Al N.

Mike- Welcome to the forum. While I think many of us folks here have a bias toward the last 2 cars on your short list, a few have actually run their LSiS (Lotus Seven inspired Sportscars) alongside Cobras in the Run and Gun competition. They'll find this thread and chime in soon enough, I'm sure. -Al

I was thinking total members and total posts. Seems like the serious traction was over this past summer, but looking back at my "joined" date, I think a few of us may have come over in the winter of last year...from the Se7ens.net list.

You're all bastards... It's warm in our neck as well, but I chickened out yesterday due to the threat of rain which never came. I had the battery charger hooked up over the weekend and everything.

Would be interesting to know the member count and post count for last January 1 (to see what the increases have been in 2006).

John- I used to be like that...working up until the wee hours the night before my flight. My wife now forbids it (puts a lot of stress on her to pack for me and get the kids set up). I've been working and practicing for a concert in church that was just this past Sunday. Starting holiday shopping tomorrow. FWIW, I check in on the forum daily. Mostly on the TotD thread, of course. Hope everyone's season is shaping up nicely enough. -Al

New online (and perhaps offline?) car mag called 0-60 found this AMAZING (IMHO) animated video montage of the late Ayrton Senna — tracing his career from karts to F1 around a "greatest hits" track with a few corners (and one tunnel) that should be familiar to any F1 fan. Al Navarro2007-02-08 14:25:03

FWIW, I went with a Wolo LED unit based on another sevener's recco... http://www.wolo-mfg.com/light.htm Scroll down to LTB-10.

A point of clarification: I got a reply from one registrant who asked what the costs for spouses/significant others would be. My response to him was that you'd have to simply pay another meal package ($40). He also asked about getting a t-shirt for the spouse/significant other to help them feel like they're more part of the event. I'd like to know people's opinions on including a t-shirt for spouse/significant others with the additional meal package — we were trying to keep the prices as low as possible and decided to handle the additional t-shirts a la carte. Please chime in if you have any opinion on this. A second point of clarification: I want to point out that Mazda and I are merely "Acting" President and Treausurer of the USA7s Club. In the paperwork for the incorporation and not-for-profit status, a minimum of 3 officers had to be noted. Jerry E. is the Acting Secretary. Elections will be held sometime in 2007, after the Club membership gets some critical mass. Al Navarro2006-12-12 13:17:36

NOTE: The following email addresses bounced back to me: anthonyseven@mac.com JglenG@jimgunther.com peterhallinor@judgefite.com PLPerryiii@prdigy.net alkitch@microntransformers.com If you are one of these people and would like to keep getting the monthly event updates, please email Mazda E. or I with an updated email address or chime in here. UPDATE: I've gotten corrected email addresses for the first 3. Thanks! Al Navarro2006-12-14 06:14:05

!!!Monthly Organizer Update!!! This email was just sent out to everyone who has signed up via the 7-7-7 registration page. ---------- Dear 7-7-7 Registrant- Al Navarro again. Time, it appears, is one of the only things that flies faster than a Se7en. It seems like just yesterday when the East Coast Skyline group that Mazda brought together was sitting around a table poking around the idea of meeting up again, perhaps with even more Se7eners… at a certain road that traverses the North Carolina-Tennessee border. That was over 6 months ago, and thanks to the efforts and interest of many, our little meet at Tail of the Dragon has grown to what I think will probably be the largest gathering of LSiS vehicles ever in the USA. And now is the time when the rubber truly meets the road. Based on our recon trip to the Dragon, input from folks who have registered, and further discussion among the event organizers, we have established a registration fee for the event of $100/per driver. This fee will be collected via a secure online page that uses the popular and reliable PayPal system. You can pay with a PayPal account or any credit/debit card. The normal (and nominal) PayPal fees will be added to your total. If you would like to avoid these fees or prefer an offline transaction, an address to which you can send a check or money order will be provided. The online order form will be live on or around January 7, 2007 — we’ll send an email announcement. The $100 fee breaks down as shown. Each line item is more fully described below. $40 group meal package $20 Annual USA7s Club membership — includes insurance $20 Regalia (T-shirt and other souvenirs) $20 Route Map/Event Booklet Printing and Misc. On-site costs Group Meals There will be 3 group meals. - Friday casual dinner (Outdoor grill: hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken breast sandwiches, veggie burgers, assorted trimmings, non-alcoholic beverages) - Saturday breakfast buffet - Saturday Night Pig Roast Non-alcoholic beverages will be included in the meal price. Beer and wine will be available for purchase at the dinners. For the sake of convenience, we have built in a gratuity for all meals. The meal package is available separately for additional adults attending with the primary registrant. Because of the relatively small number of children coming, kids’ meals will be handled on an a la carte basis. Additionally, no official group breakfast has been scheduled for Sunday morning, as autocross participants may have to leave fairly early in the morning. Club Membership Building on the momentum of the USA7s.com forum, a fledgling national-level marque-inclusive club has been created. More details on the goals and benefits of this not-for-profit organization will be available in January. The primary benefit of membership as it relates to this event is insurance coverage for the event organizers and attendees. Note that this protection applies to the PNW 2007 Tour organizers and attendees also — if you register for the 7-7-7 event, the membership fee is waived for PNW 2007, and vice versa. Some of the annual membership fees will go toward the hosting costs of the USA7s.com site — which I think has proven to be a valuable resource to all LSiS enthusiasts. Additionally, the costs of incorporation and non-profit status registration for the club have been shared among a core group of founding members and we’re planning to reimburse these guys as dues revenue allows. Again, look for an announcement in January 2007 about this exciting new club for LSiS owners and fans. Regalia Based on replies to our registrant survey, we will have a custom T-shirt printed for all event attendees — with some additional shirts available for purchase or order at the event. A dash plaque or some other keepsake may also be created. Printing and Misc. Costs When Mazda and I were down at TotD, Ron and Nancy Johnson (tailofthedragon.com) pro

Thanks B42! It's pretty amazing to see how this forum has grown over the past year. And even though it's called USA7S, we're getting all international on ourselves. Other newcomers, please chime in. We don't bite. And don't forget to say how you found out about USA7s.com (can you tell I'm in advertising?).

Here's a double Gixxer Tiger Seven...5th Gear TV show clip (via Jalopnik)

I'd seen this before. That vid is one of a few that made me lust after Sevens many moons ago.

Thought it was time to ping this up to the top again. New folks...who are you? What are you driving? How'd you find USA7s?

Those Super7Cars cars... BusaLoco, I was interested in David's cars and did a little DD on importing from Canada. Didn't look especially promising for regular new cars, so I thought it might be near impossible with a BECat. And I know from experience that even my CECat wasn't that easy to get approved in NJ (titling and such). There is a guy in Pittsburgh who has a bike engined car...and another guy I know from the Jalopnik site in Michigan. I think these were both home builts

Jean-Christophe- Bienvenue a USA7s! Do you know the Sevener known as "Richard in France"? His company, Easi Clad, makes all those carbon bits for our cars. Also, what's Norman Verona of the UK blat chat forum like in person? Finalement, how did you find out about the US forum? -Al Navarro

Guy Allen, who pens the felix petrol cartoons for Octane (I think) is pretty good too...and he accepts commissions if anyone is feeling particularly indulgent this holiday season. https://secure.dnsuk.co.uk/~petrol00/prints.php?section=2&page=2

My car is photo-documented pretty well at my personal site: www.gardenstatesevens.org But here's a pic from before I got my hands on it...note aeroscreen, rear exit exhaust, and stock color exhaust guard. Oh hey, for comparison simply look at the second car from the left in the header above. http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061204_140827_Orange_Before.jpgAl Navarro2006-12-04 14:09:09

It doesn't involve a seven...trying to do a kooky viral video for a client, hence the cloak and dagger treatment.

I am looking for a parking lot or other large paved area that is scheduled for repaving in January. Somewhere on the East Coast would be best (South is fine, and probably better due to lack of snow). The repaving part is important, because the video we are planning to shoot there may involve some damage to the surface. -A

Bruce- Thanks for that. I have to say that I really appreciate finding out more about the forum participants and their cars. Still catching up on email and posts after a few days away from the computer. -Al

X-post from General Thread Friends, romans, carntrymen... I'm happy (and frankly shocked!) to report that it seems like we have met our full complement of 77.7 LSiS vehicles for the 7-7-7 Event down at Tail of the Dragon next July. We will start taking names for the waiting list now. Note that the cap on the number of cars is really based on wanting to have an organized fun event and not mass chaos. On another note, we will be announcing the costs of the event (reg. fee) and what will be included for the reg. fee somewhere around Dec. 7, in our monthly organizer updates. X-post from Events Thread

Friends, romans, carntrymen... I'm happy (and frankly shocked!) to report that it seems like we have met our full complement of 77.7 LSiS vehicles for the 7-7-7 Event down at Tail of the Dragon next July. We will start taking names for the waiting list now. Note that the cap on the number of cars is really based on wanting to have an organized fun event and not mass chaos. On another note, we will be announcing the costs of the event (reg. fee) and what will be included for the reg. fee somewhere around Dec. 7, in our monthly organizer updates. X-post from Events Thread.

And more importantly...in NC by 7-7-7! Best of luck with the car Skip.

NOW JUST ONE SLOT LEFT!!! Wow, I just saw that there are 78 people signed up as of this PM. Less Tony V's Elise, that's 77 LSiS cars. Throw in a point-seven (0.7) that gets rounded up (or covers a semi-complete car) http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif As I mentioned on a recent post to the usa@se7ens.net list, we'll be keeping a standby list from car 80 on up. Before the end of 2006, we'll announce the reg. fee (will cover meals, insurance, some printing costs of maps, etc.) and start taking deposits, with a hard deadline sometime in the Spring, to give us time to offer any unclaimed/unpaid slots to people on the standby list. Thanks again all for your interest and support.