Superlite owners past and present.
Discussion
Sadly I'm getting a bit obsessed with my Superlite, and I'm a little confused . My car has the spare wheel carrier, that was actually laughed at by a couple of well known movers and shakers in the 7 world the other day. Why would anyone spec a car that was built for lightness where every KG is measured and counted on the build sheet have it fitted ? How many Superltes were fitted with the spare wheel and how many still have them.
I love my car as it's got the complete history and is very original but I have the problem . Do I or don't I remove the spare wheel and carrier. The other thing I don't like is the wheels - they've been refurbished to as new condition but they've powder coated the whole wheel. The rim should be polished.
I've found some original road tests for the car. I've got the complete history including the original build sheet. It would be great to hear from the first owner Ian Noble, who appears to be a bit of a Caterham fanatic and now races Caterhams. So if anybody knows Ian Noble or the second owner Ian Fleming ( all I seem to find is a guy that wrote books ) it'll be great.
rubystone said:
I wasn't aware that any Superlights were fitted with a spare wheel carrier as standard. I've seen plenty too. But perhaps an owner specified his with one? The weight of the carrier and wheel isn't trivial though.
You could specify a carrier at the time of speccing up the build. I did.The reason? I had a friend who was shunted up the rear in a 7 without one. The petrol tank split, it caught fire and he was trapped in the car for a while. I reckoned that having something relatively non deformable behind the tank might help a bit in the event of something similar happening despite the weight penalty. To make up for it though I specced the 1.8 engine instead of the 1.6.
It was this one.
I'm not one for wanting cotton reel wheels with minimal wheelarch clearance, but I've never understood why Caterham don't supply smaller rear wheelarches mounted much lower - the humungous gap twixt tyre and arch looks far worse to me than a spare wheel on the back, particularly with the favoured 13" wheels.
Edited by bcr5784 on Monday 20th March 13:34
bcr5784 said:
I'm not one for wanting cotton reel wheels with minimal wheelarch clearance, but I've never understood why Caterham don't supply smaller rear wheelarches mounted much lower - the humungous gap twixt tyre and arch looks far worse to me than a spare wheel on the back, particularly with the favoured 13" wheels.
The rear ride height of that car looks too high to me. Yes. the rear arches aren't wheel hugging, but they shouldn't be that high. Edited by bcr5784 on Monday 20th March 13:34
Forget what others say.
It's your 7. No one else's.
Very few are the same, and IMO most of the "exactly standard" mafia simply don't know what the best add on bits are. A well modified car will totally surpass r300 levels with minimal effort, but the mafia types will call it a "bitsa" and itmock it. Caterham factory cars are not perfect. We had an early super light r from new that a pro like daveandrews wouldn't consider sending out - ran rough, low power, then failed and new engine within 3k.
CaterhM used the woeful straight cut seqential for hears on road dr500s, the modding types preferred the helical sadev. Eventually,caterham caught up.
IF the people taking the piss have their cars exactly dialled in, set lush with brilliant turn in and the Ability to get the power down early, then maybe consider their opi ions. However, if all they see onyourcar is a spare wheel, not fro t ride height, take and a conversation on tyre pressures, ignore em!
It's your 7. No one else's.
Very few are the same, and IMO most of the "exactly standard" mafia simply don't know what the best add on bits are. A well modified car will totally surpass r300 levels with minimal effort, but the mafia types will call it a "bitsa" and itmock it. Caterham factory cars are not perfect. We had an early super light r from new that a pro like daveandrews wouldn't consider sending out - ran rough, low power, then failed and new engine within 3k.
CaterhM used the woeful straight cut seqential for hears on road dr500s, the modding types preferred the helical sadev. Eventually,caterham caught up.
IF the people taking the piss have their cars exactly dialled in, set lush with brilliant turn in and the Ability to get the power down early, then maybe consider their opi ions. However, if all they see onyourcar is a spare wheel, not fro t ride height, take and a conversation on tyre pressures, ignore em!
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