RE: Caterham's supercharged jubilee!

[dannylt]

Three seasons; so that's next spring? I reckon a combined intercooler/water rad will just about fit in the nose ahead of the chassis, with oil cooler behind. All part of the fun

[Dave J]

my oil coller is sitting under and to the rear of the rad now and it appears to be happy there.

I'll have to look into this combined water air cooler.

Or mount an intake on the top of the nose like the C400 racers ? - would certainly keep the pipe runs short ........

[dannylt]

Still need an intercooler though, and it really needs to be in front. There is no particular combined one I am looking at - it would need to be custom made - there are quite a few companies around that will do it. I hope.

[Murph7355]

dannylt said:

...I hope.

Talk to Pace.

Their gear is exceptionally well made, and they'll be able to give you some ideas/custom fabricate if you need it.

I've not dealt with them for 5yrs (mine was the first Caterham K to get their dry sump set up), but Neil was the chap to deal with.

[KUB3]

Love the power. Same old ugly body I see. It's '07, not 1967!

[rubystone]

KUB3 said:

Love the power. Same old ugly body I see. It's '07, not 1967!

Works for Porsche, why shouldn't it work for Caterham? How long was the XJS in production?....and the current Elise is the same as the original under the skin....and Alfa's grille treatment - that hasn't changed for what, 40 years?....heritage sells, mate

[mchammer89]

KUB3 said:

Love the power. Same old ugly body I see. It's '07, not 1967!

The kinda guy who is responsible for the ugly new Mini/500/Beetle etc. The Seven is an icon, just like those cars I mentioned were, and no matter how hard you try, a "modern" re-design will never look as good as the original. Don't like it? Get an Atom instead.

[Pugsey]

KUB3 said:

Love the power. Same old ugly body I see. It's '07, not 1967!

Wasn't aware it actually has a 'body' that was ever 'designed'. Someone designed the ultimate lightweight chassis with one aim in mind - to handle superbly. Having achieved that for legal and practical reasons they stuck some wings on and some ali panels and there you go a triumph of function over form. Why change it? Hundreds of 'kit' cars have come and gone since the first Seven appeared. Not many of them have survived - and funnily enough the most successful one looks rather like a Caterham! That should tell you something. Now get over to the Porsche Forum and tell them Stuttgart have got it wrong too!

[spenny_b]

dannylt said:

spenny_b said:

MikeE said:

It's the new 5 speed Quaife, £2,500+VAT and rated to 375bhp....bargain

Thanks Mike. Not *really* that much a bargain though...Elite's 6spd sequential dog box is about the same money and has a cassette arrangement (bit like a Hewland or m/bike box) enabling you to (fairly) quickly change ratio's and a drop-gear (so don't need hens-teeth diff ratio). Can't remember what they rate it to...330hp and 10k rpm sounds about right, but comfortably in excess of what I need! It's titchy too.

Maybe it won't break quite as much though eh?

Speaking as I find, Danny, had mine in the car for 18mths and not had any major problems at all...a few little setup tweaks, but it shifts beautifully. I have heard of an "install" where misalignment has caused problems...hardly something Elite have control over?

The Elite boys have had the box back once to do a preventative fix which they'd identified (the engine was out whilst I was re-wiring the car), all done proactively, enthusiastically and within a few hours whilst I was up North for the day, and FOC...honestly can't speak highly enough of them...I know they're a small company compared to the more established players, but tbh, I rather enjoy the lack of arrogance that I encountered with my previous suppliers (and that box broke twice within 50 miles, despite being rated to the engine hp/revs)

To which breakage problems were you referring to?

[dannylt]

spenny_b said:

To which breakage problems were you referring to?

Not really sure I want to go near the name and shame rules, but I've met several people with high horsepower who've got rid of theirs.

[KUB3]

The porsche has evolved in time. Plus it was good looking to start with anyway.

If caterham made some effort they would sell twice as many. Then the products would cost you all much less due to the economies of scale. But as it is many seem happy enough to pay over the odds for an ugly duckling.

ps

The atom idea looks far more attractive cosmetically and structuarally imho.

[Pugsey]

KUB3 said:

The porsche has evolved in time. Plus it was good looking to start with anyway.

If caterham made some effort they would sell twice as many. Then the products would cost you all much less due to the economies of scale. But as it is many seem happy enough to pay over the odds for an ugly duckling.

ps

The atom idea looks far more attractive cosmetically and structuarally imho.

So, is your complaint that the Caterham hasn't evolved - in which case you're wrong - or that it's ugly, which is a personal taste thing and again, IMO, you're wrong. I happen to like it's looks but am buying primarily for it's abilities which actually make it a bit of a bargain in my book.

[KUB3]

The mechanics have clearly evolved, but the body has stood still. From a design perspective it doesn't represent their progress at all.

This is what the 21st century looks like and it's not lanterns on brackets...

Edited by KUB3 on Tuesday 12th June 17:09

[Pugsey]

KUB3 said:

The mechanics have clearly evolved, but the body has stood still. From a design perspective it doesn't represent their progress at all.

This is what the 21st century looks like and it's not lanterns on brackets...

Edited by KUB3 on Tuesday 12th June 17:09

WOW!!! For Caterham money - where do I sign!!!!!!!!

Seriously mate, it's cool. When I'm staggering round the 'Ring in my new R400 next month - lanterns, horse brasses and all - I'm sure you'll chuckle as you drift round the outside of me in whatever modern design icon you drive!

[KUB3]

Pugsey said:

horse brasses

Admit it, if caterham announced they had a modern sexy version in the wings you'd be excited - simple flowing lines, minimal, contemporary modernism with a touch of elegance. They would only need to have it designed once and it would no doubt see them through the next millenium.

[Pugsey]

KUB3 said:

Pugsey said:

horse brasses

Admit it, if caterham announced they had a modern sexy version in the wings you'd be excited - simple flowing lines, minimal, contemporary modernism with a touch of elegance.

Nope. I'll have my AMV8 Roadster for that. Even I wouldn't want TWO Caterhams.

Edited by Pugsey on Tuesday 12th June 20:40

[mchammer89]

KUB3 said:

Pugsey said:

horse brasses

Admit it, if caterham announced they had a modern sexy version in the wings you'd be excited - simple flowing lines, minimal, contemporary modernism with a touch of elegance. They would only need to have it designed once and it would no doubt see them through the next millenium.

Caterham 21? Though it's nothing on the Seven design, it's closer to what you're describing there, and of course it pretty much flopped.

[Murph7355]

KUB3 said:

...they would sell twice as many. ...

I very much doubt it. Very limited market for cars this focussed.

There have been plenty of efforts at updating the formula and none have succeeded in the same way as the 7.

The Atom is just about coming good now it has 300bhp. But I'm not convinced it'll endure like the 7.

The Caparo isn't in the same league price wise. And I'd suggest it's handling has more in common with the Radical line up than the 7 line up. It will be interesting to see just how long it lasts...

End of the day the 7 still goes like the proverbial off a shovel, and is massively fun to drive whilst doing so. The looks are mostly secondary and as others have mentioned are functional. I actually like the way it looks, but couldn't give a monkey's what others think. I'll admire the looks of their cars when I have time - on the cooling down lap And with the money you save over a Caparo, you can buy yourself purely aesthetic for day to day use if you want

Have you spent a good amount of seat time in a 7?

[Pugsey]

KUB3 said:

The mechanics have clearly evolved, but the body has stood still. From a design perspective it doesn't represent their progress at all.

This is what the 21st century looks like and it's not lanterns on brackets...

Edited by KUB3 on Tuesday 12th June 17:09

No, that's actually what a compromised and mind bogglingly expensive formula car looks like. It won't get used on the road to any degree and when it gets to the track it'll be dusted by any number of old and much cheaper genuine single seater race cars. They're trying to hype it and suggest it's something new but in reality it's a race car made not quite as good as it could be. Neither fish nor fowl. I thought you wanted progress?

[rubystone]

Don't feed this guy. He owns several examples of cars that, had their manufacturer tried just that little bit harder, could have been good. As it is, we all know that in fact Alfa Romeo have been underperforming for many years now, a fact borne out by their poor residuals, poor performance in JD Power surveys. They are guilty of relying on their heritage to sell their cars and to elicit favourable reviews from hacks...who are seeing through this now - see Chris Harris' comments on the Alfa Spyder in last week's Autocar). The 8C is a cynical marketing ploy to refresh that "halo" effect.