Croc

Last Monday, I found a convenient excuse to get to Silverstone Circuit in the UK to participate in a track day. For some reason Continental/United/Rubbish Airlines would not allow me to take a seven onto the plane as hand luggage so I rented a Caterham Seven SV R300 race car from Bookatrack.com. This website allows you to see nearly all track days being offered around the UK by the various operators and at the various circuits and then book your place, rent your car, hire a helmet and schedule instruction online. I found it an extremely dangerous way to spend lots of money. What I did not know is that it was not like a normal track day. It was more like a race car test day with some very professional cars and drivers out there testing and getting practice. There was some seriously expensive pieces of equipment and supporting operations here. Talk about jumping back into tracking cars at the deep end. I felt like I was in a very small minority of drivers not wearing race overalls and the full monogrammed helmet, shoes, nomex balaclava, etc. Street clothes did not look the part in this crowd. To say I was nervous is an understatement. Registration was simple – they did not even ask for my license. Then it was the drivers briefing which was comprehensive and well done with suitable words of warning. The key rules: - Open pit lane - Pass only on straights. No passing under brakes. Pass only on the left once the car has moved over to the right. - If stuck behind a slower car do not melt his rear bumper with your headlights while waiting for him to get through his cornering line. Hmmm….I think I was the only one who bothered to listen and remember this. Must be since the red mist descended over most drivers at 9am when the lights went green! The Bookatrack crowd were professionally set up with 6 cars – 5 were the R300 180hp Duratecs of which 3 were regular sized sevens and 2 were SV’s. There was a 6th K-engined classic which stayed on the trailer all weekend – I think I heard mutterings of frequent head gasket failure. It was really cool to be using a pit garage that you know on July 8-10 will be used by McLaren, Ferrari, Williams or some other team at the British Grand Prix. I scored the lucky 7 car. While it is a race car living an abused life from a bunch of rent-a-hackers (like me!), it never let me down all day, despite my abuse and my little mishap, more of which later. Being a race car there was an aeroscreen, no indicators, headlights, brake lights etc. It came with the standard 3.62 diff and the standard 6 speed Caterham gear box. Exhaust was standard as Silverstone has a 105db sound limit. Full cage was fitted along with the CSR version Tillets (which I fitted into comfortably for the record!). Tires were street CR500s. The walk down pit lane was excellent - some seriously rapid pieces of machinery. The money was clearly evident. I passed what must have been a group of bankers talking loudly about their diamond encrusted Rolex watches. I would have more accurately described them as "wankers" (google at your risk). A smattering of Lotus 211s:

I stopped in at Soft Bits for Sevens today in Sussex England to swap over my half hood from an ordering snafu plus get head rest pockets put in the tonneau. It was easy to convince myself to do this as I got to play on great twisty B-roads on the way. SBFS is literally an attic of maybe 16 feet square above a 2 car garage where a small team of 4 work. Jill and Nick and the rest of the team were great and it was good to meet them in person. The location is just magical - feels like it is in a hidden valley of classic english rural life. A sevens run around that area would be brilliant.

The British love their three wheelers. Personally I could think of more fun ways to kill myself but here is a new incarnation: There were a lot of vendors selling parts, memorabilia and generally things that I like to browse around for hours thinking of new ways to part myself from my money. There were 2 other cars outside that caught my eye. The first was a Morris Minor 1000 that had a transplant of a 3.5L Rover V8. Now I don’t think the Morris Minor was sold in the US which was fortunate. However, growing up in Australia, my mother had one and I very much recall the handling as evil. I also recall my father saying the VW Beetle was a much better handling car which I suppose is the same as considering relative attractiveness of women after either a case of beer or a keg of beer. The last car was this 1960s classic Jaguar Mark II. Looks authentic doesn’t it? The creator/owner took a 2005 era S-type Jaguar with the Type R sports pack. This has the supercharged 4.2L V8. He then replaced the body with the old Mark II body shell. So you have the chassis, suspension, drive train and even interior (cabin and trunk) of the new car but the exterior looks of the old 1960s car. The S-Type was a decent sporty handling car for its time having once been terrorized by a colleague in Brussels who had one. The owner described it as a labor of love as you get the modern reliability but much better styling. I can only imagine the effort to get everything to mate together perfectly and look original. More entertainingly I can imagine some pimply teenager pulling up to the lights in his hot rod and getting smoked by this seemingly old car!

A nice looking Stratos kit. While Caterham was not present with a display, Westfield did make it with one car: Also, Chris Rea’s well used Caterham was on display:

MNR is another seven manufacturer which does not get much air time in the US. This is their version of the seven with the body kit on: However, I found the bare chassis to be more interesting as a design.

Usual bunch of so-so Atom replicas: Cobra replica:

Time to shift from club stands to new manufactuers of kit cars and replicas. Somewhat predictable mix of seven options, Atom replicas and other tasty options. A new Miata based coupe costing GBP4500 for a bolt on body kit using the existing miata floor pan. Some styling elements look very much like Lotus…a little too close possibly? A Sonic 7 – not as good in person as it looks in pictures

They did have a gorgeous replica Ferrari P4 which I would have bought if it were for sale (I did ask!). There was also replica Ferrari 250 LWB Le Mans. The 250 replica was for sale at GBP 28,500 – lovely workmanship and a credit to the owner.

The largest kit car group was the Robin Hood Seven contingent - now known as Great Britain Sportscars (GBS). Probably around 50 cars, they exhibited the good and bad influences of their owners: I found this interesting with the 2.8L V6. I think this was the Ford Cologne motor that was used for a time in the Ford Taurus? Not sure if it was a good engine for a seven as it was very heavy and made no power despite its size. I liked the opening bonnet on this one. Now this show was not just about sevens. It also included a vast collection of Toyotas….err….Ferraris…..errr?

Next stand down was the MK Indy group. These are imported via a Florida dealer – I think there was some interest lately. The yellow one had a Honda bike engine installed. The cars on display clearly had a lot of attention from their owners during construction. I thought they looked good. Westfield made an appearance. I was a little disappointed by the sparseness of participation – they looked a little forlorn in the field by themselves with their friends: While not a seven, it was still a Westfield – XTR. I found this example to be a really nice looking car with the Martini livery.

Last Saturday I was at the Newark Kit Car Show in Nottinghamshire in the UK while here on a work trip. Great show – more interesting than the Carlisle PA show each May and a lot more sevens of differing marques than we normally get in the US. I stopped by the Lotus Seven Club to check out the cars. Not many there, probably due to my timing and the unfortunate weather. A nicely cared for classic seven with lovely patina – good to see the owner enjoys it. This was a good looking car. I liked the red half hood touch. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to chat to any of the owners as they were trying to escape to beat the rain. Here is the Tiger seven Club. I don’t think these come to the US but they looked well put together:

So far the weather forecast looks nice for Mon and Tues

Prime candidates: Boxologist Jack VB I think they are scared.... Bryce (Bster) would also be a good option with the Stalker (lovely looking beast). Bruce (11budlite) might be brave enough! Puting aside my cheap shots, I think we have tapped out the market for a weekday event.

:rofl: At least he is not looking in the rear view mirror at himself all the time like you! :jester:

:willy_nilly: Ok...who is the cross dresser in a seven? :rofl:

Really nice pic! I dont think there was much room to make the roll bar shorter given the broomstick test has to adequately clear between windscreen and roll bar. I think you are safer the way you have it.

You have the same problem I had. My Aussie helmet had no snell marking as it is a North America thing (it had Standards Australia SA reference) so I needed to buy a new one. Unlike you, my old helmet was due for replacement. NJMP also has a full face helmet policy only (no open faces permitted at all) and SA2000. So even if SCDA says ok, NJMP can still say no. So I ended up at Stable Energies near Hackensack to buy a new one. Your best argument is to show FIA compliance as that is international but I would start with Ian at SCDA before the event.

I just tried to call your phone Bruce but you are not accepting calls or so the nice lady announced. I just tried Jon's phone and left a vmail. I suspect it is turned off. Looking at the weather.com forward playing weather map projection, the weather band Stewart refers to never actually passes, it just seems to develop and hover in the area for the next 3 hours. Regretably, I agree with Bruce, today is a bust with the drive postponed to a day when the weather gods favor us better and we can cruise around and enjoy.

Text was sent to Jon's cell phone 2 hours back. He better be checking that. I cannot escape mid week this coming week and I fly out to London on Friday night.

I am leaning that way. I was going to give it until 9am and make a call then Still raining in NYC and Manhattan is mostly lost in fog

I think we will need the weather luck. Pouring rain in NYC now.

Thanks for the update Timothy - Hope to see you next time. Updated Attendance Roll call of attendance: Bruce Bowker Jon (Boxologist) Martin (The Stig) (no seven - turning up for the fun) Mike (Croc) Message out to Stewart (Sabbot) to confirm Unable to attend: Timothy (Crest) Karl (Blubarisax) Arya E Rick (Ricko32) Steve (S1Steve) Ryan (Proj217) Jack (Jvbtte)

They are well endowed downunder! :jester: However, given the Kiwi and Aussie rivalry, I always knew New Zealand as the land where men are men and sheep are scared. :rofl:

What an impressive looking build! Like Skip (Scannon) above, I would be curious to hear how you managed heat without melting the body work.

Do you have a spare seat for a UK Blatchatter?