Croc Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Great to see everyone here today. Al N made a royal appearance which was truly appreciate. Steve Novelli (S1steve) joined in the good natured ribbing that has been going. It was good to meet Ryan (Proj217) in person and the Boss 302 he is crewing for is one of the best sounds cars on the track. And of course to meet Dave and his wife with their orange S1 (forgotten her name already - I am useless). George Alderman of MidAtlantic Caterham stopped by for a visit and was good to see. Jack VB is staying with us for the track days even though his seven is off the road. Drivers are: - Tom G (Yellowss7) - Stewart (Sabbot) - Michael (MichaelD) - Scott L - Mike M (Kitcat) - Karl (Blubarisax) - Mike (Croc) - Dermot (ottcycle - driving his Hayabusa Fisher Fury) Lightning is a great track - fully a momentum style of track that suits sevens so well. We were literally eating every other car up. Corvettes had us on the straights but at least I could hang on to them. Kitcat was a man alive just monstering every car out there - truly inspriring driving in a 135hp crossflow. Truthfully the track suited sevens so well we were all driving above ourselves. I will have an open kimono session now to get my dirty laundry story in first. In the 2nd and 3rd session I was trying to push very very hard to see what the car could do. It is touching 140 mph at the end of the main straight and getting through turn 1 on what feels like 2 wheels but is about 104-105. in the second session I tried getting through at 110mph and bounced the apex curve which bounced me wide and two wheels off into the dirt which was fairly easily recovered albeit with a large dust cloud. In the third session, I again tried very hard. At turn 4 I cocked up pushing too hard. Missed the apex by a foot and dropped 2 wheels off the track on the exit by about a foot. And then I went for a little ride through a few spins off track, coming back on where I could get some semblence of control and reversed the spin to back off and wait for the slow cars to pass (Tom?). Unfortunately, I created a little...errr...large... dust cloud from which no one could see through to see where I was hiding. I slowly trundled back to the pits to check out the car (fine just dirty) where the pit marshal uttered the immortal words - "You have a tree in your visor." And so there was. Unfortunately I have had a bad tech day - my digital SLR went on the fritz. My video camera cut out after 30 seconds in the 3rd and fourth sessions (thank good no spin pics to immortalize me). I will need others to post pics sadly. :svengo: Car is fine - diff is breathing oil...fairly normal. Engine is breathing oil...fairly normal. Feels fantastic handling and braking. Absolutely filthy from my gardening excursions. :jester: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvbtte Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I had a great time watching you guys. Can't wait to get my car back on the road. I spoke with Caterham USA today and they will be sending the parts out ASAP. Here are a few pics.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvbtte Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 A few more pics....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Wow! In that second Photo, it looks like Croc is having a hard time losing that Miata in the turns:jester: I guess 260 HP isn't enough or maybe you need to step up to the slicks to out handle a Miata Mike. :svengo: Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Wow! In that second Photo, it looks like Croc is having a hard time losing that Miata in the turns:jester: I guess 260 HP isn't enough or maybe you need to step up to the slicks to out handle a Miata Mike. :svengo: Owww Tom! I just passed him on the back straight at Lightning before the ninety degree left. He was on slicks too I will have you know! :toetap05: It was a brilliant couple of days. I had a simply great time with a great group of guys. I definitely want to see this become an annual event. We all got on so well socially and it was a delight to run with so many sevens on the track at once. The memories of the event are many: · Following, Michael, Mike and I think it was Tom (or was it Scott?), all ahead of me on Lightning, crawling over the back of some Corvette Z06. No matter which mirror the Corvette looked out of he would have seen buzzing sevens darting around behind. · Trying to catch Tom on the big long curving sweeper at Lightning and realizing he had slicks while I was on Cr500s. · Beers in the paddock on the Sunday evening setting up and after the day at Lightning. · Following Michael with car positioned up the tailpipe of the silver Infiniti (or silver corvette) with hands waving frantically as they would not give him a point by. · Being amazed at Kitcat driving totally committed, holding momentum and just flying past cars everywhere. It may only be a 135fwhp crossflow but it just shows that well driven they are lethal on a track like Lightning which suits a seven so well. · Following Dermot in his Hayabusa Fisher and watching him just flick the car into corners seemingly without brakes · My rather large and extremely dusty spin. · Getting fast enough to be airborne over the hump on the back straight at Thunderbolt. Scared the hell out of me. My video camera worked only at Thunderbolt but I will edit something down on the second half of the second session when I really decided to see what the girl could do and found to my surprise that I was just passing everything on track. Hopefully that shows something good. The car was as close to perfect as a seven gets with 700 miles on it. Chassis and suspension set up felt great. Brakes were running nicely with no fade even when trying hard. The 6 speed gearbox is starting to lose its notchiness and the shifts are starting to come smoother. The engine was just brilliant. I could stay with the fastest cars down the straights with a good exit from the previous corner and a little slipstreaming. Fixes needed for the car following the track day: · A proper oil catch tank with filter vent. I have oil breathing heavy out of the washer bottle....errr...Caterham oil catch tank. · A diff breather catch tank - I was getting a smallish amount of diff oil being breathed out. I have also decided to call my differential "Tom" because it whines so much! · New windscreen. The current one took 4 stones in one session at Lightning and it is totally gone. · Speedo needs fixing - it went erratic on the track when I went over 100mph. An old well known problem. · A new set of rear tires would not go astray. · Skate tape on the floor of the pedal box where it is polished ali so the heels of my shoes have some grip while working the pedals. My journey home was not a good one. I got hammered in a monsoon on Rt55 and took refuge under overpasses twice when the car started to miss (no trailering for me). I had hazards, rear fog light and headlights on yet a kind soul from the track day who stayed behind me on the drive to keep guard said I was invisible in the rain. Also with the NJ Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and I-295 all parking lots headiing north, I ended up driving over the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia and picking up I-95 towards Trenton to get back up to NYC. Traffic was so bad that it was a 4 hour trip when it should have been 2-2.5 hours. Until next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 This type of event will be repeated. It was great to have all of us out there on the track at the same time. And it definately was a great group of guys. I second Croc's comments. KitCat needs a new handle. I think "The Hoon" will do nicely. He never saw a car he wouldn't pass, "ANYWHERE" That was the best demo of late braking that I've seen. :driving: First session or so, I think the Corvette and Porsche boys, didn't want to let us little "kitcars" pass them. Like Croc said, when they looked in their mirrors we were usually in both mirrors as we could take any line we liked. After that, we got point bys for the groups of us, 3 and 4 cars at a time. We definately had the run of the track. I will start uploading the video and hopefully wil get to the editing process on friday and will try to get something up by Sunday. Karl said that he would send me video from his new cam, and I have not yet looked at the video that Jack and My cousin John took with the hand held cam. I think my $11.00 cam from ebay was the most dependable one of them all as it seemed to perform flawlessly, unlike our more expensive ones. It was a great time and hopefully at the next one, we can double the numbers of Sevens in attendance. I know Jack now has the bug after getting a ride, in a slow Corvette on Lightning. :rofl: Dave and Steve will probably also get their S1 Superformances out there too. It will be like seeing Double as they are both Metallic Orange. I can just one imagine one of them Passing some poor corvette, and they a few minute the second one comes up behind and the poor guy thinks he's been lapped. :rofl: Oh and Croc, you forgot Al Navarro's appearance in your Highlight list. That certainly was a nice surprise. Now if we can add Bessie to the attendance list next time, that will be the true test. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) The photos from the Lightning Day on the 27th and 28th (search SDCA, 27th/28th and Intermediate) are posted at: www.tracktimephotos.com There are some brilliant pics there of the sevens together on track or attacking some poor Corvette or Porsche. A great pic of Karl coming out of the sweeper onto Pit Straight with rear suspension cranked down as he powers out. There is also one of me in a dust cloud :blush: (but it is not when I spun so not sure it was my dust!) Not so many of the Thunderbolt day due to the weather. There is a good one of Tom following the Aston Martin mobile chicane. A suggestion - If anyone wants pics then put an order through me with the picture file name as I will make one big order for all of us to get the bulk discount. I was going to order the high resolution. I can then load them onto memory sticks and mail them out to you. Edited June 29, 2011 by Croc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I wish I could have stayed for Tuesday at T-Bolt as well... I had a great time on the track, but the most fun was meeting everyone in person. We should definately make this an annual event. I'm still working at my skills on the track, but even so I was pleased to pass a GT3 once in a while. But I had to stop counting how many times KitCat passed me. I will send Tom some video files to add to the offical footage. Unfortunately, I had a rather large bug on the camera lens for the first two sessions of the day and the track image on the video is of T-Bolt when we were at Lightning. I don't think I broke 120 in the long straight, but it felt like much faster... It's interesting to be able to review your track line without worrying about joining Croc in the grass. Great outting. Big thanks to Tom for getting it together. I'll be at Watkins Glenn on July 30/31 with the Philly PCA if anyone wants to join me I think there is still room. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1Steve Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Oh Boy, I forgot about the video that " Cousin John" was taking. Sorry Tom. Title it as " Cheerleaders Gone Mad " I had a blast at NJMP.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) Yes, it was a great event! Kudo's to Tom (Yellow SS) to making it happen, ditto Croc who gave a big assist. I agree with Karl, it was great to see new faces and connect them with names on this Forum. We had five se7en owners there who didn't do the track event but spectated/socialized so it was a pretty sizable showing. It was great to see Al Navarro again as he is one of the founding fathers and the whole se7ens at NJMP wld not have happened w/o his getting things started in the 1st place. Was fun to hang w/Ryan (Proj217) and his Mustang driving friend Ken. (Ryan, sorry I missed you when I left. I looked but cldnt seem to locate you). His car is for sale, BTW for around $14K, if anyone is in the market. I was surprised at how well my X-flow acquitted itself. I was able to keep up with most everyone, or at least harass them a bit before letting them go. I believe that an under- powered car is easier for an amateur driver (all of us are actually) to master as it doesn't get you into trouble as fast and when things go wrong it's often at a slower speed. Croc had the most spectacular "off' thanks to the tons of powdered dirt he slid thru. I was just 3-4 cars behind him and suddenly that was a huge orange cloud and his car disappeared, and stayed disappeared, before he finally backed out of it. He was also the fastest car/driver combo of the se7ens and never seemed to have any trouble reeling me in. Karl gets credit for having the best toys, and his car, trailer, tow-vehicle, and even lawn chairs are all to die for. Don't know if it rained at the track in the afternoon after I left , but, like Croc, I was hit by epic rains 10 minutes after leaving. It took me 2 hours to drive the 1st 65 miles, and I never pulled off. I got home at 1:00 A.M. today, up at 6:00 and here at work at 7:30(not working:)). My new diesel powered tow vehicle averaged between 11.5 mpg and 13.5 mpg on the highway. Hardly spectacular! On the stop/go off highway stuff I got 17 mpg. Turns out there are 2 different kinds a diesel fuel. So I was stopping at diesel stations and leaving empty handed. A real pita. Yes, let's do it again next year. In the meantime I am looking forward to seeing video. Edited June 30, 2011 by Kitcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redgoose Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Wow, what a great time i missed (bummer) between not having my car (ready date is now july 15 ) and moving my warehouse location this week, i had no chance to make this event..next time for sure..see you guys soon..ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Ron - You would be very welcome next time - the more the merrier! As a sad postscript to the event, you all may recall the diesel Nascar pickup driven by one of the instructors with the matching blue/green motorhome and trailer. On the way home north on the NJ turnpike, a tractor trailer hit the motorhome/trailer rig at 60+ mph leading to the crash and the total consumption of the motorhome, trailer and racecar in flames. From following up with Ian today to say thank you for a well run event, he confirmed the instructor and his wife escaped without injury, which is a relief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelD Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 First, Mike I forgot to thank you for renting the garage and then sharing it with all of us. It was excellent Sunday at 2PM when the monsoon hit the track and cancelled track time for Tom and I. You wrote: Skate tape on the floor of the pedal box where it is polished ali so the heels of my shoes have some grip while working the pedals. Try riveting a 1" aluminumum angle bar on the floor just forward of where you rest your heel. Works great and is very comfortable. Thanks again to everyone that came to make this a fun and memorable event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I just finished watching the video from my front and rear cameras, the one I mounted on Kitcat's roll bar, and the tape that Jack, Al, Steve and John took. What a Hoot! You guys should have your own show. Pretty funny. It's hard to belive that with all the nice camera setups we had that most of them failed to record at one point or another. Surprisingly, the two, cheapie, $11.00 cams that I bought on ebay, recorded flawlessly. The wind noise is intrusive, but they were rock steady, and caught some great action, including Croc's Dust storm.:cooldude: :hurray: I wish I could put up the whole sessions, but I don't think YouTube lets you put that much up. Mike M. You are just INSANE!!! You got your monies worth as you used every inch of the track and hit the dirt quite a few times. Great driving. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Here's a shot of all of the 7s at NJMP. Dermots Fisher Fury is missing as he was working on it when we assembled. He did get in the line, does anyone have a picture with him in it? Starting from the left is Karl with His Orange Superlight R400+++, Stewart's blue with Yellow noseband crossflow, My yellow superlight,Croc's Silver CSR, Dave D's Orange Superformance S1, S1 Steve's matching orange S1, KitCat's, Purple with red noseband crossflow, Michael D's BRG with red Zetec, and Scotts, Orange with Carbon, Superlight R America. Tom Edited June 30, 2011 by yellowss7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proj217 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Hey guys, Just wanted to say it was an absolute blast meeting you all and getting to spend time around some very impressive machines. Wish I could have had my car there, but ya win some, ya lose some. Still had a great time! Extra huge thanks to S1 Steve driving being my personal guide to the best viewing spots around Lightning Mike, thank you VERY much for the update on the NASCAR Craftsman truck and RV that was burned down on 95. Ken and I passed the wreckage and were absolutely stunned to see that happen. 30 mins from the track and to see something like that was insane. Driving around for two days on a track at 150mph and you're in more danger on the highway, ugh. Glad they are alright. Hope to see some of you again soon before my wife and I head out to Norcal!!! -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 A few more from the SCDA site. The group shot here is a little better. It includes Michael D. and Scott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proj217 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I put up a bunch of my pics in the other thread, here are just a few more taken yesterday...warning, not 7 related! Look away!!! http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2219.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2205.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2207.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2220.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proj217 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2204.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2215.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2206.jpg http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p26/CityGoat/NJMP/IMG_2186.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Here are some more from SDCA site: Tom being led by the Aston mobile chicane at Thunderbolt: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/june%202011/20110628_NJM_IN1_6571.jpg A nice shot of Michael diving in to a turn at Lightning: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/june%202011/20110627_NJM_IN1_5466.jpg A study of cornering styles - front to rear is Mike, Michael and Mike: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/june%202011/20110627_NJM_IN1_5852.jpg Is it a gaggle of sevens? From front to back - Michael, Mike, Mike and of course Tom struggling to keep up on 10 inch slicks on the sweeping lefthander at Lightning leading on to the straight. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/june%202011/20110627_NJM_IN1_5873.jpg If people want the hi resolution image for your own picture albums let me know your email in a PM Edited June 30, 2011 by Croc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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