MoPho

So I had an assignment to photograph one of Jay Leno's cars for an Australian magazine, it was just a quickie shoot that I was only expecting to be there for like an hour and didn't know if Jay was going to be there or not. I arrived out front a little early and proceeded to wait for the writer to show up (who had just texted me that he was late) when Leno pulled up in an old Buick Convertible and invited me in. Since I had never been to the garage, I had asked Jay if would be alright if I look around while I waited. He then proceeded to give me a personal tour of the garage. When the writer showed up, Leno showed us some more stuff and then took us out for a ride up the street in his golf cart to show us a new building he bought and is expanding into. When we got back, he took us over to the car we were doing the story on, a 1963 Chrysler Turbine car. At this point, Jay says, "lets go for a ride" so we all jump in to the Chrysler and he drives us all over town and down the freeway. When we got back, I did the photoshoot and then afterwards he invited us to hang around for lunch, his guys grilled up some burgers. After lunch, he fired up a 1907 White Steam car and took us for a drive around Burbank and to Autobooks to go shopping. Of course it was pandemonium on the streets as this car was far from inconspicuous Ended up spending most of the day at the garage. He did really like my car though he kept pointing me towards his Gordon Murray designed Light Car Company Rocket, which is 150hp and 700lbs. I must have inspired him, as I was leaving he fired up the Rocket and went for a drive Garage is amazing, even better than I expected, much too much to see in one day and the cars were the least of it. Couldn't take pics in the garage though. What I really find interesting is how eclectic his taste is and that he likes a little bit of everything. If I was in such a position to have a large collection, I would probably not be interested in owning 90% of the cars he has ( I would have all sports cars and ex-works rally cars), but that was why it was so fun to see because it opened my eyes to other types of cars I would normally not take a second look at. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4630124865_9debc26844_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/4630124967_98deba760d_o.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4630725058_ec3933b548_o.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4630725128_0059868a5f_o.jpg .

Boy, I'd be half tempted to trade you my fuel cell for your standard tank if it could be made to work with my fuel system. Definitely better to have an external fuel pump/filter set up with the fuel cell IMO .

Wilcox? It was taken at Jay's garage Yeah, no kidding huh... .

Martin, I really had no interest in debating whether or not Kagan is qualified for the position, nor do I care anything about what Feinstein thinks let alone would I use some random senators statement as an indicator of whether or not someone is qualified for the supreme court, my question was put fourth to show that MightyMikes comment was based on no actual fact, just conjecture formed from his personal bias, which he kindly admitted to Do you know what the "mainstream of thinking" is? Who's "mainstream thinking" is correct? And BTW Mike, which group of "ignorant masses" voted our last president in...twice? :willy_nilly: I've told you before that this forum is too small a community to allow politics, it does nothing but breed animosity.:banghead: .

Yeah, I had figured that, and that is why I called you out on it Your comment in relation to the topic was unfounded and perhaps we might be better off with Kagan under your assumption she leans left since it is the Republicans that have the reputation for trampling on peoples rights. Heck, the GOP in the state where this story took place wants to ban pornography, oral sex and criminalize gay marriage, and no doubt they want to tell woman what they can do with their bodies too. They already managed to impose their conservative/christian agenda on school text books :banghead: To me, conservatives imposing their "morals" on us is far scarier than liberals wasting our tax money -- Anyhow, this isn't really a right vs left thing, this is more about the police abusing their power. As someone who has been on the wrong side of the law for taking photographs ( I do it for a living) and nearly arrested on multiple occasions, I tend to get passed info about this stuff from my peers and in most cases the charges are trumped up as terrorism or illegal wiretapping issues because the cops don't want to be made to look bad so they try and cover up their blunders. .

Martin, that says nothing about how she would rule on such a case. Personally, I have no opinion of her one way or the other. Since Kagan hasn't any prior experience as a judge, we don't really know how she would rule and that is why I posed the question. Does MightyMike have a crystal ball? :flag:

And why would you say that? Do you have some inside information about how she would rule on such cases? .

Dude, that's a beautiful car, leave it alone and enjoy it if it is running good (well it needs a sexier roll bar ) If you need something to tinker with, buy yourself an engine to rebuild, or take the car apart and put it back together again, or even better yet, use it a lot and it will give you a reason to tinker all on its own :smilielol5: See, I may have just saved you $4000 and I am only going to charge you 10% for the therapy :jester: .

They are unwritten "rules" and again, it was meant as somewhat tongue in cheek I have not read any other thread of yours, only this one, so I don't know what "hazing" you are referring to, but you asked how we would approach this and I am giving you my opinion/advice. You don't have to take it :chillpill: I spent over $12k trying to modify a Lotus Twin Cam (and that was with keeping the stock crank, it was also the second rebuild of the motor after the oil pump failed with less than 6-7k miles on it) in my Lotus Elan and ended up with a motor that dyno'd at 170hp but never felt anything close to that in the car, it was nice motor but a huge disappointment given the dollars spent, so much so that I put it up for sale and bought a Zetec powered Caterham. The TC is a fabulous and charismatic engine, but it is old technology that is not likely able to fully take advantage of having a modern fueling system on it. I just don't think that FI is going to be $4k dollars better (especially when the carburetors are perfectly fine for the job). If you are convinced that it is the way to go, be my guest, but for +/- $4k you could have a nice 180-200hp Zetec motor with all the trim, heck you could probably find one with a transmission too for that and an even more fun project. Anyway, that is just my take on the subject, you don't have to accept it.... :cheers: To add; I have a friend who had an Elan (and a bit of a compulsion for blowing money) and he put FI on his TC after doing every other thing he could possibly do to it, it certainly was nice but it didn't make as much improvement as he had hoped (it was 180hp), so he gave up and put a Cosworth BDA (260hp) into the car. He later sold the car for less than he had into the engine. :banghead: .

Spinners? I wasn't talking about moral respect to the car (unless you have an original Twin Cam Lotus 7?), I was talking about the engine, which is a vintage engine and the carbs are part of the charm. While I was half joking about the "legality", I was not joking about wasting your money on something that will give you little return (or perhaps you are uber rich and it doesn't matter?), and I know a thing or two about wasting money on a Lotus Twin Cam. Sometimes I wonder....http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/533.gif .

I assume you're talking about a Lotus Twincam? I believe it is illegal in most 1st world countries to put fuel injection on such a motor. :willy_nilly: That's a lot of money to spend for little return. .

Jay seemed to like my car so who knows http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4630124865_9debc26844_o.jpg .

If there is room enough for you to exorcise the extra power you have in your car, the road is too straight and too boring for me :cooldude: The bumps and cliffs are part of the fun, only thing missing was the jumps (yumps)! Rally style baby!

While true they are infinitely modifiable (as is pretty much any car really), the spirit and intent of the design (and of most true British sports cars, including the Elise) is to be a light and agile car with the balance of modest power, a momentum car. The fact that they can take a bit more power these days is a testament to modern technology (specifically tires), but there is still a balance to be found IMO I'd address it further but I would probably be pushing the boundaries of this forums credo As to your Elise comparison, your car is quite a bit different than mine, and in my experience of both having an Elise in the family and having driven the Exige back to back with my Cat, I didn't find the handling as good nor is it anywhere near as good in the feel department either (to me, it was like the difference of going from an Elise to a Miata). Where it did excel is in comfort and the ability to take mid corner bumps better and it is certainly a better compromise to live with than the 7

Evo has AWD, tricky electronic diffs with yaw control, etc to make it easier to go fast.

It will depend more on the driver as to who gets "spanked"

Where are they lying? It only says it's been driven 183 miles, which could very well be true since I am sure the car was trailered to the event, says nothing about how it was driven for those 183 miles (or did I miss something?). Other than a questionable break in procedure (which for all we know could have been done on an engine dyno before it was put in the car or not even necessary given the spec) doing donuts or running full throttle isn't all that hard on an 1150lb car. The specs and build are well documented, this car is pretty well known in the community .

But being agile on tight roads/tracks is what these cars are all about. If I wanted to go fast in a straight line or on gently curved roads I would have bought a hot rod, or worse............ ....A Corvette! :willy_nilly: http://www.websmileys.com/sm/happy/1209.gif Sounds to me that the OP already has the perfect car meet his expectations, an Evo. http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/533.gif .

You would be hard pressed to find a basic Cat with a xflow for mid $20k's. This car already sold once for over $100k (albeit with a custom truck to trailer it) A new R500 which probably has similar performance but without all the custom bespoke work is $75k at least. The cosworth motor alone is probably worth about $25+k. (When this car sold to AutoEurope, they also bought my friends cosworth Elan and his motor was almost $25k). The problem with this car is that it is too nice to use. .

Says Mr Pull over I think I am going to be sick :jester: .

If what you're mainly concerned about is how fast you can go or which car is faster, you're kind of missing the point about these cars. They are not just about speed, they are about the experience. The fun in these cars is that they are challenging to drive, they slide a bit in the corners, they get light at speed, they're twitchy, they're physical to drive, etc.. I work for car magazines and have driven/ridden a lot of ridiculously high hp and fast cars and nothing (short of an ariel atom) compares to the sensations that the seven gives. My 7 with a measly 205hp is more fun/exciting at 80mph than driving a Ferrari/Lamborghini, etc at 150+mph! Heck, a 7 with a 130hp is more fun than those cars. Exactly! You are not racing, therefore the only lap time that matters is your previous one, not anyone else's. Relying on hp to get you down the straight faster is a crutch that is not going to improve your driving. There is no challenge in buying hp to improve your lap time. And who cares if someone in a ZR1, etc blows past you on the straight, I guarantee you they are not having as much fun .

The cheapest way to fix the problem is to find roads with lots of corners

Fixed Back at you

I had the car at my house for a few days, helped coordinate getting the car to some journalists and to the new owner Here is a thread about it and it has some of the new owners driving impressions as well http://www.californiacaterhamclub.com/chat/showthread.php?t=1463 and here http://www.californiacaterhamclub.com/chat/showpost.php?p=11302&postcount=6 .

Nice try :seeya: Governor of AZ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/AZ-Governor-Jan-Brewer-240x300.jpg Governor of CA http://l.yimg.com/img.movies.yahoo.com/ymv/us/img/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_brothers/terminator_3__rise_of_the_machines/arnold_schwarzenegger/terminator5.jpg Fixed .