LOH's Caterham 7 Super Sprint
Discussion
The first drive was utterly exhilarating, a feeling I really hope doesn't wear off over time.
The end of my road and then up the next one basically starts a beautiful climb through Cumbria, into Northumbria and then back into Cumbria again and on to the summit of the Hartside Pass. It's a stunning road an my side of it, although not unknown is not over-populated by folk out for a blast so if you go on an evening, you can have the place to yourself.
Got the kids in bed by 7pm, put on the new OMP Carrera racing boots bought especially for the run (in matching antique tan for the full kit w
ker look) and away I went. I kept the passenger side tonneau on and had the heat coming through and despite just a T-shirt on top is was plenty warm enough.
Within a couple of minutes you're at full throttle on this route and I won't lie, anything much above 70 mph feels excessive! I put my work safety glasses on but with the lowered floors you're tucked in nice behind the Brooklands Aero Screens. If you want, you can sit Ascari style with your elbows out but comfort for me meant my elbows were in and letting the warm summer air blast around you.
I'd forgotten how much I missed an open topped car!
It was easily warm enough with the heat bleeding through but no fan on. The car itself is beautifully balanced, albeit with the foibles a live axle car can bring. If you don't heel and toe the downshifts the rears will momentarily lock, clatter over a badly repaired bit of road and the rear will bounce.
But steering feel is so natural it all becomes second nature very quickly. It' the best handling road car I've owned since a mk3 MR2 Spyder and I can't begin to tell you just how high a praise that is.
On the heel and toe, I do find it a stretch so I'm going to investigate that a little-I know there are a few mods that can be done to alleviate the problem.
The gear change is fantastic, even if the ratios are a bit spaced out and very short-on a road like this you really only need fourth and fifth-third is just for hairpins.
As much as a sensory rush driving it fast is, on this road you at least get the odd break by passing through small villages and hamlets which you sort of need! The final push from Alston to Hartside is fast, I think the car naturally tops out at around 100mph and it honestly doesn't feel like you want to go there. It's going to be interesting at the 'ring as anything that could do 120mph or so up the hills there felt too slow in my experience-maybe the open cabin will make up for it in some way?
At the summit, I took a few photos and enjoyed the rolling summer air, still warm enough for a T-Shirt but I put on a beanie for the trip home. The car came with a matching, painted helmet. Now, I'll be honest I think it might really make me look like a tt but I dread to think what damage a stray unlucky stone could do to you.
I do have some pages saved on my browser with some vintage style motorcycle googles to match. Part of me cringes not just at how I'll look (the wife reckons like Toad of Toad Hall!) but at being embarrassed about wearing some essential safety gear.
So first impressions are very good and I'm extremely happy with it (it's very easy to think of it as "her" but I'm not stooping that low yet). I only got one four wheel drift in it coming out of a left hander but for a first go, everything felt extremely natural. The little mota-lita steering wheel is an utter joy to use, the geerchange just falls to your palm and well-everything is ace
The end of my road and then up the next one basically starts a beautiful climb through Cumbria, into Northumbria and then back into Cumbria again and on to the summit of the Hartside Pass. It's a stunning road an my side of it, although not unknown is not over-populated by folk out for a blast so if you go on an evening, you can have the place to yourself.
Got the kids in bed by 7pm, put on the new OMP Carrera racing boots bought especially for the run (in matching antique tan for the full kit w
ker look) and away I went. I kept the passenger side tonneau on and had the heat coming through and despite just a T-shirt on top is was plenty warm enough.Within a couple of minutes you're at full throttle on this route and I won't lie, anything much above 70 mph feels excessive! I put my work safety glasses on but with the lowered floors you're tucked in nice behind the Brooklands Aero Screens. If you want, you can sit Ascari style with your elbows out but comfort for me meant my elbows were in and letting the warm summer air blast around you.
I'd forgotten how much I missed an open topped car!
It was easily warm enough with the heat bleeding through but no fan on. The car itself is beautifully balanced, albeit with the foibles a live axle car can bring. If you don't heel and toe the downshifts the rears will momentarily lock, clatter over a badly repaired bit of road and the rear will bounce.
But steering feel is so natural it all becomes second nature very quickly. It' the best handling road car I've owned since a mk3 MR2 Spyder and I can't begin to tell you just how high a praise that is.
On the heel and toe, I do find it a stretch so I'm going to investigate that a little-I know there are a few mods that can be done to alleviate the problem.
The gear change is fantastic, even if the ratios are a bit spaced out and very short-on a road like this you really only need fourth and fifth-third is just for hairpins.
As much as a sensory rush driving it fast is, on this road you at least get the odd break by passing through small villages and hamlets which you sort of need! The final push from Alston to Hartside is fast, I think the car naturally tops out at around 100mph and it honestly doesn't feel like you want to go there. It's going to be interesting at the 'ring as anything that could do 120mph or so up the hills there felt too slow in my experience-maybe the open cabin will make up for it in some way?
At the summit, I took a few photos and enjoyed the rolling summer air, still warm enough for a T-Shirt but I put on a beanie for the trip home. The car came with a matching, painted helmet. Now, I'll be honest I think it might really make me look like a t
t but I dread to think what damage a stray unlucky stone could do to you.I do have some pages saved on my browser with some vintage style motorcycle googles to match. Part of me cringes not just at how I'll look (the wife reckons like Toad of Toad Hall!) but at being embarrassed about wearing some essential safety gear.
So first impressions are very good and I'm extremely happy with it (it's very easy to think of it as "her" but I'm not stooping that low yet). I only got one four wheel drift in it coming out of a left hander but for a first go, everything felt extremely natural. The little mota-lita steering wheel is an utter joy to use, the geerchange just falls to your palm and well-everything is ace
Awesome
please provide photos of flies in teeth, as demanded by Caterham Owner's Club or SIMILAR IMAGE
please provide photos of flies in teeth, as demanded by Caterham Owner's Club or SIMILAR IMAGE
The_Doc said:
Awesome
please provide photos of flies in teeth, as demanded by Caterham Owner's Club or SIMILAR IMAGE
please provide photos of flies in teeth, as demanded by Caterham Owner's Club or SIMILAR IMAGE
Managed to finish work a little early yesterday and seeing as the family were out and about I decided to go for another blast. Wanting to get finished early for a decent time to watch the F1 qually at Spa I just went back up to Hartside again-it's not exactly a chore! To be fair I thought it was quite a good idea to keep doing the same run to really start to get a feel for what it's doing.
First things first I managed to bag a cheap set of Baruffaldi Aviator goggles in tan for my full kit wker look;
https://www.urbanrider.co.uk/baruffaldi-jtt-aviato...
I paired this with the matching helmet that was supplied with Caterham as part of buying the special edition, luckily it was exactly my size and came to me completely unused.
Leaving home I won't lie, I was feeling a bit self conscious but in all honesty, driving at speed without one feels daft when you've got family in your responsibilities. We've all had a stone flick up and hit the windscreen and seen the damage-I'd really rather not do a "Massa" so I feel in reality, it's helmet all the way.
You do actually feel way more comfortable in reality. Even if you've experienced a Caterham with a full windscreen and doors it doesn't prepare you for how it feels in one without. The goggles and helmet do make it feel more habitable in the extremes of the airflow.
The fun levels are totally off the chart with this little thing. It is stupidly good fun at road speeds and just perfect for where I live. I can see it being woefully underpowered at the 'ring and Spa but everywhere else I think it'll be epic.
Not that it's without.... I won't say faults but certainly things to look to improve upon. Most notably for me;
Heel and toe. It's just too much of a reach-I've tried both methods (I ususally prefer to "toe and toe") but something is going to need to be done. There is a tube mod that I'm going to try out first-you install an 1.5" plastic tube over the pedal and it's supposed to help bridge the gap-I'll try that first.
Lowered Floors. I think I might have made a mistake in going for a car with them fitted even if all the internet suggests for my height it should be perfect. I'm long in the legs and short in the body I think, I've noticed this on track before. What it means is although my legs are low and perfect, I'm really sat low in the car. Now this is at odds with what most folk want, you want to be tucked down low. However I can't see past 7K on the rev counter and the central rear view mirror blocks my view of the left wheel. Placing the car is already second nature so it's not an issue but it does lend a little bit of faith to left hand apexes. I'm going to try a drive sat on a cushion first before I decide-options are I guess raising the seat of buying a high level rear view mirror.
Final Drive. Wow this thing is low geared! It really is just fourth and fifth with the odd third gear tight bend and even then it's buzzing the limiter. It might make the car really good at Autotests and hillclimbs but for fast road and track-it might be a little too much. Can't see me doing much about it to be honest but it'll be interesting to see what it's like on track.
So more to learn and some tinkering to do. Had to fill it up yesterday with high octane fuel and it only cost £34! This I can get used to!
There was also a couple of other Caterhams out for a run yesterday and I got a wave
and yet again when you park up there's always someone who wants to stop and chat-which personally I love.
I also need to give it a wash at some point-no idea how to go about that-I'm presuming just a hoes and bucket and a liberal coating of bug remover.
First things first I managed to bag a cheap set of Baruffaldi Aviator goggles in tan for my full kit w
ker look;https://www.urbanrider.co.uk/baruffaldi-jtt-aviato...
I paired this with the matching helmet that was supplied with Caterham as part of buying the special edition, luckily it was exactly my size and came to me completely unused.
Leaving home I won't lie, I was feeling a bit self conscious but in all honesty, driving at speed without one feels daft when you've got family in your responsibilities. We've all had a stone flick up and hit the windscreen and seen the damage-I'd really rather not do a "Massa" so I feel in reality, it's helmet all the way.
You do actually feel way more comfortable in reality. Even if you've experienced a Caterham with a full windscreen and doors it doesn't prepare you for how it feels in one without. The goggles and helmet do make it feel more habitable in the extremes of the airflow.
The fun levels are totally off the chart with this little thing. It is stupidly good fun at road speeds and just perfect for where I live. I can see it being woefully underpowered at the 'ring and Spa but everywhere else I think it'll be epic.
Not that it's without.... I won't say faults but certainly things to look to improve upon. Most notably for me;
Heel and toe. It's just too much of a reach-I've tried both methods (I ususally prefer to "toe and toe") but something is going to need to be done. There is a tube mod that I'm going to try out first-you install an 1.5" plastic tube over the pedal and it's supposed to help bridge the gap-I'll try that first.
Lowered Floors. I think I might have made a mistake in going for a car with them fitted even if all the internet suggests for my height it should be perfect. I'm long in the legs and short in the body I think, I've noticed this on track before. What it means is although my legs are low and perfect, I'm really sat low in the car. Now this is at odds with what most folk want, you want to be tucked down low. However I can't see past 7K on the rev counter and the central rear view mirror blocks my view of the left wheel. Placing the car is already second nature so it's not an issue but it does lend a little bit of faith to left hand apexes. I'm going to try a drive sat on a cushion first before I decide-options are I guess raising the seat of buying a high level rear view mirror.
Final Drive. Wow this thing is low geared! It really is just fourth and fifth with the odd third gear tight bend and even then it's buzzing the limiter. It might make the car really good at Autotests and hillclimbs but for fast road and track-it might be a little too much. Can't see me doing much about it to be honest but it'll be interesting to see what it's like on track.
So more to learn and some tinkering to do. Had to fill it up yesterday with high octane fuel and it only cost £34! This I can get used to!
There was also a couple of other Caterhams out for a run yesterday and I got a wave
and yet again when you park up there's always someone who wants to stop and chat-which personally I love.I also need to give it a wash at some point-no idea how to go about that-I'm presuming just a hoes and bucket and a liberal coating of bug remover.
Success!
Obviously working under the assumption that you can’t really be a Caterham owner until you’ve started wielding spanner’s over silver the heel and toe issue.
During the st-show that was today’s Belgian Grand Prix we got tired of waiting for anything to happen and moved downstairs to my workshop which handily has Sky tv installed for such moments.
After removing the pedal box housing it was obvious the 160 has a completely different arrangement to normal throttle cars.
The Suzuki presumably also donated its throttle pedal and combined pivot and sensor-it being an electronic throttle rather than trad cable.
So with a bit of practice healing and toeing it was obvious the the simple pipe mod that works on other cars wouldn’t on this.
I experimented by winding the brake piston out in order to wind the locking nut in if that makes sense, my their being that my usual toe and toe downshifts would work better that way.
I think I mentioned above, I normally (in top hinged pedalled cars) break with my right foot, with the big toe covering the brake. I can then twist my foot so my little toe blips the throttle.
By winding the locking but in (see picture) the break pedal would be a lot lower down, meaning the very short brake pedal travel would now be low enough to enable me to flip the throttle enough to get a good big blip. Before it only shifted it enough to get an ever so slight one.
Once wound in and the brake light sensor trigger adjusted to match it felt perfect, sitting in the garage I could hold the brakes and blip away perfectly.
A quick run up and down our road proved it worked spot on. Even took the wife out in it for her first go although strangely she was less interested in my perfect downshifts.
Weather looks good this week so hopefully I’ll get a decent run out to check it all on a proper go but I’m pleased as pinch it was an easy fix
Obviously working under the assumption that you can’t really be a Caterham owner until you’ve started wielding spanner’s over silver the heel and toe issue.
During the s
t-show that was today’s Belgian Grand Prix we got tired of waiting for anything to happen and moved downstairs to my workshop which handily has Sky tv installed for such moments.After removing the pedal box housing it was obvious the 160 has a completely different arrangement to normal throttle cars.
The Suzuki presumably also donated its throttle pedal and combined pivot and sensor-it being an electronic throttle rather than trad cable.
So with a bit of practice healing and toeing it was obvious the the simple pipe mod that works on other cars wouldn’t on this.
I experimented by winding the brake piston out in order to wind the locking nut in if that makes sense, my their being that my usual toe and toe downshifts would work better that way.
I think I mentioned above, I normally (in top hinged pedalled cars) break with my right foot, with the big toe covering the brake. I can then twist my foot so my little toe blips the throttle.
By winding the locking but in (see picture) the break pedal would be a lot lower down, meaning the very short brake pedal travel would now be low enough to enable me to flip the throttle enough to get a good big blip. Before it only shifted it enough to get an ever so slight one.
Once wound in and the brake light sensor trigger adjusted to match it felt perfect, sitting in the garage I could hold the brakes and blip away perfectly.
A quick run up and down our road proved it worked spot on. Even took the wife out in it for her first go although strangely she was less interested in my perfect downshifts.
Weather looks good this week so hopefully I’ll get a decent run out to check it all on a proper go but I’m pleased as pinch it was an easy fix
Very nice indeed, and given where you are, it's the perfect car for the roads! I didn't realise they existed with that engine (probably because they're such a rarity).
I think the helmet and goggles are a good plan to be honest, let's face it, surface dressing seems to be the go to 'repair' for smaller roads now....
I think the helmet and goggles are a good plan to be honest, let's face it, surface dressing seems to be the go to 'repair' for smaller roads now....
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Leaving home I won't lie, I was feeling a bit self conscious but in all honesty, driving at speed without one feels daft when you've got family in your responsibilities. We've all had a stone flick up and hit the windscreen and seen the damage-I'd really rather not do a "Massa" so I feel in reality, it's helmet all the way.
I tend to put the helmet on the passenger seat as I leave the house. Then I’ll pull over and put it on shortly after. I don’t really care what the neighbours think, but I look slightly less of a knob as I leave my driveway. Lordbenny said:
I like these but wondered why anyone would pay so much money for one when a VERY nice much higher spec’d Westfield can be had for half the price.
It's an interesting question and one that I'm happy to answer on the understanding it's just my opinion. In all honesty although I could get a faster or better equipped Caterfield for less, I'm after the look.Along with the fact I think these Super Sprints are beautiful, I also love the idea of the being so low powered and just fast enough for the road. I also think that going by their prices over the last three years in the short term it looks like they really aren't depreciating much from when they were new-a few grand at most.
So it looks great (beauty in the eye of the beholder etc), shouldn't cost much to run and is all I need on the roads
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Om said:
A trailer? Wus!
Should've had tried 165 tyres, instead of 205 R888 for laughs and giggles.
I think I saw this car few days ago in some youtube channel where they said that they used it for marketing and then sold it. Some how low powered facinates much more than R620 models, takin it to limits in slow speeds sounds compelling.
Its a beauty
Edited by SamuliS on Monday 30th August 23:51
SamuliS said:
I think I saw this car few days ago in some youtube channel where they said that they used it for marketing and then sold it. Some how low powered facinates much more than R620 models, takin it to limits in slow speeds sounds compelling.
Its a beauty
Now then, I’d be really interested to see that if indeed it was this car! Any chance you can check your YouTube played history for me? Before buying I searched high and low for any content in these cars but there was surprisingly little given how special they are-probably due to them all being sold before built I guess.Its a beauty
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Now then, I’d be really interested to see that if indeed it was this car! Any chance you can check your YouTube played history for me? Before buying I searched high and low for any content in these cars but there was surprisingly little given how special they are-probably due to them all being sold before built I guess.
So close, yet still missed it by 22. And color
It was the roundell that got me.Edited by SamuliS on Tuesday 31st August 11:14
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