StuC

Hi everyone, sorry for the short notice & timescale. Now that I have my CSR, I've sadly got to sell my Elise and buy a sensible car :-( Here are the details: 2009 Lotus Elise R - yellow, 18k miles. One owner since new - never been raced or on a track. Touring Pack (leather sports seats, air con, Alpine RDS-MP3-CD radio, floor mats). Lotus dealer FSH. MOT until March 2014. Sadly, the Elise will be part-exchanged for my new mule, so I already have a price agreed for the Elise from the new car dealer. I will be taking delivery of my new car at the end of Sept, so if anyone wants this car, it has to be sold in the next week. Sorry for the rush! There is a very similar car at Lotus Silverstone for £23k. I will accept £21k for a quick sale, no offers, sorry! I can email photos to anyone who is interested. Cheers, Stu (Slough area)

I'm having a bit of a clear-out, and I've got a couple of spare steering wheels. They are absolutely mint condition - no more than a couple of hundred miles of motoring with either. Both wheels are 3-hole fitment to suit the Caterham (i.e. Lifeline) quick release hub. Caterham original equipment 260mm (10") SVA Momo with removable centre pad - exactly as per the pic on their website: http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=192 New £168, but I'll take £120 plus P&P. Moto-Lita 280mm (11") black leather with plain black spokes - exactly the same as the front wheel in the picture on their website: http://www.moto-lita.co.uk/our-products/Wheel_Details_01.aspx?WH_ID=37 New £147, but I'll take £100 plus P&P. Let me know if you are interested & I can email you a pic of the wheels. Edited by - StuC on 20 Aug 2013 14:03:12

Cheers Graham Some info added above. ATB, Stu

Here's a link to the ad on Pistonheads... 1996 Supersport 1600 K-series Cheers, Stu ========================== 37000 miles BRG with yellow nose band. Full length wings. Never raced or crashed! Full weather gear, side-screens, hood, tonneau cover, heater, heated windscreen, "Softbits" half-hood. 4-point harnesses. Removable steering wheel. 14" Minilites with new Yokohama A021Rs Spare set of original Caterham 16" 5-spoke wheels & tyres. Brand new battery. Weatherproof 12V ciggy lighter socket. It has just had its annual service and MOT through Redline in Caterham (June 2012) - passed with no faults. Loads of paperwork, receipts, build manual, spares. Very reliable runner - mechanically sound and well looked after (garaged ever since I've owned it). It's a real head-turner, sounds fantastic and drives like a dream. Reason for sale - new car on order from Caterham. £11000 ono (1% of sale price going to Nuke The Leuk) Edited by - StuC on 14 Aug 2012 08:49:56

My wife wears glasses, and she keeps a pair of these in the car... Solarshield To be honest, it would amuse me greatly if she would wear one of these instead... HeadgearForSevens 😬 Edited by - StuC on 12 Aug 2012 17:12:25

That would be the idea! 😬

Very true... You have my sympathy regarding insurance costs... but on the up-side, you are in The Big Apple, driving a Seven, which has got to be about the most stand-out cool thing anyone could do in the world. I'd love to drive through Manhattan at about 4 o'clock on a summer morning in my CSR making the exhaust noise bounce off all the skyscrapers! Probably get a bit of attention from New York's finest though...?

Back on the subject of CSR gearbox & diff ratio selection, I spoke to Caterham today - couple of interesting updates: diff struts are now fitted as standard to all CSRs & R500s CSR standard diff is now 3.38, which they recommend for road use. Agreed that 6-speed box plus 3.38 final drive is probably best compromise of performance versus driveability for a road going car which will also be used on track days. I think for someone who is "touring only" the best would probably be the 5-speed plus 3.38 (or even longer as Hanns Per's car). My order suitably amended to 6-speed box plus 3.38 diff. I've also added the track day roll bar and the adjustable pedals ('cos my wife is tiny, and she wants to drive it too!). 😬 Cheers all!

Yup... that's about what I pay for my Supersport's insurance. ☹️ Edited by - StuC on 9 Aug 2012 16:13:49

Well, the insurance company who are linked through Caterham quoted me just over a grand (but that would require the fitment of a tracker). I'm having trouble getting within a couple of hundred quid of that from insurance brokers who don't require the fitment of a tracker... but there aren't many who will insure it without a tracker (due to the value of the car being over 40k), so choice is quite limited. I've got a clean licence, and a load of years no-claims from driving my Supersport too! V expensive, eh. ☹️

Sounds like a tracker is the way forward then... certainly the reduction in premium over the first couple of years would seem to more than cover the cost of the kit! I'm going to ask Caterham if they can arrange for one to be fitted when my car is built. Edited by - StuC on 9 Aug 2012 13:14:32

I always assumed that one of the bigger problems might be joyriders - pinching the car for a blast, then leaving it in a crumpled heap in a field somewhere. I've always had removable s/w on my kit cars, and the batt master switch helps too, I'm sure. Some people will nick anything if it's not tied down. Grrrrr. :-( A work colleague told me about an old guy who left an broken fridge outside his house for the council to collect (they have a scheme for disposing of such things, apparently). Anyway, despite a number of phone calls to the the council, no-one came to collect it, and the fridge was still there a couple of days later. For a bit of a joke, he put a sign on it: "Fridge for sale £10". Someone nicked it almost immediately.

Absolutely... and I told the insurance company they ought to think about their policy requirements too. The chap I spoke to (v pleasant, btw) agreed with me, so hopefully they will change their policy, or they won't get many in the way of CSR owners I imagine!

Splat... (that was the sound of my bonce exploding due to all the info!) Sorry for the slow reply - was working Sun/Mon. I'll have a good read through everything you have all said (thank you so much, btw!), and a play with GearCalc (fantastic piece of work). I'll also go and say hello on the CSR forum too... thanks for the link. I feel that I am definitely homing in on the final spec, which will be more than a little different (and a touche more expensive) than what I put on the paperwork originally, but no matter. There are fatigue cracks in the bank account, but I think it'll hold. Meanwhile, if anyone wants a nice, well loved, 1996 1600 K-series Supersport....... Actually (as an aside) here's another thing... I spoke to the guys who do the (new) Caterham-approved insurance policy (I'm currently with Flux). These new guys tell me that they (currently) require a tracker to be fitted to cars over a certain value, so they couldn't actually insure a CSR without a tracker. See you soon Stu Edited by - StuC on 7 Aug 2012 20:41:50

Hi Martin Sage advice indeed - many thanks for your thoughts... for the thoughts of everyone in fact! Superb stuff. Taking into account what everyone has said, some items seem to be more-or-less a "no-brainer"... the trackday roll bar, the diff struts, probably the LSD too. I am goIng to be using the car for track days, and there seems little against the LSD for road use except a bit of extra noise? Not an issue for me, so I'll put it in the spec. Seeing as the car is a new build, with all the warranty issues, I'm probably going to stay with OEM equipment for the initial spec. Things could get complicated... and more costly(!)... and I'm right up against the limit of my cash reserves to buy the CSR as it is. I was drawn to the idea of a spare wheel carrier too - my Supersport has one and, as you say, it can be very useful for carrying things other than just a spare wheel! I've built cars before, and worked on many types over the years, so swapping out gearboxes, diffs , brakes, etc. in future causes me no concern. No easier car to work on than a Seven (although I've not yet laid hands on a CSR). The big question is the 5-speed versus 6-speed, with the choice of diff ratios to go with that. Horses for courses, so I'll get thinking about the balance of motorway trundling versus trackday sprightliness. It seems that the choice comes down to: 6-speed with standard diff ratio 5-speed with standard diff ratio 6-speed with 3.38 (as per Alaskossie's S3) The latter could be the best compromise, but I'll not dive in without giving it much further thought. When all's said & done, I could easily do just what Hanns Per did & drive it for a couple of years, and then, if it doesn't quite do what I want, get swapping 'boxes based on personal experience. It's a great situation to be in, being able to scratch my head about the minutiae of the spec of my very own dream car... all part of the joy of being a Seven owner, eh!! Dontcha just love it!! Sincere thanks to everyone. ATB, Stu