Mike Biddle

Mark, the exhaust coating has suffered a bit from stone chip damage, the tail pipes in particular are taking on tht "sandblasted" look, but otherwise it's fine. The manifolds are still perfect, so no problem with handling the heat. Metal Mickey, I don't have a definitive weight yet although British Airways did tell me that the total weight according to them was 625KG, with the standard shipping pallet it was sitting on weighing 125KG, so a provisional estimate is somewhere aroung 500KG including a box of spare parts, a spare radiator, and 1/4 tank of fuel (2.5 imperial gallons). There is still some work to do on the car, including a corner weight set up, so I will have definitive info at that point. I have not set out to build an ultra light car, despite the carbon interior, I have just specced it the way I wanted it. There are some items which carry a weight penalty like the SV De Dion tube and driveshafts, rear wing extensions, Freestyle ultra wide front suspension, Chassis stiffening top and bottom in the engine bay, substantial stiffening around the diff mounts, quite a few standard instruments due to my dislike of electronic pressure/temp guage systems, preffering capillary tube analog ones, even though this duplicates some functions existing in the Stack ST 700 system. DSL, Davey Bee, Re handling, I'll let you all know, once the car is finished. The Freestyle inboard front suspension has yet to be fitted due to time constraints, and the requirement to engineer the steering system around the suspension. It currently runs directly forward horizontally, through a 90 degree bevel gear and striaght down to the rack, which does not permit fiiting the inboard kit, which I feel is quite important bearing in mind the "super wide" front track which makes the standard inclinded suspension even less effective. Re Curborough, I know that Russell has not paid enough attention to proper set up of the car, even to the point of running quite a high tyre pressure on the day, and if I'm not mistaken, Dave Jackson had very little time in the car prior to the event. That's a shame because the car is capable of much more, if understandable since they have been concentrating on engine and installation development. Dave, both Russell and Chris agree that my car feels much better than the SV on the road, and I can assure you that it gets the power down very well, even at full throttle, at least on the roads in the USA which are not the best in the world by a long way. Rod Thonger was a passenger up highway one, I'm sure he would agree, as would Chris Beardshaw and one or two others who witnessed a fast getaway on a minor, poor quality back road somwhere in the middle of nowhere. Next summer when it's back in the UK and finished you are welcome to a test drive for the sake of comparison. Maybe this has something to do with the very wide rear track (2" wider than an SV) with the new 245 Cr 500's and the fact that I did not even attempt to spec the spring rates and dampers, leaving that to Gary May. Thanks Gary, great job! Now I'm not suggesting in any way that my car is the ultimate, and I certainly don't want to get into a pi$$ing contest with anybody, I'm sure for instance that there are plenty of car/driver combimations around here that could beat me in any form of competion, so lets not get into that, but if anybody want's to make sensible comments or ask questions please feel free. I would add that posts on this thread so far have been entirely constructive, and it's one of the best for some time, very interesting. Edited by - Mike Biddle on 5 Nov 2005 10:51:11

Not wishing to Pi$$ on everybodies parade, I've got the best of both worlds with the RST V8! Bike engine technology in a car engine, Light weight, loads of power, and it really sounds sweet at 10K RPM! Docile around town at low RPM with enough torque to pull smoothly. By the way, Russell tells me that some loony is going to put one in a BIKE!

One more point, I like the ATB unit because it ahs such a progressive action. Now I could be wrong, but don't plate types have a rep for being "snatchy" in operation? Any comments from plate type users?

I ran the Quaife ATB with a 225HP VX mototor for for 8 years with no problems, but then I'm not in the habit of bouncing rear wheels in the air over corner apexes, so can't comment on that sort of use. Before it went back in the car behind the RST v8 it was checked out by Quaife. Rob, the torque figure for the 2.4 litre is around 220-230, I'm told. There was a bit of a noise from the rear of the car at the end of the tour which can't be diagnosed untill the car gets back to the uk, could be diff or CV joint, we shall see, and I will post accordingly. If it's the diff, then I will be looking at a plate type.

Neil, they do them in three different threads, M10, 1/8 NPTF, & 1/8 BSP.

500 Kg with all fluids plus 2 gallons of fuel.

Image = excellent quality and service.

The reason they cost what they do is because that's what the punters rae prepared to pay.

You won't have a problem with the diff. Re the chassis, best talk to Arch, they did a great job on my chassis which you can see at rst-v8.co.uk gallery.

Not tried a plate type but can vouch for the quaife, had been in my Vx car for 7 years with no problem, and is still performing well with the RST V8 installed. Summing up the above posts; Plate type requires correct initial setting up, and maybe periodical adjustment, but will cope with race conditions where wheel lift is likely better than the quaife. The Quaife is fit and forget. My conclusion is that unless you are going to be doing some very serious track work, the no brainer choice is the Quaife.

Rob, my car has the Avon 245's on it. Spacers had to be fitted between the body and MOG extra wide rear wide wings but that's because I have the SV De dion tube as well. I think they might fit if you get the offset right, but that may mean getting a set of wheels made to order. If you can get to my car before we ship, please feel free to take measurements. Mike.

I used ACB 10's on my VX car for years and had great results,.... but ONLY after setting up the car properly. Camber, castor, rake, spring rates, shocks, rollbars and toe settings are all important. Since you are in UK and close to Gary May, strongly suggest you get him to sort it, you will be amazed at the results.

You can do a lot with the standard setup, is it standard or wide track? I acheived quite good results on my VX widetrack with 260lb front springs, 200lb rears, an adjustable front roll bar on it's softest setting, and adjustable platforms, set up by trial and error (not as difficult as it sounds) It would have been even better with a set of decent dampers. Having said all of that, the concensus of opinion seems to be that the freestyle set up is a subtantial improvement over any standard one, and I can personally reccomend Gary, and his kit, having just fitted super wide all round to my car. We could not fit the pushrod front because the special steering arrangement required to get around the V8 is in the way, and would require quite a bit of bespoke engineering to achieve a result, but that is going to be done later this year because I believe it's worth it.

To get to that power level you really need a better system than the original.

Caterham have introduced a beefed up front hub with a stronger stub axle. Don't know when, but it would be worth checking whether yours is the old or new type, and making sure you have two of the new type on your car. The new type can be easily identified by the fact that the bearings are sealed on the outside, and there is no dust cap.

I think I've got one, will have to check when I get back to Dubai, and no, I will never put it back on! Mail if you still need one and I'll let you know by Sunday 31st. I am coming back to UK around the 15th/16th August so could bring it with me. Mike.

Hazzer, I have a standard master cylinder, and the rear lights. Make me an offer. Mike.

Mark, I had a quaife six speed straight cut dog box in my 225HP VX for 5 years with no reliability problems.

Dave, having a carbon one fitted to my car so mine is available. No idea how much to ask for it though.

Paul, yes they are.

Dave, get the mechanical guage, they are far superior to electrical units. A reasonable quality item will be more accurate, respond instantly to changes in pressure, and be more reliable. I have had a Mocal dual display oil pressure/oil temp guage in my car for six years with no problems, and the oil temp function I would consider as essential. You should be able to find a place on your X flow for both connections, perhaps someone else can advise exactly where.

Rob, I'll send the mail after this post. You could be right about the V8 thats why it's got even bigger air scoops on each side, and a fully lined transmission tunnel. There could be quite a lot of heat going down the tunnel because since the sump does not protude below the chassis, a full flat, undertray is possible.

lining the inside of the tunnel with an insulating material, and covering the engine bay bulkheads and pedal box will help a lot. Because this is a major problem here in Dubai, I also fitted an air scoop each side to duct air into each footwell, and this made a very big difference, but ir does mean cutting holes in the side of your car, maybe a bit too dramatic for UK, but here there are serious issues with heat exhaustion etc which justify it. I can mail a pic if you want.

Mike, I have a pair. don't know wht they are worth. I used for about a week, then took them off again in favour of a more radical solution. Mail me if you are interested, they are at the seven workshop. Mike.

Mike, you can flatten the radius arms a little, thats what I did when I had the same problem several years ago. It didn't cause any problems, but do it carefully.