sporqster

Hey! Isn't that Gene Young's old car?!? I drove that car once! I can vouch for it - BLAST to drive.... (not all that CF is legit though ;-))

I had to add a 'helper' hoop to pass... I'd like to put in a taller FIA style bar in the near future, but this got me past the tech inspector for the CERPCA track day. http://www.cerpca.net/DEPICS/Picture013.jpg

There's a guy here in Savannah who painted is integra with black chalkboard paint... and leaves a cup with several different color sticks of chalk sitting on top of his car everywhere he goes. Unique graphics that change every time it rains... Oh the fun of living in an artsy fartsy town. I like the flat black tho - chalk or no chalk.

My Locost has a 'hand written' policy with Allstate, which is where I have all my other cars & house. (All the Floridians gasp). Knock on wood, I've had no problem with them... but I've been lucky enough to not have to file a significant claim. Liability and Collision w/ $500 deductible and $10,000 agreed value for under $500/yr. (I'd be ticked to have to take a $10k check in exchange for Odie, but that is all the 'cash' I have tied up in her.)

Had a great time at the PCA DE this weekend. The wife took a lot of pictures, they're here. There was one tragic fatality at the event. I really shouldn't joke about it, but I will anyway. Carrie just kept taking picture after picture without noticing the corpse on the edge of the track. http://www.cerpca.net/DEPICS/Picture017.jpg This one is my favorite. Caption should read "Apex on turn 3 should occur just before the dead kitten"... :leaving: Or perhaps this one: http://www.cerpca.net/DEPICS/Picture018.jpg

hmm... maybe if I shipped it to Mexico, I could put the plates and 'assigned' VIN from my locost on it and drive it back through the desert.... Somehow I'm thinking the 7-month pregnant wife isn't going to go for that adventure.

I feel your pain, Maz. I'm working on a reupholstery project for the wife's project 'budget Porsche' (is there such a thing?) and stapled the leather for the bolsters on the rear jumper seats through the 1/2" thick piece of wood with a 5/8" staple... and into my 3/8" thick thumb....:cry:

Hmm - interesting set up! I think the issue (at least for me) was not an issue of the timing or accuracy of the spark coming out of the TEC once it started actually working (which is probably way overkill on the accuracy side), but rather the motor would turn over and over and the TEC wouldn't recognize that anything was happening. The trigger wheel is really finicky, and really suceptible to interference from electrically noisy alternators and such too. I should note that the project I used the TEC on was my first project like that and I didn't entirely know what I was doing (not that I really do now either) so maybe my inexperience at the time contributed to my trouble.

Coming into this thread late, but I'll throw in my .02 anyway - Used TECII - what a PITA that was - a lot of issues getting it to recognize the crank trigger. Used the SDS (which I have on my 7 currently) and like it much better. It is not as fancy, but, as the name "simple digital systems" implies - way easier to use. My current fav computer (and ironically cheapest), though is on my wife's 911- MEGASQUIRT. I don't have the ignition module for it, but if it anything like as cool as the fuel, it is one of the most rewarding electro-mechanical projects I've ever taken on - and there is a HUGE support network on the internet to help you through it.

You're probably right. The current crop of sportscars are pretty nice too, but I still like my homemade one better ;-) this design isn't really autonomous- it's telepresence controlled from an internet connected PC. - but cheaper than most of the autonomous ones - I'm looking at about a $500 budget for the whole thing.

http://www.cerpca.net/lazylawn.JPG Think of it as a locost "mowbot" using some surplus gearmotors and DC motors/generators... I need some help on the electrical side of the design, though. Anyone on here know how to design a circuit to regulate a 36V motor being used as a generator to charge 3 12V batteries and drive the 36V gearmotors, and the 5V camera? looking at about 15A at 36V per motor. (yeah, I know that's kinda a lot, but I want it to be able to crawl in and out of the ditch!)

Toyota 4AG-E w/ 5speed, 28mpg cruising at ~60. At Roebling Road, it gets...8. Yes just 8. Typically around town I'm getting around 22mpg.

As if a 7 doesn't attract enough attention already, try cruising to lunch wearing a white club racing helmet with an "M" on the front of it. Kids everywhere point and wave. People roll down their windows to yell Go Speed Go! Wow what a little hype will do! now I'm inspired to build a Mach 5 - like this one: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=6466 Is that for REAL?!?!? 1700 HP?!? Man, the Mach 5 makes even Mazda's car seem downright pedestrian.

The wife was teasing me that I had a complete Speed Racer costume in my wardrobe without shopping - white pants, blue polo with the white collar, club helmet - dared me to wear it all day today. I can't pass up a dare like that. GO SPEED GO!!!!

I use an SDS system on mine. Very pleased with it.

I never registered it, but I think N3A3S isn't taken in GA, prolly not in other states either... particularly apropriate for a seven that has spent any time resting on the roll bar!

I've got "LOTUS 7" in GA. "SEVEN" and "SE7EN" Were taken.

Very authentic replica too, right Maz?

for my Locost: "well, sorta, 'cept without the kit."

fill your tubes with sand to prevent them from caving at the bends. I've got a similar one from Harbor Freight - but it doesn't have those handy feet to set it sideways!

Understood - I was just trying to figure out a way to keep the Porsche, a 79 911 Targa - it's my wife's car, and something of a shared toy for us... but the big plastic car seats don't exactly fit in the back on the flip-up seats, so I started looking for something legal and safe (well, as safe as a 30 year old Porsche can be) that would fit, and I got to thinking - how different is the function of an aluminum racing seat with 5-point (or 6-point) harness from that of a child safety seat? If the seat fits properly and the belts hold in the right places... which got me to thinking, if I had a little kirkey in the back of the Porsche, why not in the 7? why not in the Subaru? OK, it would look pretty dumb in the bone stock Jetta. The only thing I can see that the plastic seats have going for them is that they are going to absorb some g's of an impact through the deformation of the plastic, whereas a racing seat stays more or less rigidly affixed to the bodywork throughout the impact, transferring more g-forces to the occupant. I'll check out that Simpson site - thanks Southwind.

www.cerpca.net/MILES1.JPG That's right folks, in 6 months I'm going to be a DAD (first time for me!) So I've been thinking about car seats. The conventional wisdom is to buy some big bulky plastic injection molded thing that sits on top of a typical sedan or minivan seat with a seatbelt stuck through it. I am not convinced that this is safer or even AS SAFE as a properly sized Kirkey racing seat bolted to a 1/8" steel plate welded to the floor pan + 5 point harness. And the Kirkey is WAY cooler than anything manufactured by Cosco. They make Kirkeys all the way down to 10 inches wide - I'm thinking that would be uber cool in the Subaru or back of the Porsche.... and I'm thinking I could install a little one in the Seven when they're 18 mos or so - at least old enough to face forwards. http://www.madisonmotorsport.net/kirkey-child-seat.html The 7 does tend to kick up rocks - I wonder how small they make helmets with a face shield...

That was mostly the point of my experiment - the A3's were several seasons old and probably heat cycled out already, but still grippier dry than a typical street tire (so I seem to think - tell me I'm wrong)... and for $25 each (from the GrassRootsMotorsports classifieds) I figured what the heck... I could NEVER get any heat in the fronts - running 225 45 15's even after a 20-minute lapping session at Roebling they were not demonstrably warmer than they were just sitting in the sun. I could get some heat in the rear... but that might have been because they were rubbing the suspension a little :nonod: or the punishment I was giving the rears with my right foot using my 1.6 litres of naturally aspirated fury. Having said that, I don't do much heavy braking at Roebling- car hardly has enough power to need to brake much on that track. Esp when there's a bunch of old rich guys in the way putsing around in their Porsches ;-) So the fronts weren't seeing much punishment.

Bought Odie last July with just under 5k on the odo, now just over 6k. Driving her to work at least twice a week right through the 'winter' here- in fact drove her to work today! I was driving around town on Hoosier A3S04's as an experiment (40 tread wear) - put several hundred miles on them with almost no measurable wear! Those tires might be a little too sticky- until I put wider front fenders on they would routinely pelt me in the head with rocks. (ow!) Oh - and the Hoosiers are worthless in the wet, not so good in the cold, and (as I must imbarassingly admit) give you very little warning before they give up on grip and send you into a ditch (which has to have been the most spectacular wreck in a 7 to have ever been repaired for a grand total of $6. But that's another story) I now cruise around town on Yokohama Advans, 90 treadwear, I think. Good tire - and were the orignal for the build, so they've got 5k+ miles on them still perform and look pretty good.

From how I read this thread: at LocostUSA this bill just clears up a contradiction in the existing law and officially legalizes kit cars... I'm still confused as to if I'm supposed to tell my rep to be for this or against this?!? For it, right?