K-series Caterham for sub 11k... possible??

[HustleRussell]

For the road I'm firmly in the 1400 / 1600cc camp. I can see the appeal for the track but it took me quite some years to fully exploit 1600cc so I still think that's the sweet spot. At the end of the day a fairly standard 140bhp car can do 52s at Brands Indy, 97s Cadwell etc. Quicker than that and you're just increasing the frequency of other trackday participants getting in your way.

[framerateuk]

braddo said:

How do you apply the ACF-50? I am interested in doing the same thing.

Point and squirt!

I give chassis and dampers a good soaking. You can always wipe it on with a rag if you want to do a tidier job (such as on the front suspension).

I usually spray a good amount in the grot traps in the engine bay too. Go for a quick spin, then clean off anything that's still dripping.

Then every year I'll clean it off with water, dry, and the re-apply. It tends to catch the dirt so can look a bit grotty after a while, but it'll still be doing its job.

[anonymous-user]

fergus said:

BertBert said:

I'd love a 7 again, but need to get rid of a toy first. Quite fancy a 1700 crossflow in a widetrack DD car. No idea why that appeals, but it does! And I can't even begin to contemplate the massive prices of current caterhams.

REALIST123 said:

If you are seriously considering one I would definitely recommend you try a more powerful car before you decide.
It’s true that 135/150 bhp is fine on the road but, IMHO, extra power is very positively noticeable on track and has no real downsides on the road.

I think au contraire Rodney. Having a high power 7 on the road is a source of frustration for me as you never get to use it all. And on track there's no extra fun to be had going a bit faster on the straights as it's the corners that are fun, so no downside on track!
Bert

I'm starting to come to the same conclusion as Graham. I have a 220hp aero-screened SLR which when driving on the roads becomes very frustrating and hard to drive in a "socially responsible" manner. As such I don't use the car very much at the moment. It's more rewarding (for me) to take a slower car out and maintain momentum, etc. Far, far less likely to get involved with the dash cam dudes and anyone waving a speed detector at you. I live out in the Chilterns, so good roads are easy to find, but the days of driving fast on the road are limited IMHO.

I honestly just don’t get this logic. My car is 220bhp, though I only run an aeroscreen on track. Always a screen and doors on the road. I don’t find it at all frustrating to drive in a socially responsible way. Why would that be?

I can drive it at the same speed as anyone with a lower powered car; I don’t find it irresistible to drive it flat out or use the extra power. I can do that on a track day.

In any case I doubt there’s a 7 out there, except maybe the 160, that can be driven anywhere near to its limits without seriously breaking speed limits etc.

[DoubleD]

On the road you have to hold back earlier in a more powerful car, this is less fun than not holding back.

[fergus]

REALIST123 said:

I honestly just don’t get this logic. My car is 220bhp, though I only run an aeroscreen on track. Always a screen and doors on the road. I don’t find it at all frustrating to drive in a socially responsible way. Why would that be?

I can drive it at the same speed as anyone with a lower powered car; I don’t find it irresistible to drive it flat out or use the extra power. I can do that on a track day.

In any case I doubt there’s a 7 out there, except maybe the 160, that can be driven anywhere near to its limits without seriously breaking speed limits etc.

It's more the frustration of having all the (excess) power & acceleration available, but not being able to use it on the road. I used my car exclusively at the 'Ring for several years and used all 8,000 revs everytime I took it around the circuit, but now it's back in the UK due to the reasons below, I find I'm not driving it much (a handful of miles each year). I would imagine those who have road registered SR3 radicals have the same issues? I used to race, and now have other commitments, so both finding the time and the appeal of trackdays is low for me. At least the car isn't losing any money though!!!

[BertBert]

REALIST123 said:

I honestly just don’t get this logic. My car is 220bhp, though I only run an aeroscreen on track. Always a screen and doors on the road. I don’t find it at all frustrating to drive in a socially responsible way. Why would that be?

I can drive it at the same speed as anyone with a lower powered car; I don’t find it irresistible to drive it flat out or use the extra power. I can do that on a track day.

In any case I doubt there’s a 7 out there, except maybe the 160, that can be driven anywhere near to its limits without seriously breaking speed limits etc.

There is also the grip levels. I found my 1600ss on 6" rims to be very adjustable at road speeds. The R500 on 8" rears far less so.

With my current cars, going out on the roads near me in my 140bhp 69 911 on skinny tyres is a blast. Use all the power and all the revs and it's super chuckable. My 997 GT3 just goes and grips and goes round corners with no effort at all. It has its place,

Each to their own of course, just trying to explain how I enjoy it.

Bert

[fergus]

BertBert said:

REALIST123 said:

I honestly just don’t get this logic. My car is 220bhp, though I only run an aeroscreen on track. Always a screen and doors on the road. I don’t find it at all frustrating to drive in a socially responsible way. Why would that be?

I can drive it at the same speed as anyone with a lower powered car; I don’t find it irresistible to drive it flat out or use the extra power. I can do that on a track day.

In any case I doubt there’s a 7 out there, except maybe the 160, that can be driven anywhere near to its limits without seriously breaking speed limits etc.

There is also the grip levels. I found my 1600ss on 6" rims to be very adjustable at road speeds. The R500 on 8" rears far less so.

With my current cars, going out on the roads near me in my 140bhp 69 911 on skinny tyres is a blast. Use all the power and all the revs and it's super chuckable. My 997 GT3 just goes and grips and goes round corners with no effort at all. It has its place,

Like Graham, I also have access to a chuckable '69 car in the form of an Alfaholics breathed on Alfa Giulia, which is about 180hp on 185 section tyres so very easy to make squirm coming out of corners at relatively low speed. I took this out twice at the weekend. The caterham remained in the garage!

Each to their own

[V7SLR]

fergus said:

BertBert said:

REALIST123 said:

I honestly just don’t get this logic. My car is 220bhp, though I only run an aeroscreen on track. Always a screen and doors on the road. I don’t find it at all frustrating to drive in a socially responsible way. Why would that be?

I can drive it at the same speed as anyone with a lower powered car; I don’t find it irresistible to drive it flat out or use the extra power. I can do that on a track day.

In any case I doubt there’s a 7 out there, except maybe the 160, that can be driven anywhere near to its limits without seriously breaking speed limits etc.

There is also the grip levels. I found my 1600ss on 6" rims to be very adjustable at road speeds. The R500 on 8" rears far less so.

With my current cars, going out on the roads near me in my 140bhp 69 911 on skinny tyres is a blast. Use all the power and all the revs and it's super chuckable. My 997 GT3 just goes and grips and goes round corners with no effort at all. It has its place,

Like Graham, I also have access to a chuckable '69 car in the form of an Alfaholics breathed on Alfa Giulia, which is about 180hp on 185 section tyres so very easy to make squirm coming out of corners at relatively low speed. I took this out twice at the weekend. The caterham remained in the garage!

Each to their own

Same here. Modified SLR that's an absolute hoot on track, but I also have a late model classic Mini Cooper which with just 60 bhp brings a smile to my face every time I take it out and has become my go-to choice. I'm on the doorstep of north Wales and Snowdonia so definitely not lacking roads to enjoy the Caterham.

Maybe it's because of 20 years of Caterham ownership and having done the big power Caterham thing, but I think if I was to swap the SLR it would be for something along the lines of the recent low powered Sprint limited edition cars ... maybe even with bench seats!

[DickyC]

Off Topic - my journey to a 7 continues.

The "lots of history" Lotus 7 in pieces for £10,000 turned out to be a Caterham with Lotus badges. This was a disappointment. There's a 1961 Lotus 7 for sale on carandclassics in very small pieces for £12,000 including a Lotus Twin Cam engine. Reading the ad, the seller started at £15,000. Hold up! 1961? That predates the twin cam engine. The search goes on. £11,000 for a nice and fully functioning Caterham sounds like good value to me.

[Vimes]

Have you had a look at the ex race cars for sale on the Caterham graduates site?

https://www.cgrc.uk/forsale.asp

[andy97]

Page 1

[Vimes]

Cheers Andy

Off topic but how are you finding the Caterham with LSD fitted?

[Turn7]

Vimes said:

Cheers Andy

Off topic but how are you finding the Caterham with LSD fitted?

Planning a slippy diff for mine....

[andy97]

Vimes said:

Cheers Andy

Off topic but how are you finding the Caterham with LSD fitted?

Only raced it once so far, at Oulton (wet practice and dry race). Scared myself in practice by spinning twice as I came up the quick left hand kink from Knickerbrook. Got away with it somehow. Not really sure what caused it, apart from my ineptitude when turning slightly whilst going light over the rise on a wet track!

In the race I was far too slow in the first half of the race as I still had the two spins in my mind. I gave myself a talking to at the pit stop and was 6 seconds faster per lap in the second half, and 2.5 secs faster than last year round Oulton!

So, in many ways inconclusive. I am not sure whether the LSD contributed to the spins, but I certainly went well in the second half of the race.

I have a track evening with an instructor next Tuesday at Donington and then a double header at Anglesey the following weekend.

[Turn7]

Titan diff ?

[andy97]

Turn7 said:

Titan diff ?

Yes.

[IAmTupperware]

Hi all, temporarily absent OP here. Couple of things have changed which have subsequently surfaced a couple of new questions!

So I'm now looking at a x/flow as well as a cheap runabout - maybe a K11 micra or pug 205.

Firstly, the under the dash handbrake. I live on a fairly steep incline. How effective are these old handbrake? This isn't a game changer because I have previously had cars with little to no handbrake. I'm used to leaving it in gear and using chocks.

Secondly, the 1700 xflow had a rebuild with a new block and forged pistons c. 40k miles ago. Obviously it's different for Cats depending on how they are driven but when could I expect to require significant engine work?

Cheers all.

[DoubleD]

If you are consider an older engine then there is a vauxhall engine car for just £8.5k on pistonheads

[Stridey]

X flow owner here.

I was worried about handbrake position as near me is a traffic light on a steep hill, regularly needed handbrake in ‘normal’ cars.

I needn’t have worried. Car is so light I can balance it on footbrake/clutch for the short time it takes for lights to change. Can’t reach the handbrake anyway once strapped in.

Leaving in gear becomes second nature. I only apply handbrake when parked up somewhere where someone may knock it out of gear on a slope, an unlikely scenario.

The handbrake is so useless you may drive off with it on...

BIG advantage is it keeps the transmission tunnel clear for elbows. I sometimes think it was repositioned more for marketing concerns rather than ultimate practicality.

As for engine. Mine was given a big ‘Roger King’ upgrade approx 15 years ago by previous owner, forged pistons etc.

It was lightly used by owners racking up 37,000 miles. I’ve added 20,000 and really feel use, servicing, keeping an eye on oil, temps, etc and just all round use lead to a reliable engine. My bills are less than owners who did less miles... I also have the four speed box, as does a chum. Sweet unit. Lighter than a five and frankly fine. I know the feeling may be ‘five is better’, but in this case the four is fine. It did however have a graunch that frustratingly didn’t get better or worse over time, so I was lucky enough to snag a four speed for £16 on eBay from a guy building a five speed version, a £700 fettle by BGH Geartech meant a straight swap at its next service time, giving me a lovely new box. Perfect.

Edited by Stridey on Sunday 14th July 09:10

Edited by Stridey on Sunday 14th July 09:14

[IAmTupperware]

DoubleD said:

If you are consider an older engine then there is a vauxhall engine car for just £8.5k on pistonheads

I think for the added benefits the crossflow I'm looking at is probably better?

Stridey said:

X flow owner here.

Thanks for your help Stridey. I'll just make sure the handbrake is nice and tight for it's MOT and leave it in gear for the rest of the year!

Thanks for that, that gives me a lot of confidence. I've read from some places that they need rebuilding every 15-20k! Maybe that's with mostly track use.