Baptistelake

I think you are right. Maybe the long fenders do affect the handling:)

Yeah, that occurred to me. The lower wings will probably prevent a lot of stones from flying around and a lot of chips. According to Chris Rees (Magnificent Seven), this car was marketed as a road/touring car (which is primarily what I am going to use it for) so maybe that is why Caterham decided to use longer wings. Not sure if it would make any difference aerodynamically being just behind the tire.

Hi everyone, I just purchased a 2004 SV with 16" HPC wheels. The wings on my car extend quite low to the ground (behind the tire). I have seen one other 7 with this style wing but most have shorter wings even with the 15"/16" tires. I have read that there are two sizes of wings 13"/14" and 15"/16" but there has to be a third size with the "longer" wings like mine. Can anyone explain this to me? See two photos - both cars have HPC wheels but they have different wings. The burgundy car is an S3 with a 1.8L K series engine and the red car (mine) is an SV with a 1.8l VVC K series engine. Does the chassis/engine make a difference?

I just got a quote from Hagerty for my 2004 SV (arriving in April). I wanted to make sure I could get insurance before I purchased the car in the UK, RHD. Although the car is not quite 25 years old they agreed to insure it. There are mileage restrictions but if you are only driving it occasionally and not doing frequent long road trips it shouldn't be a problem. There is no insurance if you take it to the track (obviously). I keep the car in a locked garage in suburbia .... but Croc makes a valid point, I will read the fine print!

The original 1600 BDR Cosworth twin cam head was bolted to a Ford 1600 block with 40 DOCE carbs, 140 hp (83-92). In 1986 (-99) Caterham introduced the 1700 BDR - head bolted to a Ford 1700 block 45 DOCE carbs, 160 HP. Topic covered in Chris Rees' book. Really is a thing. You may be thinking of the Ford Crossflow 1700 which was available at the same time but only produced 135hp. The BDR was a more powerful and more expensive option.