Mike Biddle

Thanks Johnty, looks like the best plan of action is to bring the car back into UK after April next year. Regards, Mike.

Thanks Johnty, but does that still apply if I have changed the original engine? If it does, then the best thing for me to do would be to wait untill after April and MOT it, avoiding the SVA. Iwill have trouble with a "registration book" all you get here is a plastic card and that is taken away at de registration. I do have some photocopies though, I hope they can read Arabic!

Thanks Johnty, the car has never been SVA'd it was originally exported by Caterham to Dubai, and I bought it there as an HPC. It has had an identity in Dubai, but I doubt that will be accepted in UK, although it does of course have a Caterham chassis number. Under current rules I would still have to SVA after importing/paying duty/VAT etc.

I have an immediate question. I want to register my car in UK and my plan was to bring it back to Dubai for now and then export to UK next spring. My car is more than 10 years old so does that mean I won't be able to get it tested after next April?

I'll say it again, totaly transformed my car in terms of ride, steering, turn in and handling. It's worth a lot more than it costs.

Richard, your assesment is correct and that was the problem I set out to resolve, but I wanted to have max possible CONTROLABLE braking effort on all four wheels without locking the rears first. Radical changes at both ends were the answer. I do have a brake bias valve in the circuit to the rears but have never had to use it, the fronts always lock first and thats actually bad news because I don't know how much of the rear braking potential I am actually using. That could be because the car may be over tyred at the front, and one the upcoming fine tuning tasks is to try a narrower set of tyres on the front and see what happens. If that does'nt work then I will plug the bias valve into the front cicuit and play again with both sets of tyres. Ruff, it's strange how some people have had a bad experience with Hi Spec, I have always found them to be very good and the product of gfood quality. I've had those front brakes for 9 yeras now with no probs. My answer to your question why is because willwood and alcon didn't make what I wanted at the time. Edited by - Mike Biddle on 21 Oct 2008 11:55:23

Willie, Your'e not a stalker are you? Seriously, the discs also came from Hi Spec, as did the Aluminium bells to mount them to the hubs and make them sit in the centre of the calipers. In fact it was a complete kit. I think I was the first to fit them to a Caterham many moons ago. They were at the time quite a bit cheaper than any other solution involving new calipers as well.

Shaun, I have those wheels on my car (red centres) and you are correct in saying they are low maintenance, very easy to keep clean with a quick wash. They are verly light too, top quality stuff.

IMHO ventilated discs are wasted on the front of a Caterham, there is plenty of cooling air blowing around there. The rears are another story, they can get red hot. Thats why I have 280MM solid discs at the front and the ventilated (front) discs from Caterhams big brake kit at the rear. The big dia front discs make for very controlable braking, and the whole set up including Hi Spec racing four calipers is 0.5KG lighter each side than the standard front brake set up. It also (just) fits under 13" rims. Also don't need the uprated master cylinder.

Chris, I will help if I possibly can (you can call me on my mobile 050 552 9256) and Neil (Dobuy) has already built an SV here with several incarnations of a Duratec motor. He is also a very helpfull chap, no doubt he will be along shortly with some valuable advice. Just one thing before we go any furtjher , you did order a left drive chassis I assume? Not possible to register a right drive in Dubai. While we are on the subject of registration I can point you towards an inspection/registration station that is very freindly towards sevens. You may need that because a lot of them are run by jobsworths who are very pernickety. I once had my car refused a test pas because the examiner insisted that the exhaust system was not standard and that I had to change it back before he would pass it. (It's illegal to modify cars from standard here) The fact that it really was the original left me in something of a quandry untill untill a fellow seven owner pointed me in the right direction. Mike.

Yes I know, weird but true, it ran perfectly after I fitted a new one.

AVES, I had a similar problem with the same set up. I replaced all kinds of bits untill I discovered the real problem, it was a cracked inlet manifold. Now that should not produce intermittent problems but it did!

If I am in UK on the day I would very much like to attend. If its possible I would bring my car as well, if anyone wants to see cooling issues then take a look at the nest of snakes under my nosecone! Mike.

James, there is a Caterham distributor in Bahrain with cars in stock. Left drive with detuned Duratech motors. There is also a race series at the GP circuit. If you really get desperate you cpuld always pop down to Dubai where there are a few owners that would I'm sure oblige.

Peter, my comment was based on experience with the two different types. I did have a helical cut cut quaife box in the car but put the old straight cut back in for that very reason, it just did not change down as well. Maybe it was down to some other factor? Of course in normal road driving I mostly use the clutch, even for upchanges in traffic.

A word of caution on helical sequentials. You won't be able to change down without the clutch as you can with a straight cut, thereby IMHO negating one of the big benefits of a sequential.

Some good advice from Roger, a sequential is a lot of fun, and despite my comments on the Quaife Istill would not swap it for an H pattern box. Mike.

Yep, crazy really, but of course it wont pull 10K RPM in 6th, the most I've managed so far is 161 MPH on an airfield runway. There is a big benefit at cruise speeds though, 70 being just a tad over 3000 RPM and 90 just over 4000.

Mick, it's a 3.92 with a Quaife torque biasing LSD. It certainly handles the RST output no problem even the supercharged version, so it should be fine with an H1. Mike.

Mick, ratios are; 1st 2.390 2nd 1.691 3rd 1.337 4th 1.151 5th 1.000 6th 0.870 If I went for a Drenth, I would choose the same or very similar ratios, depends what the choices are and I have not looked at it in detail yet.

The overall envelope is very similar, but a prop for a ford box won't fit because the output on the Drenth is a yoke as opposed to a spline, and I think the prop also needs to be longer.

I'm up for a bulk buy.

The original RST car had the "old" Quaife modified type 9 in as does mine currently. Looking at the "new" Quaife box the change mechanism is very similar, and playing with on the stand at Autosport I could not discern any real difference between the two. (they had the "old" model there too) The new one is just as "agricultural" as the old one. The Drenth on the other hand had a very different mechanism and a much lighter, less "clunky" change. Automated blipping of throttle on the downshift with a sequential box is not a good idea uless you can guarantee you are always going to use the clutch and keep it down while the blipping is happening because there is no neutral position betwen the gears. One of the plus points with a sequential is that you don't need to as long as you are fairly well on the brakes you just shift down without the clutch. Edited by - Mike Biddle on 4 Aug 2008 13:18:01

Me too Mickrick, why is that? The Drenth together with a carbon prop is the last major thing I want for my car to make the driving experience more pleasant. When I were a lad I worked part time on a farm and used to drive tractors, my favourite was a David Brown 88o which will reveal my vintage to those among us who are in the farming fraternity. It had a lot of gears, 12 (forward) I think, and the change on my quiafe straight cut sequential is only marginally better. Don't get me wrong here I love it, it has served me well over 10 years, and continues to do so but the Drenth change mechanism is so much slicker. Incidentally, limitations on gearbox input RPM is the main reason for limiting the RST RPM to 10,200.

Adam, of the 8 Levantes originally planned, 5 have been sold, and the first one will be on the road soon.