neilg

The CR500 is the lightest tyre of all the above and is noticably more delicate in feel and handling and offers the best all round performance for a Caterham on the road in my humble opinion. You can feel the weight change when you change from CR's to say a Toyo 888 for example and on a bumpy road it is most noticable. The CR500 was designed specifically for the Caterham whereas none of the others were and therefore as an all round good tyre making the most of the Sevens low weight and keeping everything as light as possible the CR's make the best choice. However not all of us want to be spending £100-00 plus per tyre and can make do with the added weight of the 48, 021 or 888 but trading a bit of feel and delicacy. On track the cr's are good but the 48's and 888's offer abit more grip in my experience and don't shred up so bad as the CR. Now what about the ACB10..hmmm You pays your money ..... *wavey*

what Jim said. You won't get anywhere near your usual trackday performance on the ring for your first time. I went round in the rain ( torrential ) and it was truly terrifying. That Armco is pretty bloody close. So would make sure if you're driving the seven there to have all the usual spares like oil filters, clutch, throttle cables etc, European break down cover, towrope. Me and Byker Will drove out there and back ( well nearly!) a couple of years ago and needed the services of four different breakdown vans during the trip. 😬 😬 Wheel bearing went then my alternator which then fried my battery. What fun. Neil

So , 205 bhp with what 540 kg without driver = 379 bhp/tonne Blackbird 165 bhp and 460 kg/ full tank fuel = 358 bhp / tonne But i'm 80 kg and you're 100kg so you're 640 with 205 bhp = 320 bhp/tonne i'm 540 with 165 = 305 bhp/tonne. therefore you should be passing me on straight if you can get closr enough out of the corners!! 😬 😬 Neil

So Cadwell next week then....will it be faster than the Blackbird. *confused* Tune in to see *wavey* Give me a ring in morning old chap. Neil

So? What has it done then......206 bhp or thereabouts *confused* How was the road test of the heated clothing. Pray tell...

Maplins have for sale an infrared thermometer with built in laser pointer for £ 24.99 in their sale if anyone interested. Their direct number is 08445576000 and product number is N92FX also Digital Callipers N48AA at £ 9.99 Digital Sound Meter N05CC at £ 39.99 Cheers Neil

Well conventional wisdom would say Gary at Freestyle as the default answer but i'm sure it's a made up company and he doesn't really exist You could try Stewart faulds at Fauldsport.

Yeah mate, my spec sheet says 1st 4.35:1 2nd 3.14:1 3rd 2.48:1 4th 2.09:1 5th 1.84:1 6th 1.64:1 Final drive 3.38:1 God knows if that is correct but it is Issue 1 Date 18/07/00 Cheers Neil

Charlie, for your ref my blackbird has a 6th gear of 1.64:1. The final drive is 3.38:1 I run 205/60-13 and this gives about 11 mph per thousand rpm in top. ie 11000 is 121 mph. It's about right. Any higher geared and it would feel abit long i think. Cheers Neil

What Nick says and of course the carbon ones look the mutts nuts and weigh 3/10ths of bugger all. I think the seat rails weigh more than the seats. I'm afraid i don't know anything about their crash worthyness. Edited by - neilg on 16 Feb 2010 15:26:51

Siran , good luck with sale. Yours must have been one of the last with an 02 plate. Best Neil

yes agree it's a tight fit and 3/8 thin walled the thing to have. I had same problem with my chrome plated nuts and once i got my stainless nuts the problem resolves itself. They are still tight though so i just ran one of those wirebrush attachments in my drill through the wheel holes gently to get rid of any crud and crap that was stuck in there. Cheers Neil

Steve, seriously interested in these, if no one else has firmed up with an offer can i throw my dibs into the ring. Please give me a call on 07766912648 or email me on n.gilby@ yahoo.com. Thanks Neil

It'll never work again now, your're DOOMED, doomed i say. Aye!! 😬

Yeah no worries, just drop me a blatmail or give me a ring on the above number and we can sort. As soon as salt stops i'll be out in the old girl. Just been fiddling this morning with it. Hasn't been started for a few weeks and fired instantly. The precision of bike engines eh!! 😬 Good luck with search. Neil

I've got a Blackbird but sorry it's not for sale unless you want to cover my palms with huge amounts of silver 😬. Seriously i love mine and good luck with the hunting. There's not many around. You might want to enquire in the chitchat page as many people don't open this page. If you would like any advice ref the blackbird then drop me a line. Also if you want to come over and see it give me a shout as i see you're only in Notts somewhere and i live in Loughborough. Once this miserable weaqther is over you're welcome to come for a ride. Tel 07766912648. Cheers Neil

Geoff, money sent from me, Will sending today, Gary in post tomorrow. Cheers Neil

Hi Geoff, YHM ref Cadwell. Three definites and two provisional . Thanks Neil

Hi, did you fix it? If you look on Chitchat at the Cadwell Park ( wet and foggy thread) the chap with the Sigma posts on it. If you enter his website he mentions your problem and there is a bit in there on the fix. Acadamike is his name. His instruments freeze as well. Cheers Neil

Oi, i don't want any racing drivers excuses as to why you were off the pace on monday!! " My cars set up for cross plys" will not cut it 😬 😬

Compression tester, yep , good idea. I'll do one and post on here to see what you think. You see the thing is the engine has to come out of the car and be split to do the Nova box so i am looking to try and refresh or improve at the same time as i don't want to do Nova box and then have to take engine out again in a hurry. What are typical bike compression figures then. How much psi should we have. Cheers Neil

Nick, MINGs engine was already split when i got it and he had the gears out. However it can't be such a difficult job because my mate BYKER WILL did it and he has the mechanical nowse of a large ant!! 😬 ( Sorry Will 😬) Seriously i think it's a case of getting the Haynes manual for the Blackbird and following it through. There are a couple of issues to be aware of but Will sorted it first time. Either that or he is a mechanical god It's always fourth gear that goes by the way. Mine hasn't yet but i bought MINGS Nova gearset cos i know it's only a matter of time. I can't give you any details yet of Nitrons and springs as Gary at Freestyle hasn't yet rang me to say they have arrived after ordering them in the summer. He orders them in a batch and they have to be made to order apparently. I ought to give him a ring . I'll take some photos and send you them. Neil . Edited by - neilg on 16 Dec 2009 22:11:36

Love a busa but £££££££££££ and i would have to change everything. Nick, agree with you about standard engine 100% . Mine has been brilliant , uses no oil and is still intact despite a few missed changes and 12000 rpm blips!! Bought my spare engine for £500-00 for emergencies and haven't used it yet. I'm thinking now though that some preventative refreshery is in order before the inevitable happens. I had ago at stripping down MINGS old blown up engine yesterday evening and the engineering quality of everything is brilliant. My theory is to learn on the old blown up engine and then have a go at my good one in the car. The Nova box is going in whatever with uprated clutch springs. Have ordered some Nitrons/springs from Freestyle and eagerly await...

Looking for a modicum of opinion on my Blackbird from anyone in the know. My present engine ( standard 165 bhp carbs) has been thrashed remorselessly for a year and a half now with no problems at all and all with the standard gearbox. I've done i suppose ten trackdays so perhaps 800 laps maybe, who knows, and about 6000 road miles. Same clutch as well so i think i've done all right with it to be honest and it's a credit to it's previous owner who sorted a few issues with it. Anyway what shall i do to it now. It surely must need a refresh by now even though it still makes good oil pressure . On a refresh on bike engines what do engine builders do. I presume new shells, rings, hone bores and relap valves. What else?? I have a spare engine in my garage and a Nova gearbox to install which requires the engine bottom end to be stripped down . Or i could send it to Holeshot Racing and they could do this Stage three conversion here and get 30 or so extra horses. Has anyone any experience of Holeshot or big bore conversions on bike engines. Is it worth the expense? What is a 200 bhp bike engine like.? Alternatively i could run it till it explodes, do a standard refresh, or maybe just do a head job ( phanaar 😬) with cams. Any suggestions oh learned ones. PS i have or access to one good standard engine in Caterham, one good standard spare engine, one blown up standard engine and one 1.2 big bore blown up engine with three good pistons. Loads of bits in fact. PPS I also like the idea of removing the balancer shafts which share an oilway with No 3 piston big end ( the one that always picks up , breaking No 3 piston conrod!) So many decisions. What do you think? Thanks in advance. Neil I

I'd imagine it's more than 60 and less than 100 degrees cent. My Blackbird likes it in this region. I don't thrash it until it's got at least 50 on the stack.