Innominatus

Super cool. How is the atmosphere at Bookatrack events, BTW? I'm contemplating booking an R300 and doing one of the evening events at Donington when I'm in the UK this summer. I've heard that they are pretty well-run, with overaggressive driving pretty well policed. Has that been your experience?

PM sent, Kitcat.

^ I think I've read this story a few times before. Edit: I knew I recognized that garage! https://bringatrailer.com/2016/03/21/nicely-restored-2-0-liter-laguna-blue-1975-porsche-914/

Perhaps, upon a successful eBay robbing, the seller is plotting to give away the $35k or so of net proceeds to a charity.

Er, that person appears to be me! I'm Josh, Ross's son. I know this car intimately, having first driven it about about a week after Ross first purchased it! So there is substantial overlap in the care and feeding of this particular machine, enough to assure even the crustiest old-school Sevenite of a seamless transfer of stewardship and, more importantly, of philosophy. Recently I have been actively looking for a more modern Caterham (better as they are for track work) so when the opportunity came up to exercise my long standing right of first offer, I knew I had to make a choice: go the new way, or go old. In time there may yet be an opportunity for a newer, hot-roddier Caterham to be stable mate to this car, but this one was a moment unlikely ever to re-present itself, so I'm happy to say we reached purchase terms over lunch today. I hope to have more details to share in the next few weeks... there are many more stories to come from this 7.

dvl: I'd be willing to take the Tony Weale book. PM forthcoming...

Huh, small world! That is our old car (my dad's, more accurately) and recently I'd been waxing all nostalgic and wondering where it went. They say you never forget your first: I did my 1st driver's school in that car, won my first race in it, and (one hopes) learned a little bit of racecraft along the way. But... it's a little disheartening to me to see the state that it is in. It looks much more tired now than I remember and it is notably now missing the sturdy, 3-season "midrange torque emphasis" 168ish hp Vegher motor and that great Leeson dog box. If anybody here is considering it, however, PM me... I still have test notes, some setup sheets, etc., plus the phone numbers of pretty much everybody who built / worked on the car up until 2005 or so. It was a good car, and though it is tough to be sure from the photos, it looks like it could be made so again.

Also, more recently, Panoz. They tried that marketing angle, as I recall, around the time they were taking their lone front-engined David up against the sea of rear-mid-engined Goliaths in LMP1. http://panoz.com/gtr1/model.html "The GTR1 returned the front engine race car to the racing circuit at the 24 hours of LeMans. The game-changing design places the engine between the front axle and the driver, proving that front-mid engine construction is the next generation of the supercar." It kinda sort of worked. In terms of driving dynamics, they seemed to be able to get away with slip angle shenanigans the rear-mids couldn't; I remember being at Sears Point in 2001 or 2002 and watching Jan Magnussen (or was it David Brabham?) drift the Panoz roadster luridly sideways up the hill under the T1 bridge to pass the leading Audi R8 (on the outside no less).

The race chassis marque of the Fejer brothers (Rudy and George) was called Chinook -- if you add that to your search for "Fejer" it should help turn up quite a bit more info. Very reputable Toronto-based constructor back in the day, positively dripping with 1960s-1970s racing history at St. Jovite, Mosport, etc. Besides the Can-Am cars, they built mainly single-seater chassis, from FF1600 all the way up to FA and F5000. Think they built a few Indy cars, as well. There is a Chinook-Fejer MK9 formula ford running locally with our vintage race group and it looks very well-built -- certainly on par with the other marques of the era. The 7 project came later, around 1980 (I think). George Fejer started a standalone company to make the 7 replicas, but they didn't sell very well (partly because he couldn't enter the US market), and the licensing transferred to somebody else in the Toronto area a few years later. Anyway, the Fejers knew a thing or two about chassis engineering, so this 7 replica is probably pretty well designed. Hope that helps a bit. Good luck with the search!

I can vouch for both car and seller. Having spent several hundred miles following this car on mountain roads, I can confirm that the arrest-you-in-your-tracks gleam of the alloy nosecone is even better in person! Plus, Jeff's as fair as they come, so whoever buys this car ought to have a straightforward transaction. A very interesting car, this Donkervoort. Much purer and leaner than the later, luxo-bloated, Audi-powered 'Voorts that most of us probably think of when this particular manufacturer is mentioned. This car is really much more akin to the 1980s long-cockpit Caterhams, except that the Donk chassis is stronger and better-built. In fact, I think the chassis of this model might have been one of the first CAD/FSE engineering projects that the Dutch Tech university did with their new computers, ca. 1978. Also, one noteworthy point: the cockpit is bit longer and wider than the the Caterhams of the day -- it's kind of the SV of the era. Any plus-sized folk priced out of Caterham SV range and thus in the market for an older Se7en might give this car a look on that basis alone. Jeff: you mentioned at the June High Plains track day you were thinking of selling, but I'm still sorry to see your Donk up for sale. http://www.usa7s.com/vb/images/icons/icon9.gif (This is Josh from LoCo, by the way). Were I sufficiently liquid in funds, I'd have written you a check by now!

Make mine filet brazed! If your Birkin is anything like the Terraplane that one of my riding partners has, then I'm certain this car is superbly set up, perfectly aligned and executed with a clean, precise aesthetic throughout. Question regarding the non-stock roll bar: You're obviously a tall fellow -- how much height does that roll bar extension add?

Sounds like it might be a BWE Hornet. There was another that comes to mind (the Locust) but I believe the Locust was of full timber construction (chassis too!) whereas the Hornet just had plywood panels over a steel chassis, with a thin aluminum cladding like you describe. Edit: Found a little info on the web. Is this the car? --> http://www.locust.org.uk/ownerscars/overseas/quintin_congdon/quintin_congdon.htm

Yup - I think that's right. The Elite recently sold and the genuine 23B and 23C have long since gone on to new homes. The Rotorvic 23B appears to be back in England where the new owner is replacing the twincam with a period-correct replica of the motor that car used to run back in the day: six Ariel Arrow motors strung together into that wacky 1.5 liter V-12. Should make for a splendidly hellacious racket when it's completed. http://www.usa7s.com/vb/images/icons/icon14.gif

Those look like a ton of fun. Slow, but they look really tossable on those skinny tires. Here's some onboard vid from that very car: Me too -- I was hoping it was an FJr Mallock U2, but it seems to be another Austin 7, called the WEV Special:

As I post, the asphalt is curing on the newly-paved High Plains Raceway road circuit near Byers, CO. After 4+ years of politickin', planning and construction, the facility will open at last this spring, giving us Rocky Mountain folk 2.55 miles of diving turns, steep swoops, off-camber crests, and a nearly-2/3 mile straight to play with. :hurray: I am working with the Lotus Club of Colorado to put together one (and possibly two) open track days at High Plains in 2009. The first open track day will be Sunday June 28th, 2009. If successful, we plan to have another the second or third weekend of September (stay tuned). Se7ens of all variants and shapes are welcome, be they Caterhams, Locosts, Westfields, Birkins, WCM S2000s, or your crazy uncle's Kurtis 500S with the methanol-injected hemi. The registration deadline is this February 15th, and requires a registration form and $100 deposit. With the deposit and a reasonable preliminary head count, we can go ahead and book the track for June 28th. The total cost per person (including the deposit) should be between $110 and $200, depending on the number of participants -- we're looking for a max of 60 participants. As the base track rental fee are fixed, the more participants we have, the cheaper the cost will be per person. If interested, please send me a PM with interest and I will send you a registration form. Post questions here or PM them as well. Come arc some apexes! Josh Robbins c/o Lotus Club of Colorado email: josh (at) flatlandllc dot com http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/811227153_track-map-large3.gif