L7C Hants (North) & Berks - March 2002 meetings

Famous visitor, new head gasket, Zetec on the road, upgrades galore, race preparations, and a return to the fold. By Steve Foster.

A full turnout at the last Thursday of the month meeting in March. The weather, the hours of fettling and spring in the air resulting in the need to blat gave rise to a record for March of 23 7's in the carpark! We were visited by Mr A Webb whose car sounded fantastic. Sort of like an enormous motorbike. Ah the throb of a big Vauxhall!

Other news includes a new head gasket for Jason. Not bad to get 44K miles before water / oil thicker than mayonnaise stopped play. Still a few quid lighter and a good clean out by Caterham Cars saw him back on the road in fairly quick time. He is also on his 2nd set of 032's. The first set were gobbled up in 3000 miles of damp and cold tarmac. How long will the next set last...? Find out here http://www.strangely.org/owned/seven3.html.

Phil has his Zetec conversion on the road and it sounds sweet at tickover. A bit of a flat spot (well very deep hole actually) to sort out at 3000 rpm which I helped nearly irradiate by over fuelling on the idle jets with some spares I had as a temp fix. Soon it will be sorted and purring / snarling across the entire rev range.

Nigel has recently found the delights of 'R' tyres in the form of 021's. Also the damper problem is reported as sorted.

Mr Motts is sporting a JPE screen and the car looked great as he pulled out of the car park. Don't forget to check all manifold bolts next time Steve....

Rory will miss the first race of his season to ensure the engine is on top form by visiting RKE for an RR session. God help anyone in his way this season!

Simon (our departed previous leader) had a cracked outer valve spring but a bit of compressed air and the offending item was exchanged. A quick fix before a day of testing and then racing at Lydden only a few days away. But then Simon confesses to liking the opportunity to apply the odd field dressing whilst at the battle field.

Jon Pippard our previous, previous A.O has seen the light and got a 7 again. The Elise was just too porky I guess.

Roy can do doughnuts now thanks to an LSD.

Ray is thinking aeroscreens... Well you can borrow mine anytime to try them if you want.

Mark has fitted an Apollo tank and some Spa style mirrors and saved some weight.

We had several new visitors to the meet. Some with cars and some who are getting the bug.

As for me, well my car has gone on a crash diet and lost some 75kgs to get into race trim. What of the driver I hear you say. Well I have lost some 4 kgs to contribute. I can bore anyone for hours on how I did it (the car not me) and what each thing weighs so don't ask...you may regret it.

Good night and may your 7 go with you.

Steve, A.O and scribe (you can read this first at http://www.strangely.org/7club/meetings/index.html)



This page is http://www.strangely.org/7club/meetings/200203.html. It was first published on Friday 26 April, 2002 and last updated on Friday 26 April, 2002.