JohnCh

It's actually a Seattle company. I saw a couple of these in the flesh a few years ago at the local All British Field Meet. They were very well put together and looked like a lot of fun. http://libertyace.com/ -John

Good to know I may finally get to see that beast in person -John

Thanks Sean, I've updated my earlier post. Skip, are you thinking about driving the Caterham to Monterey, or are you planning to fly out? -John

Here is a list of events during Monterey week in case anyone needs further tempting: Tuesday (8/14) Automobilia Monterey - day 1 Carmel Concours on the Avenue Wednesday (8/15) Automobilia Monterey - day 2 Thursday (8/16) Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance Mecum Auction - day 1 Friday (8/17) The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering Concorso Italiano Legends of the Autobahn Pebble Beach Retro Auto - day 1 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion - day 1 RM Auction - day 1 Gooding & Co Auction - day 1 Mecum Auction - day 2 Saturday (8/18) Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion - day 2 Pebble Beach Retro Auto - day 2 RM Auction - day 2 Gooding & Co Auction - day 2 Mecum Auction - day 3 Sunday (8/19) Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion - day 3 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegence Pebble Beach Retro Auto - day 3 -John

Giving this a bump since we are entering the window when you really need to start thinking about hotel reservations for the Monterey portion of the tour. In case anyone needs a little convincing, here are a few pictures from the last trip. http://john15.web.officelive.com/images/052%20-%20Copy.JPG http://john15.web.officelive.com/images/010.JPG http://john15.web.officelive.com/images/003%20(3).JPG http://john15.web.officelive.com/images/road.jpg -John

Is the rim size a typo? Might help if you also indicate the tire size since that will have the biggest impact on the ride height. -John

My crossflow experience was similar to Kitcat's. The DCOEs were set & forget, and the only failures I had were the Lucas starter (replaced with a lighter, modern, gear reduction item) and the bakelite alternator pulley which exploded one day and took the H2O pump belt with it. No damage from the resulting overheat situation, and a replacement alternator with a metal pulley ensured a repeat wouldn't occur. As for not needing over 140hp, I'd argue that no one likely needs over half that figure. But wanting and enjoying over 140hp? Absolutely! -John

Follow the directions below to sign up for a one year membership: Click on "UserCP" at the top left of the page to access your control panel Scroll down to the bottom of the left hand navigation and click on "Paid Subscriptions". Open the drop down box under "Cost" on the right side of the page, select "US$20.00" and then click the "Order" button. On the next page click the "order using PayPal" button and follow PayPal's instructions from there. Thanks for supporting the club! -John

Thought I would revisit this thread since I bought the Westfield an EVO2 for Christmas. Before dealing with a permanent install (I plan to change the location so there is some work involved), I wanted to test it's starting power in cold weather to make sure it would meet my needs. It was in the mid 30's when I got home this afternoon, so I temporarily hooked up the battery, rolled the car out of a relatively warm 55F garage, and let it sit in the driveway for over 2-1/2 hours to get properly cold. When I checked back, air temperature had fallen to 31F and according to an infrared thermometer, the battery was also 31F while the engine block had cooled down to slightly warmer, but still chilly 37F. The car started right up. I immediately turned it off, and then repeated that process two more times. So three back-to-back starts with an engine temp in the mid 30's and air and battery temps in the low 30's without any issues. Not bad for a battery that weighs in at 3lb 4.5oz BTW Amazon has it for only $235 including 2-day shipping. -John

The Westfield is closer in size to the Caterham SV and has considerably more shoulder and footbox room than the Birkins or standard Caterhams. Lots of engine options including Duratec, Hyabusa the even the Miata drivetrain (ask Scannon how well an FM turbo Miata works in a 7 ). I think whatever you end up with will become a good disruption in your life. 10 years in, and I still find my mind wandering during boring meetings to daydreams of blasting down winding back roads. -John

You might want to also consider joining us in Monterey in August, and definitely bring it out for Exotics at Redmond Town Center when that season kicks off. -John

I believe Catslidefarm and Pinballking2 both have pre-lits, but not sure they visit the forum very often. Might be worth a PM to each. As Stig points out, WSCC is your best bet. Very friendly group. -John

Just confirmed that what I wrote above is correct. vBulletin states the following about Active Member "If a user has visited the board within the past number of days you specify, they are considered 'active'." The default setting is 30 days. It's an interesting stat to advertisers as it shows the number of unique registered users who viewed the forum in the past month. Whether or not those users took time to participate in a thread is of less interest to them. If folks want to continue this conversation, I suggest starting a new thread, as we have seriously drifted off topic -John

Based on my (limited) experience in other parts of the web industry, it's usually the number of users who have logged on at least once in the trailing 30 days. Not sure if the v-bulletin default is different, but I'm sure there others here who know far more about this who can chime in. -John

Rikker's writing style seemed very familiar, so on a hunch I compared his IP address to the IP of an infamous banned member who kept resurfacing under new user names. It appears he is either back or there is something in the water in their neighborhood. BTW if you look at various automotive Internet forums that publicly report the data, you'll discover our ratio of active to total members is actually pretty good. We're at 12%, which is the same as Miata.Net, and higher than VW Vortex (7%), California Caterham Club (8%), and Autopia (2%). North America Subaru Impreza Owners Club and Garage Journal are both higher at 17% and 16% respectively, but based on the numbers, Rikker's reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. -John

I don't have anything helpful to add, but I do want to say that I admire your priorities -John

There are a few of us in the Seattle area, but I think Supersportsp and I are the only ones who frequent the forum. I'm looking forward to seeing the car in the flesh at some point. -John

Congratulations and welcome! Are you doing the build yourself? If so, make sure to post photos along the way. People here love photos -John

Tom, I anticipated your question, and asked ahead, but have bad news. Unfortunately the hospital stated that after defying the ER doctor's orders and driving your 7 to the hotel rather than taking a cab, you are persona non grata at their facility. I was also told that the donuts you performed in their parking lot before heading out -- although deeply impressive -- didn't help the situation -John

A lot more happening this weekend though. In addition to the races, there's: Pebble Beach Concours The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering Concorso Italiano Legends of the Autobahn Automobilia Monterey ~5 major auctions And I'm sure I'm missing a few other events. It's car overload! -John

Next summer Hudson and I are planning to rerun the 2010 Monterey tour we did with Alaskossie. Anyone else interested in joining up for all/part of the tour or just getting together for the Motorsports Reunion weekend 8/17-8/19? Now I know it’s a little early to talk about se7en plans for August, but securing a room in the area that weekend can be a challenge, so I’m putting this out there now to give people time to consider their options. Last year the group stayed at the Wiebe Motel in Hollister which was inexpensive, clean, and safe for the cars. Unfortunately it was also ~40 miles from Monterey, so with race traffic it took up to 2 hours to get home each day. This year, Hudson and I are planning to suck it up and pay exorbitant rates to stay in Monterey. Although it will be nice to park the cars for the night, then walk downtown for food and the auction scene, it comes at a price. Rooms effectively start at $300/night for the weekend (this is for hotels that are normally $80-$100/night). Even the really cheap places with bad reviews are closer to $250, so still stupidly expensive, and to make matters worse, many hotels are already sold out. My thinking is that folks can find their own accommodations in the area, but we’ll stick to the motels on route for the tour portion. Click the links below for the daily route from last year. A couple of notes: The actual directions were done in Streets & Trips, so the links below may differ slightly from the actual route. The route ends in Winthrop, but the last day is heading west on the North Cascades Highway, which is pretty stunning and filled with high speed corners. It’s about 4 hours from there to the Greater Seattle area. Hollister to Gualala Gualala to Willow Creek Willow Creek to Crescent, OR Crescent, OR to Morton, WA Morton to Winthrop -John

Is this the one? http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc447/pinballking2/DSCN3230.jpg http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc447/pinballking2/DSCN3094.jpg -John

Actually Lotus developed active noise control years ago, but the original concept was (no surprise) about saving weight since theoretically you could jettison the sound deadening material. I wonder if Audi, or their OEM supplier for the audio system, is licensing that technology or if it's their version of the concept? -John

It would be hard for me to part with the only fiberglass bodied, wide cockpit, IRS Birkin on the planet, but I'll consider it -John

Those videos should sell a few Megabusas -- I know I want one now -John