seem to be included but he did mention if I went with a 2.5 I’d need different ITBs My target down the line will be 300 hp as I got a ride in a 620r and was mind blown! That’s definitely not the kind of power I’d want to start with though. And if I can avoid it I’d rather not have to go with forced induction. Also thank you for your offer I may try and take you up on it I’d love to see the car!

Hello everyone. I am currently in the process of purchasing a Birkin and was hopeful I could get some info on the 2.0 vs the 2.5 liter Duratec. I did try the search feature, I could not find anything giving a compare and contrast. Would anybody be able to point me to info that could help me with understanding what the pros and cons would be? I would like to make as much power as possible without going down the forced induction route. Conventional wisdom tells me more liters = more power but I am also sure there are some trade offs such as heat or longevity weight. I should mention that my ultimate goal will be to track the car and that I live on the west coast so think Buttonwillow Big willow Laguna ect ect. Thank you for any advice in advance.