Re : Caterham Seven | PH Used Buying Guide

[SidewaysSi]

Julian Thompson said:

This is my Caterham Seven. 200hp blackbird motor on DTA through some Jenvey bodies, nova gearbox and a live axle. Every bit of it is carbon and I built it up from a bare chassis - I weighed everything and modified most of it. It’s less than 400kg ready to run. Gearbox is sequential. The lever you can see in the tunnel is the brake bias. Even the headlamp bowls are carbon!

Edited by Julian Thompson on Sunday 5th January 20:27

What a fabulous Seven. I seem to remember Dickie Meaden had a Fireblade sub 400KG. Again, lots of carbon I think.

That GT3 looks a little too close to the roof for my liking..!!

[Julian Thompson]

Heheh yes. Trusteth the piece of masking tape telling me when to stop... I’ve actually cut the roof out now and made a kind of box arrangement. It gives me another 12 inches of height - in the summer will fit a big skylight thing like a conservatory.

About that Meaden seven, yes, I recall it and spoke to the new owner once or twice. All a long time ago - I’ve had the car since about 2007 and it has been built and rebuilt since then!

[Julian Thompson]

autofocus said:

CABC said:

the old Robin Hood was much slated but i've heard good things about GBS. new chassis i believe.

Hi there,

Yes GBS came out of the ashes of Robin Hood. The two cars are so far removed from each other its almost untrue.

Heres my chassis when I first got it.



Plenty of metal in it that's for sure.

Regards

Tim

Interesting comparison my slightly unhinged Caterham vs Zero

[autofocus]

Julian Thompson said:

Interesting comparison my slightly unhinged Caterham vs Zero

Hi,

Thanks for sharing that. My finished car weighs 600kg so quite a bit of difference to yours, I wonder how much of this extra weight in the GBS is from the chassis alone ?

Regards

Tim

[budding911man]

I enjoyed trawling through this latest update of the Caterham buyers guide very much. I've been driving Caterhams for most of my adult life, and when the stars and coditions are aligned (ie weather and road-wise), nothing comes close to the overall driving experience and pleasure and ease of ownership (and I've had bikes, Porsches, Lotus and Ariels too).

I wouldn't dismiss Westfield's entirely (especially for anyone with a paunch-ant for a seven with an affordable V8 option), and their FW400 'featherweight' special and 'eleven' are lovely bits of kit I would be very happy to have in the garage. Generally Westfield are markedly different animals to a Caterham, and not that different in price for a genuinely good one, but I do respect them continuing to chip away as a side-brand in the sevenesque niche.

My own Caterham lifecycle has been as follows, and is possibly quite typical of a marque "enthusiast" working their way through the range over a 30 year period:
- '84 Supersprint Ford Xflow 1700/twin Webbers (135hp), live axle, 4speed
- '86 BDR Cosworth 1700, de-dion 5-speed (150hp)
- '95 Supersport K-series 1600 6speed (128hp)
- '97 Superlight K-series 1600 6speed (134hp)
- '00 R500 K-series 1800 6 speed (236hp)
- '99 Superlight K-series 1800 6 speed (138hp)
- '09 R500 Duratec 2000 6 speed (246hp)
- '10 Superlight FordSigma 6 speed (150hp)
- '94 JPE 7 VX(Swindon)2000 6speed (250hp)

out of this lot the most outstanding were the JPE (Jonathan Palmer Evolution) seven - which is an epic collectors piece today and track legend still today, and the most exciting to drive, along with both K & Ford R500 cars. I also recall the later Ford Sigma powered superlight was a great car, but for some-reason felt like it needed about another 20hp to be a contender for a great all-rounder.

However the BEST all-rounder in my book remains the K-series Superlight with all the carbon body panels and lightweight 'delete' options and LSD as standard. I never had a problem with the K-series engines in a Caterham either - as the curb weight means these motors are pretty unstressed, its fairly rare to blow a head-gasket like in the rest of the Rover range the engine was poached from. The standard 1600K was actually the sweetest motor in a Caterham Superlight when run in, but my brother still owns my last 1800Kseries Superlight today as it was such a good car we just had to "keep it in the family". Any spec. original Superlight pretty much spot on, although the addition of 4-branch sports exhaust, alloy race radiator and oil cooler, with Caterham's expensive optional dry sump kit got this humble little 138hp K-series just right. At some point my brother will tune this to 160hp which is probably the sweet spot for a such a light seven. If he can achieve 160hp keeping the fuel injection system (but as its not broken, why attempt to 'fix' it)- it will be really usable too if it can remain on the stock fuel injection.
In my experience as soon as you go to throttle bodies on a seven, as with carbs, fuel consumption suffers quite a bit regardless of tuning. However, induction noise and throttle response is quite addictive in the highly tuned Caterhams,... but a fuel injected car with a lightweight flywheel is the best of all worlds if you want to use it a lot).

Swings and roundabouts - but I think I could own just about any Caterham ever built, tweak its setup to make the best out of it, and enjoy driving it whenever I get time out in it. The most important thing for anyone looking to "scratch the seven itch" is to pay the money and make your choice as soon as possible and dont pontificate too much on spec. and snobbery - ie - forget about upgrading all the time to the 'latest models' and just enjoy what you end up with as often as you can get out in it - all Caterham's are pretty epic driving machines (only motorcycles come close to motoring nirvana in the same way a seven can). Enjoy.

[CABC]

budding911man said:

However the BEST all-rounder in my book remains the K-series Superlight with all the carbon body panels and lightweight 'delete' options and LSD as standard. I never had a problem with the K-series engines in a Caterham either - as the curb weight means these motors are pretty unstressed, its fairly rare to blow a head-gasket like in the rest of the Rover range the engine was poached from. The standard 1600K was actually the sweetest motor in a Caterham Superlight

my experience is way less than yours, but for what it's worth, i totally agree.
K series is a great engine. what's a new gasket between friends, even if needed, for such a light, sweet-revving engine.
the std duratec never felt right right to me.

[SidewaysSi]

CABC said:

budding911man said:

However the BEST all-rounder in my book remains the K-series Superlight with all the carbon body panels and lightweight 'delete' options and LSD as standard. I never had a problem with the K-series engines in a Caterham either - as the curb weight means these motors are pretty unstressed, its fairly rare to blow a head-gasket like in the rest of the Rover range the engine was poached from. The standard 1600K was actually the sweetest motor in a Caterham Superlight

my experience is way less than yours, but for what it's worth, i totally agree.
K series is a great engine. what's a new gasket between friends, even if needed, for such a light, sweet-revving engine.
the std duratec never felt right right to me.

Another one in total agreement. I have driven plenty of Sevens but my keeper is an original Superlight. Have the penultimate 1.6K with a few mods. It is a brilliant little thing.

[anonymous-user]

Anyone tried a Donkervoort?

Not sure I like the idea of turbo as it may spoil throttle response, but they're supposedly well finished and a bit plusher albeit a but heavier.

Oh, and make new Caterhams seem cheap!

[Julian Thompson]

SidewaysSi said:

CABC said:

budding911man said:

However the BEST all-rounder in my book remains the K-series Superlight with all the carbon body panels and lightweight 'delete' options and LSD as standard. I never had a problem with the K-series engines in a Caterham either - as the curb weight means these motors are pretty unstressed, its fairly rare to blow a head-gasket like in the rest of the Rover range the engine was poached from. The standard 1600K was actually the sweetest motor in a Caterham Superlight

my experience is way less than yours, but for what it's worth, i totally agree.
K series is a great engine. what's a new gasket between friends, even if needed, for such a light, sweet-revving engine.
the std duratec never felt right right to me.

Another one in total agreement. I have driven plenty of Sevens but my keeper is an original Superlight. Have the penultimate 1.6K with a few mods. It is a brilliant little thing.

Yep agree. Mine is good but it’s probably a bit too hardcore and loses some of the friendliness of the K. My old SLR was 200hp and sublime as an all rounder.

[Triumph Trollomite]

blearyeyedboy said:

How overweight powerfully built do you have to be before you don't fit in a standard car and need an SV?

I'm a hair over 6 feet, 100kg (yes, I know, that's the New Year Resolution!) and I have size 11 feet...

I'm 6'2 my partner 6'4 both size 10 feet and around 14.5 stone

We both snuggly fit into an s3. Actually very comfy do long as you didn't need to get out.

Now knowing there's an SV with lowered floor I'd have no hesitation in considering one. Fabulous fun. Being a big v8 owner my whole life I'd have no hesitation with the 1.6 Ford unit.

[budding911man]

YouTalkinToMe said:

Anyone tried a Donkervoort?

Not sure I like the idea of turbo as it may spoil throttle response, but they're supposedly well finished and a bit plusher albeit a but heavier.

Oh, and make new Caterhams seem cheap!

Now you're talking a Donkervoort - essentially a turbo-charged version of my former JPE7 - a wild machine I'm sure, and probably the only wilder seven is the RSTV8/Levante. Amazingly all of these are essentially 'real' Caterhams too despite being extensively and wildly modified, exquisitely engineered in a similar way the equally uber-rare/expensive Ariel Atom V8 is.

However less is very often more in this world and whilst its exciting to pilot or passenger a 'range-topper', flag-ship model like the 620R today, very often something basic is a lot easier to live with and you will definitely get more use out of it. speaking of which this clip is my brother and I on a passenger ride in the 620R when it was a nearly new product at Brands Hatch during a club track-day - that supercharged Duratec and sequential box is truely epic on track, I will never forget 2 laps in that - unfortably quick (for a passenger) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en4HaLQ5nyo , but what a blast.

I used to be terrified my K-series R500 would blow up, although it never did, but that level of highly-strungness can spoil the enjoyment (it was an amazing engine though - fair play to Minister engineering who built it for Caterham, sadly they are no more, wound up the business)

[Vimes]

CABC said:

budding911man said:

However the BEST all-rounder in my book remains the K-series Superlight with all the carbon body panels and lightweight 'delete' options and LSD as standard. I never had a problem with the K-series engines in a Caterham either - as the curb weight means these motors are pretty unstressed, its fairly rare to blow a head-gasket like in the rest of the Rover range the engine was poached from. The standard 1600K was actually the sweetest motor in a Caterham Superlight

my experience is way less than yours, but for what it's worth, i totally agree.
K series is a great engine. what's a new gasket between friends, even if needed, for such a light, sweet-revving engine.
the std duratec never felt right right to me.

If anyone’s looking for a 1.6 K-series, there’s a couple of ex graduate race cars up for sale at the moment for £9£-£11k as the regs have changed for next year and there’s a few owners are switching class.

Personally, I’m keeping my 1.6 k-series as it’s such a great car to drive. Whether it’s competitive under the new regs or not remains to be seen...