Mike Rohaley

What car does not look good in the Gulf livery colors of blue and orange, also Maclaren orange with the black-pack package would be nice.

I still have not run my car across a scale yet but I thought this would be interesting. The April/May 1997 issue of Sports Car International has a nice write-up of the Caterham Superlight Trophy Car. It came in at 946 lbs. (yes, 946) Rover K-series (148hp, 115lbs.ft.torque) Aluminum nosecone and standard fiberglass cycle fenders Kart style fiberglass driver seat (no passenger seat) No spare wheel No spare wheel bracket No windscreen No wipers/motor No foul weather gear No paint (it saves 5 whole pounds!) No heater No lighting Tach,fuel and water temp gauges only (no rockers either) 13x6 Panasports with 185/60R13's On board fire system Caterham 6 speed box For me personally, that is a lot of no's. but if the goal is performance I suppose it would be worth it. I will not start yanking parts off my car any time soon to match as I kinda like being able to drive the car at night.....in the rain.....with a passenger (you know, performance robbing accomedations like that). Mike Rohaley2006-09-28 16:07:54

That is part of the specification section, if you run your car without a spare or without a windscreen disclose it as such. Since you cannot run a car without gas we should assume full tanks or at least disclose how much was in the car at the time of scaling. We always used 7.5 lbs/per gallon when we scaled our karts.

What is the weight of your car (truely ready for the road, all fluids and full tank)? Also, what specifications (such as engine type, wheels and tires, CF parts). I have heard weights from high 1100's to high 1200's for a traditional chassis and nearly 1500 for an SV chassis. Just curious, I will get mine weighed sometime soon here and add it to the list.

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that you should never use grade 8 bolts for suspension components because of the fact that as they get stronger in tensile strength they become more brittle. You would want your bolting to deform under load and not fail completely. Think of a bolt made of wood and a bolt made of chalk, the wood would deflect under load but not fail but the chalk would maintain it's shape until SNAP! Someone out there should be able to shed some well informed light on this subject.

Thanks for the responses, 200ish would be plenty for me. I do agree that the Duratech is a superior choice but since I already am set up with the Zetec I do not want to toss out my Raceline parts and cut new holes in the right side of the car leaving empty ones on the left. New exhaust system and...............It adds up real fast to go real fast I suppose. Thats it, I am getting one of those CSR260's! Wheres my checkbook?

Thanks, I will track it down.

What sort of benefits can be achieved by optimizing the internals of a Zetec engine? If I were to put together an engine using a balanced and lightened crank along with similar top shelf items for con-rods and pistons, flowing the head and re-camming for mainly street use, what would I have in the end? I do not want to go the force-fed route and do not want to bore it out to more than the present 2 liters. Insight from any of you motor heads out there would be greatly appreciated. I would not want to throw 3-5 grand (price ?) into an engine and be unhappy with my decision. Thanks.

I seem to be coming down with a bad case of upgraditus myself. I want to increase power by about 25% without the addition of turbos or superchargers. Therefore, different cams (among other things) would be required to accomplish that. Any info as to what would be required to do this Esslinger cam job would be of interest to me also. Questions such as: What is the stock Zetec ECU capable of working with and when are injectors peaked out and in need of upgrading. Not to mention what can be expected for power and the effect on drivability and fuel economy. You know, simple little questions like that. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif

I usually average 28mpg with about 25% of the time being highway miles and squirting off the line whenever possible on the streets. 100% highway mileage is around 32mpg (at 70mph...ish). The car is a 2001 fuel injected Zetec, completely stock mechanicals save for the lightweight flywheel. On the track it probably drops to around 10mpg, however, I never bothered to check exactly.

Please add our Cleveland area club. www.calotus.com Thanks

I use my Seven as a daily driver, in the summer at least. Just so long as there is no salt on the ground the 325e mostly just gathers dust in the garage. It would be interesting to find out what the highest mileage is for a Sevenesque car. I know mine is surely not the highest but I will get the ball rolling, 26,5?? miles. How about you?

I signed up for the 07-07-07 event just a couple of hours ago, I am hoping to get a couple more local guys to bring their cars down for some exercise. We will see.

James, You cannot go too wrong with any of the 3-Series cars, Audi A4/S4 cars are very nice also but they have the front control arm issue (requiring full replacement every 30K miles as bushings are not servicable seperately). Since the Caterham satisfies your need for a proper performance car, have you considered something considerably less sporty, good on gas but still fun to drive? Saving the money for track days and new rubber. For instance, I drive a mid-80's 3-Series (the slow 325e) but knowing that I have a proper car in the garage makes it much more bearable. Thanks for clueing me into this site, I did not know it was out there. We met you and your wife again at Mid-Ohio on Saturday (with the yellow/alloy Caterham).