rnr

The Radical guys run the Hayabusa motors and typically have a rebuild every 30-50 hours. The Radical SR8 uses the RPE V8 which is also two Hayabusa heads over a bespoke block: http://www.radicalperformanceengines.com/Powertec-Macroblock-v8/

Speak for yourself

Mine says year 0000

Yup

I posted a picture of my diff brace (copied from Mondo) and the reinforced front mounting point at http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2012/02/02/difficult-times/

Does anyone know the cruising rpms at say 70mph with the 3.9, 4.11 and 4.44 offhand? I dont know what diff is in my car but it is at ~4k rpm at 70mph (GPS verified)

You can check for tire rollover by chalking the sides of the tires and seeing the edges are touching the road. In my case I run 14 PSI hot and have found that leading to even tire temps (which are still low) and no evidence of tire rollover. When I first got the car I ran it at 25 PSI on the street (I drive to and from the track) and the ride was so harsh that it felt like my teeth were going to fall out. I do have a very very stiff suspension though which is why I need to have more compliance in the tire.

Check out this video with a Veyron absolutely destroying an supercharged Exige S down the front straight at Laguna Seca http://contour.com/stories/an-f430-a-veyron-a-lotus-laguna-seca The video starts with some 45 sec of bad music and still shots but them moves a shot of the Veyron pulling away from the Exige at the exit of T11. The amazing this is that the Veryon was apparently having heat soak issues all day and wasnt even making full power

I should add that at this point I am seriously considering going narrower (205/255) for my next set of tires. The current tires are quite heavy and very difficult to get heat into. The tires are barely warm to the touch and have no increase in pressure at an autocross (usually 6 runs). At a track they do heat up on hot days (summer in Buttonwillow and Thunderhill) but are quite difficult to warm up on cold days in Laguna and Infineon. I'm hoping that by going narrower I'll be able to heat them up more easily as well as save some unsprung weight on the car.

Small steering wheels in race cars are often done due to space restrictions in an extremely confined cockpit (see NASCAR vs F1). And high end road cars often do it for marketing reasons (the MP4-12C claims to have the same wheel dia as Lewis Hamilton plus 1mm to account for the lack of gloves). I personally have gone to a very small wheel as well as that way I get more knee room which allows me to work the pedals more effectively. This is not to say that power steering is bad - just that racing cars optimize to a different set of conditions (outright speed) that the average street or even track car. +1 on the brake sizing. It took me a long time to sort out the brakes on my Ultralite (http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2012/02/03/brake-bias-issues/) and I plan to actually go use narrower tires for my next set as well.

Thanks for posting such a long and detailed explanation of your issues. Did you experience the ride steer issue in your Ultralite after you initially built it? I ask because I have one as well and I havent noticed any issues on either street or track Two more options to reduce steering effort are: 1) larger steering wheel (even an single inch in dia makes a massive difference). This is also a cheap thing to try as you can often borrow wheels from different people at track days and see how you like them. 2) different tire width and/or compound for your front tires. More expensive than swapping wheels and harder to "tune" but equally effective.

I find that holding the vapour recovery hood compressed with my free hand usually allows me to fill up with no problems. I have a fuel cell though so I directly fill into the ~3 inch dia tank opening.

Congrats on the 2nd place at Nationals. I have to see if I can get Jim to come out to the Sept 23rd GGLC event. Would be great to have 3 Ultralites there. We also have a track day at Thunderhill on the 25th that Jim and I will be attending.

Congrats Josh. We were wondering why you weren't at the last GGLC event

We hand out the times on little post-its which I just stick on the dash I did run over the last cone after the timing beam. But since they didnt notice and it was due to me being lazy and not turning enough I wont add it to my time Its with the Golden Gate Lotus Club in the Marina Municipal Airport near Monterey.

Drove it at the local autocross yesterday. The wheelspin you hear is due to some very worn rear tires (Nitto R-comps). The times were still competitive with supercharged Lotus Cup Cars on slicks.

http://www.pashnit.com/motoroads.htm

GGLC Breakfast info: Saturday, August 18--meet at the N. Salinas IHOP at 7:15 am for breakfast. The IHOP is located at 1075 N Davis Rd (off of 101 at Laurel). After breakfast, the group will caravan to the GGLC/Lotus Corral at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca. More info at http://www.britishspeed.com/forum/showthread.php?6665-2012-GGLC-IHOP-Breakfast-amp-Caravan-to-Laguna

The Elan - it is an excellent example of one and the new owner regularly brings it to our autocrosses. I believe the Miata is a showcar from SEMA

That is Mophos car which now belongs to a Bay Area GGLC member

I'm guessing something to do with the F1 race? Please post pictures when you can.

There are a few of us from the west coast that will be in the upper reaches of T12. 2 Lotus owners I know just got accepted to be race marshals as well.

Are any folks going to be making the Austin F1 race this year? I'll be in T12 for all 3 days of the event.

Joel who hosts the event will be confirming the plans this weekend and I'll post them on this thread. Unfortunately I will not be able to make it to the Historics this year as something has come up. BTW I will be hosting the monthly GGLC members meeting at my house in Daly City on the 17th and all USA7'ers are of course welcome. Please PM me for the address. Also the Indycar series has a test day in Infineon on the 17th which is free to the public if you are interested. Jim Rankin and I will likely be there though not in our sevens.

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4041/4678636437_7900422936.jpg Seven Se7ens at Buttonwillow: 3 Caterhams (1 R500) 1 Birkin 1 Stalker 2 WCM Ultralite