scannon

I was reading Kit Car Builder magazine and looking at the events for this year. Carlisle 2010 caught my interest and I found the following: The Carlisle Import & Kit Nationals showcases euro-classics to import sports cars and attracts all genres of attendees. Coupled with the largest kit car gathering in the nation, this event provides spectators with a multitude of activities for car clubs and families alike. What is this event it is coupled with? Who else is planning on attending from the Se7ens world? BTW there are features on a Super Stalker owned by Jack and Rick Nostrand and an electric Stalker and in the April issue.

I like the low positioning of your headlights. Its got me thinking I may lower mine some more, somewhere between where I have them now and yours. Would you please post a close up photo of the headlight mounts?

That's a really old one, predates the internet even. I think I was still in high school the first time I heard it. It didn't have the "second opinion - priceless" bit at the end back then. Still good for a laugh.

It is Lotus in name only.

I've seen this before and a couple of things about it bother me. Military jets don't generally do low level practice over populated areas. Furthermore, it would seem highly unlikely they would have their missile defense systems armed and on automatic response during a practice run any where near a populated area. Any there any former F-14 or other fighter pilots on here to confirm or deny the truth of the original post?

I'd be happy to pass on any knowledge I have. I found it to be a fun project and not especially difficult. I had no idea if a Miata engine would fit in the engine compartment before I started. You can follow the test fitment of the mocked up engine in that cardomain site. I used the stock '00 Miata intake manifold, a Flyin Miata turbo and manifold and the charge side plumbing is just exhaust tubing with a couple of nipples welded on between the intercooler and the throttle body. All the bends are Samco hoses as is the reducer between the throttle body and I/C pipe. The exhaust was fabricated to my design (after consulting with Corky Bell) by a local hot rod shop that builds exhaust systems and roll bars with a big assed mandrel tubing bender. The whole exhaust system ran about $1,000 for parts and labor, all in stainless steel. I don't think you would gain anything using the earlier engine. Besides you gain about 15 HP using the later engine which has a much better head on it. Bracketry is quite simple to build if you have the combo shear/brake/roller tool. I used a belt sander to round corners and any special shapes. I often made up two or three different brackets before I had what I wanted. I buy scrap ali from a recycler so not much is lost if I scrap a few pieces. For a few of the pieces I made card stock templates to get angles and fit the way I wanted. I don't think my engine with the turbo would fit in the standard Caterham engine bay.

I think there is a winch behind those garbage cans on the other side of the street and that is a dummy in the section where it is dragged across the street.

It's a cross post from another forum. I don't know the origin of the article.

The fabrication of the motor mounts is quite straight forward. I took a look at the Caterham engine mount system for the Zetec, used the Caterham rubber mount pads and built the rest of it to fit the Miata engine. It took some trial and error to determine how much material had to come off the transmission but I have saved the sacrificial tailshaft and you are welcome to borrow it to have one machined from it if you go that way. The only other difficult part was the wiring and that requires a lot of time but not necessarily a lot of skill. The Link ECU worked well, but after a year I replaced it with a more modern Hydra Nemesis which required further rewiring. With no other changes to the car the chassis dyno showed a 61 HP gain and a similar gain in torque. It has many more features whereas the Link was developed to the max with its outdated electronics. My car has the Caterham 3.9:1 differential (with a Quaiffe LSD) and with the Miata engine and transmission it works very well. I'm sure with a 3.6:1 diff it would cruise nicer and probably a little better top speed I doubt I will bother making the change. If you ever get to the Denver area, look me up and we will do a ride/drive in the car. With 1,350 lb and 301 RWHP I think you will find the car entertaining and the acceleration adequate for most needs.

YouTube - Toyota Electric Lawnmower

January 10, 1964, started out as a typical day for the flight test group at Boeing's Wichita plant. Pilot Chuck Fisher took off in a B-52H with a three-man Boeing crew, flying a low-level profile to obtain structural data. Over Colorado , cruising 500 feet above the mountainous terrain, the B-52 encountered some turbulence. Fisher climbed to 14,300 feet looking for smoother air. At this point the typical day ended.The bomber flew into clear-air turbulence. It felt as if the plane had been placed in a giant high-speed elevator, shoved up and down, and hit by a heavy blow on its right side. Fisher told the crew to prepare to abandon the plane. He slowed the aircraft and dropped to about 5,000 feet to make it easier to bail out. But then Fisher regained some control. He climbed slowly to 16,000 feet to put some safety room between the plane and the ground. He informed Wichita about what was happening. Although control was difficult, Fisher said he believed he could get the plane back in one piece. Response to the situation at Wichita , and elsewhere, was immediate. An emergency control center was set up in the office of Wichita 's director of flight test. Key Boeing engineers and other specialists were summoned to provide their expertise. Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control centers at Denver and Kansas City cleared the air around the troubled plane. A Strategic Air Command B-52 in the area maintained radio contact with the crew of the Wichita B-52. As Fisher got closer to Wichita , a Boeing chase plane flew up to meet him and to visually report the damage. When Dale Felix, flying an F-100 fighter, came alongside Fisher's B-52, he couldn't believe what he saw: The B-52's vertical tail was gone. Felix broke the news to Fisher and those gathered in the control center. There was no panic. Everyone on the plane and in the control center knew they could be called upon at any time for just such a situation. In the emergency control center, the engineers began making calculations and suggesting the best way to get the plane down safely. The Air Force was also lending assistance. A B-52, just taking off for a routine flight, was used to test the various flight configurations suggested by the specialists before Fisher had to try them. As high gusty winds rolled into Wichita , the decision was made to divert the B-52 to Blytheville Air Force Base in Northeastern Arkansas . Boeing specialists from the emergency control center took off in a KC-135 and accompanied Fisher to Blytheville , serving as an airborne control center. Six hours after the incident first occurred, Fisher and his crew brought in the damaged B-52 for a safe landing. "I'm very proud of this crew and this airplane," Fisher said. "Also we had a lot people helping us, and we're very thankful for that. The B-52", Fisher said, "is the finest airplane I ever flew."

Everyone knows how fast the SR-71 Blackbird can fly, But how slow can it fly?? Brian Shul, Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen. So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following. I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England , with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea , we proceeded to find the small airfield. Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field—yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn't see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren't really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass. Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn't say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach. As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn't spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did. A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they're pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed. Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up…and keep your Mach up, too.

http://jalopnik.com/5466697/man-builds-mustang-out-of-lamborghini-world-goes-huh?skyline=true&s=i

Miata engines in Caterhams are doable, click on the link in my signature. I think there is a Birkin out there somewhere with a Miata engine. There is also a Miata engine in a WCM Ultralite. My Miata felt like a Buick with bad shocks after I drove Caterham USA's demo SV on the track. Immediately after driving the SV I took the dealer for a session in the Miata and promptly had one of the worst off track excursions ever (excluding the infamous outhouse incident) in the car. The Miata has adjustable coil overs, adjustable shocks and sways and lots of chassis bracing along with a turbo but once I drove the SV I had to have one. I still like Miatas, I have three of them at the moment.

I got the engine specs wrong. Ben emailed me the current setups available through Caterham USA so I am posting them here to clear up the confusion I fostered in this thread. Sorry about the bad info. 1) Roadsport 175/SLR300: stock engine internals, Caterham ECU, Caterham intake manifold (single throttle body), Caterham exhaust ~175bhp at the flywheel. 2) Roadsport 210/SLR400: stock bottom end, bigger cams, stiffer valve springs, Caterham ECU, Caterham intake manifold (single throttle body), larger injectors, Caterham exhaust ~210bhp at the flywheel. 3) Superlight R500: Stock 2.0L Ford Duratec block, stock crank, forged rods, billet pistons (higher compression), Ford Motorsport CNC ported cylinder head, stock valves, big cams, stiffer valve springs, internal dry sump scavenge/pressure pump, roller barrel intake manifold, big bore exhaust system, Caterham ECU, larger injectors…I think that is everything, but don’t hold me to it. ~263bhp at the flywheel. We also offer three “Stage” upgrade packages: 1) Roller barrel intake manifold with reprogrammed Caterham ECU and larger injectors. This will take a 175bhp engine to 195, or a 210 bhp engine to 220bhp. 2) Cam upgrade with stiffer valve spring and larger injectors. This will take a 175bhp engine to 210bhp. 3) Cam + Roller barrel. This will take a 175 bhp engine straight to 220bhp. We can also offer dry sump conversions for the Caterham supplied Duratec engine kits. These include oil pan, replacement oil pump, dry sump tank, oil cooler and all of the hoses and plumbing. I hope that clears things up. I have not had any of these engines on a dyno personally, but our R400 press car ran 0-60 in 3.7 seconds with Car and Driver, which is about right for that power/weight. -Ben Caterham USA 303.765.0247 7info@caterhamusa.com http://www.caterhamusa.com

Here's info from Wikipedia on the BS over Hoover's loss of his medical certificate. The bureaucrats were out to get him. His air show aerobatics career ended over medical concerns, when his medical certificate was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the early 1990s.[14] Shortly before the revocation, Hoover experienced serious engine problems in a T-28 off the coast of California. During his return to Torrance, he was able to keep the engine running intermittently by constantly manipulating the throttle, mixture, and propeller lever. Just as he landed the engine froze. Hoover considered his successful handling of this difficult emergency should have convinced the FAA that his capabilities were as good as ever.[15] Meanwhile, Hoover was granted a pilot's licence, and medical certificate, by Australia's aviation authorities,[16] enabling him to fly in any part of the world other than the United States.[citation needed] Hoover's FAA medical certificate was eventually reinstated. Although sponsored insurance was available to him he was unable to get the high limits ($20,000,000) of liability insurance he desired for performing so he decided to retire from airshow performing.[citation needed] Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander at the Udvar-Hazy Center Now that his air show career is over, his Shrike Commander is on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, in Dulles, Virginia[2]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/comparison/faster-than-a-miata There are some videos near the bottom below the text.

And other shenanigans from Bob Hoover. I've seen his air show several times. What a great performance.

I recall seeing one attached to a Ford Pinto headed down the highway. I wonder if that could be attached to the roll bar of my Caterham?

Bob, I don't think the reflectors have an integrated socket for parking lamps. A call to Flyin Miata (800-359-6957) would confirm that. I looked at a picture of your car and I can see the parking light bulbs mounted in the headlight reflectors. I hadn't noticed that before. If you wanted to use the Bosch e-codes you could integrate the parking lamps into the turn signal housings that are mounted below the headlamps. My Caterham came with the parking lamps integrated with the turn signals.

I believe they would. They fit anywhere a standard 7" sealed beam headlight would fit. That said, I never opened up the original shells on my Caterham to see what was in there. I replaced them with 5 1/2" motorcycle shells and lamps.

I went to the local Cars & Coffee this morning. I left a little early because a friend wanted to see my shop and was short on time. Some other friends who stayed a little later at the show said Ben showed up with the R500 shortly after I left. It must have been brutally cold in the R500 with only an aeroscreen between him and the wind. Temps were in the low 30s when I left for the show but I had the weather gear on the car and the heater going and was quite comfortable. I'll talk to Ben next week and get his take again on the mods to the Duratec required to make 263 HP. Maybe I misunderstood.

I wouldn't have been permanently embedded in the seats because I wouldn't have come close to getting down into them, I would have wedged on the upper edges. I had on the same sneakers I've used all along in the SV and it was a little tighter in the R500. The last standard size Caterham I sat in I couldn't operate the clutch or the brake without operating both at once and I had to turn my foot sideways to get past the brake to the throttle so somewhere along the line they must have found some space. Perhaps the front part of the transmission tunnel is narrower leaving more space in the pedal box. I'll have to try your car on for size and see if it seems any different than the R500.

I suspect the new owner will have to wait awhile. I think more than one magazine is planning on testing it. By that time something will probably be broken and it will have to come back for repair. This happened with the last one they lent out for testing. Tom, are those the same carbon fiber seats as in your car? I sat down in it and although it wouldn't be comfortable for a long trip I could easily spend an afternoon in it. Even with my sneakers on I was able to work the pedals. There is more room in the pedal box than the last standard size Caterham I tried on for size.

Quote from another thread after I realized I was doing a major hijack. I stopped by Caterham USA this morning to pick up some small parts and of course I had to have a look in the shop. Al's car was sitting there, much further along than the last time I was there. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring a camera so no pictures. The engine, trans and diff are in the car for fittment but all come out soon as the frame goes off to the powdercoater. The clams were on the car and being fitted for attachment into the new side panels. Ben said that Al's car was back burnered while they completed the new R500 Superlite. That car is all but done and should have its license plates soon then it is off to Road & Track Magazine and I assume other magazines as well. It is painted in light blue. Once it is out of the shop then Al's car gets major attention. This R500 has a 263 HP Duratec engine. What surprised me is that is not a Cosworth built engine. It is a stock Duratec with cams, upgraded valve springs and roller throttle bodies. They have variations of (IIRC) 170, 185, 200, 220 and 263 HP, all without going into the internals other than cams and valve springs. They have a higher HP version available but it gets far more expensive and includes rods and pistons among other mods. After looking over the shiny new ali panels on Al's car I asked Ben if the panels were going to be polished. No, he said, they are going to be painted. Since the clams were something close to BRG I asked if the car was going to be BRG. No again. What color I asked? He told me and my first thought was: Al, what were you thinking? I don't know if Al has announced the color so I won't reveal it here. BTW, of the last batch of 6 new Caterhams there is one SV unsold and still in the crate if anyone is interested. I kind of got the impression there may be some dealing room on the price.