Croc

Just to clarify, the photos I posted are from the Caterham CSR chassis demonstrator that currently sits in their showroom and is clear of all plumbing/radiator/etc. The shocks are the ones that come on the CSR Superlight. They are the "Dynamic Suspensions" Damper units developed by Multimatic for the car and are fully adjustable. Apparently you can even pump in/remove oil from the reservoir to change the damping effect (not that I plan to worry about this with the odd track day!) The regular CSR gets adjustable Nitrons.

There is no data since as far as I know a front winged seven has not made it into a wind tunnel. From the wind tunnel experience, just for the CSR roster of aero improvements there was a small incremental benefit that increases as you get further north of 100mph but essentially unnoticeable below. Link that to Thunderbolt where you only get over 100mph on 2 parts of the circuit for cornering - last corner onto main straight and T3. Of these T3 is the highest speed as I think with a good set of sticky slicks and a lot of courage you could be seeing 110-115mph in my car through that very fast sweeping turn (not that I do! :rofl:) so I have to believe any benefit is so low that even an F1 driver would not notice. However, for a place like Silverstone which in F1 GP format is an insanely fast circuit where there are a lot of corners that you turn through at 100mph and higher then this would be the place I would want to test to see the result of an aero improvement. The race R300 I had could have definitely benefited with a front wing as it was a pig at understeering at silly speed turns unless I got off the throttle to get weight on the front tires to have turn in bite.

Inboard suspension looks nicely simple on a seven: http://mycaterham.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_175409/0049.jpg http://mycaterham.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_175409/0106.jpg http://mycaterham.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_175409/0105.jpg Still uses the exact same shocks as a regular Caterham so no weight saving here, just the (ever so tiny) marginal aero benefit.

Hmmm....not sure aero will help you keep up with 650hp as big aero slows your ultimate speed down as it adds downforce? However, I like the challenge of helping other people spend their money. Here are some possibilities for dual wings: Dual Wings - did you mean dual element rear wings? http://www.reverie.ltd.uk/product_list.php?group=A%20RWING&subgroup=A%20RWING%20DE Or did you mean winglets/whiskers that mount to the front of a nose cone? http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=3274 I think Carbon Mods and Fluke also sell these. Probably others around in fiberglass too. Or did you mean the wing foils that mount on the A-frame of a front suspension? http://www.fluke-motorsport.co.uk/wishbone-foils-p-1039.html Or for a splitter try: http://www.mickmadecomposites.co.uk/products.htm

Well I asked Santa for something blonde, leggy and cute but apparently I am not naughty enough to warrant such a present. :svengo: Anyway, I got a a very valuable present for Christmas that I can enjoy in 2012. It gives me the ability to "keep up" with Tom in his Seven. :driving:

Martin - As a gentleman of exceedingly good taste in carbon (meaning me...not you! :jester: ) happily exploring the infinite ways I can put carbon fiber on a seven, I can share some photos of how they mount a front wing to a Caterham Levante/CSR. The off-the-shelf mounts do not work on a S3/SV chassis but I bet you could jury-rig it with some duct tape. http://www.reverie.ltd.uk/Images/upload/Caterham_Steve%20Wilson%2001-Aug-08%20004edit.jpg http://www.reverie.ltd.uk/Images/upload/CaterhamFrontWing%20004.jpg http://www.reverie.ltd.uk/Images/upload/Caterham_Steve%20Wilson%2001-Aug-08%20005.jpg

:rofl:

No, sadly it was Newark as in UK.

I had the fortune (misfortune?) to see the stand of this company at the Newark Kit Car Show this year. I posted the pics in June 2011 but luckily you all failed to vomit until now! The Sonic 7 actually looks a lot better in the flesh than it photographs. Still I am nervous of the idea of a car where you get a paper cut just by touching it: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/june%202011/DSC00680_edited-1.jpg As for the Exomotive Exocet, sadly, I did not photograph it, preferring to photograph its butt ugly sister, the Rocket. The lady at extreme left looks like she is holding the contents of her stomach in: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/june%202011/DSC00682_edited-1.jpg I quite like the look of the Atom or Jon W's (on this site) excellent scratch build recreation but there are an increasing number of copycat kit cars out there that just fail to successfully emulate the styling by getting the basic proportions wrong. Given the numbers on display and the people prowling around, the company seemed to have a lot of interest and looked successful at the show. Just goes to show that not everyone has taste.

That was a lot of sevens with a huge variety of styles and customization. Thank you for posting - I see the Hay Plain has not changed in 20 odd years when I used to drive trucks across it. Chateua Tanunda looked the same as well. Really nice photos. If we held a Nationals I doubt we would get that many?

Terry - I know where you are coming from as I usually are the same way - no whitewalls. However, in person on this car it seems to work out. Anyway, Bruce was a pimp and now just does select movie work when he feels like it. :jester: Congratulations Bruce - Here is to seeing you with better weather in June!

Ian - With that paragraph I was referring to the post above yours...

Hi Terry - The actual ad is here - still does not answer your question though! http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7116

To save Doublesnaggle the pain of breaking it what he spent, let me explain how much it would cost today for at least the major pieces: $46,125 Kit from Caterham USA $1,500 Shipping and customs (kit only) $17,000 Cosworth Duratec 260 with the roller barrel & ancilliaries $5,000 Caterham 6 speed transmission (motor and trans incl customs) $5,000 Assembly (excludes shipping to Denver & back for susp. set up) $1,850 Non-metallic paint $1,400 LSD (not sure if this one has it or not?) - needed in this model $1,700 Full weather equipment (sidescreens, hood, hood sticks) $79,500 At this point. I have not listed some of the other options that are advertised and I bet there are others that are not listed. I would not be surprised if there is another $7-10k in options not mentioned that I could not glean from the ad and pictures. If you tick every option box on the CSR list today you get to $95k region excluding assembly and suspension set up. Because of the complexity of the CSR kit, they do not generally sell it for individuals to construct without professional assistance. The real issue with the price of Caterhams is that their price varies significantly with the FX rate to the UK. Between when I bought my Cosworth engine/transmission in Dec 2010 and today there is a $5000 price increase, almost solely due to foreign exchange fluctuations. As for the asking price of $67k, I will say it is just about the cheapest CSR that has come on to the US/Canadian market that I can discover. The Seven & Elans CSR was advertised at $69k with less options and sold for slightly less than asking. So you may not be able to justify the cost/value for money equation yourselves but that is fine since it is the potential buyer and seller that have to rationalize it, not us in the peanut gallery. Please refrain from being publicly critical just because he has more car than you can justify. :grouphug: Now if people are trying to understand why a CSR is so much better than a regular seven, then you have to drive it yourself to understand. It is not all all about the Cosworth engine. It is more about the incredible capacity of the car with its inboard front suspension and independent rear suspension. It is light years ahead of my old 2004 SV in abilities and was tested as faster than a R500 around the Top Gear UK test track with essentially the same horsepower and a small weight penalty. The addition of the Cosworth engine is just icing on top of a very tasty package.

It was good to meet in Crewst in person along with S1Steve. :cooldude: Next time, with better weather, I will be there with my seven.

Well I turned up at the Bucks County Exotics mentioned in here: http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7102 And I found S1Steve and Crewst standing around trying to keep warm while their S1's glowed nicely with the irridescent paint they have. I was in my tin top as it was just too cold to make a run that long this morning. A nice selection of some Ferrari's, a few Lambos, a very nice De Tomaso (first edition), a new Rolls Royce, a good looking Whale tail Porsche and a tricked out 928. I was a little late but it was a good crowd.

John - Interesting statistics. How is an "active" member defined?

PM sent

Fortunately they are Tillets.....easy to clean up after accidents!

They also specify cotton or natural fiber clothes - they checked my label at tech inspection. Clearly I was not as fashionable as Tom! :cooldude: Best place to find racing gear other than at NJMP is Driving impressions in Dover NJ (ring first as they screw around opening times regularly) or Stable Energies in Clifton NJ. Stable Energies was really helpful for me replacing my helmet last season. We will probably try to organize a sevens event for next season say May to July. Tom and I were dreaming up plans this week. I have you on my regional sevens contacts list so I will PM everybody plus post here when we know what we are up for. If you want to try for a track day ahead of that then you are looking at signing up for something with SDCA or other organized group member days where you will need to demonstrate past experience (resume of racing history) to get into an intermediate passing group. Tom and I are trying to coordinate calendars when the 2012 schedule comes out as it is more fun to run with another seven - so we can rope you in at that point.

That is a very helpful link to the rules. I think The Stig hit the my problem squarely - I have a road car that was converted to racing use. It was never "manufactured" as a race car. Making it even murkier is that it is a 1985 body shell with everything else upgraded to 1989 manufacturer homologation specs. And of course the engine paperwork looks like it was 2006 as that was when it was rebuilt after I grenaded it. Tom - I dont think you need to worry about getting out on the track with me. After all you are not in my class! It looks similar to this (not my car): http://my105.com/ListingDetails/tabid/65/p/2/k/group%20A/id/3587/Default.aspx And some correct period racing footage with a best driver around racing them:

Is anyone on here an expert on importing cars to the US? I have an 1987 race car in Australia that I want to bring to the US so I can use it more often. 1987 is 24 years and therefore does not meet the 25 year rule. However, as it is not a road registerable vehicle anyway does the the 25 year rule apply? Of course I could just go ahead and wait another year....:hat:

That is a pretty piss poor cross section of Swiss motor racing talent. So many rookie errors - the start line bingles werre particularly embarrassing. And how did that GTR end up buried nose into a tree? I think John spotted a key problem - you take a good handling front wheel driver then stick on wide tires and rock hard suspension and then wonder why it will not go around a corner quick.

I believe MA is a pain in the posterior to register a seven these days. Xflow7 (David) is now living in VT I think so if he does not chime in here you may want to send him a PM. As for NH and ME, I am not aware of any sevens located there but as a former resident of ME, I can say it is a gorgeous place to drive a seven (and in NH) in the all-too short summer they have.

I must be having my senior moment as I cannot remember any pretty lady!:rofl: