JPE, a usable toy ?

[Pierre Gillet]

As some of you may know, it is not so easy to own a powerful, affordable, tractable and... street legal Caterham in France.

In fact the choice is basically limited to a S3 with 1.8 VVC engine .

While the CSR range is a bit on the high side of my mate's budget, it seems that a rare, genuine JPE, LHD, fully licensed in France, could be available against a rather large, but justified, amount of money.

One point is that my mate is not really the type to admire the glow of the phosphorescent yellow of his JPE sitting in his garage.

He would like to use it for blatting and for the odd trackday.

What are your thoughts please?

 

Pierre

 

Edited by - pierre gillet on 13 Apr 2008 08:12:26

[Jason Plato]

as an old model with a pig iron heavy engine that is far too noisy and very modestly powered it should be Ok on track and a pig on the road but expect to get left in the distance by an R300.

 

 

 

 

here is C7 TOP

Taffia rear gunner

 

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Although mine's not a JPE, it is running a genuine Swindon JPE engine, and it's very good for blatting and the odd trackday. Don't listen to the pieman. Like all Vx's, it is heavy, but it's a long way from being a pig on the road!! There are many reports of JPE engines being peaky, but that just is not the case.

 

I think a genuine JPE would be a great 7 to own, and is a pretty good road and track car - and it would have no trouble with an R300. An R400 would probably be faster on track, but a well driven JPE will give even an R500 or one of those silly backward Durex engines a run for their money.

 

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 13 Apr 2008 00:47:25

[Pierre Gillet]

Thanks Dave and Alex.

Very contrasted comments as one may have thought !

The comparison with an R300 was unexpected though as far as I am concerned, as I would have thought a JPE was in a higher league.

Cheers,

 

Pierre

[R400 Velocity R]

Pierre

 

Some of this is subjective, for my company car I have opted for the new Lotus Europa, lots written about it and is powerd by a VX the same that was in the VX220 just tuned differantly, the handelling is designed for fast road and have to say the elise and exige is much better.

 

Now the reason I right the abouve is because I also have a R400 a k series one of course everyone now says the Duratech is much better, but better than what? the new cars are heavier and that includes the new R500 compared to the Old R500

 

I agree with Alex I dont thnk a JPE would dissapoint here is a web site that claims to have the statistics for the cars have a look for yourself and enjoy what ever you get Click here

[Pierre Gillet]

Thanks Essex.

Any feed back on the reliability of the engine in the JPE tune ?

Cheers,

 

[ECR]

In that state of tune it's not highly stressed. Normally very reliable

[Pierre Gillet]

That's good news really .

Thanks ECR.

Now, Alex, has had his engine rebuilt several times I recall , is not it?

 

Pierre

[ECR]

Not the JPE engine. He rebuilt previous non Swindon engines (for various reasons ...)

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Not had to even top up the oil once yet with the JPE engine (touch wood......)

 

VDU 7X

[Mike C]

Pierre, A JPE will trounce an R300 on track, I know, I had one. 😬 I never had any trouble with R400s or R300s and I'm not the best driver in town.

 

Whilst a VX won't handle as well as a K series, they can be made to handle very well, to the extent that the limiting factor would be down to the driver. The torque and explosive power of a JPE on track means that it's relatively easy to real in an R400 on anything that is straight for more than 100 yards.

 

I also drove mine to Italy and Switzerland on a number of occaisions, complete with Kevlar JPE seats and JPE screen.

 

The real beauty of a JPE is the noise and power from an unburstable unit. The negative from that is that you won't be able to get it onto many circuits. I was black flagged at Brands when it was 105db limit and asked not to come back....

 

As a characterful 7, the JPE cannot be beaten IMHO, but it is extreme and that can also limit ownership experience.

 

 

Mike C

No longer K9 JPE

[Alex Wong1697456877]

I've fitted a reverie airbox to mine and it certainly seems quieter now.

 

Pictures on the link below

 

VDU 7X

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 14 Apr 2008 17:17:42

[R400 Velocity R]

Mike

 

I'm not surprised the JPE is quicker than an R400, JPE has 263 BHP against 202 of the R400 and JPE 0-60 is supposed to be 3.5 sec compared to 3.9 for an R400 K, would be interesting to see track times for both though.

[Pierre Gillet]

I just discover the new livery of VDU 7X. Nice !

Thanks Mike for sharing with us your experience.

Cheers,

[N1ck]

Pierre,

I think they are fantastic cars. Echo everything Alex and Mike C have said. A couple of points;

The standard exhaust is relatively small and VERY LOUD. I would replace it with something a little larger otherwise it can get tiresome on long journeys.

Not knowing the particular spec of the car you're looking at, if it has a 6-speed boxI would pair this with a 3.62 diff for the best road/track compromise. For mainly blatting/touring with a very occasional track day then a 3.38, which Alex has, would be good.

They sound and look awesome. If I had the choice of any seven it would still be the one I would choose.

Regards, Nick.