Croc

Video now posted at: http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?p=59930#post59930 Dermot we missed having you around this last time and hope you can make it when we do this all again in 2012. I am looking forward to having a whole new bunch of faces in sevens (or other "add lightness" vehicles).

Following on from the thread at: http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7060 I finally got the video together of the USA7s track days on November 12 and 13, 2011 at New Jersey Motorsport Park. We ran Thunderbolt on the Saturday and Lightning circuit on the Sunday. To head off some questions, it was passing only by point by so you see some passes that should have happened but did not because there was no point by. Also we set up some video shooting runs of a few sevens together at times because it made for more interesting sevens video. Because this was edited on a flight to Singapore I had no music to mix in with the opening and slide sequences and just made do with good old engine noise. Any editing errors are blamed on the nice whiskeys I was having It is in HD high quality so big screen on your computer should work. Front facing cameras were the Go Pro 2 HD and VIO POV HD. Rear vision cam was an MD80 mini-cam. I was using external lapel mics clipped to the carpet in the boot of the seven under the tonneau. This is why you hear my diff whine/clank/rattle so clearly at times. Data was provided via RaceChrono GPS Touchscreen bluetoothed linked to a QStarz GPS unit mounted on the center tunnel. Data and front/rear videos were synced together using Race Render software before being edited in regular video editing software.

Congratulations! The CSR is a formidable package for road or track. I think you have made a wise decision. Which engine package did you decide to go for? Not sure if you are constructing the car or Caterham USA is? If you need the various manuals or CSR technical reference materials drop me a PM here and I can send you copies via regular email.

:nopity: I always wondered when I would get to use this smiley! :jester:

My vote goes for the 3M clear shield on the nosecone and front/rear wings. On my previous seven I had the Caterham rear win ali protectors which took a beating. For the current seven, I did not put the carbon rear protectors on the carbon rear wings....would have looked silly so I just clearshielded it. I also put clear helicopter tape over the lower front A arms to protect them. If it can protect helicopter blades from wind abrasion it will protect my A arms. I did not put the clearshield on the sides.....how could I chip that area....well.. one large dusty spin at New Jersey Motorsport Park proved that you can. Of course you can always put 10 coats of clear coat on the wings like Alaskossie!

Lockton Affinity has a good track day insurance program with a good team running it. Price really depends on your track background, car value, etc. The best prevention is not to drive 10/10ths, have a well maintained and prepped car, watch when you run with other cars (especially BIG ones) and not get too close, plus run on a circuit with a ton of run off. If you have space you can go off and slow down safely. The secret is not to do as both Kitcat and I did on the first track days with a brand new car.... There is another factor in how I prefer my track days - run with cars and drivers you trust. I trust the sevens group and generally Lotus drivers. They are late brakers, not too high top speed and can handle corners (except a purple Exige!). Sevens do not mix well with other cars on a track as our style of driving is very different.

Yes - a couple of auto insurers look at you tube videos either from a claim avoidance perspective or an underwriting risk perspective. Also in my case I am the Stig!

Excellent work by Glen! Although Tom, in session two you very nearly had me brown nosing you! Not sure why you stopped so radically on the neck/shoulder of the octopus but you can hear me lock up trying to avoid! :ack: For session 4 I have now worked out how to integrate the front and rear videos with the data. I can actually synchronize and overlay your footage into my videos which is pretty neat. Never done this video editing stuff before but I am enjoying it!

I have merged my videos with the GPS data for the second and third sessions of Thunderbolt. I will go the next step once I have received Tom's, Karl's, and Glenn's videos and merge them into sequence with mine. So as a short taster... Session 2 Thunderbolt Yes I know my diff sounds like a bucket of bolts...its a Caterham! Session 3 Thunderbolt Sorry - could not work out how to embed the image

Glenn Schostak who was driving the silvery Lotus Exige around at Thunderbolt and acting as official Sevens videographer has already come up with a short video from Saturday. :hurray: Well done at short notice! All we have to do is persuade him to buy a seven!! He is quicker at editing than me! :willy_nilly:

No awards given for funny captions but all contributions greatly appreciated for amusement of the forum! http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/NJMPSE4.jpg

Last shot - me on the Lightning bowl. The banking gives a great angle. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6241.jpg

My fat rear end: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6560.jpg Karl's fat rear end: :jester: I love that scaffolding/roll cage! http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6550.jpg Here is Mike and Ron (or maybe the instructor driving here?) http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6535.jpg

Karl keeping me company with Ron just behind him. We had just passed the GTR....just kidding. This thing has something like 800hp at the rear wheels (modified from standard) and passed us like we were parked. On the main straight at Thunderbolt, when these things go past you feel an air pressure bow wave and the ground rumbling - an awesome car. However, this GTR later went POOF on the main straight at Lightning and resulted in a black flag for all of us to go to the pits while they recovered the beast: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6472.jpg Ron and his instructor. Ron is going to be one very quick driver when he gets up to speed. He is already pretty fast after just 3 track days: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6498.jpg Me ahead of Tom and Karl http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6513.jpg

I love this shot - a freight train of sevens at Lightning! http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6300.jpg Mike leading us at Lightning before he took off at warp speed: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6470.jpg Mike's now gone so Tom takes Papa Seven duties: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6471.jpg Mike off on his own at his nemisis corner at Lightning - 2 spins here: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6481.jpg

Doug's orange and caged R500. Doug does not come on USA7s but is local to NJMP. He is lethally fast, able to rapidly outpace even Mike. I think he found some go faster parts ideas from looking at our cars this weekend! http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/DSC01054.jpg Not as many photos at Thunderbolt as the photographer was not there all day. Here I am being chased by Glen in the Exige who is entertaining buying a seven (we are trying to persuade him!!!). He is a quicker driver than me so he must being doing his offical seven track cam videographer. He has some video he plans to send me so I can incorporate it in a merged video from Tom, myself and Karl. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_5625.jpg At Lightning, Tom coming off the bowl being followed by me: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6202.jpg I am getting closer.... http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/IMG_6284.jpg

Picture thread started at http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7060 I will add more as the day goes on. I did not want to misdirect Mike's car thread with NJMP stuff!

Following on from Tom's post at http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7047&page=2 It was a very good weekend. Pretty sore still this morning. Karl and I had a shocker of a trip back. On Rt 42 we saw the flashing signs saying 75 min delay between exits 5 and 7 on the turnpike. Karl did the smart thing and run I-295 up as far as you can go before we came onto the turnpike at exit 6. Then it was another 20 odd miles of bumper to bumper. Then luckily I followed Karl onto the truck lanes when the turnpike divided as the car side went bumper to bumper from Garden State Parkway to Newark airport. All in a 2 hour trip took 4 hours. I had a blast on the track. After really hammering around with Mike on Saturday at Thunderbolt and the first session on Sunday at Lightning, I decided to dial it back because I just was being a risk to myself. So Tom became my sparring partner although Karl joined the party in the last session when we found him (or he found us). It is far more fun to run with a bunch of sevens around than just being on the track by yourself. And on Sunday the track was empty enough that I had most of a session by myself. Mike wins the Sevens Award for Gardening - 2 offs at Thunderbolt, one of then on the cool down lap with a bent rim and 2 spins at Lightning, both being on the left hand 90 degree turn at the end of the back straight after the bridge. As the previous inaugural winner of this this prestigious award, I quite happily relinquish it to Mike! In fairness, I think the issue was trying to drive at 10/10ths with suspect brakes. As for the tracks, both are brilliant for Sevens. Now that I have had a good day with Thunderbolt I think I prefer it for its technical challenges. It is a harder track to drive but it rewards with huge speed/time advantage when you get it right. Mike had turn 3 nailed just right and would open up 100 yards on me but I could catch Mike up 100 yards in turn 4 alone. Lightning is a gem of a track for sevens as it just great fun. In the last 2 sessions I just stayed in 5th and 6th gear all the time except for one corner where I came back to third briefly. Time to start planning a June event like last year. We have to bring back Michael D, Dermot, Stuart and Scott plus add some new faces like Steve, Jack, Dave and whoever else has a seven or similar car. Three cheers to Tom for bringing this together. Here are some still pictures of the weekend: Pit lane at Thunderbolt on Saturday. Tom's yellow Superlight R, my silver CSR Superlight 260+ in front of the garage http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/DSC01050.jpg Karl's orange R500+50, Mike's burgundy and silver stripe Birkin (great color scheme for a seven!) http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/DSC01051.jpg Pit lane at Lightning on the Sunday. Ron's green R500 can be seen here. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/DSC01053.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/CSR/Sevens%20track%20day%20Nov%202011/DSC01055.jpg

errr.....Mike.....you forgot the other spin....you know the one in the Octopus (or Jersey Devil as some call it). It was the one that followed your tank slapper dance of about 200 yards before rotating off track in front of me. Luckily I caught it on video. :rofl: Being serious for a moment, Mike's Birkin looked great on track yesterday. I have always been a fan of the Birkin IRS model when I drove it 3 years ago and yesterday confirmed that is a very good car. It helps that Mike is abolutely fearless in the fast corners (unlike me :blush: ). It was noticeable that the Birkin was more nimble than my car on some of the corners, rewarding a different cornering line to the one I might take - not surprising when you consider how heavy my car (and me) is compared to Mike's Birkin. I can now see Mike's earlier observation in this thread that the Birkin is less "polished" as a product than his previous Caterham. It still looks like it needs another mapping session - it does not like cold starts. The brakes are another area for serious upgrade. At the end of main straight we are both doing about 123mph. This is GPS data not car speedo (which BTW says 135mph in my car...). Mike's brake lights come on at braking marker 4. I can go to braking marker 1.5 area and the instructor driving Ron's R500 in the last session was getting to braking marker 1. New pad time to see if that cures the problem. Fantastic day at Thunderbolt!

This may be the only way I keep up with Kitcat on this weekends track days... :blush:

I say that before each of my skydive jumps and I am nowhere near as high!

LOL :rofl:....and this is from someone whose only two skidmarks left in his life were laid down on the curves of a toilet bowl. I am very much looking forward to seeing it (and you) this weekend at NJMP.

That is a nice color combination - I like it. Just remember there is no shame in an off track excursion or two as you learn to handle all that power on the track I will be interested to hear the results of your track sessions. Not in NJMP by any chance?

Ok I will fess up here: Encounter 1 [Australian desert outback] Mr Plod: Excuse me sir but do you realize you were doing 230km/h in a 110km/h zone? Croc: Yes, my father [in the passenger seat] said you guys never have radar traps out here so I could go a little faster than the speed limit. Mr Plod: [To my Dad]: Is that correct? You told him to break the speed limit? Dad: I don't recall that. I think I said that you c**** are usually at the pub and too pissed to work in the afternoons. Mr Plod: Step out of the car gentlemen. Encounter 2 [suburban Sydney Australia] Mr Plod: [After a long and difficult discussion] If you had been more reasonable in this discussion I would have let you off with a warning about your speeding. Croc: Yeah and pigs fly! Encounter 3 [Maine - 1 day after moving to the US] Mr Plod: What the f*** do you think you were doing? You were doing 120mph! Croc: No I wasn't. It was only 120km/h on my dashboard. Mr Plod: You are an idiot! I should shoot you! That is miles per hour! Croc: Errrrr [sinking feeling]

Bruce you were lucky you did not go - Nancy would have frozen. I think it was colder than the prior year event. I made it. Little cool out there but I managed to give myself sun burn. It was nice to get out and clear the sinuses. The route had to be changed for the damage from last weeks snow storm. It was because of this and the difficulties in keeping a large road group together that I found it a little stop start. As it was I branched off about 3/4s of the way through to get myself back for another committment that afternoon. There were 2 other sevens there - Kathy and Al's BRG seven and Kurt's prisoner yellow/BRG seven. Neither of them are on here but they turn up at the LEO group events out in Frenchtown, NJ. I took a pic at the start which I will upload later. I was more focused on testing my video cameras ahead of NJMP this weekend - I want to catch Tom spinning off!