turboeric

Looks like the car is on a high carb diet! :rofl:

UPS regularly charges duty/taxes plus a brokerage fee on shipments from the US. Their brokerage fee (which I'm assuming is the equivalent to the FedEx "Advancement Fee") can be quite substantial.

That's excellent news. With Race City being bulldozed and no news from these folks for several years, I'd pretty much given up hope.

Re the Caterham bike - looks about right to me. Tube frame chassis, minimal bodywork, lightweight, mostly old tech. It's a Caterham all right. And not much slower than their F1 cars...

This is the perfect way to make your 7 lighter - ditch the roof and treat the driver!

https://www.europaspares.com/product/0/13071/Quality_Leather_Bonnet_Straps___Brown___lcsbrl_.html

What an interesting business model. Cool shirt too, although I wonder if the shirt will be much thinner than usual and fall to pieces as soon as I cross the finish line!

When my father was near death, he got to meet his brand new great-granddaughter for the first time. I was struck by the symmetry - as one life slips away, another one begins the adventure. We all live on in our children and their children - treasure them while you can.

Times were tough for finding employment as an engineer, so Bill decided to look further afield. He saw an ad for an accountant and thought "I'm good with numbers - I'll apply." When he got to the interview, he was dismayed to see the waiting area full of other engineers with the same idea. He went through the interview and answered all the questions. As he was leaving, the interviewer asked him "Quick. What's 3 x 7?" Bill panicked. He didn't have his HP programmable calculator with him! With great fear, he answered "22". As soon as he got home, he grabbed his faithful HP and realized he'd given the wrong answer. He was gutted. And then, he was astonished when he got a call offering him the job. He hesitantly asked "What about the 3 x 7 question?" The interviewer told him "Your answer was the closest!"

One of my favourite vintage racing memories was back in the 80s at the now defunct Westwood Circuit near Vancouver, B.C. It was bucketing down with rain (as Vancouver is wont to do) and a Shelby GT350 and an Elite were going at it hammer and tongs. The Shelby would pull away going uphill out of the hairpin, but the Elite would be in front by the time they returned from the twisty bits. Lap after lap. They might as well have been from different planets - the Shelby all shouty and blustery, with huge tires and the Elite shrieking and delicate, with tires smaller than those on my wheelbarrow. Amazing demonstration of Chapmanism.

I think this is what you're looking for. http://www.7cars.ca/cars_for_sale/car_4.html

I've used both the Kumho XS and the SPT with good success (both are high performance summer tires) on my turbo Miata. Probably don't last as long as some of the bigger names, but they gripped and were inexpensive. There's lots of choice in a 175/70x14. Only 0.5 inches difference in diameter.

A car like that will always pose something of a dilemma. If it is true to the character of its roots, it will be crude, primitive and hard to live with. If it is modernized enough to satisfy current expectations, the purists will howl. From seeing on Top Gear in the track day car comparison, it looks like hilarious good fun. In small doses.

My favourite bit was a twitter comment to the effect of "He realizes Red Bull doesn't really give you wings, doesn't he?"

I was just struck by the irony of a Se7en driver worrying about safety and airbags! :cheers:

Used car prices in Canada tend to be much higher than they are in the U.S. A quick check on 1990 Civics advertised in Canada runs from $1000 for a car with >300,000 km on it (about 200,000 miles) and some issues (hasn't passed emissions and is being advertised "As Is") to $2000 for a couple of also high mileage cars in better shape. (Ignoring the modified rice rockets with fantasy price tags) Still, much depends on the economics of transportation. The money pit potential depends heavily on how much you pay for the fixes - i.e. if you do it yourself or pay someone $100/hr to fix it.

I'd add belts and hoses to your list, but that's exactly the sort of car I'd jump on. Cheap to fix and relatively simple. Honda durability (except for body panels) is legendary for a reason.

This may be due to the fact that many Porsche owners are lawyers.

The Hankook RS3 is a very capable street tire class autocross tire that comes in 225/45x15. Very popular in the high hp Miata world. What's your bolt pattern?

It's already better this time around. No-one frets about the durability of turbodiesel motors, so there's nothing inherently wrong with the concept. As with any kind of engineering, it's the details that matter. The 80s turbos were pretty primitive setups. Newer applications work fine. Electronics have been a boon to turbocharging, as you can keep track of the mixture and timing far more accurately than before, so keep the motor from detonating itself into oblivion. A properly engineered turbo motor will last just fine. Most aftermarket kits now are far more sophisticated than the 80s Ford and Chrysler efforts.

Correct. The early versions were so flexible, the doors would fly open in tight bends. By the 'C' version, they were better. Or, more like less worse.... So ugly, it's cool.

I spent most of July in the UK. $8.90 per US gallon. Canadian gas is cheap.

That was my thought as well - a Ford GT kit! You'd have to be a thoroughly heartless bustard to cut up a car like that.

Downsizing the wheel diameter won't necessarily change the ride height. If he goes from the 205/45x16 to a 205/50x15 (a very common size), the ride height will decrease by only 0.1 inches.

Wow - a 7 in John Deere colours