locost7018 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Welcome Chris. Where are you located? Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pennypie Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Hi Russ, I live in a small town called LaOtto. It's about 17 mi north of Ft. Wayne IN. I have been interested in British cars most of my life and I am so glad to have found this forum. I used to rd. race some years back and I have always loved the 7s but never owned one. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pennypie Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Hi Shane I just posted your request to Russ. Thanks for your hospitality. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe String Racing Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 (edited) 2012 built Brunton Super Stalker. Sacramento CA. Retired civil engineer. Well, perusing some of these posts, it appears many of you had a thing for 7s for a long time. I didn't even know what a 7 was 7 weeks ago and I've had this one for over a month. On top of that, never was a "car guy" til I was in my 30's and have gradually gone down the slippery slope of something different on 4 wheels. Here's my car history resume. :jester: 1986. Bought a 74 911 Targa. Just thought it would be fun to have a hot car/chick magnet. I was single, had a hobby/part time tandem skydiving business and living the dream. Just drove it in the hills of Eastern WA, ID and British Columbia. Enjoyed it, scared myself a few times, learned a few things but didn't get overly excited about it. 1992. Sold the Targa and bought a pristine 87 Porsche Cabriolet; White with navy trim; I was looking like the stud with a fast sail boat down at the marina. Emphasis on "looking like." That was a gorgeous car. Made for some classy pics at my wedding to my 2nd wife (call her my trophy wife since she's 11 years younger) 1994. Sold the Cabriolet to the local banker/bachelor for a nice price and bought a 92 NSX, which I had been dreaming about since 89 when the concept showed up in magazines. Being an engineer, driving a Honda version of a Ferrari 348 made perfect effing sense obviously. Loved that car, drove it on the track and on early morning mountain runs we called "dawn patrols". Got pretty quick for an old fart engineer. Taught HPDE novices with a couple of track day clubs. 2003. Driving to LA, I stopped at Buttonwillow race track for a pee break. Pulling in, I see a nerdy looking guy climbing into a formula car I had never seen the likes of before. (Watched a lot of CART racing but no SCCA club racing). 20 minutes later, as I'm leaving, I see him sitting on his trailer. I roll down the window and ask what that car is. He proceeds to tell me it's a Formula Mazda that he just bought and had it sorted out but the G's make him sick and he'll dump the whole thing with trailer for $30K. It's obvious from his story that he's just a wealthy nerd who collects expensive cars and knows nothing about racing or how to sell this thing. I do a lot of independent research on the FM and him and conclude he really is giving away this $50k worth of car and trailer for a song. And I'd be a fool to pass up something like this even though I had never considered buying a real race car......ever. So I did and found a wonderful bunch of hard core FM racers right here in Central CA. What an experience; from racing to the wrenching to the camaraderie and permanent friendships, it was a major highlight in my recreational life. Selling the NSX as part of the deal with the wife was not too difficult. 2015 By now, in my late 60's I'm just too tired, arthritic and done with working on the FM, so I decide it's time to advertise it on ApexSpeed, the website for formula club racers. The first call I get is from Gray in AZ with a 2012 Super Stalker he wants to swap. A what???? never heard of it? Oh Lotus 7? Oh yeah, I've seen one on track at my favorite track day club. Hmmmmm, hadn't thought about that.........well it might make some sense; American running gear; low maintenance, street legal, yeah, that might be a nice transition from hardcore racing where you work on the car more than you're in it. So while he waits for me to get comfortable with the idea, I do some research and visit a guy in Sonoma who's had a Super Stalker for 7 years, A ride in the beast kind of showed me what a kit car really is and why it's not just "another car." But, what the heck, this was presented to me just like the Formula Mazda; from out of the blue, so.........what could possibly go wrong? LOL. Well, on a wing and a prayer for both of us we shake hands after seeing pictures, a couple of videos and answering a lot of questions........and discovering we had some commonality in skydiving. Well if knowing he's a fellow skydiver doesn't make you feel comfortable for no rational reason, what would? And to confirm he's really a nice guy, he delivers the thing to my garage and picks up my car, trailer, complete kit and drives home. I don't have to do a thing. Can selling a race car get any easier than that??? No way. What a long strange trip it's been. Yee haw. :drool: Edited January 16, 2016 by Shoe String Racing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Welcome Ted, great story. I am with you:"Yee haw!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Welcome, Ted. Is 154 still fenderless up front? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe String Racing Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Yes, but I'm thinking of putting them on and seeing if I like that look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) Yes, but I'm thinking of putting them on and seeing if I like that look. Ted, How about creating a thread in the Members Rides section with photos and discription of #154...share with other forum members. :cheers: Edited January 18, 2016 by xcarguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe String Racing Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 OK will do. Or, the builder posted his build pics over on the stalkercars gallery page. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=21563 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe String Racing Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 just to make a long drawn out story even longer, here's my checkered past as a Formula Mazda guy. http://tidlof.wix.com/shoe-string-racing I'm still very much into that scene since my teammate Bruce is younger and still hard core. I engineer and spot for him when we race with the Formula Car Challenge. http://formulacarchallenge.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduke Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 Just registered: Me: Live in FL panhandle, spent 10 years in the USMC flying EA-6Bs (as an NFO: i.e., "Goose", not "Maverick"). Engineer on a ship program for a big company now. Into flying, sports cars, motorcycles, skiing, SCUBA, travel, business and finance, fitness. Car: nice Locost-type 7. 1.8 Miata engine, T3/T4 turbo, Miata IRS, Torsen diff, and transmission. ~1300 lbs, ~240 rwhp. Lots of nice details like spherical bearings throughout, stainless tubular header, adjustable pedal set, etc. It has been stone-cold reliable for the 3 years I've owned it, too. I had it painted a couple of years ago, and changed a few things that I either didn't like the original design of, or more commonly, had been altered in a way I didn't like by an owner in between the original builder and me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduke Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 (edited) Copied from previous page: Just registered: Me: Live in FL panhandle, spent 10 years in the USMC flying EA-6Bs (as an NFO: i.e., "Goose", not "Maverick"). Engineer on a ship program for a big company now. Into flying, sports cars, motorcycles, skiing, SCUBA, travel, business and finance, fitness. Car: nice Locost-type 7. 1.8 Miata engine, T3/T4 turbo, Miata IRS, Torsen diff, and transmission. ~1300 lbs, ~240 rwhp. Lots of nice details like spherical bearings throughout, stainless tubular header, adjustable pedal set, etc. It has been stone-cold reliable for the 3 years I've owned it, too. I had it painted a couple of years ago, and changed a few things that I either didn't like the original design of, or more commonly, had been altered in a way I didn't like by an owner in between the original builder and me. Low-grip sealed asphalt, but you can see it's still pretty quick: Edited June 5, 2016 by theduke intro buried on previous page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Goose! Welcome aboard. Great group here. And an awesome car you have there. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taber10 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 theduke, Welcome aboard! I didn't know there was another LSIS in the panhandle, although at our Brits on the Bay car show in April, another Caterham--1989 S3--showed up from the Atlanta area. Last year we had Tripp's recently restored Lotus 7 S2, featured in the Nov 2014 issue of Hemmings. I don't autocross, but it would be neat to watch your car some day--it looks good sitting still, and as you mentioned, looks very fast on the course. Taber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduke Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Yeah, I intended to come out to the Brits on the Bay show last year, but I had some sort of conflict. Don't remember what, now. I didn't know I'd already missed it this year. That's unfortunate! I didn't know if an American-built car with a Japanese drivetrain and rear suspension was British enough for you guys or not, but I intended to bring it out there regardless, haha. Unfortunately I might not have it anymore by next year's show...I've been wanting to do a track day with it since forever, but then things kept getting in the way (had to sort out some things like seat mounting and steering linkage when I first got the car, then I destroyed my hood by forgetting to latch it down and had to have a new one fabricated, then it was in for a paint job, then I found by autocrossing it that the oversteer was unmanageable--I eventually worked that out with alignment settings and tire pressures...then I was unemployed for 4.5 months, then my ex sued me to try to squeeze even more money out of me yet again...now here we are, and I'm finally ready to hit the track with it, haha!) I want to sell it and buy a boat (and maybe a track bike...and maybe even an aerobatic airplane), but I'm determined that there's no way I'm selling the 7 before I do at least one track day with it! I don't have anything to tow it with, but as soon as I can make my way to Barber or NOLA Motorsports Park, or even Talladega Gran Prix ("Little Talladega"), I'll probably put it up for sale. It's been a ton of fun, but I know I'd get much more use out of a boat and/or airplane...and my daughter could enjoy that with me much better (although she does love taking short drives in the 7!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo_bird Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 I've just signed up here, but I've browsed the site a bit in the past. I figured now that I've got my car on the road I may as well join up. I'm 35, married with a couple kids, and live near Kamloops, BC, Canada. There's some pretty nice roads and scenery around here to enjoy in my locost, but I don't get to drive it as much as I'd like, it's not very good family car. Speaking of which, here's the car I built. It's by no means a show car, but it's mine and it puts a smile on my face every time I take it out. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/turbo_bird/Locost/_IGP6137.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/turbo_bird/Locost/IMG_20160514_132146.jpg And here's a quick autocross video. Kristian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comley Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I've been a member here since 2013 so probably time I introduced myself. Based in New Hope, PA, software engineer by trade and builder of Stalker Cars Classic R chassis #27, a work in progress. I ordered my kit from Scott Minehart almost a year ago to the day during a visit to the Stalker Cars factory in FL; it arrived just before Christmas and I have been working away at it ever since. Some folks here may know me from the Stalker Cars forum where I have been recording a build log for the car (http://stalkercars.forumotion.com/t165-classic-r-27-build). #27 is GM 3800 NA-powered (L26 motor from a Buick Lacrosse) and destined to be a road car so much of my research time and build effort has been spent tailoring the car to meet PA street regs. I'm a long-time Caterham fan, a lot of which comes from being British and growing up seeing Sevens and particularly Caterhams on the road over there. In recent years I've been able to drive various rented Caterhams while visiting the UK because the showroom (first in Caterham, subsequently in Crawley) are both very close to where my family live over there. Eventually of course the time comes when you have to get on and own or build a Seven for yourself - which is where I find myself now. Having a gallery is a rite of passage for Stalker owners - here's mine: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=29163 Although the build has always been part of the journey for me, I'm looking forward to being done with endless weekends of fabrication, part research and head-scratching. These cars are time-consuming and highly absorbing animals and they demand a lot of attention. Wouldn't have it any other way though! -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Hi Dave - welcome to the madhouse! :seeya: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Welcome Dave. Maybe we will see another Storker at NJMP next year. We missed them this year. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Dave, From one Storker (as they are affectionately known on this forum) owner to another...Welcome! :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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