Stokked

Congrats Jack! It's really cool to see your car on the cover of the magazine. Thanks again for letting me drive your car when I met you at Run n Gun. This is the only time I can show my friends a magazine cover and say "I drove that car!". -Delayne

Thanks! I received a hard-copy of the build manual when I bought my car, but it's nice to know that there's an online version available.

Congratulations Jon! I admire your abilities. The car looks great!

I'd be ROFL too if this weren't my tax money at work! What a waste of effort. -Delayne:mad:

Anyone remember the 1999 BAR Honda F1 cars? Not many liked the paint scheme back then. Link here! I'm guessing that was the inspiration for the paint on K2RUM. -Delayne

My last driving day was the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was a bit chilly, but sunny and a good day for a drive. Winter moved in the following day. It's only gotten worse since then. The Birkin is in the garage, under cover, waiting for spring.

You might have to check with someone who knows more about Caddy's than I do, but I'm pretty sure its a V8 :skep:

There's a blurb and photo in this week's issue of Autoweek. The car was designed by Wayne Cherry, formerly head of GM Design. It's powered by a 6 liter Cadillac V-series engine, making 400HP.

Thanks Jack! I'm starting to look for a trailer so I can haul the Birkin to things like Run n Gun, track days & autocross next year. I still like the Stalker, and still have a thought that at some point in the future when I have more time and more space I might build one. But this car was so nicely built, I couldn't pass it up. Plus, it fits me like a glove! I think I'll have a lot of fun with it. Hope all is well in Indy. Best regards, -Delayne

Slomove - no, I did not own the Lola. The Birkin was briefly owned by a guy up in Michigan who has lot's of toys, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Lola came from him. Pi7ot - I'm in central Iowa (Ames). We haven't had any sanding/deicing yet, but there are snow flakes in the air this morning. -Delayne

I am now the owner of this car! It's found a good home here in Iowa. I just wish we had the canyon roads and year-round "seven" weather some of you out west have! I'm hoping for 1 or 2 more driving days before snow flies, but it's not looking too good for that right now. -Delayne

Thank you both for the info. I think that the domed shaped version might be a better solution. The standard flat-top is what I've got. I'll have to check out the model number of mine, do some measuring and then maybe order a replacement. -Delayne

Thanks Gary. From the picture your's looks somewhat rounded (like an egg), whereas mine is square if you looked at it from directly from the front of the car. I think yours must be a different model than mine. I'd like to find something that isn't as much of a struggle to deal with as the one I have. You don't happen to have model number for your ITG do you? -Delayne

Gary - What air cleaner do you have? Is it a pain to get the engine cover on/off? I have an ITG filter on my Birkin, but it's much bigger, and it is a PAIN to get the engine cover on and off. I'm always afraid I'm going to scratch something or bend the engine cover. Thanks, Delayne

National Auto Sport Association (NASA) has a track day event at Road America. I've not done this, but know some Mustang guys that go every year. Here is a link to more info. -Delayne

I remember watching Spain 1994 -- that's when I realized M. Schumacher had special skills. He was stuck in 5th gear for a good share of the race, but adjusted his driving to the car and finished in 2nd. This clip is pretty short, but I clearly remember watching the telemetry from the on board and could not believe what he was doing with one gear.

The listing is marked SOLD.

Not my car, just found this one while searching. Thought someone here may be interested. Here's the link: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/car/561194391.html -Delayne

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for posting that. Those cars are amazing. When I saw them in person for the first time at the USGP in 2006, I could not get over the level of performance. The acceleration, the braking and the cornering abilities of those cars and drivers is unlike anything else. In the video when they were talking about the guys at the back of the grid, I remembered an interview with Bryan Herta when he went to test F1. He said that Jan Magnussen had told him that the worst car on the F1 grid would be the best race car he'd ever driven.

:banghead: That's funny.

Thanks for the link! It's well worth reading through. Great story for anyone interested in Lotus or 50's sports racers. Powderbrake is right -- everyone should take the time to go through all the posts!

The link provided by solder_guy has a pretty good basic explanation. On the torsen... "The Torsen (from Torque Sensing) works as an open differential when the amount of torque going to each wheel is equal. As soon as one wheel starts to lose traction, the difference in torque causes the gears in the Torsen differential to bind together. The design of the gears in the differential determines the torque bias ratio. For instance, if a particular Torsen differential is designed with a 5:1 bias ratio, it is capable of applying up to five times more torque to the wheel that has good traction. These devices are often used in high-performance all-wheel-drive vehicles. Like the viscous coupling, they are often used to transfer power between the front and rear wheels. In this application, the Torsen is superior to the viscous coupling because it transfers torque to the stable wheels before the actual slipping occurs. However, if one set of wheels loses traction completely, the Torsen differential will be unable to supply any torque to the other set of wheels. The bias ratio determines how much torque can be transferred, and five times zero is zero."

The doorbell just rang, I heard the outer door open and close and when I got there, I was just in time to see Santa climbing back into his sleigh -- which looked a lot like the FedEx truck. Inside the door was a package containing my watch! It looks great! Thanks Mazda! -Delayne

Thanks for all of your work on this! Merry Christmas to all.

Thanks for sharing the articles. Good stuff!