Croc

Hi Taber :seeya: It was not a jab as I had no idea you had an SV. In fact I assumed you had an S3 given you are far more svelte than tubby old me! Cheers

I think there was only 1 SV at LOG - mine. However I agree with you, Caterham did a good job of disguising the size differential with proportioning. You can always pick an SV by focusing on the nose - its the difference between a wide-mouth bass and a regular mouthed one. Excellent presentation - thought provoking. The CSR suspension design cures many of the handling ills that I find dissatisfactory in my regular roadsport model Seven - rear bump steering and over-reaction to poor road surfaces. Some of this is because I live in an area with crap roads which is a downside to my owning a car like this.

It would go very nicely with a series 1 Seven...however at that price I will pass. Works out around 2-4% of the going rate for a Seven of that vintage.

I thought the track day rules were a little strange. You seemed to be able to overtake people under brakes and in areas where I would have thought you would have been banned. It seemed to be more of a semi-race. The other thing that struck me was the diversity in speed of the cars on the track. There was a old ford fiesta circulating - against a R500 and a porsche 911 of some type. I assume that driver skill level was the defining criteria here?

There is a long and interesting story that would address the question that your keen powers of observation have identified - best described over a few (too many) beers.

Skip - Now that I see the pic I can see what a brilliantly simple and effective idea you came up with. Why didn't I think of that ..duh! :leaving:

Skip - Do you have a pic that illustrates what you did? I am struggling to imagine what you did. Many thanks

The photos just do not do the car full justice. It is a great looking color combination in the flesh. The dual black stripes set it off beautifully. Ben at Caterham does a nice job of putting these together with lots of nice attention to detail. A couple of things were very noticeable to me: - the duratec installation is far neater and tidier than my SVT zetec. Just seems to be more clear space around the motor and the plumbing seems cleaner. Plus it is a great looking motor. - first time I have seen lowered floors. If I get a new Seven I definitely will have this as an option. You are settled nice and low - much snugger position. Also has to be good for avoiding a little more wind buffetting.

LEO hosts it's final Spirited Drive of the year, on Sunday, November 14th! Once again, our supporter William Thomas Roadsters will host the beginning of the Drive. Meet at WTR, 269 Everittstown Rd (Route 513), Frenchtown, NJ, 08825, at 10:30 AM for coffee and refreshments. Bill Thomas will show us the latest Sector111 bits for Elises. Then, about 11:15 AM, we will depart on a two-hour, 60 mile Drive though some of the most scenic areas in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It's the usual LEO Road Romp: lots of curvy secondary roads. This year we even throw in a couple of covered bridges! As a special treat we will be stopping at the Van Sant Airport in Erwinna, PA (Bucks County) to have a look-see at the old airplanes and gliders. http://www.vansantairport.com/ Our final destination is the Indian Rock Inn in Upper Black Eddy, PA, just a few miles south of Interstate 78 on the Delaware River. This picturesque inn is situated on the Delaware River right on the D&L Canal Towpath (which is now a hiking trail). Geat food and drink! http://indianrockinn.com/welcome-to-the-indian-rock-inn/virtual-tour-inside-and-out/ For those who came on our July Sevens Run in the area, Van Sant Airport is was the small airport we passed but did not stop at.

You didn't blow up the crossflow did you?

Good to hear that you are getting some drives in. I drove mine in to work twice this week and froze my ears off as a result :bigear: Bottom half of me was toasty warm thanks to my heater

OK I will bite....apart from looking very sexy, what is the engine?

Donkervoorts in Europe are now using the Audi 2lt 4cyl turbo engine. I have one in my daily driver and it is a nice smooth engine with a surprising amount of torque. The downside is that it is NOT a compact package. Not having seen a Donkervoort in the flesh I guess they must be fairly hefty to accommodate this engine.

oh wow!!! :drool:

Wow, that has taken a long time to get the motor sorted out. What was the problem holding you back? Did you end up going with the same engine as before or was there an upgrade involved? I hope you get a few drives under your belt before first snow.

I think you got the award for your 4th run - you know - the one where you got lost, did a single pirouette and then flounced off - all in 22 seconds! Anyway, amongst all these awards people are talking about, I still think I shared a win for the most valuable award on offer. The Blonde Beaver Award for Best Looking Candidate Looking to Buy a Seven was jointly awarded to Tom and me for unselfishly volunteering our cars for ...um...a trial fitting! No trophy given but my smile was a mile wide!

Roll call of Sevens: Karl Steve S1 Roman Ron (Redgoose) Bill T (of course the event is being held at his place!) Me Open questions: - Jon (in the Meotter?) - Jack (if he finishes replacing yet another clutch...?) - Al in his SB 1341? (Hmmm....after LOG 30 does SB stand for "Snotty Bastard"?):jester: - Does Bruce make it back from Bonaire? - Does Tom make the tow up from Philly? - Does a chicken have lips? :jester:

Good point! You have better chance of being there than your car does!

Ron is aiming to be at the Nov 14 Frenchtown LEO event with Bill Thomas Roadsters so you will probably get a chance to see it again.

Thanks for the video. I now know I missed a great day. The layout looked well suited to the Sevens. Only one thing confused me - Kitcat was double up with passenger at one point then the video shows him through the carousel/banked turn single up....did he throw the passenger out at some point?

From memory there are 4-5 guys here with it. Common GM engine used in UK, Europe and Australia. From reading Blatchat it is fairly reliable and can get large horsepower with some work. Ron's car (the one for sale you are referring to) was nicely quick and reliable - he never had any engine troubles. Parts are by internet/mail order from the UK.

+1 here.....both for the garage and the new lift!

Having let my post evolve for a few days it has been interesting to see the themes and ideas different site members have. Selectively quoting and responding to those: Chris – As I said on the LOG 30 pictures thread, and when I thanked you in person at LOG 30, I believe you, your wife Siobhan and the rest of your LOG 30 team put an incredible amount of effort in to make sure LOG 30 was a success. And it was. Your clarification of the concours layout makes perfect sense now although I did not understand it when at LOG. My core issue was with the personal attitudes of a small group of attendees which as I noted in my original post and as you rightly point out in yours is beyond the control of the LOG organizers. I can only say again thank you and congratulations on pulling off a successful LOG. Dean – I could not have expressed it better, we want to avoid Balkanization. Unfortunately not all Seveners share this worthy goal, although I believe the USA7s group is united on this point from reading this posting thread. This post was intended to take the temperature on whether this was just an isolated incident or something more serious. The quality of posts in response just shows that it was just isolated and should not be viewed wider – something I am personally thankful for. Continuing on the Mustang Ranch theme mentioned elsewhere, I have been around life long enough to know that you always find a couple of bad “twunts” in any whorehouse. Like the skunk in the nosecone of my Seven, it was my usual luck that I happened to score those twunts. Thanks to the positive messages on this post I have taken my medicine and I will be back on top in no time….and avoiding those individuals in the future. I think you are right that it is probably time to have a national USA7s event of some sort. It is difficult for us having a fairly esoteric club that is geographically spread across the US and Canada to make a big meet work. Given the last event was in 2007 maybe we set ourselves the promise of having one formal big event every 5 years (e.g. 7/7/07 or LOG-like) – next is 2012 – and then we use events like Gert’s annual road trip as a more informal circuit breaker for those who want something more regularly. I like the club's mission being marque inclusive. That was one of the things that attracted me to USA7s. Anything we do as an event should have the club's mission at its core. Of course we will invite Lotus Seveners, even the twunts that I had the misfortune to meet, as long as they buy into the club's aims. I think we have a successful USA7s regional cluster meet effort – you can see the regular postings on the region/areas of USA7s website across the US and Canada. The regional meets are important as they offer a more frequent mechanism for us to connect as a club. Al’s comments in this thread that a National meet is a huge effort is so true. However, as a club we need something like this that keeps us knitted together at the center across US and Canada otherwise it eventually all falls apart into the “Balkans” situation so eloquently described by Dean. Our forum does achieve this to a high degree, allowing us to interact remotely. However it does not substitute for the periodic regional or national meet where you can strengthen the clubs’ bonds through personal interaction and a Sevens blat (and a few drinks afterwards!). Having seen Gert’s proposed itinerary I have to admit I am very tempted. I cannot get that much time away from work to drive out there and back but does anyone want to share a USA7s truck from the east coast to ship their car? In between writing this post I just sent an email to my secretary asking her to find quotes to rent an entire car carrier there and back to NJ….LOL Beautifully stated! It does not get much better than that.

For Kitcat there are some excellent photos of you at the autocross by a photographer who had a much better camera than my dinky little pocket job. Towards the end of this page: http://www.britishspeed.com/forum/showthread.php?3691-LOG-30-Photo-s-from-a-different-perspective

My first LOG was an interesting experience. I met friends from the USA7s and Lotus Enthusiasts Organization (LEO) of NY/NJ and made new friends from other chapters of the Lotus Limited family. Unfortunately the experience was not all positive. There was an overt tone of hostility being shown to the “modern” Sevens group by the “classic” Sevens owners. I tried to talk with three owners of “classic” sevens – after all I used to own and race a 1965 Series 2. I was either rudely ignored, had them walk away from me without talking or told to my face that “only Lotus’s should be here.” They ended my attempt to be friendly. The single exception to this rudeness I found was a lovely couple from Boston who demonstrated at the banquet dinner that you can have friendly people owning older model Sevens who respect “modern” Sevens owners. I had a great time with them and they represented the positive and inclusive attitude and respectful conduct I expected a Lotus gathering to display and that all the leaders of Lotus Limited set an example for. The negative “classic” Seven’s attitude also seemed to correlate with 2 cars having a Simple Sevens sticker on the back. Very disappointing. I don’t think I was the only USA7’s person who found this negative attitude from the classic “Sevens” group. This negativity towards “modern” Sevens was NOT shown by other LOG30 people who owned Exige, Elise, Esprit, Elan, etc. Nor was it shown by my local Lotus Group - LEO. On the contrary I found those owners friendly, welcoming and happy to chat. The contrast in conduct and manners was massive. I accept that the “classic” Sevens group have a different philosophy to us USA7s members – that is their personal view and I respect that and enjoy their outlook towards their cars. However, their philosophy should not be polluted by poor manners and disrespect towards those not sharing their philosophy on cars. Pretending to be a cynic for a moment, were the “modern” (or USA7s for want of a better term) Sevens there just to make up the numbers and help make some money? Banished to Siberia on the concours lot and subject to petty rudeness by one class of Lotus owners, I could stretch to that conclusion. So what about a National USA7s Meet in 2011 instead of LOG 31 in Las Vegas in October? We would probably make the classic Seven owners group very happy. Over to all of you to persuade me that I am wrong...