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There is no better Plan B than the modern Lithium battery jump-off boxes. They are small and light, hold their charge, and will start your car (or your generator) when you err (as in, being human). We are blessed by modern technology.

The conversion of the CSR 260 back into a two-seater is almost complete. A temporary version, until the new seat shows up. Meanwhile, the Birkin abides. Iffy weather tomorrow (Friday), but Saturday looks perfect for a day at the BTTFW with several thousand of my closest friends. Sunday , back to DCTC for a Corvettes of Minnesota autocross.

IMG_1527. you could never try to do this and succeed.HEICIMG_1527. you could never try to do this and succeed.HEIC I got out of the Birkin and felt a pull on my foot. For reasons unknown to me, my cellphone decided to make this a HEIC. I'm trying to figure out how to convert it.

Credentials for the Back to the 50s Weekend can not be picked up at the Minnesota Fairgrounds. They must be picked up a suburban hotel. This circa 10,000-car show is limited to cars 1964 and earlier. I'm bringing the Birkin. I will feel guilty about this five minutes after they throw out all the fiberglass Cobras running around. I have been sending in an entry for a "1963 Lotus Seven" every year for a long time, and never show up with a car. Last time I brought a car it was an actual 1962 TR4. By coincidence, the Birkin I bought from Dean is actually titled as a 1963 Lotus. Of course, you can show up at the hotel with any sort of vehicle, but I decided to bring the Birkin and hang for a couple of hours, buy a burger and pop.

Hoosiers on the street?

I have some cost effective no name agm battery. With my kill switch off I have let it sit for multiple months and it starts with no issue. I do have a noco battery tender but rarely need to use it. If I am fettling with the car or testing electrical stuff and have a decent power drain I will plug in the tender. So far so good.

What you want is "minicell" foam. It can be bought in sheets and it can be had in virtually any thickness you want. You can also get it with peel and stick adhesive backing. It's what is used to make seat pads for road racing motorcycles, kayaks, etc. I would recommend you go with the non-adhesive version for your race seats. You can cut it and shape it (shape with a Roloc disc or a sheet of sandpaper for more precision) and then install with spray adhesive, or adhesive Velcro. The Velcro allows you can remove it if you like or swap thickness to adjust for different drivers. In the size/quantity needed for seat projects it's best to get it from a direct supplier and skip Ebay/amazon. I am not sure the rules on linking suppliers/vendors on this forum, but if you PM me I can offer you a link.

I kinda liked @Croc with an older car with questionable tires and transmission. That somewhat leveled the playing field. consider this my standing point-by for you on our next outing.

LOL at needing to see to drive fast. Just go full Days of Thunder and WOT into the fog of war.

I’ll pick one to share. When I was going to college, I would drive by a Lotus dealership (Mid Rivers Lotus). It was 2005 and the Elise was new in the US. And they had a ton of them on the lot, in so many bright colors. And twice a day, every day, I got to stare at them on my commute. So, that summer, when I graduated and got a job, I went to the dealer. I was 21 at the time; didn’t expect them to take me seriously. But they did. They were happy to tell me all about the car and let me go for a test drive. I fell in love and bought one. It was my first sports car. I don’t have it anymore, and nothing I’ve had since has been able to properly replace it. But I have high hopes for my upcoming (and first) Seven. Sorry the pic isn’t better. Ubiquitous decent camera phones weren’t a thing in 2005. I think this might be a photo of a photo. Those are my cousins in the pic with me (I’m the taller one 🙂)

I kinda liked @Croc with an older car with questionable tires and transmission. That somewhat leveled the playing field. consider this my standing point-by for you on our next outing.

Small update. Haven’t tried the Hoosiers yet. The r888rs have been on for a couple hundred miles, all street and some fairly aggressive. No signs of contact on the stays. The tire pubes got knocked down a bit (assuming with contact on the stays). But there is still a little pube still there so I assume that’s the clearance that remains. need a track day to test the Hoosiers. Or maybe pick some good roads and do a soft street drive in them.

Now if you ever drive fast one day a few years from now you will discovered that bugs commit hara kiri on visors. Since I like to see, that gunk is brilliant for non smearing buggy shit everywhere.

Normally, I leave the car on a tender if I intend to park it for more than a few days. I accidentally left the key in the ignition and on overnight after moving my 7 around my garage late at night. The previous battery died after one of my kids "helpfully" unplugged the extension cord during the winter and I didn't notice. I've been looking to add a cutoff switch, but had not got around to that yet.

Yes we all studied on that one. Could still get invisible fingerprints on it?

Wow you even have invisible glass cleaner for the invisible windshield.

Only if you let it discharge. As you suggested, a kill switch will eliminate these issues. I always turn my killswitch off and never keep my car on the tender (with antigravity). The restart function hopefully will save my ass if I have a brainfart some day and forget to hit the cutoff switch when I park it up.

@simon450 @yellowss7

Congratulations!!

Someone needs to update their signature

Quick update that my build is complete and I'm now putting those frustrating break-in miles on the car. Blog still needs work to improve referencing and navigation but most of the content from my build is online.

There always seems to be a nearby garbage bin. Lately I find there does not seem be be any fuel left in the nozzle. People have been making sure they get all the fuel they can into their car.

It is evident that this is a VERY common problem. We've all done our best to find ways to keep out of spilled gasoline. So have the people who design filling station pumps. Long ago, the problem was worse - you came away from filling your car with white powder on your hands. The powder was lead.

Hmmmm. Automatic battery chargers require some charge to even work, so keeping a manual charger or a jump-off box around is a good protection. But then, the real question is why is your battery going to zero? It sounds as if your car is using a small current when sitting in the garage. Determine if you have such a drain by running the positive side of the battery through your multimeter set for amperage (sorry if I'm being pedantic here). Wdb shares wisdom in saying that your first defense against such a drain is disconnecting the battery. Another approach is leaving the car on a trickle charger when it is sitting. Actually solving the problem involves finding the drain and stopping it, which is the usual process of tracing backwards until you find something that is "on" when the car is "off." Consider doing that before you ruin another battery. Any of your battery options will work after you stop that leak.

A yoga mat is a lot thinner than a wrestling mat but could be similar material. It's been over 50 years since I've been on one, but IIRC a wrestling mat was over an inch thick where most yoga mats seem to be around 5mm thick.