Croc

Dave - you said exactly what I was thinking. Submarining is my biggest concern in our cars especially against SUV and feral F150 drivers. I am curious if the passenger compartment cage played any role in stopping the Stalker from submarining further? I think the Brunton Auto team deserve a big thumbs up for building a good strong car that can stand up to an accident like this.

All I will say is that if the government cannot efficiently run a country then what hope do they have in establishing and running a mere website! :leaving:

....and my 13 inch wheels.....

Maybe you are right? Maybe the various shop fitters are right? Maybe the manufacturers are right? Given the environment where I am using the car I felt it was an unacceptable risk to stretch them that far and went with a consensus view from the majority on the basis I was getting a sensible answer to my problem. Call me conservative but at least I dont look stupid with an ill-judged decision on a topic where I am happy to admit I am not an expert.

Daniel, I never did go for the R888s although I have since learned a CSR owner in Europe has fitted them. Its close but they fit supposedly. I have been trying to go a different direction - 13 inch custom rims for my offset that I can then mount a bunch of thicker sidewall sticky tire brands on. Despite others with fat wallets saying I should go for slicks I don't feel the need for that. 235/50/15 can be stretched for the rears. Any lower (i.e 225/50s) cannot and you will find tire installers will refuse to for fear of litigation - they will only follow the manufacturer installation guidance - I tried and got rejected. Between LA and Shanghai means you are in Hawaii or Guam? With a seven??? Cheers mike

I can see Wemtd is a polisher! Nice car! Well for a different type of scale here is my car next to the E type: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/October%202011/DSC00951_edited-2.jpg And for a scary type of comparison here is Jvbtte's seven next to a Lamborghini LM002: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/October%202011/DSC00950_edited-1.jpg I have seen the D type before - lovely piece of work. But when are you going to come out and play with other sevens Stiggy? :cooldude:

Forget Caterham's online UK store - just call them direct in the UK during their working hours. The website is frequently inaccurate as to what parts are or are not available. The out of stock issue on critical parts has lately been unacceptable. Sadly I think they are suffering from trying to grow too big too quick. I second Redline as a place to phone. They have frequently managed to send me parts within a week across the Atlantic for very reasonable prices. I usually call the UK directly these days when I need something - easier and quicker and often cheaper than trying to get locally.

Martin - Congratulations and comiserations are in order. I hope you find something of interest to move onto but that we still see you turn up on this forum from time to time.

Hardly, Steve is like the local neighborhood dog, he chases anything that moves! :jester: Hi Steve :seeya:

Unless you run a business it may be hard to understand but Caterhams are expensive because they have a small number production run built largely by hand in one of the most expensive countries in the world for manual labor. If the design was radically changing to go more advanced then you would see them far more expensive again as they seek to recover from that investment. The comparison between Caterham and Donkervoort is interesting as Donkervoort have tried to make the cars technologically advanced and they cost double to triple the Caterhams now. I saw the financial details of Caterham when it was shopped to us at it last private equity buyout and while I cannot disclose details I can confirm that there are no mega profits in the business. In fact I thought it was a bad investment - great product/brilliant cars but high cost production and low margins with the uncertainty of heavy capital demands from the production/inventory process and high risk to whims of markets/trends and uncertainty over government regulation making the cost of compliance prohibitive. I think the current management are doing reasonably well with the hand they have to play. While I would love cheaper cars personally, if you want one you have to pony up the cash because thats what it takes to live the dream. Very sad but true. Personally, I think Brunton Stalker have a better business model foundation than Caterham and have the advantage of a cheaper cost structure to scale up in the future. I hope they continue to do well. Anyway, an emotional debate about high prices for the cars we love should not be disrupted by sensible logic! :jester:

Keep Calm and Blat on

Of course they will. Hell, they even let me, a truly redneck southerner, get involved. Us southerners should stick together and show these yankees how to drive - not too difficult actually!:cooldude:

Oh wow - its Lakeside circuit :drool: That brings back some memories. I once ripped a rear wing off my first Seven (1965 S2) when I got a leetle too close to the wall coming onto the main straight. Nothing has changed from what I can see - just incredible. Looks like it would still billow dust clouds if you did some gardening! :driving: Those videos have made my day! :seeya:

And the award for the forum member with the most marketing smarts goes to.......... ACE3!!!!!!! :hurray: Nice job getting your car featured on Jalopnik and it got a pretty good reception too! http://jalopnik.com/for-13-000-we-are-family-1447091648

Sounds similar to my - goes haywire as soon as I go above 100mph so most of the time it is useless to me. - Check the speed sensor gap and have it on the smallest setting. Is it under 1mm? - If that is done then check the earth on the speedo - Check the speedo cable - If that is turning up negative then it is not unheard of for the Speedo to be failing and need replacement. This is a very common issue on many Caterhams and a search of Blatchat should reveal the solution to be one of the 3 above.

As Automoda says - it is one great slideshow of sevens. I think I recognized KiwiBirkin's car in one of the photos. I also saw a Birkin SV although it may have been a PRB? The Ferrari pontoon lookalike was a local special hybrid from my recollection. Very many thanks for posting Maurice! It would be good to have such a large event - yellowss7 and myself have started off small with an annual track day event but we are going try to add in the upcoming year a more social element for those not interested in tracking their car. Winery tours, visit to Atlantic City for spa beauty treatment (spouses and S1Steve are looking forward to that!), dinners, drives, etc. However, it is tough to get the numbers because of the distances involved and difficulty in finding dates that work for everyone. I think the clubbie community is also better knitted together in Australia than it is in the US where we seem to be fragmented across several clubs/forums. So Automoda, I can put you down on the list for 2014?

HI S1-Mead Did I meet you out at the Carlisle Show about 4 years ago? Your green S1 is jogging a memory in this rusty brain of mine! Cheers mike

This is the type of post I love. The excitement, the drama, the agony and the excitement at the end of spending some money on your new baby to fettle it into perfect condition and make it yours! Really well done!! :hurray: May you have many happy drives, :driving::cooldude:

And compare silicon implants? He does have a nice rack of man boobs :-p.

Sure there is! He is driving a silver CSR in Beverly Hills! :jester:

Even worse he has bought a CSR! In silver, same as mine! Oh the shame. Oh the humanity. :bs: HERE I don't think I can drive my car again and need to sell it for something less metrosexual and more masculine. I am not into full Brazilians so I like hair on my chest (legs, arms, back, groin, etc). A Brunton Stalker perhaps? I suspect I am safe posting this - this forum with its misfits and oddjobbies is unlikely to appeal to someone like him! :rofl: On the good side for a moment, this has to be the first time when I am ahead of someone trendy on a trend curve. :blueangel:

The last Carlisle show I went to with my seven had an autocross event operated on site during the event. It was part of the official program.

I suspect Porsche has made a careful calculus of how much it would cost to fix the problem and maintain goodwill versus doing nothing. Right now it is assuming that it will all follow normal PR theories and blow over shortly (3 months or so). Hopefully it does not as it is always good form to keep the bastards honest. Porsche knows they will lose current customers but the way they are going mainstream means that they expect to get new customers that will replace the unhappy as an aspirational brand. Has anyone else noticed the similarities between the Porsche approach for this fault with their colleagues at VW and Audi? They are using the same playbook. I had my own issues with a 2010 Audi A4 which required 2 clutches in 3000 miles (first clutch at 500 miles) and it took 1.5 hours and 2 test drives to convince a service manager that there was a warranty issue the first time. Their first reaction is to always say no. This is why I am unlikely to want to dive into having another VAG anytime soon. Luckily Porsche were never on my wish list - learning to drive on a 1971 VW Beetle cured me of the 911 desire for lift off oversteer. :ack:

G'day Maurice. Thanks for posting. Sadly I will not make it there at that time my of year. My visit to see family in Sydney and Brisbane will timed for late December as I make my annual Christmas visit. Pity the Clubman Nationals are not timed for then - usual family squabbles will mean I will be desperate to escape! Hope the event goes off well and the weather is perfect! :cheers:

Call me pessimistic but I don't expect they will be able to pull this together. Financing is not organized. They have been having leadership food fights in the last year. They have not sorted out how the track will work across the top of the circuit and still provide access to the residents who live there. There are houses there which have garages and driveways opening direct onto the would-be-track. Look on google maps at JFK Boulevard East in Weekhawken north of Pershing Road to see what I mean. Then there is the simple matter of turning a typical atrocious NJ road surface into a beautifully smooth and graded F1 circuit with all the safety gear. I would love to see it happen but am not confident.