pethier

Bless this Mess.

Thanks!

Like I say, I don't know if they have a DOT number...

Interesting. I have thought about ratchet straps for a Bimini. I could go over the internal bars on the cage so the straps wouldn't get into the headroom. Nothing on the topside to bother the storm cap. What method/parts did you use to add the loops?

You can make tonneau covers? I'd like to make a Bimini for the CSR's roll cage.

I'm working on stretching the top for the Birkin and have had some success. I have one more snap to go. I don't think it has ever been on the car. The two front snaps on the bottom were apparently never installed. I don't think the top would ever stretch to the pair that are in that area; I'm pretty sure they are for the tonneau.

I drove Yoko A052 tires on an Elise and on 2 different Sevens. I like them on the road. I really like them for autocrossing, because they have some stick right away. I run them at 20psi cold for both road and autocross, I don't know that the 13" size Yokos have a DOT number.

Have you tried the Yokohama A052?

I was there, Lotusless, with a blue Suburban and a borrowed open trailer. Lots of Seven-ish cars at LOG25. Clicking on this trackday picture should take you to my Flickr album. Is this one yours?

In England, they race Cobra cars with hardtops affixed.

I was there. A gathering of Seven clones in 2010, the Midwest Se7ens Gathering. I had my 1979 Caterham that I was selling since I was buying a Lotus Elise. I picked up the Elise in Park City Utah over the July 4th weekend. The Seven sold to a person on Cape Cod. I kept the 74PHIL Collector plate and put it on a different Caterham in 2023. The last I saw of the gang was a Saturday meal in a really cool place somewhere in Wisconsin that had the indoor kitchen and outdoor eating area under a common long roof. I already had my car in my trailer, as I was going to Eau Claire that evening to stay in a motel there and run an autocross the next day. Suddenly it started to rain. Hard. While others scrambled to cover their Sevens, I bolted to my truck and drove away. I drove on unfamiliar secondary roads all the way to the Eau Claire in a pounding rain. As I remember, the weather was fine in on Sunday for the Eau Claire autocross. see all my pix of the event at https://www.flickr.com/photos/pethier/albums/72157624234182859/

Looks like the same injection system that is in my green Birkin.

I like the home-made car skates.

Phil Ethier in autocross in Saint Paul on 8/21/04. I sold this 1970 Lotus Europa in 2005 after I spun a rod bearing. Decided to be a little more conventional for awhile with a 1994 Miata. Photo by Dan Engle. 1565cc Renault engine Weber 45DCOE on Warneford manifold. 4>1 tube header. Eibach springs Koni shocks No carpet No headliner No bumpers No trunk insert 6 x 13 BWA Sportstar wheels 175-60-13 Kumho Excta 700 tires Rear lower links adjustable via Heim joints Estimated weight 1465 pounds.

Two Sevens in the garage and one in the shop.

So, you didn't form a rock a band in Dublin? ;-) I had a Lotus 65 Europa from 1911 until 2005. It was designated a 1970 model but was built in November 1969. It started its American life on Oahu and as far as I know is living in Illinois.

Your car is a model 1968 Lotus. Here is something for you to check. Technically the grey market does not begin with cars designated as model-year 1968. The grey market does not apply to cars MANUFACTURED prior to January 1, 1968. I was alive and paying attention when the federal safety law came in. If your 1968 car was built in late 1967, it's not a grey market car. After the law change, you were still allowed to import any car you wanted as long as it was built before January 1, 1968. Sorry if I missed it, if this already having been addressed. Also, that big law change had a loophole that excluded cars weighing less than 1000 pounds. At the time, we were hoping Lotus dealers would stock versions of the Seven that would have made this bar. It was this loophole that allowed Subaru 360 cars to be sold here in the USA. I test-drove a brand-new Subaru 360 from a dealer in Minneapolis. It was the worst new car I had been in, and may be the worst new car I have been in since. White Bear Dodge got ahold of a batch of them and was selling them brand-new for 800 bucks, about half of what a VW bug costs. An auto journalist wrote in the Minneapolis Star or Tribune (don't recall if it was the Star-Tribune yet) that I would be difficult to find an 800-dollar used car in the Twin Cities that would not be a better car than a new Subaru. I swear the steering looked like it is was built out of curtain rods and cotter pins. It was shortly after some member of Congress actually SAW a Subaru 360 that the 1000-pound loophole was closed.

Here it is keeping the interior cool when I was assigned a grid that faced south. Photo taken in the morning some time before I was scheduled to run.

I find that the smug Porsche people who correct people who say porsh are almost-always not saying the name correctly themselves. This cracks me up. I personally don't give a fig how anyone pronounces it, but if you are going to demonstrate it you ought do more than add an "ah". I usually say my Porsche is pronounced "KAYman" because I am a mid-engine snob. According to the Porsche company, the name does not have a hard rhotic R.

I have one Tillett seat and another on order. I find the Caterham 6-points a real pain to use. The pull-up lap adjusters argue with the side ports in the Tillett seat. I just ordered and received two sets of Lifeline harnesses with an FIA date of 2031. The adjusters on the shoulders are pull-downs. The adjusters on the lap belt are pull-down and look like they will not interfere with the Tillett seats. These adjusters are built directly into the tabs that connect to the rotary buckle.

That's chicken COOP. The Chicken Coupe' was the transportation of Chickenman. Yes, I am old-enough to remember the goofy syndicated series of radio spots in the 1960s.

Not to mention a button release instead of a rotary release.

All three of my Sevens are illegal in CT. Moto-Lita, Momo, and "Momo-type?", they are all about 12" OD.