Croc

Klasik -

Similar experience here. I usually replace my front bearings each year as they have had it by the end of a season even though I keep them packed with grease. Fortunately on my CSR the fronts are from a Mustang - cheap Ford parts - not used to going around corners! The rear bearings have always behaved - from a 2000 VW Passat from memory.

Here is how they made a Lotus 51 for the road in the UK:http://www.sportscarmarket.com/car-reviews/classic-and-collector-cars/race/2346-1968-lotus-51r Now if that was imported over here I bet it could be registered as an historic in most states. However starting from scratch, all I can say is good luck!

I like your helmet Jackal. :cooldude: Will it still be in date when you get to use it?

I will offer a variation to the above. I have never worn a helmet while driving the seven - interstate or back roads. And I have done some longish drives on both. However, last year, driving home from work on I-95, near Newark airport, in my Audi A4 daily driver, a tractor trailer kicked up a 1 foot section of steel pipe into my windscreen/A pillar. One end ended up embedded in the drivers side head rest. Fortunately I ducked but I was very shaken from the experience. If I had been in the seven I would have been fine as the pipe would have sailed over the top of me. But it does not take much to imagine the consequences of what if it hit the pathetic little non-structural windscreen of a seven. A helmet may not have stopped something like that but I would prefer to be wearing it rather than not should an event like that occur. Lots of things get kicked up on roads, highways especially, such as rocks, pebbles, tire debris, exhaust bolts from Zetec Caterhams you are following, etc It depends how you like the odds when you want to roll the dice? That is a calculation you have to make based on personal preference and location. Its a little more risk in NYC area than it is in Montana for example.

He went off to pick some flowers for the girlfriend! Well....its helped explain a few of my spins over the years! :jester:

That sounds just so wrong. Do you check out the latest fashions or maybe some manolo blahnik shoes? Or are you just trying to hook up? :jester:

I will not make that mistake again. I had never driven a seven in Manhattan before, but was coming back from Long Island local Lotus car club cruise and thought I would take the midtown tunnel and then head south to pick up the Holland Tunnel as that was quicker than going home the long way around on the Belt Parkway and Verrazanzo Bridge and back up through Bayonne. I then thought it would be cool to show off through Times Sq. Dumb! Within the first block of Manhattan I realized I was monumentally stupid as all the taxis were changing lanes on top of me as I was 1) below their window sill height 2) they dont use mirrors for changing lane 3) they never look anywhere changing lanes and 4) they don't use indicators So I trundled down Broadway, using the horn all the time to keep other cars away and got stopped by a red light at 46th - front row, dead center. So everyone stopped on the crosswalk and crowded around the car to take photos, shake hands, more photos, chat/yell, etc. Light goes green and nothing can move - gridlock. NYC's finest cops wander up (complete c%^&s), abuse everyone, abuse me for disturbing the peace, accuse me of driving an unregistered car, the crowd abuse them back, .....you know the usual scene in Times Square. Eventually I squeezed through and on my way....until I found the red light at 45th street...oops!....repeat again. BTW, the Holland Tunnel was epic for driving a seven through...just great acoustics! :cooldude: Jon (Boxologist) on here regularly drives through Manhattan in his Caterham. Somewhere on this forum there are some very arty photos of his car around Manhattan very early in the morning in various states of broken down following a similar Gumball re-enactment to Mr Mustang. :flag:

Thread 3 shows a Dutton build plate but it does not look like their seven replica, the S1? Also the only Dauer I ever heard of was a 962 replica. Maybe it was an Eddie Bauer edition? :rofl:

Is it me or is that car an evil handler? I dont recall any Porker 911 being so frisky? Or was the driver over driving it for a bit of fun? Lovely display of car control under either option!

I have not tested the camera but looking at the external mic and its sound specs I can get a sense of it being comparable to the Crocolis camera I have used. The Replay external mic is a variation of the AT3350. Powered are powered mics using the LR44 battery. Given the very compact size of the camera I would not be surprised if you have inbuilt compromizes on the ability of the camera to process sound recordings from demandingly loud environments. My suggestion to improve matters would be: 1) get a 3.5mm extender cable (3.5mm male end and a 3.5mm female end) that will allow you to go from the camera back to the engine bay. These are cheap. http://www.amazon.com/iMBAPrice-iMBA-PS-06MF-6-Feet-Plated-Extension/dp/B009UEBQIM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374699424&sr=8-3&keywords=3.5mm+extension 2) Place the Replay mic in the engine bay somewhere out of the way where it cannot be eaten, burned, fried or otherwise destructive in rapidly rotating belts. I tape mine down to be sure. i am assuming that the end cap shown in the Replay XD external mic kit can be removed for this? 3) Give it a test. 4) If that test shows wind noise then look for a mini windcutter dead cat/kitten/pussy to mask the wind and try again. 5) If the test in 3) does not reveal wind noise but shows that the mic cannot handle the sound - breaking up, distortion, hoover noises, etc, then you have an issue with the mic. Maybe start cheap and try the AT3350 first as a replacement. Its a good little mic for the money but I just found they would break on me. Admittedly I am using them in a very demanding automotive environment!

I think I was referring to dead pussy as dry humor for a cat that has expired. However, there are things for cutting wind noise on microphones called dead cats or dead kittens - here for example: http://www.amazon.com/Rode-DEADKITTEN-Dead-Kitten-Windscreen/dp/B0017JHU10/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374693858&sr=8-2&keywords=dead+cat+windscreen They actually work quite well although I have lost and burned quite a few through my experimentation. I prefer the ones from www.windcutter.com as Rebekah the owner has been very helpful in providing advice. Much of my equipment was loaner from various suppliers and connections with me being a journalist reviewing the equipment for a newletter (and I did write articles). More than once I have returned equipment in a non-operative condition and escaped punishment. The cameras are all this way although I have since bought the Braun SixZero as that is one brilliant little camera and my GoPros are slowly dying off. I also bought some used (as new) microphone equipment on Amazon or Fleabay and saved a packet. I was not drunk when I taped the mic to the exhaust - I was having a blonde moment. Yellowss7 and Blubarisax were on track with me that day and luckily did not notice. Me in the electronics business? Nah! Just a boring little accountant/actuary The AT Pro-CM24 was mounted on Mike's (Kitcat) car. Really just taped down the mic to the aloominum with painters tape so it could not move or rattle leaving the foam covered microphone exposed. We removed the stand thing that it came with. The wire from the mic to the camera was also run along the side of the car and up the roll bar to the camera with painters tape holding it temporarily. A little more thought could make a neater permanent solution. When pricing on amazon, look at the "More buying choices" options. They have the items cheaper again.

So now my question is does it work with other cameras? Yes – tested the AT689 with the Drift HD Ghost and the Braun Six Zero with mic mounted up under the bonnet above the passenger foot well. Braun Six Zero and AT 689 Drift HD Ghost The Drift camera is not quite as good as processing sound as the Go Pro or other cameras with an external microphone. It picks up the deeper intake notes but seems to have trouble with the higher pitch notes once the intake is closed. Seems like Lesson 2 holds true. Lesson 11 - Some level of testing is required to make sure these solutions work on your seven. There is no out of the box solution for a seven So then I tried separate digital recorders, both mounted in the cockpit using the screw clamp mount. The first tried was a Tascam DR05 and the second was a Zoom H1. Most professional videos will use a separate recording source rather than use a mic attached to an action camera. This makes sense when you think about it as a digital recorder of sound is a complex piece of equipment, larger than the action cameras we are using. So its dynamic range, sensitivity of mic, noise reduction, and general ability to record a good track is always going to be better than the comprised equipment contained within a tiny GoPro box or the like. The one big downside with these is you have to spend time post production synchronizing video with sound (either with the regular video editing package or an application like Race Render. When you start recording you would clap to get a visual and aural cue from which to base the synchronization However, I found the vibrations from the car killed both the Tascam and then the Zoom H1. They would turn themselves off or just not record. So they were returned for refunds. Lesson 12 – Digital recorders offer the promise of better sound recording but more stuff to fuss with to record and sync with video later. Better to keep it simple. What sounds good to me does not sound good to others. Being a young stud on this forum I prefer a little more bass in my sound mix. Others prefer a little more treble when they hear their car recorded using my equipment. Lesson 13 – Sound is a personal thing. You may not like what I like – so experiment. This is my view on getting decent video sound on a Seven drive or track day. I don’t profess to know all the answers so please constructively contribute with details and examples of what you think works well for mic position/location and equipment used.

Consistency is damn near impossible. I installed all of these mics using the same technique I tried on my car and I get an overall fail rate. Some issues driving the problems are: - Vibrations making the mic to camera and internal mic connections break. - Flat battery in the AT-3350 (no idea how long the battery lasts – I seem to get 1.5 days continuous track time from my testing at NJMP but it always go flat when I really want to rely on it). - Forgetting to turn the on switch on the AT3350 (no excuse – shoot me!) - Vibrations eventually killing the mic so that it no longer records (internal fault to the case or some break in the mic wire?). Been through 3 this way now. It is very difficult to work out at a track or during a drive whether you are recording good sound or not. There is no effective way to test this out in the field. Easily done on a laptop though. There is no excuse for the errors I made – I was the biggest tool in the kit. Keeping it simple is important as you have a lot to remember to coordinate when you are about to go on track (helmet, gloves, belts, camera, fuel, mic turned on, bonnet clipped down, etc. Lesson 6 – Just when you think you know something you get taught you know shit! Try again. With all this frustration I needed a cure. Lesson 7 – Alcohol can improve your attitude. So now I try for the Holy Grail. I give up on the cheap but fragile AT3350 and I run the AT689 mic forward to the engine bay and (painters) tape it to the shelf above the passenger foot well. The metal in theory should shield the mic from electrical interference and I should get lovely throaty sound from the roller barrel throttle bodies. Recorded with a GoPro And so it works. On back off I do get a tinny (another technical term of my making) sound as the intake is closed off but the rest of the sound is perfect. I even hear the CR500 tires being bitch slapped through the corners. Lesson 8 – Engine bay on the intake side can produce really good sound with an external mic. So now can I replicate the sound using different mics same location? GoPro HD2 paired with either an Opteka VM2000 shotgun mic or an AT Pro-CM24 shotgun mic. Opteka mic GP010002 - YouTube AT ProCM24 mic Success!!! Both are Zetecs of relatively similar horsepower running the same day and on the same track. The only difference in mounting is that the AT Pro CM24 was mounted drivers side above the pedal box on the Caterham. The Opteka was mounted above the passenger foot well under the bonnet of the SPF S1. The AT Pro CM24 sounds best to my ears. As a contrast here is the Opteka taped to the inner scuttle above drivers knee – not bad but a bit rattly and more wind noise than I would like. Would prefer just engine noise/exhaust noise. Lesson 9 – Engine bays are a good location for microphones as wind noise is largely minimized and intake sound is pretty good Lesson 10 – Have a drink as a reward at this point.

Somewhere around this point in my discovery I read lots of techie type articles about how you need a powered microphone to improve dynamic range, improve gain and possibly score on a Friday night. Well maybe not the last one but it got your attention. So I graduated to an AT-3350 lavalier omnidirectional microphone. This has a little battery within it. So let’s mount it to a GoPro and locate the mic under the rear tonneau in the boot area. Much better. Much more differential noise than I would like – whines like Yellowss7 on this forum. Still some wind noise. Not as throaty as the engine sounds in real life – a little thin sounding. Still not a great recorded representation of the sound we hear from our cars. Lesson 3 – Power is better than no power when using a microphone So now I thinking I need to move the mic around to find a better position within the car. Positions tried and discarded: - Under the passenger and driver’s seat – too much wind noise - Under the dash on the center tunnel – too much wind noise. I guess air flow rolls off the dash and circles under the dash and foot well area? - On the rear wing in front of the exhaust tip – way way way too much wind noise even with a dead cat cover. A dead cat cover is a furry item that covers the entire mic tip and is intended to protect the mic from hearing the wind. In that position, I would probably found a dead pussy to be more effective than the mic cover. - Mount the lavalier mic to the exhaust tip using painters tape. Totally blonde move from me. Burned the tape, melted the mic, recorded nothing worthwhile and I felt like a right muppet. After hanging upside down in my passenger foot well like an overgrown bat I saw a nice ledge way way up under the passenger side dash where the relays are located. So I gave that a go. I also upgraded mics to a demo model of an AT689 that I… errr….borrowed (and broke…oops!). This is an expensive powered mic (about $160 from memory – now superseded). I do not recommend trying this at home. Much better. No wind noise now but because it is next to electrical components and it is unshielded you get static and interference. You also can hear the cycling of the fuel pump relay if you listen carefully. So that is another fail. Lesson 4 – Sticking your mic next to electrical components in a car will likely get some static/interference noise. I do learn that a better quality microphone will produce better sound recording results – you get what you pay for. From my direct phone discussions with the Go Pro tech people on how they produce their videos I learn that they frequently use a Sennheiser MKE400 or in one case a Rode Video Mic. Both are $200 area each. They also admitted they have used from time to time separate digital sound recorders to blend sound into the sound recorded by the camera. More of digital recorders later. Lesson 5 – With microphones you get what you pay for So let’s try the same mics and locations in different cars of different USA7s members to see if I can replicate the results consistently. All of the following are done with two AT-3350 mounted in the boot area under the tonneau using GoPro HD2s: No http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OFXx0S3UucM#t=639s Yes

Getting decent video audio from GoPro or other types of action cameras I have started this thread as lots of people ask me how to get decent sound in a seven while on road or on track. I am not sure I am any better qualified to answer but I have done a lot of experiments to form an opinion as to what I think works. Of course opinions are like assholes – everyone has one and quite a few people have two! I am not going to cover which is the best camera or mounting systems in this thread – just want to focus on sound. I personally want a good throaty engine sound in my videos, nothing annoys me more than seeing a great video with some crap music overlaid. I want to hear that engine roar at revs. If you are like that read on. If you prefer crap music then stop reading now. I am not an audio engineer – I just know what I like listening to in a sevens driving video and there seem to be enough sensible enthusiasts on here who are similar to me in what they want out of a sevens video for sound. I am an anal personality (very appropriate being an accountant/actuary) – I am trying for high quality sound – some of you may agree with me and others may want to short cut. All of us are right – we deserve to get what we want. Klasik and Kitcat expressed some desire to know more about my sound research on videos – not quite sure why they ask me – I could f$%^ up an erection! So this is a practical approach for the average numpty like me. A seven has unique acoustical properties: - They are aerodynamically dirty so lots of wind noise is a given. - They have a light construction so they transmit more vibration, noise and even electrical interference. - The light construction can sound “tinny” instead of resonating a nice deep note that a regular car might do with its more enclosed and insulated spaces. - They have lots and lots of wind noise….did I say that already? So this is a challenge that even open wheel race cars don’t really have as most of them have slippery aero bodywork that can hide microphones unlike a seven. Many of the video examples below are illustrating the sound changes with the different methods. Don’t listen to the whole thing – listen just enough to get a sense of what works or does not work. So let’s start at a baseline. The GoPro or any numbers of action cameras advertise fantastic sound quality out of the box. That might be so when you are surfing, horse riding, riding a mountain bike, rock climbing or running around with your girlfriends during a tampon advertisement. However that is not true when you stick an action camera into a seven and ask it to record a spirited drive or track event. For example here is a GoPro HD2 without external mic in its regular waterproof case perfectly mangling the glorious tones of a beautiful BDA engine in this gorgeous Caterham: GOPR1922 - YouTube Hmmm…. So that sucks! But what if you move the GoPro from the roll bar down to a more sheltered position in around the scuttle, just behind the aeroscreen? GOPR0191 - YouTube Actually that is not too bad. The position seems to shelter the camera from the worst of the air turbulence noise. Lesson 1 – Position the microphone out of the wind. So let’s try and use an external microphone and see if that improves matters? Just a simple Olympus ME-52W connected to a POV VIO HD camera with the mic under the canvas tonneau in the boot area: Not great. The mic is overpowering the ability of the camera to process the intense noise frequencies. So with exactly the same mic mounted in exactly the same position let’s try it with a Go Pro HD2: Well that’s better. Still a little soft in volume and too much wind. Lesson 2 – Some cameras are better than others at processing recorded sound.

That photo is just magnificent - brilliantly done! :seeya:

Here is an idea - share a car and split the cost. Quite a few of the renters were either father/son or two friends. I had 7 hours of open pit lane track on day 1 and 8 hours on day 2. I used about 8-8.5 hours over the 2 days (and was exhausted for it). Share the car and you still get a ton of track time.

Given I am on vacation for the preceding 3 weeks (lazy shit I know!:seeya:) I will have to wait and see if I can take the Friday off work. I would like to participate but I will be a late sign up so I can be sure I can run. I suspect Yellowss7 will also be recovering from excessive sun, relaxation and martinis like me! :-D

Steve - We should coordinate timing and I will try for the same days. JeffH also expressed a desire to try this out. I definitely want to go back. Other options - they have their own Nurburgring private 1.5 day track day. There is also their Spanish trip and the Monza/Mugello trip. Jude - That is a question I would rather not revisit right now..LOL Its a bucket list item so my usual frugal nature went out the window. All the prices are on the Bookatrack website by date/event. The Caterham rental is all inclusive and includes the track day piece. There is a large deductible if you write off the car but thats not at risk unless you are dumb or it is snowing (or both). Formula 1 circuits have a huge amount of run off. Cheap rental car to get from Brussels airport. Plenty of reasonable (for Europe) accommodation options and eating options are available close to the circuit.

That is not what I expected after what I saw happen at NJMP. Maybe unrelated but what octane fuel were you running that day?

Personally I never run slicks on my seven and have no plans to - street tires only. I am working through plans to shift to 13 inch rims but will be using the Avon street tires. I prefer their feel and progressive release at limit. I have run slicks on other race cars in the past and think it is the right solution there. But a seven does not really need them to drive quickly if you have a good feel for the car. Those needing to run slicks are just determined to find a way to keep up with me without investing time in improving their driving skill. :seeya: Yes that was the day when 4 out of 6 rental Caterhams wrote themselves off. I have not had that much wrist action since I was a 15 year old. Quite memorable. :ack: Sadly my days of having a drink (or even using mouthwash) are ending thanks to an alcohol allergy. And I just checked the balls and those walnuts are definitely not elephant sized. So it must be the size and shape of my brain? :conehead:

The 180hp Duratec is a nice car. Lightened flywheel and 13 inch wheels make it pretty perky and improve the character over my car. Could I have used more power - sure - but I was not missing it and was enjoying myself immensely. The video flattens the perspective - the exit out of Eau Rouge is a very steep climb. You cannot see the apex of Radillon at the top of the hill so you aim at a treetop you decide is a marker. The altimeter in meters on the dash shows the height differentials as I go around the track. It is almost as steep at the Cutting at Mt Panorama. Best advice - take more curbing at Radillon apex and you will find it settles the car on line better and holds speed better out on to Kemmel straight. Take it easy in Rivage as the off camber nature means you will wash outwards if you put on too much throttle. Lastly, stop being a pussy and go flat out through Blanchimont. All were true :rofl:

Here video of the first session Tuesday when I managed to get the logger to work (its in 1080 60fps – select the cog wheel to get higher res). The GPS signals were erratic due to the terrain and trees so there is jumpiness to the speeds and map from time to time. At 12m20 you start to see a black Caterham in the rear camera and then the front camera hanging the tail out. When you are Jonny and run BaT you can have a bit of fun from time to time. His car control is immense and you will hear me laughing aloud as he hams it up on track. Brilliant stuff! He does also hold the outright Caterham race lap record around Spa at 2m45.46 in a Caterham R300 so he is one guy I want to follow on track to learn. By contrast I only got to a best lap time of 2m57 in my last session (with no traffic) – just need to find another 12 seconds! The second video screwed up the video sound but was my last session. You can see me halfway through finally summon the courage/skill to take Blanchimont corner flat out without lifting at 105-110mph (F1 cars do it at 200mph!). I had such a blast I am trying to work out when I can get back to do it all again! Forget your retirement savings, college funds, dresses and jewelry for the other half, come on out and live. Life is too short to miss experiences like this.

At this point you are at the maximum altitude of the circuit where you start the downhill run back to the pits. An illustration of the drop is the next photo of me going through the left hander after Rivage – less than a mile beyond Les Combes but a lot lower - photo was taken up near Kemmel Straight. At this point you start picking up real speed, winding your way down before reaching the high speed Blanchimont area. This culminates in the Bus Stop – a very slow esses complex just before the main straight and the F1 pits. After the F1 pits you have the very sharp right hander called La Source. For some reason lots of cars get out of shape on this corner? The bad (missed the apex by 12 feet, opposite lock is on and the damn photographer found me!) The Good