rnr

I have a Hushpower on mine and love it. Dropped from 109 db to 95db as measured at Laguna Seca. The shell is cooler though it is has a significant gradient with the front part of the muffler being a lot warmer that the rear section. It will save you from burning your legs especially through pants. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4474738453_2f2c0d04cc.jpg IMG_0057 by rnair, on Flickr

Absolutely. Cold RA1s (non freezing) are still better than any street tire out there. +1 on the logevity of the RA1s. In the dry you can literally run them to the cord without a change in grip.

I am going to have to disagree with you on this one. While I havent done a back to back test on my Se7en, I have done it several times on my Elise and there is a dramatic difference in street driving. I once swapped from the RA1s to my AD07 street tires and took a U-turn at a light at my regular RA1 speed and ended up with huge understeer and tire squeal which luckily was not seen by a cop. Admittedly the Elise is a lot heavier than the Seven but at 2000 lbs its results are more applicable than most.

If you have cycle fenders you could mount it on one of those. Jim Rankin has that setup on his Ultralite. Personally I am plate free on both the Elise and Seven

I met Randy at a GGLC track day and he said that the Seven was something he built for his dad who was also at the event. Randy was driving a GT40 replica himself.

You mean the AMC Hornet wasnt the Lamborghini Gallardo of its day????? ;-)

If I ever get FU money I'd go to Lotus Engineering and have them build me 2 cars 1) A modern version of the Seven using modern engineering tech to update the car and still remain kit car street legal 2) An updated version of Jim Clarks Lotus 25 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_25) with a chevy V8

LS3 MX5 is always an option

I have this DVD - you really need to watch it with 5.1 sound to get the full effect.

I am hardly an expert but in terms of ford power Duratec > Zetec > Crossflow As far the revs I believe the big hp Duratecs rev to 8500 which is the same at the later S2Ks. The S2K may have (slightly?) less low end torque than the Cosworths but is cheaper and will give 240 bhp all day everyday. If $$$ is no object its an easy decision to get a Caterham R500 which will have better sales support and relatively easy parts availablity. If $$$ is limited you need to decide between lower power spec reliability (eg Cat R300) or a more powerful but less supported car (eg: Ultralite, Duratech Birkin). It comes down to the old racing: Cheap, fast, reliable - pick any two

more at: http://gglotus.org/blog/2011/08/qa-with-asif-kapadia-director-of-senna/

The driver is the crumple zone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STP-Paxton_Turbocar

I took a few pics of the car at the 2007 Monterey Historics:

Really??? IMHO Top Gear USA is approximately 4.3 million times better that the Car Show. Doesnt mean that it is good but at least I don't have to put up with the forced obnoxiousness that Carolla calls humour.

I was soooo hoping someone would ask for this Go to http://www.fastmetal.tv/view/2588/jeremy-explains-the-911-range/ and watch from the 30 sec mark

Says the man who owns a Miata and a Seven? :-) The 911s also have a 2 back seats which fit car seats, serve as useful storage and really expand the practicality of the car.

Best of luck - I got dinged at 93.9 at Laguna Seca (92 dB limit)

Its a special kind of lens called a Tilt-Shift and can be used in photographs as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_photography This place has some great shots of the 2010 Monaco Supercup race in Tilt-Shift: http://axisofoversteer.blogspot.com/2010/05/porsche-supercup-monaco-2010.html

Interesting reading. I just dyno'd mine with a roughly 2.3L capacity, 2.0L head, same headers and intake as you and got 204 hp and 145 lb/ft and VTEC set to 5700. This is with the SDS ECU and was on the 9th pull so we were having a few heat soak issues. IIRC Jim Rankin got 202 hp on the same dyno running the same config as you but with the stock ECU. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/5844518308_2d02d6044e.jpg Dyno Curve (204 whp and 145 lb/ft) by rnair, on Flickr

While I agree that Colin liked displacement as much as the rest of us, I have to point out that the Type 47 Europa used the Lotus Twin-Cam engine and not a V8. There was a single V8 one made for a customer race team but it was a one-off.

He bought a stalker

AAA Gold membership is only $100 and will tow upto 200. I broke down on the way backl from Buttonwillow last year and they took me the final ~95 miles

I have an OMP Pista Halo seat in my Ultralite and am very happy with it. I'd recommend going to a race shop and trying seats both for yourself as well as test fitting in the car before you put down any $$$. You can find more info on my seat install at http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2010/04/01/setting-up-a-seven-safety/ PS: You are welcome to try out my seat if you are ever in SF. Also JimRankin and I will likely be at the GGLC day at Thunderhill in July where you can see them as well

I've been to several of their events and find that they run a tight ship with several high $$$ cars that show up. If you want to run with other Sevens I'd suggest the GGLC events (http://www.gglotus.org/trkdays/ggtrkday.htm) which usually have 3-5 at each event.

Welcome to the Seven experience Mark. There are a bunch of Sevens in the Bay Area and you usually see 2-5 of them at Golden Gate Lotus Club track days. The club is having a drive on Memorial Day (http://www.gglotus.org/ggcalend/MemDayRun.pdf) as well as a drive and barbeque lunch on June 11. I dont know if we will have any sevens at the events but you will meet several former and current owners in various Lotus.