Croc

Gary delivers a car perfectly and I would recommend him with no reservations. However, he is a smaller 3 truck operation so timing can be longer/require more coordination. If urgent then he is probably not going to work. In that instance I would be looking at larger car shipping operations.

Here are some Blatchat topics that address some of the questions you are raising. I always find doing searches in the Tech section gives me an answer that some sevener has faced before me. If that does not work then there are also many friendly guys here with a wealth of knowledge: Tunnel top removal - simple answer is loosen handbrake cable, stand handle up vertical, remove gear knob and check that screws are removed at the rear of the tunnel top (I think I put them back in the last time I had the engine out). http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=201437 Gearbox oil top up http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=159135 http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=190698 http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=183709 Diff Removal http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=156137 Diff Oil Check http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=183709 Also for the lid, I think BGH also offer a replacement part: http://www.bghgeartech.co.uk/html/bgh_home.html

Talking to Jon last week, I mentioned this event and that you were keen to attend. He thought he could have it ready in time...like you I am hoping! Call me strange but I expect I would run away if I felt a cold nose up my butt. :ack: Maybe you men in Philly are different?

However, while passengers are not allowed, I understand pets are allowed. I believe Tom drives with Rover at his track days

The answer from FAQ on SDCA website is no passengers: https://www.scda1.com/faq/ "For insurance purposes passengers are not allowed at SCDA events."

Drivers confirmed interest for one or both days: Tom (Yellowss) Mike (Kitcat) Karl (Blubarisax) Mike (Croc) Stewart (Sabbot) - 27th only Michael (MichaelD) Attending at least 1 day but not driving: Dave (DaveD) - 27th Ron (Redgoose) Jack (Jvbtte/JLBtrans) - trying to make it work. not sure if car will be ready. Unable to attend: Andy (Pinballking) Jon (Boxologist) To be updated as more confirm

I sent around an email to potential Seveners interested in this event plus posted it here in case I missed anyone. http://usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6453 The post also has all the links to accommodation and how to book the villas or VIP suites. Maybe migrate subsequent discussion across to the new post with all the details listed?

The following email was just sent to a number of people within reasonable driving range of NJMP in Milville NJ. I am posting it here in the event I accidentally left anyone off the distribution list: Gentlemen, I trust you are all well. You are receiving this PM because I understand that you are located within a reasonable driving range of New Jersey Motorsports Park and would be potentially interested in a USA7’s event being organized for June 27 and 28. Tom (Yellowss) has been in contact with Ian Prout of SCDA regarding having a Sevens session at a New Jersey Motorsports Park track day being run on Monday June 27 and Tuesday June 28. Ian has undertaken to group the Seveners into the intermediate group, assuming a minimum level of track experience. The SCDA website page is at: https://www.scda1.com/events/detail_by_id/465930832 From the site: The SCDA, LLC is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a two day event at the brand new New Jersey Motorsports Park facility, located in Millville, New Jersey on June 27 & 28. To provide maximum value to our customers, we are pleased to offer two hours of track time per day! Please note that this world class facility consists of two completely independent, stand alone tracks. The NJMP event on June 27 will take place on the ultra fast ten turn, 1.9 mile Lightning Raceway. On June 28, we will be returning to NJMP, and on this date hosting the event on the fourteen turn, 2.25 mile Thunderbolt Raceway. These two tracks are brand new, fast, challenging and exciting! This is a unique opportunity to experience not one, but, two fast, smooth and completely independent tracks in one trip! Participants can expect a minimum of two hours track time each day, one on one In Car Instruction if needed, and two Classroom Sessions. This event is open to all skill level drivers, from Novice through Advanced! In an effort to provide maximum levels of safety, quality, and fun at our events, the SCDA will provide trained and certified SCCA flaggers at the corner stations. This ensures that our drivers can focus on one thing- improving their driving skills. New Jersey Motorsports Park events are $295 for a single day and $545 for a two consecutive day event. NJMP EARLY BIRD PRICING UPDATE -- Register before 6/13/11 and save 10% off the 2 day entry fee! Retail Pricing for this event is $545. Early Bird Pricing between now and 6/13/11 is $490.50 For those of you who have not had your car on track, this is a great way to safely drive your car at speed. Instructors are available and recommended. You drive at your own speed - it's not a race or timed event. Passing is restricted by run group to either No passing for novice, Passing on the main straights with a wave by, for the intermediates, to passing with a wave by in the expert groups. A number of us will be staying overnight the Sunday and Monday, either at a local hotel or at the VIP Thunderbolt track-side suites offered by NJMP which are offered at $109 (plus $37 tax) per night. The evening dinners should be a highlight. If you want to read the evolution of this idea via the lengthy thread on USA7s then here is the link: http://usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5951 For those of you who do not currently own Sevens but would like to join in the Sevens grouping, a small number of Spec Miatas are available for rental – see here for details: https://www.scda1.com/rental-car/ Please let me know if you are interested so we can try to save space in the designated sevens session. I hope to see many of you there – I think we will have a great time. Cheers mike For reference the accommodation link to nearby hotels is at: http://www.njmp.com/accommodations.html For those wanting to rent a VIP Suite at Thunderbolt Track then please see: http://www.njmp.com/vip.html For reference the VIP suites are $109 per night plus $37 tax and have 2 beds (so 2 guys). The Villas have 3 bedrooms, a living and dining area and are $499 plus tax per night or $166 per person sharing per night. The other accommodation comes up on a search as follows: 1) Holiday Inn Express Vineland (3 stars) - $85pn, 7 miles from the circuit 2) Motorsports Inn (3 stars) - $59pn, closest to the circuit at 4 miles away 3) Quality Inn (2 stars) - $73pn, 4 miles from the circuit 4) Country Inn by Carlson (2 stars) - $67pn, 3 miles from the circuit 5) Wingate Inn - from $79 pn 6) Starlite Motel (no stars) - $50pn or $25-30 per hour.....EEK!

Tom - Do you want me to do a mail around in case people are not focusing on this actual post? Some of the guys are not active on here.

Hi Jude, The gearbox fluid level was checked about 1.5 years back when it and the engine came out to get the mystery metal lump out of the bellhousing. all was good then. Not sure how to do it with transmission in place but I bet there is an answer on blatchat. Re the clunk, a couple of thoughts: 1) Can you identify whether it is driveline or within gearbox? 2) Is it all gears? 3) any sense of whether it is front or back - maybe using a buddy to listen from outside the car when starting off in first? Or running it on rollers through the gears to sense the sound from outside the car. My initial reaction for most likely is check engine mounts, loose/failing UJs, and check for broken de dion. I rate these as more likely given what you experienced on the way home. The last remote possible idea is diff backlash. As an aside, a friend of friend who is a keen car guy in Juneau has seen you about town and plans to chase after to chat when he sees you next. I think he has a classic Porsche 911 (one of two in Juneau I am told). He says the seven looks cool and that you have been the talk of the town. Cheers

Excellent video. I know the Old Pacific Highway very well as it was a favorite for the early Sunday morning drive once I got my license and in my early 20s. I was able to easily pick out where you were. Nothing looks like it has changed - still the secret is to get out early with the bikies. When I get for my annual visit to see family I usually stay at the family home in Frenchs Forest. Is there an active club presence in Sydney? I would not mind joining one of your meets if it is not a problem.

Karl is doing a track day today with the Porsche Club guys. Given the wet weather I suspect it will be a wrist flashing affair with the seven having all the traction of a kitten in a wet bathtub. Based on your philosophy I think he will have a smile a mile wide.

Thanks for the information and kind offer Tom. It is thinking time today on wheels and tires. One catch I have to work through is that my CSR wheels are not the same as the standard UK ones - at least on the rear I know that to be the case. Not sure why it was spec'ed that way. I finally got around to replacing my old helmet yesterday by buying a new one. I figure 20 years out of the old helmet was pretty good although I learned yesterday that if you have an accident or drop the helmet you should throw it away...oops! Needless to say, my old one was the one I was wearing when I wrote myself and the car off 15 years ago. I was always proud of its "battle scars." I was given a warning last year when I used the old helmet in the UK. So now I have a nice shiny black one complying with SA2010. I asked if they also sold liquid courage to help with late braking...unfortunately they said not but they did recommend the following product as tried and tested by many drivers: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqV,!iEE2IuEqqphBNi9wI8,YQ~~0_3.JPG

Tom - Member at NJMP? What did you have to do to get that? Is it like selling Amway? As for missing potential track day stars - well I talked with Jon at Cat USA today on an unrelated matter and urged them to finish Ron's R500 so that we can see how it compares to the other cars. I am pondering ordering a new set of CR500s now as I suspect I will destroy a full set on a track day let alone both days. I think they are softer than slicks? Seems expensive to order them with spare rims and anyway I am driving myself to the track since I do not have a trailer so cannot carry them. - Should I just hang the expense and buy a new set of CSR rims and put a set of slicks on them? Who is your supplier? - Do you use a rattle gun to swap wheels between road and slicks? - Does NJMP have facilities to swap old rubber to new rubber on same rims? - Should I just fake my orgasms?....sorry wrong movie....:jester: Mike - the trick is to turn the headlights sideways not reverse them - face the beams into each other. Only works on crossflows and not on superlights though. This sideways profile is better aerodynamically than a full reversal. I learned this trick years ago on my old 7 S2 from a seasoned old guy who knew all the tricks to keep ahead of me.

I notice everyone has gone quiet about the NJMP track day. I believe this is because everyone is feverishly brushing up their skills: - Seems like Tom has been giving poor old Rover a real workout around a lot of tracks and even found 4th gear sometimes. - Karl seems to be hanging out a lot with Porsches' these days - but I will forgive him. I am sure Kitcat is up to mischief too? Do I smell a scent of fear that all of us are concerned that we will show up as driving Miss Daisy in late June? :jester: Anyway, I am not innocent in this. :rofl: Since I am spending most of June in the UK, I just booked a track day at Silverstone on the Formula 1 GP circuit in an R400 race seven and plan to get some quality 1 on 1 coaching at the same time, just 7 days before seeing you all at NJMP.

Having spent so much time living in many countries in Asia, take it from me that the roads in Malaysia are even less friendly to Sevens than Brazil.

Yep thats Karl's car. Not sure who the guy behind the wheel is? Looks like Karl aged 25 years and grew a beard.

It depends - they are designed for different markets. Quicken is for individuals and families - personal finances. It can even handle sole trader types of very small businesses. Refer to the following link: http://quicken.intuit.com/ Quick Books is designed for small businesses so it can produce invoices for billing, accounts receivable aging and other stuff that an individual does not need or want. Unless you were running a real business with employees then I do not think you need this for your own personal finances.

This looks really nice! Surprising amount of power from an R1 engine - I had no idea.

This is one area I know very well after having spent years working to keep/get companies financially out of trouble and getting "please save me" pleas from financially irresponsible relatives and friends. Rules of thumb that I go by: Every pay check you should be aiming to save 15-20% of gross pay (before tax is withdrawn) in savings. Of this it should be split roughly 3 ways: short term emergency funds of roughly 2-3 months of living expenses plus saving for the cost of an annual vacation). Once this is funded then divert the savings to the saving categories below. medium term savings - to cover significant purchases on the horizon (e.g. kitchen renovation, car replacement, etc). This could also be used direct to pay off the mortgage with extra repayments (I am referring to amounts over and above the scheduled mortgage payment here). long term/retirement savings. Make sure you are maxing out any company match on your contributions plus any tax deduction benefit you may get (not sure if Canada has US-style 401K benefits?). [*]Out of what is left you have to pay a tax bill and living costs. [*]Living costs (rent, mortgage, property taxes, housing utilities - power, gas water) should ideally be around 20-30% of your gross pay. In some cities (e.g. NYC) then the range goes up to around 30-35% but should not exceed this as an extreme. [*]The remaining is what you have to live on. Not much is it? At this point I would normally recommend that you spend a month keeping track of every little expense to see where the money goes and then you can work out a plan on where to save money. As you noted the costs are all little - there are no big outgoings left. Money leaks out in surprising directions and surprising amounts: Package cable and internet and consider dropping back from the top all-channels option to a cheaper option. For me this brought the costs down from $220pm to $170pm Shift from a landline phone to a cable internet based phone. For me this saved $100pm Cut internet access from a cell phone and limit text messages - saved $50pm Watch dinners out - this adds up quickly. For a couple, 6 nights out in a month could be as much as $300. Air con is a big cost in summer for me - it was easily $300-375 extra per month in summer. I now use ceiling fans and open the place up to get breezes in plus installed new double glazed energy windows. Think similar for winter heating costs and how to reduce electricity bills. My electricity bill was $26 last month and no I do not sit in the dark and I still run multiple laundry/dryer loads each week. I changed to LED lights and learn to turn things off when not using them. Do you know how much Starbuck/Tim Hortons charges for a frou frou mega large gourmet coffee these days. Not much change from $5 I bet. How many of these do you have a day and multiply it across the month - turns into a very large sum rather quickly. A relative of mine was spending $300 per month this way....ouch...and then we checked her husband and found another $180 per month. In a similar vein, how much do you spend on lunch at work. If you are buying it then where I am located in NYC you do not get much change from $10 per day. Think about making it at home and taking in with you. Are you using everything you own already or are there things in the closet that are spare and not being used yet you buy something else anyway, e.g. clothes, household items, etc). [*]For discretionary spending ask yourself do you really need it or do you just really want it. I would love a 60 inch flat screen tv alas I cannot justify it. I would love a new stereo amplifier as mine was bought in 1998 but the current one works perfectly. If you do not have the money for it then do not buy it. [*]Once you have your spending under control then you should make sure that your credit card is being used only as a form of cash payment - i.e. you pay it off each month in full. [*]Look around the home - anything not being used that you want to sell on ebay and make some spare cash out of surplus assets. That was a winner for a family member of mine - thousands of dollars received from old kids toys that they had outgrown. [*]Check that you have claimed all medical reimbursements due to you from your health insurance - general medical, prescription, optical, dental. See what other benefits you may be entitled to that you may be paying for separately without knowing. [*]Look at what benefits you may not be leveraging on your credit cards - I save thousands each year by using points from a united airlines mileage credit card to pay for flights to Australia to see fmaily and for them to come and see me. I know I spend more on air travel than most given my remote family situation but in the last 10 years this card has saved me over $100k in air fare costs I would have otherwise spent. I also discovered a substantial sum of Amex membership reward points that were travelling below my radar - that will pay for some of the annual vacation or any household items needing replacing. Similarly I found last week that I have a substantial sum of Hilton hhonor points worth at least 2 weeks of free hotel rooms anywhere in the world (or 1 week in Maui!). Do an inventory of what you have and check to see how much it is worth as a benefit. This covers most of the rules of good household finances. A suggestion if you really want to get into financial analysis is to use Quicken or similar to help you analyze where the money goes. This software also has financial planning features where you can see how your savings will provide for you long term. I personally swear by Quicken as it tracks my mortgages, investments, retirement monies and bank accounts - it saves days of effort (for me) come tax return time and you can set up pretty much all accounts to one-touch download transactions into the register. If you have questions beyond this then maybe PM me offline to give you some privacy. oh and yes...one of my qualifications to provide this advice is that I am a Chartered Accountant/CPA.

The driver was very cautious - I dont think I saw the shift lights come on at any time. Justifiably so, even at such low speeds he had all the traction and grip of a kitten in a wet bathtub. I wonder what tires he had on the car?

Al - you would be more than welcome to turn up at the after event just in time to participate (or maybe judge) in the tall tales telling contest of the drive. We will probably end up at the Ship Inn. The road picture was on the PA side but up north near the Riegelsville bridge as soon after that picture we crossed the river to the NJ side on the bridge there. The drive did initially take us past Tinicum Park as we followed Rt 32 south to that sharp hairpin right handed on to Cafferty Road but after that it was all heading north.

I live on the intersection of the Hudson River and the old Morris Canal/Liberty Harbor. My building was originally a warehouse for the canal. In significant storms coinciding with high tide my garage floods. Unfortunately the access road is lower than the garage so I usually find out too late (thank you weather forecasters) that I have trouble and cannot drive the seven out to safely. The last two storms I have ended up jacking up the seven onto 3-4 cinder blocks each wheel to keep it up out of the water and this has worked very well. I have two long pole rally jacks that I keep in the garage for this purpose along with a supply of cinder blocks. The regular daily driver usually gets driven out along the flooded access road simply because it sits much higher than the seven. While I have never had to go through a hurricane here I know that my plan in that event is just to get the car out as I was told the last hurricane in 1992 flooded the garage 3/4's of the way to the roof. Luckily I have not had to use an inflatable raft to save my cars but I can understand the owners motivation. Very ingenious.

Sean - :D:D

I am definitely in that weekend no matter what. I think we were originally saying June 12 but then switched it to June 11 - so June 11 it is.