AR7E - Alcester Racing 7's Equipe
|
|
|
| AR7E HAS MOVED!!! Please click here to view the current version of this page - the page you are viewing will not be updated - or if the link fails, try: WWW.ALCESTER-RACING-SEVENS.COM
Front license plates on a 7 are a bit of a grey area - according to the official construction and usage rules, a license plate must be fitted to the first vertical surface of the vehicle - and arguably, the 7 doesn't have one... Full-size Conventional PlatesHaving said that, most people do mount their plates conventionally, as you can see below:
<Click Image for full size> There are a couple of drawbacks with this placement - it is at risk to roadkill and speed humps, it looks pretty ugly and it doesn't help the aerodynamics or cooling of the car... Small Conventional PlatesInitially at AR7E, we ran a smaller-than-standard front plate that looked a lot better and reduces some of the problems associated with the 'conventional' mounting position.
<Click Image for Full Size> You will notice that in contrast to the cars in the first picture - where the plate is wider than the grille - our conventional plate is considerably narrower. To avoid arguments about the grey area in the regulations, we retained the official UK standard typeface and spacing - albeit with marginally smaller letters and numbers. Stick-on PlatesBut why compromise? Our conventional plate is still at risk from foreign-object damage, and still obstructs the airflow around the car and into the radiator - but we can do a lot better...
<Click Image for full size> We obtained this stick-on plate (as fitted to original Lotus 7's) from www.fancyplates.com - it retains the standard UK typeface and spacing - and is the same size (approximately) as our conventional plate. It looks good, is lighter than a conventional plate and has no aerodynamic drawbacks... Result! Fitting InstructionsWe've seen some really badly applied stick-on plates - full of nasty wrinkles and bubbles. Yech! The trick to applying a stick-on plate is to wet the area of application with conventional, household window cleaner. When the plate (or any sticker for that matter) is applied, it will slide around on the window cleaner allowing you to fine-tune the position - eventually, when the cleaner dries off, the plate will stick perfectly and will not wash off in the rain... So - the procedure is:
We had no problem smoothing wrinkles and bubble out whilst the window cleaner was still wet - and the results are excellent! |
|
|
