Croc

British American Transfer (BAT) in FL usually has all those parts imported from the UK. THe T9 was used in the Ford Merkur here. Assuming you are not touching the non-standard(?) close ratio gearsets you may have then this should work. http://www.batinc.net/merkur.htm If you are thinking upgrading internals, ratios, etc then look at Burton Power in the UK (great catalog to print out and browse) https://www.burtonpower.com/parts-by-fitment-type/parts-by-gearbox-all/ford-type-9-gearbox.html Tracsport offer upgraded T9 bits and ratios for motorsport applications. Depends on what you want to upgrade. They are very familiar with Caterhams so will know your Birkin needs well. https://www.tracsport.com/ If you want pure transmission specialists then Quantum Mechanics in the UK know their stuff and have rebuild kits plus ratio options and upgrades. http://www.quantumechanics.com/ UK contacts are happy to deal with us in the US. Just call them early morning our time to catch them with the time difference.

Oh dear...have you gotten into trouble with the wife again? What car did you buy this time?

The obligatory videos are now ready 1) The straight ahead cam with good sound and data 2) The 360 cam. Double click on the video to see it on the youtube page. Use your mouse/arrow key to pan the camera around. Lap 1 you can look back at Doofus waving at a friend after Radillion in the Focus RS or on lap 2 follow the Aston Martin DB2 as I (eventually) pass it on Kemmel Straight. Look down for the data overlaid on the headlight

Sean - me svelte? :rofl: :smilielol5::rofl: Aerodynamically rounded may be more accurate!

Actually my Caterham CSR is already in a registry. But honestly I am more interested in getting out and driving.

But still faster. And better looking. No faded yellow of course.

Bookatrack is my favorite track day operator. I have been running with them since 2011. They keep a Caterham 7 for me at Donington - so I just turn up and drive when I am in the UK too many times a year for work. The staff are very experienced but great attitude and friendly. They are very efficient. They are strict and will throw people who are misbehaving on track out but they also have a light touch for someone who makes a one-off mistake. There are a lot of repeat customers so the overall tone is quite respectful on track. At Spa there were 50 something cars and I knew about half of them. The passing policy of only passing on the left on straights works very well in practice. Donington can be crowded. For an open pit lane type of event, its the only one where I find you may have to line up to get on track. I would avoid those Bookatrack sessions where it is Academy or other Caterham race series practice events. They get quite aggressive as you would expect. Donington does reward the lower hp car. So if you dont get the R300 then seriously look at a 310R, 280R or Academy car. My last trip to Donington in May 2018 was in a 310R and it was huge fun - the link here talks about it http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?11981-A-visit-to-Donington-Park-and-Silverstone-in-a-Caterham&highlight=donington I was planning my track dates earlier today. Let me know if you are going to see if our dates coincide. I usually day trip out of London unless it is a weekend like the Historics or I am headed to Oulton Park or Anglesey to make it a double header.

My CSR is formally a CSR Superlight on the factory order papers. It came with more carbon options than a regular CSR. Its also faster than these regular Superlights and Superlight Rs. So there!

Hi Rahul - It was great to have you part of the group. As Mike and I were discussing in Brussels airport last night (after an extended drive thanks to a particularly French GPS lady and 3 alpha males who would never think of stopping and asking for directions) the fun was over way too quickly. If you like warm weather then check out the Bookatrack Iberia trip in late-September. Its a very social week exploring 3 tracks - Jerez (Spain), Portimao (Portugal), and Ascari (Spain) - all open pit lane, max 40 cars and the Caterham SV rental would work well on those tracks. Hope to see you at another event.

Ferrari is post 15 of this thread, third photo. It’s the red thing.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tom has a fake?

A Caterham 420R is a pretty quick cat for Spa. I am still going through the data but the quickest lap I had was a 2min48.2. Lap record is 2min43 with equivalent race Caterham. An R300 lap record is 2min45. For a Focus RS, Renault Megane or Golf R32 then higher 2min50s was considered “good”. The Ginetta is relatively low powered say 145hp with around 1500lbs. Very nice handling and brakes. So it’s quick in the context of its power/weight ratio but will not compare to a 420R. 210hp at 1350lb. But it is a very nice track car as it is all purpose built. In the dry at Spa you want a Caterham. In the wet you want an all wheel drive car or a Caterham with proper track wets.

The weather was pretty rubbish. Snow, hail, sun, sleet, sun, rain, etc. We had all seasons in each hour every hour. So the Caterham on semi slick tires quite frankly sucked unless there was a dry line. Otherwise I was like a cat in a wet bathtub. The Focus RS Sport - 350hp, all wheel drive was a star. Perfect for the conditions. A number of cars had drivers that ran out of talent - BMW 5 series, a vw fun cup thing (guaranteed at these events), a Caterham.

So we all survived day 2. Rahul managed a safe spin at Pouhon. The Bookatrack mechanics took to calling Jeff’s Ginetta, the “Love Nest”. Why? Well he and his significant other were spending a lot of time in the small enclosed cabin (on track) that the Ginetta has. So late Sunday, when the Ginetta arrived in the pits with steamed up windows, the crew started laughing. Their laughter (and mine) increased once the instructor exited the passenger seat.

My rental car for this trip was something really unusual. Who of you has heard of a manufacturer called “DS”? So I had a DS7. It’s part of Peugeot/Citroen group but is a unique vehicle line. It was mostly well equipped - no power seats or rear vision camera. It was really quite nice to drive except...it had a 1.5L diesel. No turbo. It was sadly lacking in the engine ferret department. Glaciers have moved quicker.

Yes that is a Ferrari 275 GTB. Yes he took it out in the rain and snow. Yes he did spin it.

We all survived day 1, albeit a little tired and sore. There is a fair amount of G forces on the body around this track and that adds up over the course of the day. Day 2 begins in 5 hours. Weather forecast is looking iffy - sleet and rain. May be a day to take it gentle.

Sun is out in pit lane here

My trusty beastie!

Rahul is running the Golf R32 with a few track mods.