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Checked on this today. Registration has opened: 2026 LUG

Just for another data point, I calculated mileage after a fillup - got 23mpg on a highway cruise back from the track with some intermittent light traffic that kept speeds down a bit.

I’d just fill the tank slowly and only add about 5 gallons whenever the fuel level gets near 1/4 tank. I overfilled the car once at Costco, and fuel ended up spilling from the back of the car. Definitely not a good sight.

The center plaque is for finishing second out of the 8 entrants in Super Stock at the Glen Region Sports Car Club of America Solo event. The Elmira College Domes are the buildings on the grounds of an athletic facility near the town of Horseheads New York. Glen Region honored the presence of the Lotus Owners Gathering competitors in the naming of the autocross: Hethel, Norwich, Norfolk, England is the town where Lotus cars are made. Glen Region autocross results: <a href="http://www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/Results20130804.asp" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/Results20130804.asp</a> PAX results: <a href="http://www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/PAX20130804.asp" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.glen-scca.org/Solo/2013/PAX20130804.asp</a> The mug and the hat combined are the trophy for finishing second in class in the LOG33 scoring for the autocross. The mugs were also used for the Concours, so the other side of the mug says "MY LOTUS IS PRETTIER THAN YOURS". Not really the case for me. I had not talked with Doc Bundy since the race in the streets of Minneapolis I covered some years back. I don't ask people for autographs, but someone (Brian V?) asked Doc to sign his hat and I figured "why not". I had the third-fastest time of the 60 cars entered. (I really don't count shifter-karts as cars.) an SM BMW snuck in-between Rob and me in our stock Elise cars. In the LOG33 results, Rob had FTD and I was second. Rob and Eric had brought both cars to LOG33. For the autocross, Rob drove the Elise. Eric drove the Lotus Cortina. Rob and Eric were in different classes in both the SCCA classing and the LOG classing. Someone at the event told me that Eric B and his wife are past Canadian Autoslalom Champions. Rob riding shotgun with Eric at that 2013 event: The Lotus Cortina was not set up for autocrossing. Beautiful historic car. Of course, Rob beat me again at LOG39 in 2019. Rob had designed the course on a smallish parking lot at Thompson Speedway (site of the first-ever SCCA driving event). The course looked like a Japanese gymkhana. At least I got to join the general laughter when Rob got lost while trying to show us that it was easy to follow.

Here is the car at the LOG39 track day. Do not know which of them is at the wheel. I met Rob at LOG33. More on that in the next post.

The Green Elise' owners name is Eric. He also has a Lotus Cortina and an Elan. However, his son drives the Elise and does track days and some competitions and his name is Rod or Rob. Sorry, my poor hearing is only surpassed by my increasing lose of short term memory. Sound like someone you know or have met? My wife took the rainbow photo at the end of the day. It was a short but heavy shower after a picture perfect brisk spring day on Ontario. I've attached anther photo of the Elise.

Citibank just wanted to point out that I might have a caterham fettling addiction.

HI Ed and thanks for the offer. I just might be able to take you up on those. I have a good friend in Peterboro Ontario that I need to visit. I'll call him tomorrow and see if we can ship to him and then I'll pick em up when I see him. I'll get back to you in the next day or so. Thanks, Mark

The web has a few car forums where owners of cars from small European sports cars to U.S. muscle cars inquire about using valve stem seals with silicon or manganese bronze valve guides. Some say yes, you should fit them, and others say no with a mix of reputable car mechanics advising either way. I have a Holbay Ford cylinder head that some describe as Stage II - fitted with larger 1.6" inlet valves, but not so large as to cause possible cracking between the inlet and exhaust valve seats. The head was new and based on an 1100 c.c. flat cylinder head as there is/was more metal available to grind away for porting (Note: recommendation of David Vizard many, many years ago to use an 1100 uprated flat head on the 1600 c.c. 711M Crossflow which I will be rebuilding). Holbay fitted harder exhaust seats for unleaded fuel, stainless steel valves, and silicon bronze valve guides. Double springs are fitted, but I am thinking of using singles. Holbay did not fit valve stem seals to the double springs. I checked with Burton a couple of years ago as I was considering using 'special' stem seals on the valves (with single springs), but Burton did not recommend using stem seals, as they believe that the valve stem and guide would not receive sufficient lubrication. Some say there is burnt oil smoke on start-up with no seals, and that this goes away quite quickly. Also mentioned was valve stem seizing if there is insufficient flow of oil due to the seals doing too fine of a job. I have read that tuners installing stainless valves fitted in silicon bronze guides normally specify minimum clearances from new, thereby requiring a good flow of oil. Has anybody with road or racing experience seen premature wear with stem seals fitted to bronze guides? I don't want to be trailing smoke and polluting the neighbourhood - even with a car that has no pollution control to speak of - so advice would be much appreciated. W

Hi @Rodnok. I have a pair of Lotus Seven windscreen stanchions made out of 1/8" steel exactly to the shape of the Lotus originals for free which you could use as a pattern, but I think that it may be a hassle for both of us to ship them from Canada to you unless you know of a way? All I would ask for is shipping cost. EW

Wish I still lived in San Jose.... would've totally met up for a drive. Our Sevens are pretty much twins.

Sorry to hear that Charlie, hope to see you at another event this year.

Totally understandable... Wealthier community, even by Bay Area standards with an older population that have a higher likelihood of appreciating classic and custom cars? Yeah definitely can see that.

Yep, there are some great roads out here to go with the weather, but you need to stay alert, California Highway Patrol are always looking for those tax dollars!

I had to cancel my registration. Very sad. Work is really getting in the way of my play time.

Observatory? The backside is great. Y'all have such great roads...

Epic Blat yesterday in the CSR with a couple of buddies. Parked to get the best view over Silicon Valley. 80 degrees, blue sky, double espresso and 260hp is life-affirming!

Does the green Elise belong to a guy named Rob? Nice double rainbow.

I used Concord DMV and Martinez CHP office. I think they both are great. Just make sure you ask for the ones that understand SB-100. You can go to DMV first with all the paperwork (without your cat) , and get a temporary operation permit that is good for a few months. Then you can insure and drive the car around and get the BAR inspection for smog waiver, Vin verification at CHP, and back to DMV for the inspection. Be prepared for multiple trips to DMV:)

When are you passing through NM? Maybe you already have.. There are a handful of cat owners in the northern part of the state, not too hot up here yet - high around 80 and still very cool over night. if I was driving a cat across the country (and had the time) I'd be staying at least central, if not north of that; back roads as much as possible. I-40 would be very uncomfortable. Nothern NM a cross into southern Utah, staying to the north as long as possible before dropping down. Godspeed, safe travels!

Not a photo of our Caterham but in keeping with the above Lotus photo I’ll mention this show and the attending Lotus. The Boot and Bonnet car club had their spring Autojumble this past Saturday and the weather was great. We had a good turnout of Lotus with 3 Elise, 2 Esprit and one Emira. Unfortunately not a single Europa or our Caterham. It is back in the body shop to fix the cracked fender. It was supposed to be finished in time for this show but the tint hasn’t shown up. After all the rain, both real and figuratively speaking, there was a rainbow at the end of our day. The wife won the sealed bid auction for the one owner, 20,035 kilometer 1981 Spitfire. Her bid was $19.80 higher than the next closest bid. (Secret tip for closed bid auctions, always end with an odd number.) In the wife’s case she used the car's build date of June 1980 and it payed off. We’re off to pick up the Spitfire in a few minutes. I’ll put the story in the “Other Car’s” section.

Yes do lock the steering wheel in place; I use a scissors jack and some protective material to push up on it from below. As to friction at the tire surface, there are inexpensive means of reducing it. A piece of plastic sheet under the tire is one way. Another one I've heard about is two pieces of linoleum tile with some grease smeared on them. That one sounds a bit messy. I'm sure there are other ways just waiting to be discovered. And of course one can always get alignment plates...

When you get ready to set the toe, to keep the steering wheel centered, fab a simple fixture to clamp the steering wheel to keep it perfectly align while adjusting the rod ends. With a DIY alignment methods there is too much friction at the tire surface.

If I had a nickel for every time that I missed the point i'd ... probably waste it all all on cars. No offense taken or intended, my friend. Good luck to all of us as we continue to tame these cars that are so amazing and so frustrating.

Jmaz ... I just installed the steering column and your post gave me one of those "I'm so dumb" moments. In my case, I reasoned that since the tie rod ends were 12 turns out ... I *assumed* that meant they were both the same distance from rack center and by measuring the wheels straight ahead (ref. rotor edge to front lower wishbone bolt) I could set the wheel straight and then insert the lower column in the rack at that position. Done. But, of course there is that assumption in there ... Long story short (the detail is updated on my blog post) based on your comment I went back, taped a zip tie indicator to the steering hub and looked for how that ended up when at full lock each way. Sure enough it was almost (but not quite) even; full lock right was about 15deg right from vertical whereas full lock left was about 5deg left from vertical ... I was close, but no cigar. So, disassembled (hey, loctite works!) and moved the lower column one spline CW and, bingo, I was there!