Blackbird longevity on road and track?

[Strangely]

I've seen a related old thread, but there was too much speculation. So, if you've got a Caterham Blackbird, I'd very much appreciate your responses to these questions:

-- how many miles has your car done, total?

-- has the engine had any significant work done to it?

 

I've fancied a bike-engined car since I read about the Light Car Company Rocket, my K is about to go bang, and used Blackbirds seem to be going very cheap at the moment. I just want to make sure that my eyes are wide open...

[philwaters]

So where are all the BBird owners?

 

Phil Waters - Having trouble sleeping? Click here

You mean you can drive these?

I thought it was just there to polish 😬

[DanB]

My bird engine was in a Fury rather than a Caterham (until I stuffed it and wrote it off) but the engine's the same and I ended up using a Blackbird Motorsport dry sump system, as used on the Caterham. I did about 3000 road miles, a track day, and 2 races before crashing the car - the engine was (and still is ) fine.

 

In my experience (and I've blown 2 bird engines before this one) the key to the 'bird engine is the oil supply. Get that right and they're pretty much bulletproof. I know of one fitted in a Westfield which did 29k miles in the bike and has now done another 10k in the car, and it's still going strong.

 

I'd say try one - if you like it (and I know they're not to everyone's taste, although a lot of people don't like bike engined cars despite never having been in one) then go for it.

 

Dan

[Strangely]

I've never tried one, but I have no doubt I'd like it!

 

My main concern is that I drive my Seven every day, and I don't want to change that. I'm just trying to figure out how often I'd have to buy a new engine, and how that would compare with repair costs for a K.

[rgrigsby]

I'm not 100% sure but J.R has been racing one at Lydden for ages, it's also done lots of track miles as far as I know without problems so I guess they are farily tough.

 

Rob G

www.SpeedySeven.com

[DanB]

I'd say that using a Cat Blackbird every day would be no more difficult than using a car-engined one - yes, the clutch is an acquired art, but once you've got used to it (and it doesn't take long) then it's very easy to drive. I'm quite happy taking mine on tours, and town driving, whilst not exactly enjoyable, is perfectly easy.

 

With the Blackbird Motorsports dry sump system, if you change the oil regularly and change the clutch once a year, the engine should be fine for several years, including track days. Put it this way - there are a couple of Blackbird powered race cars (with the engines in standard tune) which have been running for the past year or so, and they're still on the standard engine.

 

A standard bare engine costs about a grand, and I can swap an engine over in about 5 hours these days. Even on a worst case scenario of a new engine every 2 years, that's still only £500 per year...

 

Dan

[stevefoster]

The reverse boxes go as do the gearboxes. I seem to remember both JB and AM suffered this at Lydden racing from time to time during 2002, not sure about 2003. Same reverse box on BB as FB I believe. Ok, that's racing them flat out on 9" rear slicks and with as much speed extraction as poss

 

 

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Edited by - stevefoster on 4 Nov 2003 20:10:22