my roadrace Super Seven Super Sprint

[d15b7]

hi gents!

 

i had recently posted to the roadrace forum about a race weekend that i had particpated in, and in a reply was asked to post up some info about my racecar, so here goes!

 

it's a 1992 Caterham; its got a FIA cage, a fuel cell, brooklands screen, and a bench seat. i've removed the headlights and converted it to cycle fenders. on to the good stuff:

 

- 1660 ford crossflow 'kent' motor; 711m. stock cast crank, balanced and lightened. lightened flywheel with stock clutch and pressure plate. 11.8:1 pistons with forged rods. baffled wet sump oiling system with remote oil filter, oil cooler, and accusump. Elgin cam with lifters and pushrods. steel rocker assembly. moderately ported and polished cylinder head with multiangle valvejob. webber DCOE 40 carbs. chessman 4 into 1 header with straight pipe exhaust. underdrive pulley on alternator. aluminum radiator. oil breather catch-can system. broken in and tuned on the engine dyno, made 175 hp at the flywheel (on a slightly optimistic dyno; i think its around 165 hp in 'real life'):

 

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3033/enginebaypassengerside.th.jpg

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/8778/interioro.th.jpg

 

- type 9 transmission (stock; i WISH i had the shorter 5th gear conversion). rear diff is welded; i think the rear gear is a 3.65:1, but i could be wrong, i might be 3:92:1. i just can't remember!

 

- full E production suspension conversion, including springs, shocks, swaybars (no rear bar at all right now). wide track front. 13"x7" Panasport race wheels with 185-60-13F and 225-45-13R Toyo 888 tires. its got the 'fast ratio' steering rack.

 

- interior is pretty stock, except for 6 point belts, a kill switch, a custom 'low profile' shift knob, and a full compliment of gauges: speedo, tach, oil pressure (mechanical), oil temp (mechanical), and water temp (mechanical). i have a manually controlled engine fan, and an electrically controlled accusump, with one way valve:

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3847/interiorcw.th.jpg

 

well, i think that's all there is to tell about my Super Seven! it's a wonderful race machine; of my three racecars, it is by far my favorite to race on the track!!!!

 

any questions, and please feel free to ask!

 

todd

ReidSpeed

Edited December 1, 2009 by d15b7

[Kitcat]

Nice! I am jealous of your power. Who built your engine, who tuned it? How many miles, or track hours before a rebuild is needed? The hp number seems to be about right for a good, high-end Kent engine.

 

What are you other 2 race cars? I am sure it is fun to drive a giant-killer at the track, which this Se7en certainly is.

 

Mike

[d15b7]

hi!

 

i've had this car since 1994; this is the second rebuild of the motor; the first engine lasted for 3200 track miles. i expect that this one will go at least that long (i broke the first down; all my fault; extended time at watkins glen and i was revving way over 7k rpm). the place i have the work done is called 'R and W Enterprises'; its an old time shop, run by a father and son team. they've done lots and lots of kent motors, and have a very good working knowledge of them. they are located outside of west chester, pa. great guys!

 

my other two cars are a 1993 Ford Probe GT (NASA PTE racecar) and a very fast 1995 honda civic hatchback (has a rsx-s motor and 6 speed trans with a T28 turbo. 2200 lbs with me in it and 320 whp). if i think of it, i'll post up a few vids of those cars on various tracks...

 

todd

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

Thanks for posting at my request! Now just a few questions...

 

What exactly is "E production suspension"? Is your car a live axle or dedion? Did you notice any corner entry understeer by welding the diff? How light is your flywheel? Also, what duration elgin cam are you running and what about ignition? 165 hp is impressive for a crossflow! Sorry to bother you with all of these questions!

 

You sure are brave to run those naked velocity stacks.

[d15b7]

hi, and you are welcome!

 

- the EP suspension package comes standard on the EP super seven that caterham used to offer (i don't know if they still offer it anymore). a while back, you could buy an entire kit from caterham which was basically a racecar ready to go for the USA that you could run in SCCA EP class. the suspension was a specially calibrated set of coilovers (springs and bilstien shocks) and antiroll bars. i bought the coilovers/springs/shocks and antirollbars and installed them on my Seven, along with the front upper and lower control arms.

 

- my car is a dedion.

 

- very mild entry corner understeer, unless the corner is very very sharp (like at an autox). i LOVE the welded rear in the dry! it is fantastic to put power down, especially if you are up on the curbs or two wheels in the dirt! it is a real handful in the wet, though -- tons of entry understeer (bucket loads); then you have to lift a huge amount to try to get the front to bite, which it eventually will; then the car will transfer to lift throttle oversteer, which you balance with the throttle (but not too much power, or you'll go into a bad tank-slapper from the wheelspin!). its a real handful in the wet....

 

- i seem to remember that the flywheel is 12 lbs now.

 

- the Elgin cam was a custom grind; duration = 308 deg. overlap = 39 deg @ 0.050". lift = 0.321". when i called Elgin, he asked what the purpose of the motor was going to be (roadracing); what the comp ratio was. the size of the carbs. the rev range (still have the cast crank, so under 7500 max max. in fact, the whole last weekend, i was trying to shift just before 7k).

 

- ignition is a Lucas Super coil, with some real trickery when it comes to the distributor system - it has an ingnitor from a V8 chevy, and an electronic Bosch dizzy from a BMW e30 M3 machined to fit like a glove into my xflow block. looks stock, has a perfect advance curve, works great!

 

by the way, this motor would be perfect for use in an 'occasional' street car! it idles perfectly at 1100 rpm. starts up extremely easily. super tractable from 2k on up, and comes on like a freight train at about 4500 rpm, and pulls til the numbers run off the dial. the only downside is that it needs 100 octane gas due to the comp ratio of 11.8:1. not a big deal for me, as there is a small airport about 15 mins from my house which will sell you as much 100LL as you want ($4.20 per gal).

 

hope that helps!

 

todd

ReidSpeed

Edited December 2, 2009 by d15b7
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