New Member w/ questions to upgrade 7 for track days

[O Racer]

Hi all I am new to this site but not new to Caterhams as I built mine from a kit from Chris T. in 1991 and have owned it since. I have other cars but this is the last one I will ever sell!

 

I have rallied it and did track days in the past, decided to get back on the track again so did a track day with the Shelby Club last month at Laguna Seca

 

I had so much fun I decided to make it a more dedicated track day car and have started the process by getting a set of cycle fenders to replace the clam shell ones I got with the car.

 

I have so many questions, thought I would do them one post at the time but here goes with my list:

 

Car is a 1991 Caterham 7, 1700 Crossflow, Sierra Cosworth 5 speed, De Dion rear, 5 point belts, stock windshield replaced with Brooklands windscreen, stock roll bar, otherwise pretty much stock with about 14,000 miles

 

-replace stock seat, any suggestions since seat width limited to 16"

 

-add a fuel cell, I see ATL and Fuel Safe make one that fits but price close to $2,000, also foam degrades if you use pump gas. Any suggestions

 

-Have 14" Panasports with Kumho tires with TWR of 50, nice and soft but no longer available, nor does it seem there are any race tires out there in 14" size. Any suggestions at 14" or if I change to 13's or 15's.

 

-Stock brake pads, rotors good, any suggestion for a race pads

 

-Muffler has loose baffles so though I would replace with Bullet type, ideas?

 

-For 2013, thought I would do some engine work but limited to head. thinking HD springs, rockers (roller?) and push rods if stock not suitable

 

-For looks, sides of car are bare aluminum, gravel blasted from gravel coming off soft tires, they need sanding as that are pretty rough, suggestions

 

Realize this is a lot, thought I would put this out for comments.

 

Would post photos but could never figure out how

 

Thanks all

 

John

[MichaelD]

Some thoughts on your goals:

 

1. Cut out your clam shells. It elimenates the lift and saves alot of time and money.

 

2. replace stock seat, http://www.pistonheads.com used parts/caterham several used race seats available.

 

3. add a fuel cell, I see ATL and Fuel Safe make one that fits but price close to $2,000, also foam degrades if you use pump gas. Any suggestions

Contact Folis Jones about the Feel Cell he sells fits great in passenger seat area and adds balance. I will PM his email address. Oh yeah...it costs alot less the FS.

 

4. Have 14" Panasports with Kumho tires with TWR of 50, nice and soft but no longer available, nor does it seem there are any race tires out there in 14" size. Any suggestions at 14" or if I change to 13's or 15's.

 

For track use get a set of 13x7 and 13x8 run Hoosier A6 to last longer or Avons for best performance.

 

5. Stock brake pads, rotors good, any suggestion for a race pads.

 

Hawk stopprd making race pads for Caterhams. I had performance make copies of the Hawk pads. they work just fine. BTW I am still running stock non vented disks and see no fade as I try not to use them much.

 

6. Muffler has loose baffles so though I would replace with Bullet type, ideas?

I replaced my 7# Caterham Canister with a HushPower. Loud bot sounds great.

 

7. For 2013, thought I would do some engine work but limited to head. thinking HD springs, rockers (roller?) and push rods if stock not suitable.

 

I have Zetec. Quicksilber Racengines in Frederick, MD does nice work on 1600s and Zetecs.

 

8. For looks, sides of car are bare aluminum, gravel blasted from gravel coming off soft tires, they need sanding as that are pretty rough, suggestions

 

They will only get worse on the track.

[rnr]

I cant help you with the Caterham questions but once you have the car setup you should join us at the GGLC trackdays: http://www.gglotus.org/trkdays/ggtrkday.htm

 

The next one is at Laguna on Feb 11 and we invariably have a couple of different sevens there.

[O Racer]

Thanks to Michael D and Croc for advise for updating my Seven, doing my research and looking forward to other member ideas.

 

rnr...thanks, recently joined GGLC, I joined during the day in the Sierras visiting Dave Bean's shop. I was there in my Seven, I know Don Nester real well.

 

I have pencilled in Feb and April Laguna dates, definitely April.

 

See you

 

John

 

PS if anyone interested I did my story on the New Member thread. I have been around!

[ihckb2]

I have the same problem with 14"

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 may be an answer if you want both street and track

[Kitcat]

I have walked your path, with your model se7en. Doubt clam removal will do much, but just a guess. My X-flow topped out at 105-07 mph and wasn't fast enuf to have lift. Brooklands in place of full screen helps a little, ditto turning headlights sideways. Some have reported a bit more speed w/top up, sidescreens on.

 

Engine upgrades to X-flow-are expensive and add modest power. For $10-16K you can buy a BDA that drops right in (and makes same hp as a $1K Duratec).

 

FIA bar is huge safety improvement, same for seats with anchor strap for 5-6 pt belt.

 

My odessey included upgrading to a much higher hp Birkin and finally a full toot, track only Caterham, w/cage, fuel cell, Zetec, etc. And both later cars were/are much faster than the X-Flow. Are they funner-actually, that's a pretty close call.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Kitcat

[bball7754]

I have a '98 with the Crossflow. Agree with the 13" wheel recommendation, and have had good luck on the track with Toyo RA1's. The other upgrade that (for me) had a large impact on the track was adding an LSD. Also second upgrading to the FIA rollbar.

 

Steve

[Croc]

To make your car lighter for track days you can always wrap it in carbon fiber:

http://www.getcarbonfiber.com/

 

Solves your gravel rash issues too!

[MichaelD]

Or one could go on a diet and lose more weight than all of the carbon parts save not to mention the cost of CF. ;-)

[Croc]

Shhhh!!! I just had brandied christmas pudding and custard. I think of it as a form of corner weighting...:jester:

[scannon]

Shhhh!!! I just had brandied christmas pudding and custard. I think of it as a form of corner weighting...:jester:

I think you are adding the weight to the wrong side of the car.

[blubarisax]

Or one could go on a diet and lose more weight than all of the carbon parts save not to mention the cost of CF. ;-)

 

No reason you can't do both. I'm down 90# since the June NJMP se7ens event. (thanks for the inspiration Kitcat) I ran out of CF to put on the car and had to choice but to shed a couple of pounds if I had any hope of keeping up with Croc this year.

 

Now about that light weight battery...

[MichaelD]

That desert sounds excellent. Calls for coffee and more Carbon Fiber. :jester:

Edited December 29, 2012 by MichaelD
spelling

[Sabbot]

I have a very similar 1700 supersport and my votes would be safety then handling then power.

Full cage or at least a well braced tall hoop would be top of my list. The chances of rolling a seven are low but have a look at what the rear hoop "supports" mount onto and then decide if you want to run without a forward facing petty bar support.

Decent boiling point brake fluid and good pads are cheap and easy, it's certainly possible to get fade on the original calipers but you have to try quite hard or have old / water contaminated fluid.

I don't have a LSD but after constantly running out of traction in a tight 180 degree turn at NJMP thunderbolt last year I would suggest adding and would be interested if any of the members have experience of LSDs that work well with Caterhams.

On the handling front I looked at Croc's videos of my car and although it didn't feel like rolled a lot it certainly seems lean quite a bit more than is ideal so you might consider a rear antiroll bar.

On the power side of things if you are still running the Kent 234 cam you could consider the 244 cam. It works better at the top end with little loss of tractability while pottering about. If you change the cam you might want to think about swapping out the dizzy. My original distributer was fairly well worn but when I recently swapped to a matched advance (FL303) distributor from Burton power it transformed the pick up and added a little bit on the top end.