JohnCh

Shamelessly stolen from another forum: A gynecologist had become fed up with malpractice insurance and HMO paperwork, and was burned out. Hoping to try another career where skillful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic. He went to the local technical college, signed up for evening classes, attended diligently, and learned all he could. When the time of the practical exam approached, the gynecologist prepared carefully for weeks, and completed the exam with tremendous skill. When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%. Fearing an error, he called the Instructor, saying, "I don't want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade?" The instructor said, "During the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark. You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark." After a pause, the instructor added, "I gave you an extra 50% because you did it all through the muffler, which I've never seen done in my entire career."

The big surprise for me is how quiet they kept this until the announcement. Never heard a hint about this on any of the F1 sites. As for who will go, count me in! Austin is a great city with cheap flights from Seattle. Color me a bit skeptical though that they can build a world class facility from scratch in just 2 years. Given that they didn’t show a sketch of the new track as part of the press announcement leads me to believe they don’t even have the design yet. -John

The 25th is Tuesday (tomorrow) not Wednesday -John

Great news Tom! I was about to ask if you are also staying at the Wiebe but then I remembered my geography ;-) -John

Just a reminder that the deadline to pre-purchase your tickets and corral pass for Monterey through GGLC, is next Tuesday the 25th. Also, will those who are planning to attend please PM me and let me know the following: A) Are you a local to the event or will you be staying at a hotel? If a hotel, are you staying at the Wiebe? B) Will you be bringing your se7en? If yes, what make/engine? C) Are you interested in joining the tour after the race weekend is over? If yes, for how many days? Hudson, Alaskossie, Slomove, & RNR, I already have your details, so no need for the PM. Thanks, John

USPS Priority Mail flat rate envelope is only $5 and adding a tracking number is only another $1, so that might be the best option. You can even do this online and have USPS send the prepaid envelopes to your door, so there isn’t even a reason to make a trip to the Post Office. I know I’d be more than happy to pay the extra to ensure the tickets arrive on time. Would GGLC be willing to do this? RNR, lunch would be fun, but I prefer to have the tickets before I leave rather than pick them up on the drive down. I'd like to keep my route and schedule as flexible as possible. Thanks, John

Sounds like we should have a decent turnout for Monterey! Ed, if the seven isn’t ready, I expect to see the Mini I’m having my tickets/corral pass sent to my house (Seattle area) and I’m hoping they show up before I take off on the 10th or 11th. Kiyoshi, any advice here? Should they make it by then, or do I need to make other arrangements? -John

It's SR-129. Drop me a PM if you want to scout some other routes for us, er...I mean if you want some other recommendations -John

Gert, did you get this straightened out? The process worked flawlessly for me a few weeks ago. BTW for those of you considering joining the driving portion after Monterey, here is a picture of a road in Eastern WA we are considering for the route http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Washington_State_Route_129.jpg -John

Check out Protex. Lots of options and good quality. -John

Wow, I never thought you would actually buy my logic. Perhaps I should try the same approach with Al? Gert, do you think you can convince any of the other CCC folks to attend? -John

Is that Estoril blue? -John

Take the redeye to San Jose Thursday night. Meet us at the track on Friday morning, and then fly back Monday. Only 2 days away from work. -John

How about joining Alaskossie’s drive home? Folks in the Western states can join on the legs leading to or from Monterey, and those in the East can fly out for a 3-day weekend of automotive nirvana: Monterey Historics, Pebble Beach Concourse, Concorso Italiano… -John

Fiat recently confirmed that Alfa is returning in 2012, so it is looking good. Not sure about the plan to build SUVs though -John

On the way back from USA2005, we stopped at a drive through coffee shop and fielded an interesting question from the barista. The car was filthy, loaded down with gear for a two week trip, and most of left rear wing was torn off after an incident earlier in the day with a tire carcass -- remains of which were still visible on the tub. She looked down at the car, scanned it from front to back and then asked “did you buy that at the swap meet this morning?" http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/rearwing.jpg -John

Bruce, the 8C was brought in and sold through Maserati dealers. Cars are fully certified and perfectly legal. Great pics Croc, thanks for posting! -John

Why does the phrase "If pimps drove Sevens..." pop in my head when I look at this picture? http://photos.evo.co.uk/images/front_picture_library_UK/dir_733/car_photo_366994_25.jpg -John

Not sure I'll soon forget the sight of the engine on the hoist with 8 head studs facing up and 2 facing down. Oh well, at least we've learned that Carillo builds a really tough rod! -John

This weekend I made my reservation at the Wiebe Motel for the 12th - 15th, and purchased my tickets and corral pass through GGLC. I was told that motel cancellations can be made up to one week ahead with no penalty, so if you are considering attending Monterey with the group, then I suggest you make your reservation now. It will probably be easier to cancel a room in July than to find one that late in the game I'm still trying to decide if I also want to do Pebble Beach and/or Concorso Italiano, but my race reservations are locked! -John

Stan, hate to hear you will be se7en-less, and at that price, I'm sure it will happen soon. Still hope to see you at Monterey in August! -John

Not se7en-related, but I thought some of you might be interested in how I spent my Saturday. A few of us got together to help a friend pull the blown engine from his Porsche 944 S2 dedicated track car. The engine was (operative word here) a heavily modified 968 unit that suffered catastrophic failure at 6000rpm on a thankfully slow part of the track. As we removed various pieces to aid removal from the engine bay, the true extent of the damage began to make itself known. The Carillo rod in #4 had literally sawed the block and wet sleeve in two! In fact with the head and remains of the sump removed, the two pieces of the block rotated in different directions around the crank! The damage was so extensive that even the custom header was beaten into oblivion by the rod and shrapnel. A closer look showed the big end of the rod was fine, with no damage to the bearing, but the lower half of the J&E piston was missing and the small end of the rod was beaten flat and bent like a pretzel. Best guess at this stage is piston failure. Apart from two slightly bent valves, the head appears okay and the lightened, knife-edge crank is spinning freely, so there is hope there as well. The rod, piston, block, sump, header, and oil filler/breather assembly though are kaput. http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/968-1.jpg http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/968-3.jpg http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/968-4.jpg http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/968-5.jpg -John

If anyone needs another reason to join the group in Monterey for the history races, here you go: The organizers have announced that they will celebrate the 60 years of F1! 38 F1 cars are scheduled to take part, including Jim Clark's Lotus 49, Mario Andretti's Lotus 77, various Ferraris, and even the Tyrrell 6-wheeler. More details here. Over the next week I plan to place my ticket/Corral pass order with GGLC and make a reservation at the Wiebe hotel. Who’s with me? -John

Although I'm not a big fan of the aesthetics, it's still a Lotus and still a Seven. I’m sure it’s drop-dead gorgeous from behind the wheel when blasting down a winding road, and that's pretty much all that matters -John

I know of two in the Seattle area, one of which is the car that was damaged and rebuilt. -John