Caterham Super Seven 1600

Last week I got to do a proper road trip, from London to North Wales and back. It was very much a last minute adventure. I checked the weather forecast on Monday morning and it was high pressure all week. So Monday afternoon I set off. First stop was the Double Tree by Hilton outside Chester, a place I had stayed at before. This was to get the initial motorway drive done before heading into Wales. For Day 2 I had a room booked at the Chainbridge Hotel in Llangollen. I wanted to stay at Portmeirion but it was fully booked, so instead my plan was to visit Portmeirion in the morning and then head over to the Chainbridge. I set off early and drove to Bangor, then down to Porthmadog, arriving at Portmeirion at 10am.  Had a good wander around, the weather was amazing ! After lunch I headed off to Llangollen, driving through the Snowdonia roads. The Chainbridge Hotel is perched on the side of a hill overlooking a river. It's quite an interesting place, had a nice meal and then an early ni...

Today was the 2024 Open Day run by Lotus specialist Malcolm Ricketts, at his workshops out in Wheathampsted. He has a great collection of early Lotus vehicles, and many more turned-up ! Quite a few Caterhams as well. Justin from Caterham Cars was there with the Super Seven 600 demonstrator. He also told me something very interesting about the Super Seven 1600. Despite having a Sigma Ti-VCT engine, the Variable Valve Timing is turned off due to the Jenvey Throttle bodies. So it actually has slightly less power and torque than a standard 270/275 engine. Holbay Twin Cam SS.. I really like the 11-inch steering wheel from the Super Seven 600, it's a much better size for the S3 chassis than my 12-inch. I feel an upgrade coming on..

Last Sunday there was a workshop meet-up at HWM Caterham in Walton-on-Thames. This was organised by the Service Manager Richard Potton, and was a chance to ask general questions about the cars and their recommended servicing procedures.  Lots of cars in the workshop, including brand new vehicles awaiting collection. London AR David North still has his car there! Now with very expensive updated suspension. Around 30 cars turned up, including an unusual passenger. And I found another Super Seven 1600 for the register. All good.

Here's parts of the original brochure for the Super Seven 1600, showing the specification details and optional extras. This was part of the marketing material produced by Stacy Freeman.

As the car is nearly 2 years old it's time for a service! There is no longer a factory service option, so I took it to the nearest Authorised Dealer which is HWM Caterham in Walton-on-Thames. The car is still under its 2 year warranty period which ends at the start of August. I left Romford at 5:30am, getting over the Dartford Crossing before they start charging, and headed to Cobham Services for breakfast. Arrived at HWM just before 8am and Dan was already there opening up. The workshop is full of cars! London AR David North still has his car there, awaiting further upgrades.. The Crazy Horse spec'd Super Seven 1600 is there, I quite like the chrome interior mirror, may have to get one. Dan did an initial inspection and sent a video review. Apart from changing the oil, coolant, and spark plugs the only issue was the Lambda sensor which was replaced. The fuel tank has a small leak, I'll have to decide if it's worth replacing it before the warranty runs out. Apart from t...

My car has very comfortable leather seats, ones with vertical fluting and a nicer material than the standard items. However, the base of the seat has a lot of foam padding at the front which gives a high angle where your legs rest (the top seat in the picture above). This results in a knees-raised driving position which is very different from the Tillets and other race seats. You have to move the seat forward in order to extend your leg to press the clutch and accelerator without having to force down on the cushioning, which can lead to cramp. It also gives less space between the seat edge and the bottom of the steering wheel. So, I decided to change the driver's side seat and lower the angle of the leading edge by removing the cushioning from the front section. The leather is just glued in place, so it's easy to undo and get access to the foam. You can see how thick it is at the front there. I removed all of that and then re-glued the leather into place. Now we have a much low...

Last weekend was the first major drive of the season, the WightBlat 2024. This is an annual event organised by Alex and Simon on the Isle of Wight. This year it was based at the excellent Luccombe Hall hotel in Shanklin. I was in France for the week before, but keeping a close eye on the Met Office forecasts for the weekend! With a high pressure system moving in I booked the last remaining room at the hotel and the ferry crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne. Having got back home from Lyon at 10pm the night before, it was an early start on the Friday to prep the car and meet up with Essex legend Debbie at the M25 Brentwood junction. It was pretty cold at 9am so I had the half hood on and heater going. Debbie turns up with no roof and leather hat, fair play! Her Xflow only has a 4-speed box, but we're heading round the M25 and then down to Gatwick before A-roads to Portsmouth, managing to avoid the rain. Despite being booked on the 2pm ferry we both managed to get on the one before...

One little upgrade I've wanted to do for a while is fit a battery isolator switch. The immobiliser system can drain the small Banner battery over a number of weeks, so previously I've been removing the negative lead when the car isn't used for a week or so. An isolator switch is a much more convenient solution. I didn't want the full FIA isolator that sits on the outside of the car, so I decided to get this one from Jack Webb Motorsports . It is a simple break switch that sits on the negative side of the battery. This was originally designed for cars which don't have a heater, and when I initially received the unit it was clear that there wasn't space around the heater hoses to fit it to the earth point on the scuttle. Thankfully Jack was able to produce a new version with the orientation of the earth connecting bolt eye and jump lead reversed, and this fitted fine. Now I can isolate the battery by just turning the red switch by 90 degrees..