Onboard Caterham at Road and Track.

Lotus Super Seven model.
Trackday Super Seven Club Holland.
Before and after full Engine Rebuild.
Build by Formula 27.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Onboard
• Lotus
• Super
• Seven
• Caterham
• Donkervoort
• Zandvoort
• Race
• Car
• Formula
• 27
• Trackday

[sclurgess]

the music ruined it. i would of loved to have watched the whole video but couldnt as it was offending my ears

[7inrain]

Because Sevens are so light. Put a heavy V8 into it and you'll ruin the balance and thus the handling of the car.

[TestECull]

@7inrain Firstly where the fuck did I say a chevy V8 was the perfect engine for a Caterham? All I said was you could install one and not ruin the handling by making it understeer. Secondly, go search for V8 Caterham, you'll find plenty of vids and eventually stumble across one or two on the Ring. Note how they don't understeer. If anything they oversteer like crazy because they have more torque than they have any business posessing.

[7inrain]

@TestECull Having done a three-digit number of laps on the Ring myself and knowing what my shitty little 165 bhp Cat can do there I am really looking forward to watch the video you claim to be your evidence for a Chevy V8 being a perfect engine for a Caterham.

[TestECull]

@7inrain Watching one fly around the Nurburgring Nordschliefe via dash cam isn't a valid piece of evidence?

You are hopeless.

[7inrain]

@TestECull And, as we all know, a Youtube video is the ultimate reference, not personal experience.

[TestECull]

@7inrain Fine. Believe what you want. It's perfectly possible to slip a V8 into a Caterham and not ruin the handling, I've seen them here on Youtube. But you go right on believing it's an automatic understeer factory.

[7inrain]

@TestECull I do have a Caterham (which isn't my first Seven btw) and I've raced it on all types of tracks. I have friends with all types of Sevens, not only Cats, and the best way to ruin its handling is by putting a heavy engine into it. Seen it often enough.

A Caterham has half the weight of a Miata and what might be valid for the Miata isn't for a Caterham. Someone who doesn't know Sevens has no idea what 20 kg in engine weight difference will do to the handling. Let alone 100+ kg of an LS7.

[TestECull]

@7inrain Uhh...you're not going to trash the handling with a lightweight all aluminum V8. I've seen Miatas with iron block iron head smallblocks stuffed in them and they still handled well. Miatas should have the same problem a Caterham would as far as a V8 transplant, in that the V8 would give you massive understeer. They don't. Neither would a caterham. Your only problem getting a V8 into a caterham would be physically fitting it in, those things are absolutely tiny.

[7inrain]

@TestECull Even one of the lightest V8's, the Rover V8 with its ~150 kg, is too heavy for a Seven. Don't even think about sticking an LS7 with its 200+ kg into it. That thing wouldn't fly, it would be a sluggish pig which couldn't get around a corner.

Believe me, a lot of people have tried heavier engines with more hp in their Sevens. And they all failed. The car may gain a bit in terms of acceleration and top speed but it loses massively on the brakes and in cornering speed.

[TestECull]

@7inrain Solution: Get a light V8.

Having a V8 doesn't necessarily mean you're putting an iron block - iron head Ford smallblock from 1965 in there. You could be slipping an all aluminum LS7 in there(And my god would that fly, Corvettes can't even put that power down). And then there's a turbocharged Lexus V8.