Note: This is actually a Caterham and not a Lotus (there is no Caterham catagory unfortunately, therefore, here I am). Lotus built the Seven from 1957 to 1973. In 1973 Lotus sold the legal rights and all equipment to Caterham Cars. They are still in production today (50+ years now!).

This is our summer daily driver. It is a Zetec powered, DeDion suspended car. The basic specifications on it are 147HP and about 1200 pounds wet. The weight varies depending on many things such as wheel/tire choice, whether or not you want a heater and little things like painted or bare alloy bodywork (omitting paint saves about 5 pounds according to the factory). She will get to 60 MPH in 4.7 seconds and tops out safely below 130MPH due to it's less than stellar aerodynamics. To help remedy this I have developed a rear bellypan that cleans up the airflow yet allows proper movement of the De Dion rear end. Other changes that I have made were mainly in the name of safety and convienience. Items like a self-designed sump guard that is very strong given it's weight and a crank underdrive pulley along with a rerouting of the serpentine belt to solve the dreaded "Zetec squeak". I have a cooling fan override and a hard wired video camera for track day use. When the original battery gave up the ghost I replaced it with an Odyssey PC680 which shed another 9 pounds from the weight of the car (every little bit helps).  Performance modifications are limited with a swap to a Fidanza flywheel to replace the massive stock unit. Thats all for now, I will add more when it comes to mind, thanks for stopping in. Check out our local club website at www.calotus.com.

Modifications made over the winter include a custom intake system that feeds ambient air from the nosecone instead of the original design which picks up air from the rear of the engine bay (very hot air, not good!). with testing, I am expecting to get about 50 degree cooler air into the engine which should be worth about 6.5 HP and torque. While not a huge gain, on a light car a few extra horsepower makes a noticable difference. Soon enough we will see if the work paid off. (update, it works! See photo below).

The new look for 2009. Brookland screens in place of the standard windscreen and a new lightweight wheel/tire package (15" ten spoke factory wheels and sticky Avon CR500 tires developed specifically for Caterham Cars).  

Driving through the "Tail of the Dragon" on 07-07-07. This trip was in conjuntion with the 50th anniversary of the Lotus/Caterham Seven.