KiwiBirkin

Hio Soareyes great looking car and nice mod list. As you may know I have a Birkin too would you by any chance be willing to share the Birkin info you have collected with me if its in electronic form as I only have limited info on my Birkin and im allways keen to add more info about my type of car. If so any chance of sending me a PM and I will give you my email address. Also where did you get the wing mirros from and ceter mirror ??. Cheers Stephen

They did a great job of that Mightymike im a sheetmetal worker by trade and im impressed.

Do you have one ?? as I was still looking.

Thanks for shareing Slomove one day I will vist you guys and get to see some of you great country.

Heaps of video still trying to edit it but my AVS editor keeps putting pauses in every 2 seconds so its bugging me at the moment.

The car locking its wheels up was aLamborghini Espada V12 while it was greaat in a straight line it wasnt very good in the corners and as I was right up his arse after catching him up in the last corner he decided to brake a lot later which was bad news for him no damage done though as he just went off and came back on. The in car pictures were taken from video footage i took on my Go Pro HD and I used a screen capture program to grab them. Here is a track report form Tom (Ledzep) on my forums. The brake dust, heart rates and adrenalin levels have all settled down after a great day out at Ruapuna Sat 27th. A great variety of cars were there which made for some fascinating comparisons on and off the track. A good turn out of Lotus 7 replicas including Lester (from Nelson) in his freshly built MX5 basedWestfield, 4 or 5 McGregors on the track (plus Mark in Bruce's orange beauty keeping an eye on things), 2 Birkins and my Dixon. Also great to see Craig in his Lotus Esprit Turbo. On the Italian side there were more Fiat X1-9s than I've seen in a long time, a hard driven Fiat Dino coupe, Fiat Punto Abarth, Ritmo Strada, 124 coupe, 125T, one Lancia Montecarlo, a Lamborghini Espada, Alfasud ti, Alfetta GTV2000, Alfa GT3.2, Alfa 156, plus the Chapman family brought out their Ferrari 206SP replica and one of their X1-9 Abarth replicas and generously took many people out for a few very fast laps. There were also 3 Monaro/HSV Coupes including one supercharged version. What else was there? Honda S2000, a Subaru of some sort, a Mitsubishi station wagon, a wayward BMW635 on Japanese snow tyres..., various Escorts, VW Golf, series 4 RX7, race prepared MGBGT etc. About 50 cars in all, and I think most made it through the day without mechanical mishap and there weren't any dings or biffs at all. As usual the morning session was done on a split circuit basis, making two short tracks. We'd do about 3-4 laps of one before queuing up for the other one. This makes for some corners that you (obviously) don't get on the full circuit - plus there was a chicane on the front straight which meant for heavy braking and fast gearchanges before swinging back into the infield. The short track really suited the 7s and it was fun picking on the Monaros! After lunch it was the full circuit and we were waved out in more-or-less like groups for 3 hot laps and a cool down lap. I had a great dice with Craig in his Esprit who found his car quite tail-happy in the corners but had plenty of speed down the front straight. He never really got away from me and for much of the time I was nipping at his heels but never quite had the hp to get past. Great close-quarter fun! Clive and Stephen and I were out on the track at the same time quite often and we had some great dices, with Clive stopping to inspect the grass a couple of times. Stephen and I were out on the track once with the Lamborghini Espada - obviously top speed was never going to be an issue for the V12 but he made the mistake of trying to keep ahead of us in the infield and spun quite spectacularly.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot4.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot5.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot7.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot8.jpg

Some more pics from on the track. http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot1.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot2.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/snapshot3.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201016.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201017.jpg

Tom (Ledzep) http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201012.jpg Clive (Clives7) http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201013.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201014.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201015.jpg

Lestier from Nelson with his newly built Westifield http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201011.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-20102.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-20103.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-20108.jpg

Here are some pictures from the NZ Fiat & Lancia Clubs track day at the local Christchurch track about 7 lotus Sevens turned up for the event which cost NZ$50 for the day and is pretty well run. In the morning we had 2 tracks running and then in the afternoon we had the full circut open to us. All the Lotus 7 replicas in the pictures are memebers of the NZ Lotus Seven/Clubman forums (http://www.lotus7.co.nz) Pictures were taken with my Fuju S5000 and also captured from HD Video from my Go Pro HD James Darcys V8 Mcgregor http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-201010.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-20105.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-20106.jpg http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/Hotdognz/Track%20Days/Trackday27-03-20107.jpg

Cheers im about to go out on a blat

Great looking Seven im sure your going to have fun in her just make sure it doesnt sit in the garage like so many of these fine cars do and dont get driven. Enjoy

Welcome to the forums Hank, thats a great looking Seven.

Looks great Glenn

I noticed in the no hoops thread a few Birkin owners have removed the center consol and replaced it with a fabricated unit, do you still have the old center consol hanging around you would be willing to sell and put in a box and send to NZ as im after one. Cheers Kiwibirkin

Croc there have been plenty of niggles to fix but I try to get them done when I find them and as soon as I can so the car is ready to go again, I know there are few electrical gremlins in the car due to shody Birkin wiring but they havent caused me any breakdowns yet and I plan on rewiring the car this winter to make sure there fixed. BUt other than that its been pretty good and also for a Kent motor it doesnt leak oil

Well its been 1 year since I took ownership of Grace and I managed to clock up just on 15000km (9320 miles) in that 1 year. Its been a great year and its been a great journey with some great trips away of note were. For those that know NZ 1600km round 3 day trip to the West Coast with the Southern Lotus Register Tranz Alpine trip where we went to Karamea (best driving roads in NZ) 1300km 3 day trip to Wanaka 1500km 3 day trip to Nelson Several trips to Timaru via the inland scenic route to visit my mum. The rest of the km's have been clocked up as day trips around Canterbury and using the car as a daily driver for work, pleasure & fun, we have regular drives in the evening out for coffee in her and have done plenty of grocery shopping in her too, we drove her right through winter and even though some days were cold with the right gear on it was all ways fun and we were pretty warm too really. We have meet some great people and made some fantastic new friends online and offline. Its been a real blast and im really looking forward to this year. I have been really please with the refurbishment she has gone through to bring the car up to where she is now over the year this is the list of things that was done to her. Tyres Side exit exhaust Chrome headlight shells & lamp Alloy wheel refurbished and painted with new Birkin center caps. New Gaz adjustable shocks & springs front & rear. New blue paint job. New aluminum rear panel New seats Change the red Sabelt 4 point seat belts for new black ones. Doors & hood New Birkin bonnet badge Re polished all the aluminum as it was very dirty and oxidized when I got her New light weight dry cell battery. I haven't done anything to the running gear as its all been running very well and as i'm no mechanic I have left them alone except for the daily maintance a car like this needs. She hasn't caused me any issues i'm going to leave it all alone because she seems to run really well, she may not have the torque or HP of a modern Jap motor but i have really been taken by how well the 1600 cross flow goes. Cheers Stephen

Nice colour is that a SV one ??? looks wide to me in the grill.

What are you getting ??? I may have missed it some where else on this forum.

Yes the camera has sound and even has a special back for moto sports to capture more of the car sound but it still has some wind noise though. Full charge on the Lithium battries gives 2 hours but you can charge the unit while on the go via a USB plug in the side. The unit takes up to 32gb SD cards which will hold 8 hours of 720p 30fps HD video.

Small test video to go with my Go Pro HD forum thread

My wife got me a new toy for Christmas the new Go Pro HD Motosport video camera. These new cameras do full HD 1080p video recording to a SD card it can also be configured for other modes but the one that had me interested in them was the HD 720p 170 deg FOV mode which means you capture a lot more of the action you are shooting and also gives a better sense of speed in a car. This is what I got in the package I also purchased a roll bar mount and a mount for my windsurfing board so i can shoot windsurfing footage as the camera in the waterproof housing is waterproof to 60m. http://www.goprocamera.com/images/products/large/683_large_CHDMH-001-01-683x426.jpg Here are the specs for the camera from the Go Pro HD web site Camera Optics * Lens Type: Fixed Focus (2ft/.6m – ∞), glass * Aperture: f/2.8 (high performance in low-light situations) * Angle of View: 170º ultra wide angle in WVGA, 720p, or 960p mode * Angle of View: 127º wide angle in 1080p mode Video * HD Video Resolution Modes: (subject to change, pending final firmware release) o 1080p = 1920x1080 pixels (16:9), 30 fps, 15 Mbit/s data rate o 960p = 1280x960 pixels (4:3), 30 fps, 12 Mbit/s data rate o 720p = 1280x720 pixels (16:9), 60 fps, 15 Mbit/s data rate o 720p = 1280x720 pixels (16:9), 30 fps, 8 Mbit/s data rate o WVGA = 848x480 pixels (16:9), 60 fps, 8 Mbit/s data rate * Sensor Type: 1/2.5" HD CMOS, 2.2µm-sized pixels * Light Sensitivity: Super low-light sensitivity (>1.4 V/lux-sec) * Video Format: H.264 compression, saved as Windows- & Mac-compatible MPEG4 (.mp4) file * Exposure Control: Auto with user selectable center weighted average and spot metering settings * White Balance: Auto Audio * Microphone: Built-in, mono with AGC (automatic gain control) * Audio Format: 48 kHz, AAC audio compression Photo * Resolution: 5 megapixel * Capture Modes: Single shot, photo every 2, 5, 10, 30 or 60 secs.; 3 photo burst; self-timer Storage * Memory: SD card, up to 32GB capacity (SDHC) * Average recording times (using 32GB SD card): o 1080p (30 fps): 4h 21m o 960p (30 fps): 5h 26m o 720p (60 fps): 4h 21 o 720p (30 fps): 8h 09m o WVGA (60 fps): 8h 09m Camera Connectors & Cables * PC Connection: USB 2.0 (data connection and battery charging) * HDTV Out: HD NTSC & PAL (component cable incl.) * Audio Out: Combo 2.5mm jack with stereo audio and composite video out * PC Compatibility: Windows® XP (Service Pack 2 or later) or Vista; Mac OS® X 10.4.11 and later Power & Battery * Battery Type: Rechargeable 1100 mAh lithium-ion * Battery Life: Approx. 2.5 hrs * Charging: via USB to computer or optional power adapter * Charge Time: 80% capacity after 1 hour with optional power adapter; or 2 hours with a computer’s USB port Waterproof Camera Housing * Depth Rating: Up to 180 feet / 60 meters * Construction: Polycarbonate and stainless steel * Hardware: Stainless steel Size & Weight * Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.6” x 2.4” x 1.2” (42mm x 60mm x 30mm) * Weight: 3.3oz (94g) incl. battery, 5.9oz (167g) incl. housing I first mounted the camera to the roll bar of Grace and took it out for a test run a couple of days ago using the HD 720p 170 deg FOV mode and all I can say is i'm impressed by this cameras optics and the quality of video it shot for a camera package that cost NZ $550 I purchased a Panasonic full HD video camera to go to Aussie with and I would say now that the GO Pro HD takes better quality video than the Panasonic camera does. I next tried the suction cup mount on the nose cone facing back looking at the driver and passenger and put the camera in 1080p mode this mode puts the FOV to 127 deg which is still quite a wide FOV compared to a normal video camera that is about 54 deg FOV. The video quality was once again fantastic and the image was stable and clear while traveling at 120 kmhr the suction cup stayed put and I have been assured by the seller it wont come off and has been through all sorts of hell in tests before release. Anyway I thought I would share this as It really is a great camera if you want to shoot any sort of good video footage in your car, I plan on using it a lot when im in Grace and also windsurfing/snowboarding and out down the beach on my Blowkart , all i have to do know is learn the art of good video editing to make intresting videos to put up on Youtube. I have uploaded a small clip to Youtube to show the view you get from the camera in HD 720p 170 deg mode but Youtube has downgrade the picture slightly I have put a link in the videos section.

Hi Subbotin welcome to the forums, you have a really nice Birkin and the video was great to watch. There is nothing wrong with your kent motor there great I have one in my Birkin which is the same as yours and love it.