yesterday i got to sample a Birkin Sport (Lotus 7 replica)... it looks like this



200 hp 1200 lbs... i had so much fun i was screaming out loud quite a few times... this is as close as a street legal kart as it goes. a little physical to drive but one can get used to it pretty quick... no PS, no power brakes. the only thing bothered me a little was there was no foot rest. a little 25 min session in it was quite a work out. it was running on webbers was it was a little laggy below 3500 rpm and there's a hiccup right at 3k. but from 3500-7k it pulls clean and strong. close ratio Quaife gearbox is perfect and shifts gate is perfect. throw not super short but just the right amount for precision feel. open exhaust = little screamer. it will take quite a bit of seat time to tame this little beast. i was no where near the limit, and usually i'm so confident of my skills... bah. couple of times i did manage to go WOT and accelrate to the exit, it was some serious g force and i was grinning ear to ear. this is real gg machine! grin generator.

thanks a lot woody!

http://www.birkinsport.com

 

Lucky sunova...

I've always wanted to try one of those!

 

there is nothing on this earth like it (that I have driven, at least). Mine is a Lotus Super Seven Super Sprint, with the Ford cross flow motor. Fully dressed out and full of fuel, it is 1093 lbs. Mine is set up with the Dedion rear, and EP widetrack front suspension. Springs and dampers are from the EP SCCA setup. I run the spooled rear end, and usually run 7" and 9" Goodyear Slicks on it (430 compound).

It is just as you described; very very physical to drive. super loud. super fast to 100 mph, unbelievable brakes, unbelievable telepathic handling. Mine is set up razor sharp; it'll bite if you handle it improperly, but it is very fast. like 8 seconds per lap faster at the Glen than my H1 Hybrid Civic. In fact, it makes my Civic feel like driving a Kenworth.

alas, last October, I blew the motor. timing chain disintegrated taking the cam, crank, rods, and one piston with it going up the esses at the Glen. she lasted 4500 track miles and kaboom. i guess that is not too bad, considering that that motor was originally designed to be 70 hp, and was rebuilt to 147 hp for my Seven.

the engine is going to be totally rebuilt this summer, and hopefully will be back in the car at the end of the year. don't have the money to fix two cars, so the Lotus will have to wait until the Honda is back in race trim.

Ghettoracer, if you have the chance, drive it again. I have been driving mine for 9 years, and still continue to improve in it. The cars have LOTS of potential, the performance envelope is HUGE.

In England, they have a race series specifically for these cars. Boy o Boy, I wish they had a series here for them. I'd be in it in a New York minute.

Todd

PS after a weekend of driving the Seven, I am usually so stiff I can barely move on Monday. The beating you take on the slicks with that suspension is amazing. the Honda has a Cadilac ride compared to that.

 

I have never had a chance to drive a Seven or a Seven clone but would jump at the chance. One of my employees is just about to start building a Lo-cost which is build-in yourself from scratch plan to be really, really cheap. Not the polish of a real car, a Birkin or a Superformance car but still will catch the essence. My family used to race Formula Fords when I was a kid and I've heard the Sevens are like a Formula Ford for the street that you can take a friend for a ride in.

Hopefully that photo you gave was someone else driving and not you. Care to guess what the big driver faux paus is? As an instructor, this is one I really try to discourage.

 

he's driving with one hand

 

Looks like he's turning; one hand on top of the wheel with the other hand (pulling it down) near the bottom. I doubt you could drive that car with one hand.

I've always wanted a Super Seven; Lotus, Caterham, whatever as a track car.

Good stuff.

 

Actually my issue is with how much he is leaning his body over espacially the angle of his head. Although leaning hard into the corner is a common reaction to cornering, it can be detrimental to proper control. With the plane of the road, the roll plane of the leaning car then the plane that the guy's eyes are in, his brain has to deal with perceptions or issues from three different planes. You are better to keep your body still with the car and turn your neck to see ahead but keep your eyes with the plane of the road (preferred) or of the car (unless the car is leaning a lot) so your motor responses and brain have to deal with less adjustment. Even when a motorcycle rider/racer leans off his bike, he still keeps his eye level with or close to the plane of the road. Moving your head or neck a bit is okay to deal with some roll or g forces but he's much more leaned than the road and obviously the car is leaning the other way. It can be an old habit but it is a good one to try to break. I think he does have both hands on the wheel, just the way the wheel is placed it may look a bit off.

Sorry GhettoRacer, didn't mean to steal your thread about a cool car. I just saw an opportunity to point something out.


[Modified by CRX Lee, 2:56 AM 2/24/2003]


[Modified by CRX Lee, 3:08 AM 2/24/2003]

 

I understand the biomechnics of it really well but Jean Alesi does the same thing with his head, and everyone says it's incorrect, too...

Kirk

 

so did Juan Manuel Fangio.

Frank, did you say "street legal"?

 

Agreed. Not saying that it can't be done, just not a helpful habit and something good to get rid of. Fangio did his achievements at a time when they did lots of things that we don't do now because we have learned better or technology has advanced (leather helmets, no belts, street clothes/short sleeves, etc.). Also with modern F1 and other serieous racecars one likely tilts his head a bit to counter severe g forces but leaning for the habit of leaning is not a good habit. In a car with little to no door or side like the Seven/Birken, maybe it is a bit more natural a reaction to lean in but it is something good to unlearn.

 

if you spend anytime in a go-kart you will learn to unlearn leaning towards the inside real fast as it just throws off outside wheel grip and you do really drive better if you sit up straight(er).

 

todd, NASA is piloting a Seven's class this year!! SF Bay is the starting point, but will be nationally hopefully sooner there than later. there are really lots of 7's around. you run slicks ehh?? dang. the one i drove was only on hoosier's, and it sure had a lot of grip already. i gotta get the dl90 on it next time. i would love to drive the 7's again. but the performance is so much... i'd really have to get my own to explore its limits. i'd hate to flat spot its tire or do anything do the car.

lee: that's Woody Harris, co-owner of birkin sport in vacaville, ca. i'm not sure of his exact history but back in the 60's he went to europe and raced for a while in f3 and such. i rode with him before, he's a really good driver.

 

<< todd, NASA is piloting a Seven's class this year!! >>

oh man,

now I gotta figure a way to get both my Civic and my Seven in the trailer at the same time.....

 

What times does your Seven Super Sprint do at Watkins Glen and is that time on full slicks? Is that in EP trim?

 

<< What times does your Seven Super Sprint do at Watkins Glen and is that time on full slicks? Is that in EP trim? >>

at the Glen, full track, my best times are in the high 2:12s, low 2:13 range. I get crushed on the straightaways (top speed is around 110 mph). but nothing, I mean nothing, can touch me from the bus stop to the front straight

I run full slicks, 7" in front, 9" in rear. usually Goodyear 430 compound; but I buy them used for about $15 each; I have never run a fresh set on the car, always the used up ones. Probably be at least 2 sec faster with a fresh set on...

Car is set up like an EP car, except for the motor. I am down 35 to 40 horses on the good EP cars. when I have the motor rebuilt later this year, it will be all out. should be 180+ hp at least.

when it blew last year, I was instructing at a Ferrari Club event. I was driving in the "Race" group, with about 30 Ferrari Challenge cars. I was running 4th chasing some of the big boys when it blew up. I OWNED them everywhere except for the straights, but they were pulling away at least 100 to 120 car lengths on the straights, which was tough to make up even with the Seven in the corners. those guys seemed slow to me, driver wise. I checked out their cars, and they were totally set up and running full slicks, too (Pirellies, mostly).

Todd

PS the best I have done in the Civic H1 car was a 2:20 flat.

 

That probably had more to do with the cams. Throttle response on those webbers should be instantaneous. I once had a 20R engine Toyota Celica with twin Mikuni side-drafts that had incredible throttle response (the webbers are practically the same)

 

ross, if you do it right you can register these lotus 7 replica as 67 lotus and be completely exempt from smog...

i've been drooling for the s2k powered 7 replica for some time. 240 hp, 1250 lbs. multilink IRS too (altho, the Birkin/Caterham with live axle drove perfectly fine, car is so light), and smog exempt. it'd be a total track monster and still has honda reliability... and with potential for way more hp.