Klasik-69

Ok, I just found the NJMP site and they mention F1 karting available, $35 for the first 15 minutes then $20 for each additional 15 minutes. Seems reasonable considering they supply everything. I assume this is the optional Sunday event mentioned. From looking at their web page, it sure looks like they have a very well developed track facility with considerations for most everything anyone could need or want, including the VIP suites. Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump, Nevada was doing the same thing with a clubhouse, swimming pool, private garages with adjoining townhomes, etc. They were selling club memberships like a country club does and trying to make a family atmosphere with the pool and tennis courts, something for everyone. I think it's a great idea but I can see it can only be viable in a very populated area to find enough prospects willing to spend the cash for such activities. I'm looking forward to this event.

I see you have two tracks, Lightning & Thunderbolt. However you only mention Lightning so I assume that is the only track we'll be running. Has anyone stipulated yet what the safety requirements are for this event, I.e. Race suit, HANS device, helmet minimum snell rating, etc ? I'm pretty sure the helmet and arm restraints are a must but not sure how much further it goes. Also, you mention kart racing on Sunday as an option. Are some people bringing a kart as well or are the karts track provided ?

I know we're having this event from the 3rd thru the 6th but are we running 2 or 3 days on the track. I'm sure someone has already commented on that but I'm too lazy to read thru 5 pages of postings. While I'm bugging you guys with stupid questions, are we going to break this up into several run groups to keeps things loose ? I'm assuming we'll be running 20 to 30 minute sessions, and if we have 20 or so drivers, pairing off groups of 7 cars would keep things uncluttered. But I'm not familiar with NJMP or the track size so I don't know how many can run together without causing any crowding.

And by the way, you guys have to keep your mouths shut about flying off to Paris, Tuscanny, Japan or other exotic places. I told my wife I checked and there were no flights available out of the country, ever.

Does anyone know yet what the current count is of cars running at the event? From the preliminary list, I thought it may be over 20.

You're not saving me much money with suggestions like that but I see your point.

I just sent in my info to the site and have also reserved one of the track side VIP suites for 7/3/14 thru 7/7/14. I'm not sure if the wife will join me, kind of a tricky situation since the 5th of July is our 45th anniversary, not an ideal timing of events. looking forward to attending this event and meeting all the guys from the forum. Mike

You are messing up. :smilielol5:You are supposed to put the car in the trailer, not pull the trailer. It just doesn't make sense puting the pickup truck on the trailer and pulling it with the Stalker. However, I know you stalker guys are different:party:

The one very big advantage that Caterham has is build quality. It is excellent. I have taken my R300 completely apart for the repaint so I was able to experience the assembly/disassembly. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job. Will that carry the car at the new cost? I hope so.

That's not bad at all. I was going on what the Isuzu dealer told me regarding the consumption of urea for their diesel powered NPR trucks. The other real problem with the current diesel trucks is the massive size of the catalytic converter which is almost bigger than the engine itself and cycles with heat up to 1500 degrees. I don't know if the VW's use that style of cat converter, and I didn't even think they had to use the urea injection but apparently from what you said, you do. The guy I was talking with who drove the BMW diesel in europe didn't even know about urea so he wasn't using it in his vehicle, perhaps their emissions don't require that system to be implemented..........not sure on that one. However, his BMW may have been an older vehicle built prior to the current standards. Your Touareg with a 7700 lb towing capacity is pretty impressive.

Good point, hence the reason I switched from the F-250 diesel to the F-150 gas. Also, the ride quality of the F-250 wasn't helping my back. Here in Florida, we're paying about $4.14/gal for diesel and around $3.70/gal for gas. Aside from the extra cost of the fuel, there is also the extra cost of the engine. Depending on the truck manufacturer, it can be anywhere from $5,000 to $8,500 extra. So yes, you are most correct in saying that if you don't tow something nearly every day, you're wasting your money. One of the guys in another club I belong to just came back from working 8 years for Boeing in Europe, and he was telling me that he drove a diesel BMW 330 over there and would get 40 mpg or better. Also, where he was in Europe, diesel cost about 15% less than gasoline. It used to be that way here but now it's the opposite. We run Isuzu NPR trucks in my business and up until about 3 years ago, they were all diesels. Now we're electing to go with the GM LS gas engines. A new gas powered NPR HD goes for about $39,500 with tax and tag. A diesel model will be around $48,000. Also, the diesels require the urea injection system so you have to add about 5 gallons of urea for every two tankfuls of diesel, which adds to the cost of operation and another area of maintenance.

The older 7.3 diesels were so much more fuel efficient. I had an 08 F-250 with the twin turbo 6.2 diesel that would pull great but burned a lot of fuel. Pulling my 24' V-nose trailer at 75 mph meant 10.5 mpg. 80 mph dropped it to 8.3 mpg. Now I pull the open car trailer with an F-150 4X4 and get around 12.5 mpg at 73 mph................nowhere near what you were getting with your F-250. I hear some of the Dodge owners claim their Cummins would better 20 mpg pulling a trailer at 70 mph. The ideal tow truck would sport an Isuzu 5.2 L diesel engine with proper gearing so you could tow 1800 rpm at 70 mph. Who needs a truck that can do 100 mph anyway ? I'd like to see a half ton truck with a small diesel for towing situations like we run into whereby the trailer weight is less than 6,000 lbs and towing speed is around 70 mph. Ford, Dodge and GM are on a HP war each year kicking up the power at our expense just so some diesel jockey can keep up with a Corvette at the light.

Yeah, I didn't think about the "block", good idea. Glad to see you're getting plenty of help. I suppose the enema is provided at no extra charge from Kitcat, I'll have to get an extra big rear view mirror as a pre-caution but perhaps he'll be pre-occupied with you & leave me alone.

Actually a smart move on your part. Better to spend it on a good trailer and wait to add on stuff as the budget allows than to get an el-cheapo like I did. And having the trailer pre-wired and structurally ready to mount the a/c will make adding it later a breeze. For some reason I had Texas on my mind, didn't bother to read you're in Arkansas. It will still be a long drive to NJMP. Why can't we talk these guys into coming over to Barber or Road Atlanta, split the difference, in future years. It would be really neat to get a bunch of 7's for a track gathering like they do in England. Since you're running an LS engine, you will need to clip off four plug wires when we run at NJMP just to keep it fair. You still have a 4 liter advantage in engine size. Maybe only use 1st and 2nd gear, run with two flat tires, carry a sheet of plywood sideways..............I can keep on coming up with ideas if you like.:cheers:

Now that is one nice trailer. In hind sight, I should have bought a quality enclosed trailer vs. the el-cheapo I have but it has served me well. Yours is beyond a doubt a very high quality unit. Getting it June 10th is kind of close to the NJMP trip but should give you a few weeks to adjust. If you've already made provisions for an a/c unit, so be it. If not, make sure they add or provide the support framework in the roof for an a/c unit to be mounted. I think you're in Texas so staying cool out there is important. I mounted a Coleman 14,000 btu a/c in mine after buying the trailer, and had to go into the roof to add steel framing so the a/c unit wouldn't end up on the hood of the car. My Honda EU3000 powers that up nicely when the tracks don't provide power or when they want $30/day for a hookup like Barber MSP. I'm pulling the open car trailer to NJMP since it's a lot easier on a long trip and allows for much better mpg. If you're pulling from Texas, you'll have a longer trip than I will.

I just got some parts from him. He is definitely there and operating. Nice guy who has deep knowledge of 7's.

Number of ways to lower the car safely. Easiest is if you have a two post lift. Most don't have that luxury. A jack on the front end with as rack of wood if needed for the height will lift it off the jack stands, then Lower it onto lower position jack stands or blocks of wood. Repeat on the back until the car is down on its wheels. Engine hoist on front, then back, lowering it to a lower position each time until it's down. Easy to do if you take your time.

All of your suggestions are very good. The molded wing protector appears to made for the Stalker wings, mine is a Caterham. May fit as well, not sure. I was considering making a right & left mold to make CF pieces. Nice thing about having the mold is you can making new pieces to replace the old ones as they get trashed. I like the spray can applicator version of the bed liner.

Yes, me too. It'll be a lot of fun.

Oh, yes. NJMP is no problem now that I hired out the paint job vs. me doing it. I'm getting the tranny back next week and will be puting the 7 back together accordingly. The hardest part is dropping the engine/tranny back in the frame with new paint and having to be slow and careful. However, I have car lifts and engine hoists to make it easier. I'm thinking of modifying the frame under the car which requires the removal of the rear end to access the axle. I'm thinking of making a removable set of cross members to allow that and yet maintain strength and torsional integrity. I know they designed this to be as still as possible but maintenance still has to be given consideration. I'm also converting all the coolant hoses over to the silicone type and have even made some aluminum piping to incorporate the drop in size from 1-1/4" to 1-3/8". I'm not sure if Caterham does it this way or if the original owner/builder did it that way but I don't like the looks of hoses all puckered up, and don't trust it either.

Imron went on today and it's looking good. Also thinking about adding clear film on the nose & wings.

Thanks for the link. Some of the confusion is the number of types of Imron Dupont produces. They have an industrial line of Imron which is 3:1 just like the automotive finish but the formulation is somewhat different. All are Poly-isocyanate based urethanes but vary in the amount of "solids". Imron has and is still the choice of the aircraft industry. I just checked with Ti-Co Warbird Museum in Titusville, Fl to see what they were using on their aircraft restorations and they also use the Imron but don't clearcoat. When I used to paint the fire trucks, we would clear coat over the base. I have painted vehicles without the clear coat and it still comes out with the wet look but not as good as the clear coat. The two biggest problems with Imron is your health if you're the one spraying it, and the cost since it pretty well sits at around a $400/gallon paint plus a few other costs like reducers, retarders, etc. However, when compared to the cost of the total paint job, the cost of paint becomes a smaller item. Having to re-paint two years later becomes more of an issue which I am trying to avoid. Perhaps I'm just kidding myself and will have to do it anyway since I do track the car. I like my cars to look good........and be fast. Some of my buddies are telling me the newer paints like the Matrix are as good if not better than Imron. None have much experience with Awlgrip. I never saw it applied before Chris across from my building painted a boat with it. I was impressed with its gloss and hardness, and the cost is similar to Imron for a complete job, maybe a little less. I wish I had more experience or knowledge of the newer paints, even the water borne paints from PPG. However, today is judgement day and I have to decide.

I'm not shooting it myself. I've considered Matrix paints as well as Sherwinn Williams commercial Polane paints. Most speed boats & almost all aircraft use Imron. Most yachts use Awlgrip. You're right about Imron being bad for the lungs. I painted over 50 vehicles with it in my younger days & will likely pay the price eventually. I'll let the painter decide but I'm leaning towards the Imron. It's more money but since I track the car it may work best. Thanks for your input.

Yes, clear coat either with the Imron or the Awlgrip is available. The previous owner had the 3M clear pastic on the rear wings and after the stones hit that, it looked worse than the paint so I previously stripped the clear plastic and repainted the rear and front wings last year. This car's design makes it prone to stone/chip damage. I also thought about the clear plastic spray that comes in a spray can but can be pulled off without much fanfare. Not cheap, $20/can and it does about 2 to 3 square feet. Epoxy............tough but as you said, it's a pain to remove it. But for that matter, so is Imron. I've done several re-paints with Imron and the nice thing about that is the finish is even nicer the second time around but it takes a lot of sanding effort.

I'm glad for you that it turned out to be relatively minor. A valve job isn't cheap but a whole lot cheaper than replacing the entire engine. I know what you must have been going thru in anticipation of finding out what is wrong. We always seem to expect the worse case scenario and it usually is much less.