JohnCh

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

John, thanks for introducing yourself here and bringing this thread back to life. I’ve made it a sticky, so hopefully now it will be a little easier for new folks to find Se7ens may not possess conventional beautiful, but there aren’t many cars that look better from behind the wheel. http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drive.gif(Gert, thanks for the new smiley!) -John

Kind of interesting that those show the three different nose options as well. The blue car has the FW one-piece nose/bonnet, the orange car has the ducted nose, and the yellow has the traditional, non-ducted nose. -John

That's my preference as well when touring. Besides, the money saved will just cover the cost of a ticket to Pebble Beach - $150 in advance/$175 on day of the show -John

Been a little hectic at work the last month, so I haven’t had much time to investigate hotels until now. I tried to keep us within 45 minutes of the track, so it is an easy daily drive, and limited my searches to hotels under $150/night. Prices in that area go a little nuts that weekend, so not a lot showed up. Here is what I found grouped by location. Gilroy –About 40-45 minutes from the track. The Super 8 is just $62/night and has decent reviews. There are also a couple of other hotels (Best Western & Hilton Garden Inn) in the $110-$120/night range that sound okay. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to connect with these to confirm availability beyond a couple of rooms. Hollister – Same distance as Gilroy. The CCC folks stayed at the Weibe Motel last year, it sounds like it was okay and the price is downright cheap at ~$60/night. The Best Western down the road sounds a little nicer, but is double the price. Both have plenty of rooms at this point. Watsonville – It’s about 30 minutes from the track, but I only found one hotel under my price threshold. They want ~$87/night on Thursday and Sunday, but jump to $160/night for Friday and Saturday, so the average is about $125 for those staying for 4 nights. Reviews are poor. Salinas – Less than 15 minutes from the track and priced accordingly. Although I found one hotel that was reasonable ($125/night on Friday and Saturday, $70 for Thursday and Sunday) it is right next to the railroad tracks, and had pretty mixed reviews. The Best Western in that town jumps from $90 for a weeknight to $229 on the weekend. $229/night for a Best Western . I also tried a number of other communities in the area, but struck out with availability or price. Tickets The Golden Gate Lotus Club told me that all se7en makes are welcome at their coral. Tickets for the three days (8/13-15) plus a coral pass are $126. That’s only $6 more than a three day pass from the official event site without parking. The only potential downside to purchasing from GGLC is timing. We need to order the tickets prior to 5/25, but they won’t arrive until approximately 1 week before the event. Anyone on the road for more than a week prior to the races (i.e. Alaskossie) may want to have their tickets sent to someone else. BTW the official race site states that they run from the 12th-15th, yet the ticketed dates are the 13th-15th. Although I haven’t found a schedule that explains what happens on the 12th, my guess is that it’s a low key arrival day. Schedule As you can see from the list below, there is a lot happening that week. Not sure when people want to arrive, but I will probably time it so I arrive at the hotel on the afternoon of the 12th. 8/10 - 4th Annual Carmel by-the-Sea Concours d'Elegance. http://www.motorclubevents.com 8/10-11 Automobilia Monterey http://www.automobiliamonterey.com 8/12-15 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion http://www.mazdaraceway.com/pages/2010_Rolex_Monterey_Motorsports_Reunion 8/13-14 - RM Auctions Sports & Classics of Monterey http://www.rmauctions.com 8/13 Concorso Italiano http://www.concorso.com 8/13 - The Quail-A Motorsports Gathering http://www.quaillodge.com 8/13-14 - Mecum Auctions' "Mecum at Monterey http://www.mecum.com 8/14-15 - Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach Auctions http://www.goodingco.com 8/15 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance http://www.pebblebeachconcours.net So what do people think? Any feedback on Gilroy vs. Hollister? -John

Pi7ot, sounds like you may have a modified gearbox. The standard units have a single drain/fill plug on the driver’s side located about 3” up from the bottom and a similar amount from the front of the case. Some folks modify the case with a drain plug on the bottom, or add one to the removable top plate to make life easier. BGH recommends a semi-synthetic 75W90 GL4 (NOT a GL4/5 blend), which I’ve never been able to find in the States. Instead I use Redline MT-90 (MTL is also a GL4, but slightly thinner 70W80). Interestingly, BGH strongly recommends against using Redline, as they claim to have seen rapid wear in boxes using it. From my conversations with them, it's not clear if there is evidence to support this, or if they've just seen a couple of bad boxes that happen to run Redline, so are now leary of the brand. I’ve run Redline gearbox oil in my cars for about the last 15 years with no problems, so I’ve opted to stick with it here. -John

Looks like Westfield showed the near production version at Geneva this week. It certainly is…different. http://www.blogcdn.com/green.autoblog.com/media/2010/03/westfield-iracer-geneva-630.jpg -John

Nice car! The R300 should be the S3 by default, with the SV as an option. I have a BGH long 1st gear HD transmission coupled to a 3.62 rear end. The stock 1st gear in a Type-9 is absolutely useless and results in a pretty big gap between 1st and 2nd. BGH also does some very nice close ratio boxes that tighten the gaps between the other gears, but they are optimized for the 3.92 rear end, so something to keep in mind. BGH is great to deal with, but shipping costs from the UK are insane. Not sure if there are now better options for those of us on this side of the pond. -John

Thanks for the responses thus far. Does anyone know of other hotels in the outlying areas that we should consider? Stan, not sure what you mean by that. I’ve already put you on the definite list -John

Welcome Chaits! What are the specs of your new build? -John

I just posted about a potential USA7s meet at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (nee Monterey Historic Automobile Races) in the Pacific section. Cross posting here to give it a little visibility for those of you in other parts of the country. You don’t need to bring your se7en to have a great time -John

Anyone up for a USA7s meet at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (nee Monterey Historic Automobile Races) in August? As Alaskossie mentioned in this post, he is driving his Caterham from Denver to Anchorage via Los Angeles this summer. Although the itinerary isn’t yet locked for that adventure, one thing is certain: it will stop in Monterey from 8/12-8/15 for the big weekend. If you’ve never done this event before, it is a sensory overload for the car enthusiast. In addition to the races which feature amazing cars with big name drivers on a beautiful track, there are a number of other events happening over that 4-day weekend, including Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Quail Motorsports Gathering, Concorso Italiano, and various auctions. You don’t need to bring your se7en to attend, but if you do bring it, think about joining us for part of the route as well. Perhaps a few days before/after Monterey? Finding a hotel room at this stage in Monterey is already a little difficult (not to mention expensive), so locating one that has multiple rooms available is a non-starter. Consequently, we are thinking of looking for a place in an outlying area, and then making a 25-40 mile drive each day to the events. At this point, we’d like to see a show of hands to get a sense for the number of rooms needed so we can scout hotel possibilities. Who’s in? -John

Wow, that does look great! The skill level of people on this forum never ceases to amaze me. -John

I feel like this is some kind of warped IQ test. Our sensors are laid out in an oval pattern... -John

I agree with Tom. I’ve heard from Ammo (Raceco) that the stock pistons and rods in the 2.0L are only safe to 7500rpm. The R500 makes peak power at 8500rpm. Also, the 10.8:1 pistons in the Euro 2.0L must be pocketed to run cams big enough to produce over 230hp. The US 2.0L from the Focus has a 10:1 compression ratio, so although they may not require pocketing for the 230hp range, I doubt they have sufficient clearance for the lift required to reach 263hp. Anyone know the compression ratio Caterham uses in the UK R500? I seem to recall that it is ~12:1, but I can’t find confirmation online. -John

Thanks Gert, interesting article. Sounds like my best option is to upgrade to 19" wheels -J0hn

Gee Skip, I don't know. How many can I get for just three easy payments of $20/mo? Gert, thanks for the insight. It seems a little odd to me too, but these things are over my head. I'll do some research on motorcycle forums to see if I can locate any user reviews. -John

Thanks Martin. Skip, if I attach the magnet to my oil filter which is located really low in the chassis, will it solve the traffic light issue and make my engine last forever? -John

No, it's IRS. -John