A Gathering of Colorado Sevens

[scannon]

I sent this out in an email to all the Seven owners/former owners I know of in the area. Anyone else who lives in the area or happens to be passing through the Denver area is also welcome to join us.
--------------
We have two new Sevens about to take their first drives and one newly purchased one here in Colorado. Its looking like March 21st is the only chance to get them together along with those already on the road.

I will host a party Sunday the 21st, probably in the early afternoon for all interested owners/want to be owners, friends and spouses at my shop in Erie.

Tom Meacham's (Alaskossie) new Caterham Executive Superlite and Danny Hart's (The Goat) new Birkin are the two new ones and Mike O'Neil (Mighty Mike) has recently purchased a pre-loved Birkin. He drove it from Texas to Colorado a few weeks ago in some pretty miserable weather.

I'll send out more details as the date gets a little closer.

I'm sure there are some other Sevens in the area, if you know of any I missed please pass this on to them and also send me their email addresses. I know of Howard in Ft. Collins but don't have any contact info for him.

Please RSVP so I know how many people to plan for. The long term forecast is showing the 21st to be a decent day. Pray for sunshine and warm temperatures, otherwise, bundle up for the drive. The shop is heated so no problem there.

[7veloce]

Skip, I will let Howard know tomorrow. Tom/Fort Collins

[75TwinCam]

I'm in, but of course you knew that already. Looking forward to the day!

[bsimon]

Count me in.

The long term forecast is showing the 21st to be a decent day.

Right then...will there be snow machine parking available?

[scannon]

Right then...will there be snow machine parking available?

I think I can accommodate that as long as you are not trying to jump it onto the roof of my shop.

[bball7754]

Skip - I'm going to be in Breckenridge tomorrow through next Saturday, so I'll just miss it. I've been in touch with Ben and may come into Denver to see both him and Nathan - as well as Al's Series 2 and Alakossie's Superlight.

As they say, timing is everything in life.

Steve

[scannon]

Skip - I'm going to be in Breckenridge tomorrow through next Saturday, so I'll just miss it. I've been in touch with Ben and may come into Denver to see both him and Nathan - as well as Al's Series 2 and Alakossie's Superlight.

As they say, timing is everything in life.

Steve

Steve,

Do you know when you will be in Denver? Maybe I can meet up with you either at Caterham USA or in Boulder if you are going to the shop where Nathan works. You are also welcome to stop by my shop in Erie.

[scannon]

The gathering starts a 2:00 PM. Beverages and light refreshments will be served.

PM me if you haven't already RSVP'd and I will send you directions to the gathering. It looks like we have the potential of a dozen Sevens showing up if the weather is good.

[bball7754]

Skip - Well, as you've probably figured out I didn't make it in to Denver. May be back out this summer, and if we are I'll try again.

Hope all this snow melts for you by Sunday.

Steve

[scannon]

Skip - Well, as you've probably figured out I didn't make it in to Denver. May be back out this summer, and if we are I'll try again.

Hope all this snow melts for you by Sunday.

Steve

Sorry we missed you. The snow will be gone by then, it's not even sticking to the roads and only about 3" on the lawn.

[scannon]

The weather cooperated with mid 60s temps and a sunny day. We had nine Sevens, three Elises (1 turbo, 1 supercharged) and three Miatas (2 turbo, 1 supercharged) show up along with a number on OTS's (Other Than Sports cars).

Tom M. (Alaskossie) had his first drive in his new Caterham Executive Super Light prior to the gathering. As you can see, he is one happy camper. The car is outrageous and an amazing machine.

Pictures of the other cars in the next post.

[scannon]

Of the nine Sevens that showed up, there was one original Lotus 7 S3, one Birkin and the other seven cars were Caterhams.

The man holding the paper in the third picture is Nathan Down, formerly of the Caterham factory, Caterham USA and presently working for Thomas Vintage Restoration in Boulder, CO where he competed the assembly and detail work on Alaskaossie's Caterham.

We have had a betting pool going for a couple of weeks on how much Tom's car would weigh when finished. No one but Nathan knew the weight and guesses ranged from Tom's 1,288 to 1,440 lb. The third picture is Nathan announcing the weight. The winner was Lou Turf with a guess of 1,409, one pound over the actual weight of 1,408. This is what happens when upgradeitis takes over before the car is built.

The Birkin in the last picture belongs to Tom Carlin who drove it in from Gypsum, CO about 200 miles over two major passes. He got to withing 15 or so miles and experienced a total electrical failure. We dispatched two volunteers with my truck and trailer to fetch him and the car. The car was blowing the main fuse. We never did find the short but did manage to get it running again and he is on his way back as I write this. I believe his car is the first Birkin with a Duratec engine. Tom is completing the work on Danny Hart's (The Goat) Duratec powered Birkin. Danny showed up in the supercharged Elise.

[yellowss7]

Tom, refresh my memory, Is you car a standard S3 Cat with a 2.3 Duratec?

How tight is the installation and were there any issues with the intall?

Looks great. Enjoy it. Just watch out for the Moose.

Tom

[7veloce]

Skip,

it was a nice gathering of 7s. Thanks you. I hope Tom A and you will drive up to Fort Collins this week. A group of car guys gets together on every Wednesday at Cafe Vino on S. College , across from Colorado State University, around 12:00. Hope you can join us for lunch this week. Tom

[scannon]

Here's a link to some more photos taken when most of the people had left. http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshmcguckin/sets/72157623543051119/

[75TwinCam]

What a great time, and a tremendous sampling of cars--from a 1968 Lotus S3 to the brand new 20?? Alaskossie Super-Executive!

Rather than convert and upload right now, I'm going to try this, Facebook says it'll work . . .

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52172&id=1510507106&l=0d2a943502 (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52172&id=1510507106&l=0d2a943502)

Great to see the guys I already knew, and meet some new Seven minded folks!

[scannon]

The Birkin in the last picture belongs to Tom Carlin who drove it in from Gypsum, CO about 200 miles over two major passes. He got to withing 15 or so miles and experienced a total electrical failure. We dispatched two volunteers with my truck and trailer to fetch him and the car. The car was blowing the main fuse. We never did find the short but did manage to get it running again and he is on his way back as I write this.

I got word from Tom this morning that he made it back to Gypsum with no problems. He now has the less than pleasant task of finding an intermittent electrical gremlin.

[thegoat]

I actually showed up in a rental chevy something. Mike brought his (titanium) supercharged Elise. He also has a Birkin, but is doing some upgrades to it at the moment.

Next time I come around Skip's, it will be in a Birkin and not some rotten rental car...

Thanks for the event and the writeup, Skip.

[scannon]

Oops, too many names and cars to keep them all straight.

[75TwinCam]

I resized several of the pics to post here.

1593
Perhaps my favorite pic of the day--Tom Cranking it to life in anticipation of the second drive!


1594
Finally the tag is on the car.


1595
The Executive Driving Compartment


1596
Under the Bonnet--2.3L Cosworth Duratech, thoroughly Meachamized


1597
Rarities. (Front to Back) Alaskossie 20?? Executive Superlight, BSimon 1995 Vauxhall HPC, 75TwinCam 1975 Lotus Twincam


1598
1968 Lotus Seven S3


1599
1968 S3 Crossflow

1600
Seven Sevens. ( f to b) Ross's 1968 S3, scannon, bsimon, (2nd row) Supercharged Elise, 7veloce, unknown 1987 S3 1700 Supersprint, (3rd row) Howard's 2005 SV Roadsport, 75TwinCam


Hopefully the sun shines on us again this coming Saturday for another Alaskossie coming out party!


:driving:

[scannon]

The Se7en plate has been on that car for over two years while the car was being built. All the Alaska DMV required was a peace officer's VIN inspection to issue plates even though the car had never been in Alaska. It doesn't get any easier than that to register a new kit car.

After four days of warm Spring weather, it is raining this afternoon and the forecast is for 6 - 10" of snow in Denver by tomorrow evening.

The unidentified Seven in the second row belongs to Andy Aust whom I don't believe is on this forum.

[Alaskossie]

yellowss7,

Sorry for the late reply, I'm just now getting back to my computer at home in Alaska.

My car is a 2007 Caterham S3 ("classic") lhd with the older Arch chassis (not the "metric" chassis). The engine is a 250 hp Cosworth 2.3 Duratec with dry sump; transmission is he Caterham 6-speed; rear end ratio is 3.31:1. The wheels are 15-inch Caterhams with Avon CR500 tyres, with the wider 9.5-inch CSR rims on the rear (they do fit, despite what Caterham says!).

There were no particular physical fitment problems in putting this engine in this chassis; the dry sump tank is a Brise tank, fitting in front of the engine; this eliminates the need to chop[ off the passenger footwell.

The biggest unanticipated problem was that all lhd Caterham chassis shipped to the US through 2007 carry a wiring loom for a Zetec engine; the functions related to the Duratec and its engine management are so altered from the Zetec spec that without Nathan Down's knowledge and help (gained from years of working at Caterham in UK), I would have never figured it out for myself.

As it turned out, Nathan spent hours and hours stringing yards and yards of new wire into the loom, and he provided me with an 8-page summary of the wiring changes he had to make, in order to get the engine to mate with the chassis.

Skip is right that "upgrade-itis" captured me when I originally started assembling the Caterham kit in July of 2007; some of my mods (engine bay and tunnel insulation, for example) would have been impossible once the kit was built, without taking it apart again. But I'm very happy with the resulting Executive Superlight --even if it does weigh 1408 lb.

I can always diet.

Scannon, thanks for organizing the great Seven coming-out party last week -- let's do it again!