Ian7

... or, give a buddy a beer and a magazine and put his butt in your seat for the half-hour this takes :-)

Call Dave at Britain West Motorsports (tell him Ian says hi)

wirewheel.com site indicates car is now sold

Few comments at both this post and #13 above it: 1. changing to "track wheels" won't alter the rake unless you mismatch tire or rim diameter front to back; all it does is raise or lower the car overall. 2. changing the rake is the FIRST thing you should do, not the last. I noted you can't yet, but don't mess with the car much until you can. Your turn-in understeer is a classic symptom of too little rake. 3. adding rear anti roll bar stiffness will be a band-aid fix to this problem, but the first rule of chassis tuning is to fix the end of the car that is defficient. In this case, you are reducing rear grip with the stiffer rear bar to get a more neutral balance, but your overall cornering grip is less, to the detriment of max cornering potential. 4. overinflating the rear tires is another common band-aid to understeer, but same overall reduced grip comments apply.

look for a 4-digit number molded in to the sidewall inside an racetrack shaped area, it is the month and year of manufacture of the tire. e.g. 2409 would be the 24th week of 2009

If I can't get my Caterham out of Canada and down here to Savannah, I'd be very interested to see this one. Keep me posted. Thx.

Lol lol lol lol lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smarter experts will be along soon, but here's my 2 cents worth: Will the Fiesta 1.6 L bolt to a T-9 transmission? I think it is referred to as a Kent engine, but is it a cross-flow?--------- the Kent is what people call the crossflow, and does mate to a T9. It's basically the old english Cortina and old USA Pinto motor. First generation Fiesta you refer to is a different engine not suited to 7's. The old cross flow/Kent? came in a 1.3 L and also a 1.6 L (and can be bored out to a 1.7 L I think). Are all of these engines compatible with the T-9? --------- IIRC, the 1.3 has reliability issues and parts availability problems. No advantage over the 1.6 Kent. Bored out 1.6's are typically called the "supersprints" in Caterham lingo. I think the Zee-tec replaced the cross-flow, right? or is it the same thing.-------- "Zetec" is a 2 litre, more modern replacement for the Kent. Usually fuel injected, but can be carb'ed (but why bother?). A very common upgrade to replace the Kent in 7's. Also accepts the T9. As far as wight goes how light is the cross-flow compared to the Zee-tec or Duratec -- I think the Duratec is around 40 LB lighter than the Zee-tec?--------- don't know exact numbers, but Kent is a boat anchor compared to any modern engine. Search Blatchat for answers. By the way, why a T9? if money isn't too tight, how about a Quaife with a much better selection of gear ratios more suited to a 7? (T9 has terribly low first gear, with big jump to 2nd).

that sounds like "torque it until it breaks, then back it off a half-turn" LOL

found it ---- 'Colley Motorships'

about 5 years ago I used a company called Colley, full name might have been Colley Motor Shipments (IIRC), very good service. sorry, paperwork buried in boxes so can't confirm

anyone mind if I steer this thread back to my attempt to sell my car? thx :-)

Wow, to each their own, and maybe 'cause I don't golf, but that left me thinking "there's a minute of my life I won't get back" (and another minute commenting on it) :-)

thx for the condolences :-) if you have friends who want a car like yours..........

@ escondidoron: your friend has drawn an Elfin, an Australian LSIS, (google it) which I personally find stunning and highly desirable :-)

agreed. Miata is a nice incarnation of an Elan, but an Elite it's not... (friend races an Elan with a vanity plate that reads " 66MIATA" :-)

I'm moving to USA and it looks like the grief of transferring the car won't be worth it. Car is a 2005 Caterham live axle Kent, clamshells, other upgrades. See photo in members rides. Legally registered and insured in QC with QC assigned VIN as a 2005 "homebuilt Lotus" (go figure). Have 35000+ in it, would consider myself motivated, so maybe lets talk. Happy holidays.

I second the comment #10 above. My older LSIS car stank up the house something awful, eventually had a new alloy fuel tank fabricated to replace the old one - instant fix. Was weeping enough to stink, not enough to see liquid drips.

I have a straight-cut Quaife in my car, kinda like the sounds.... :-) Seriously though, I'm happy with Quaife in general, and would also highly recommend Taylor-Race-Engineering in Plano, Texas as a source.

If the price of "very soft sticky" tires is a problem for you, you're REALLY gonna hate how often you have to spend that money! :-)

Great thread, this, I'm really enjoying it. Couple of points: the little tabs on the side of the nose of 'real' race cars are not primarily to generate downforce themselves (as the calculations by others above prove), they are there to guide airflow to the benefit of other more significant areas of the car. On a seven, they are cosmetic at best. Think about the airflow into the engine bay stagnating to essentially zero velocity (in exchange for dynamic pressure increase), exerted upward on the large bonnet area, with no counteracting lower surface under the car. Those 'downforce' tabs are truly insignificant in comparison. Secondly, having spent decades honing the aerodynamics of race cars in competition, I'm amused to no end that Seven owners spend any time dealing with or worrying about it, our cars are such a hopeless starting point :-) (says me, the owner of a 100hp clam-shelled brick) LOL

I always laugh at people who rage at their cell phones the instant they aren't working properly. Talk about taking things for granted !! Anyone else remember having to drive around looking for a phone booth, only to realize you didn't have a dime ? :-)

Interesting idea in that photo, but given the 7's high (relative to a race car) ground clearance, and the short axial length and steep angle of the "diffuser", I'd be astounded if this made a measurable difference.

well, that's two of us !! here's my computer desktop background image :

thanks guys. Because of some odd circumstances, the car is a 2002 Caterham, titled here in QC as a 2005 (the date it was finally road worthy). 'Make' is "Lotus", 'model' is "homebuilt", with a quebec DMV assigned VIN.