dogvet Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Anyone selling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kand300 Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Second in line if anyone is selling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancelot Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 I wanted one too - After long negotiations with James Whiting it seems that the whole project was shelved due to 'difficulty in sourcing Ital axles' - Eh? Surely an alternative could have been sorted? Corrolla/Escort maybe? Even go De-dion - The weight penalty could have been offset with the new injected Fireblade engine, or a late R1, with no need for dry-sumping (which was added weight and cost) I'm considering a new build bike engined now but am worried about residual value. Could be the ultimate bulk buy? Together with adding a little credibility/quality. Edited by - lancelot on 5 Apr 2005 19:51:55 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Bees Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 How about this here as a base for a cheap conversion? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogvet Posted April 6, 2005 Author Share Posted April 6, 2005 Wots up Harrie. are the ashtrays full on your most recent Caterham (post Exige)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogvet Posted April 6, 2005 Author Share Posted April 6, 2005 Lancelot I suspect it is possible to build an R1 with a starter kit base keep it light and prob get the price in under £15 k, however as Mike Bees suggests a conversion would be easier not least for the SVA potential aggravation. As you suggest even with De Dion (which may provide better diff ratios) and an R1 it would be quick. I doubt you lose much on the value if it was a neat converesion (STM, Kit Car workshop) to put the cage for the engine in and the pick up points for the gear linkages, prop, the rest is not difficult. I would agree re J Whiting, I could not really understand why they backed off the project, I suspect having to use older engines to get through SVA, or even a nod from Caterham indicating not to produce a car for £13k that could take the piss out of the more expensive CECs in the range! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Furst Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 A question for all the people looking for Fireblade 7s - are you only interested in the live axle fireblade car or are you in the market for either a Blackbird or Hyabusa 7 (de -dion). It's just that one/either or both of these cars may be for sale. I own the Blackbird and another racer owns the Hyabusa, and at present we are both considering a change of cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Gary, What are you thinking of getting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancelot Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 1.) Greg - I am edging towards the De-dion setup and am looking into Blackbirds etc. Am just weighing up the Bespoke nature and 'fun' of self-building - v- Readymade/originality of factory or ready to go cars. Pricewise it seems too close to call. What u got? 2.) Dogvet, I take your point. I was beginning to suspect the 'Nod from Caterham' theory. On a related note, I wonder how many potential Caterham owners have migrated to Westfield et al because Caterham have little interest in bike engines? I tried to buy a Blackbird when they first came out but was told it wasn't available in kit form (i.e. modular form) had to be purchased all in one go. I suspect that because people knew exactly how much the Bike engines were costing, they couldn't get away with charging such a premium, and they had made a car that was more or less in the R500 league - It just wouldn't do to take sales away from the flagship, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Bees Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 I suspect that not many people knew what the 'bird engines were costing Caterham - if my memory isn't faulty (which it could be) they had to buy complete bikes and strip them. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancelot Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Mike, You're not thinking of Westfield and their Megabusa are you? As far as I know it's Suzuki that won't sell the engines alone (hence the c£3k asked for used 'Busa engines compared to £2k for a brand new Yamaha R1). Anyway, Even if they did, and the Blackbird was say £7,000, they would get loadsa cash back for the brand new frames/forks/wheels/ecu/fairings etc And they wouldn't have had to fork out a gazillion pounds for highly tuned k series and mega expensive 6 sp box etc. Come on, they aren't a friendly old corner shop, they price their items at what they can get for them, not on a cost-plus basis.... I don't blame them, just let's not get deluded about why they exist..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Bees Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Maybe that's what I was thinking of, not 100% sure. I'd never thought of them as a friendly corner shop - they're a business and they need to survive and invest in development. I don't think they're creaming a *huge* profit off each car though. Anyway, back to the topic - just spotted this here. It has an "SPA data logger system, which controls 0-60 times" - how clever is that? Just dial in the number you want and wham! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Honda wouldn't sell Caterham (or JW) engines, the whole bike had to be bought. There were a few reasons that JW has stopped doing Fireblades, one was the difficulty in sourcing high quality parts in suitable numbers (the economics of having to have batches of parts made and storing the excess parts isn't good). Additionally, JW was finding that every time he took a car to be SVA'd, the examiners would find something else to pick up on, even though that particular set up had been passed as ok previously. It was just too much of a pain in the arse. As I understand it, there was no "Nod from Caterham", the whole project had Caterham Cars' blessing; although it is rumoured that James had to pay quite a premium to them for a Fireblade chassis. [edit: spelling] Edited by - Dipstick on 7 Apr 2005 07:35:39 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Furst Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Greg, I haven't definitely decided to sell mine yet, but if I did it would be to fund the purchase of a secondhand Radical. Personally I'd rather race my 7, but there are fewer and fewer people turning up to endurance races with 7s (and more and more with Radicals). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Thanks Gary, and understand the dilema, especially if 7's are in the same class (are they?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Furst Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Greg, Actually we are in a different race from the Radicals, but as there are so few of us our race is amalgamated with theirs. My concern is that if more Radicals turn up we will be kicked out and I may not have an alternative endurance race to go to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodie Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Due to an annoying timewaster,my Hayabusa Caterham is available to purchase! We sold our Fireblades only because we needed the extra performance.If you would like a chat sometime give me a ring? '......in yer bike!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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