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http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/slngsht/2006-05-10_180655_keyless.jpg smileys/smiley4.gif[/img] </p>

Al, I just did this via Streets & Trips (with dislike to interstates and toll roads), and this is what it returned. I've been on most of those roads, and for most part (with possible exception of parts of 30 and 15), they're divided highways. Let me know what you think: Time Mile &nbs p; Instruction For &n bsp; Toward Summary: 226.7 miles (4 hours, 30 minutes) 9:00 AM 0.0 & nbsp;Depart Reading on US-222 Bus [N 5th St] (South) 0.1 mi 9:00 AM 0.1 & nbsp;Keep STRAIGHT onto US-222 Bus [s 5th St] 0.4 mi 9:00 AM 0.5 & nbsp;Turn RIGHT (West) onto Pine St 174 yds 9:01 AM 0.6 & nbsp;Turn LEFT (South) onto S 4th St 164 yds 9:02 AM 0.7 & nbsp;Turn RIGHT (West) onto US-222 Bus [bingaman St] 3.2 mi 9:06 AM 3.9 & nbsp;Road name changes to US-222 [sR-724] 5.4 mi 9:13 AM 9.3 & nbsp;Keep RIGHT onto SR-272 [Reading Rd] 16.6 mi 9:35 AM 25.9 Take Ramp (LEFT) onto US-222 2.7 mi US-222 9:38 AM 28.6 Keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.5 mi US-30 / US-222 / Lancaster / York 9:39 AM 29.1 Road name changes to US-222 [uS-30] 0.3 mi 9:39 AM 29.3 Road name changes to US-30 [Lincoln Hwy] 29.9 mi 10:11 AM 59.2 Keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.3 mi US-30 / Gettysburg 10:12 AM 59.5 Road name changes to US-30 [sR-462] 14.7 mi 10:41 AM 74.2 At roundabout, take the SECOND exit onto US-30 [Lincoln Hwy] 7.7 mi 10:51 AM 81.9 Take Ramp (RIGHT) onto US-15 37.5 mi US-15 / Frederick 11:03 AM 93.7 Entering Maryland &nbs p; 11:29 AM 119.4 &nbsp ; Keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.1 mi US-15 / US-340 / Leesburg / Charles Town 11:29 AM 119.5 &nbsp ; Keep RIGHT to stay on Ramp 0.4 mi US-15 / US-340 11:30 AM 119.9 &nbsp ; Take Ramp (LEFT) onto US-15 [uS-340] 4.3 mi US-15 / US-340 11:33 AM 124.2 &nbsp ; Keep LEFT onto Ramp 0.6 mi &

Al, I can see if I can get some routes from the NJ/PA corvette folks who make the trip down - although, they're likely to take the highway down. I know what you mean about getting beat up on the highway. I don't even have doors, and I did 600 miles a few weeks ago. That's about as long as I can drive in 2 days.

Snoopy cracks me up. Thanks for the pics. Also, do you have any problems with fuel leaking out of your gas cap during hard cornering?

I don't even have doors yet - working on that. Did the back panel make a huge difference? --nevermind, just re-read your first post.slngsht38844.9287962963

> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8898957438788383975 &q=caterham This guy's shifts are very impressive. There is no way I can shift the T56 tranny that quickly. Oh, and the vid looks like fun too.

saw a thread on a spray-on bra in the corvette forum. Sounds like neat stuff to protect the paint. Duplicolor and Griot make these sprays. Has anyone here tried them? The duplicolor one comes in clear and black. It is on this hotrod: link to the thread: >http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1377203 My car has crappy paint, so this doesn't apply to me.

Thanks for the update... added your note to the tech section in this thread. >http://www.usa7s.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=41&PN=1

tail light assemblies can be purchased here... >http://www.man-a-fre.com/pa/taillights.htm

Cool! Let me know how it turns out dealing with them. Since alot of these parts are no longer available from Toyota, let me know, and i'll post the link in the Tech section under the Rotus parts list post, so we can build a library of misc. parts suppliers.

based on the parts list, the part numbers are 81550-60190 and 81550-60110 I googled it, and this came up: >http://www.man-a-fre.com/pa/taillights.htm Looks like the part you're looking for is in the picture on that page. You might want to give them a call. http://www.man-a-fre.com/pa/pictures/taillamps.jpg Cheers.

Mine are soft plastic as well.

That's quite a mess. Mine look fine. Were your spacers hard plastic or soft plastic? Any idea why they melted? That must've been some burnout you did to create that much heat smileys/smiley4.gif[/img] </p>

Also, the tentative itenerary is as follows: Meeting point #1 - Bethesda - Sutton Place Gourmet (can't remember the new name) at the corner of Democracy and Old Georgetown. Leave at 7:30 AM Then take 495 to 66 W to 50 W. Meeting point #2 - Rt 50 right after Rt 66... Target parking lot. Leave 8:15 Take Rt. 50 up to Whitepost (will have detailed directions) Arrive at Whitepost around 9:45 Leave Whitepost at 10:30, Enter Skyline at 10:45 We will make several stops along skyline drive (and take some group pics, etc...), arriving at Big Meadow for lunch around 1 PM. My suggestion is we plan on bringing our own food. Resturaunt can get quite busy. There is Gas there as well. We can head further south from Big Meadow, starting around 2 PM, for one hour, and turn around and come back to Big Meadow at 4 PM to stay for the night. There is a hiking trail nearby (or beer at the bar). Sunday, We'll meet for breakfast around 8:30, start out heading north to Front Royal, and from there to Summit Point to watch the Ferrari club. From there we can split. For those going back towards DC, we'll be going past Harper's Ferry, and we can take backroads down towards DC (instead of 340 to 270). I will be up there again this weekend with the Corvette crowd, so I'll define the stops a little better.

Hi Al, Based on conversations at various times, I believe this is the list if the weather is good. If the weather is bad, I know at least you, me and Chuck will be there. Steve Wann, Williamsburg, VA - Rotus Ed Harris, Hagerstown, MD - Rotus * John Vivani, Haymarket, VA -- will be there at the start, and at Summit point at the end. Steve Taylor, Somewhere in the south?? Michael Dougherty, Bethesda, MD * Bob Ross Lance, Philly, PA Richard Gibson, DC * Bart Lami, Pittsburgh, PA Al Navarro Dick Brink, Texas Mazda Ebrahimi, North Potomac, MD Jeff Cranmer, NC - Birkin S3 Chet Galek Fisher Fury / Hayabusa Scott Lentz Virginia - Superlight

That sounds like alot of fun, and alot of punishment for sure.

Can't help you with Mid-Ohio track days, but dropping in to say welcome aboard . Our local track has Fridays at the Track >http://www.bsr-inc.com/FATT.HTM. I guess one thing to look into if it's not a SCCA event or something similar is insurance - if you're worried about that.

has anyone tried rear fenders that gradually slope away from the body, rather than just being perpendicular to it? I wonder if that will significantly reduce the cross winds into the car.

Great vids! Thanks.

Well, the dry run is complete. I learned a few things: 1- I REALLY need to get a top and doors for Franken7 2- If you take a tarp to protect the car against rain, make sure it doesn't have holes all over it. 3- Take your cell charger with you. 4- If you rely on your laptop for all your gauges, GPS, etc..., don't install new software right before you leave. All in all, it went very well. I only hit rain today, on the way back from VA Beach. I think I put on about 600 miles on the Rotus, and she ran flawlessly. About the cruise... This is the proposed agenda: Meeting point #1 - Bethesda - Sutton Place Gourmet (can't remember the new name) at the corner of Democracy and Old Georgetown. Leave at 7:30 AM Then take 495 to 66 W to 50 W. Meeting point #2 - Rt 50 right after Rt 66... Target parking lot. Leave 8:15 Take Rt. 50 up to Whitepost (will have detailed directions) Arrive at Whitepost around 9:45 Leave Whitepost at 10:30, Enter Skyline at 10:45 We will make several stops along skyline drive (and take some group pics, etc...), arriving at Big Meadow for lunch around 1 PM. My suggestion is we plan on bringing our own food. Resturaunt can get quite busy. There is Gas there as well. We can head further south from Big Meadow, starting around 2 PM, for one hour, and turn around and come back to Big Meadow at 4 PM to stay for the night. There is a hiking trail nearby (or beer at the bar). Sunday, We'll meet for breakfast around 8:30, start out heading north to Front Royal, and from there to Summit Point to watch the Ferrari club. From there we can split. For those going back towards DC, we'll be going past Harper's Ferry, and we can take backroads down towards DC (instead of 340 to 270). Here is a short vid of the skyline... >http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/slngsht/Movie.wmv

The aluminum version in rough cut... http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/slngsht/dash13.jpg

Now that I have a little more traction (Toyo Proxes RA1s), I've noticed some axle hop, that i'd like to eliminate. I know what causes the problem, but not the cure. Should I stiffen my shock settings?

Radio Frequency Identification... >This image shows the part that goes on the car, plus 10 "tags" or keys. Since my button starter setup doesn't have an ignition key, i need an anti-theft device. With the RFID tag, you just have the little round thing on the key chain, and you swipe it near the reader to be able to start the car.

I just reserved at Big Meadows for Saturday June 3rd. We'll be leaving the DC area in the morning. We'll probably have one meeting point early in MD, head on up 66 and meet somewhere around the Dulles area to meet the VA folks. Then caravan up to whitepost. I'll come up with a more definitive sched once I make the dry run. If weather cooperates, I'll do a dry run next weekend. -Mazda Big Meadows Lodge links: >http://members.aol.com/adnascar/bigmeadows.html >http://www.visitshenandoah.com/rates.shtml

I have to look up where I got the switches. Latest progress is that all the wiring is hooked up for the moment, with the exception of the harzards and the wiper motor. I have tried various orientations on the touchscreen, and it looks like when it's inclined, and in the dash, I can read it even with the sun directly behind me. This is not a particularly bright screen, so future units should look really good. At the moment, I'm carving out some foam so I can lay out a fiberglass or carbon fiber dash, which has smooth edges around the monitor openning. I'm also working on a little microcontroller project to clean up alot of the wiring by incorporating all the relays and fuses on one board, as well as incorporate a shift light, an RFID tag for theft prevention and a couple of other goodies. Here's another shot (don't laugh). Shows the gauges in pretty much direct afternoon sunlight. http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/slngsht/dash12.jpg