rcollum

A really good Saturday at Katie's. I met several people who were first-time-visitors. One drove his Triumph all the way from Kansas, to see friends, but had heard of this event, and wanted to see it. A man and his son arrived in his race-prepped 240SX. An old Lotus friend also showed up, and Bob Morris' Allard was delivered. I had not seen the Honda Beat there before - it's a Kei car, made for tight urban spaces. --Bob Collum

I know it's last-minute, but tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day - a great day for a drive out to this British car show. There are some great roads out that way. The show field opens at 9:00AM. Show typically runs until 3:00PM. The location: 7397 Frogtown Road Marshall, VA (Just outside of Middleburg, VA) It's $35 to register at the venue for the show, or $5 to just park and attend. This is a pretty field, and always a nice showing of British cars. --Bob Collum

A minor 'lake crossing' in the TR6; the one that finally killed it was nearly three times as deep. The radiator got pushed against the fan, and they lost all coolant. The good news - the ABRR Support Team was there quickly, provided the team with a backup car, and his TR6 was repaired and picked up late morning of day 2. By the way. the second picture shows that same Triumph, repaired, the next day. Day 2 was great - perfect weather, and no 'lakes' to drive through. Everybody had fun, but I suspect nobody had as much fun as Mark & me in the Seven. Note: we both need to launder our jackets, as our 'outboard' sleeves are getting FILTHY! --Bob Collum

Today was day one of the DC ABRR. Great roads, but lots and lots of puddles. Some puddles were large. At least one seemed to have a tide. I drove through in the Seven, and the water washed over the side pipe. The 'bow wave' reached the top of the nose. We were lucky to get through. The guy in the TR6 was not so lucky. The water pushed his radiator into the fan, and he lost coolant. His car died several miles up the road. The good news - we had help to him quickly, and he got to drive away in the 'Car of Shame' Miata. The support crew diagnosed the issue, called and ordered parts, and had the TR6 towed. It will be worked on today, and we expect it to be back in the hunt tomorrow. Great camaraderie amongst the ABRR teams, and the support team really outdid themselves on this! --Bob Collum

Very light rain early this morning made me doubt we'd have much of a turnout today, but it wasn't bad... It cleared up around 7AM. --Bob Collum

With nearby states experiencing flooding due to the hurricane, we had the good fortune of a rain-free Sunday morning. We made the most of it! Bob Scates drove his Esprit; I was there in my Elise. The BMWs outnumbered us, 3-to-2. This is a small, very informal get-together on Sundays, with a late-ish start time - 8:00AM. If you just can't get up in time for Katie's on a Saturday, you should consider joining us on Sunday! --Bob Collum

Skoda Felicia. Late '90s, I believe. Has a 1.1 liter engine. My friend followed him up Georgetown Pike on the way to the event - he said it was not even doing the speed limit. Cute, though!

It was overcast, with a very light mist, on my way to Katie's, early this morning. However, it never rained, and we had a pretty good turnout. --Bob Collum

All week long, we've had temperatures in the nineties, and high humidity. The weekend is down to the seventies, but it rained a good portion of Friday night, and it's threatening rain today. When I drove to Katie's around 5:00AM, there was no rain, and the streets were dry. However, the threat of rain meant that it was after 6:30AM before we had a good crowd. --Bob Collum

Another great party at Kevin & Denise McGovern's place. Rain caused the turnout to be much less than usual, but the quality of cars & people was as good as ever. I met Carle Conway today, for the first time. There were three Sevens there today - Kevin's (of course), Norm Beaver's, and Carle's. I was fascinated by the white Europa, since it was almost identical to the Europa I owned for 21 years. --Bob Collum

An extremely light turnout - most regulars must have been at the beach! Still, it's always good to get together with friends. --Bob Collum

The first day of September was overcast, but dry. I saw some lightning on the way to the event, but never saw a drop of rain. Nevertheless, attendance was down... but still not at all bad. I saw my first Corvette ZR-1 there today. One of my favorites is the Intermeccanica Italia - a simply gorgeous spyder. --Bob Collum P.S.: Don't miss the McGovern party on Sept. 8th: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?12099-Kevin-McGovern-Party-09-08-18-2-00PM-Ellicott-City-Maryland&p=108225#post108225

For some reason, I missed posting this earlier. This is their 22nd year. Kevin is a Seven owner (plus quite a few Lotus), and we always have a good turnout of Sevens. If you can, please come on out! ====Kevin McGovern has a picnic every year, for all kinds of car people. We are invited. This is a great event, with lots of fun people, an amazing group of cars, and good food. R.S.V.P.: kevinmcgov@aol.com 22nd Annual Lotus Summer Party Place: Kevin and Denise McGovern’s Date: Saturday, Sept. 8th Rain date: Sunday Sept. 9th Time: 2:00pm- 7:00pm Come and enjoy a swimming pool, tennis court, and friends. There will be plenty to eat and drink. Bring your family and a Lotus (or other interesting vehicle) if possible. There will be plenty of room to park on the lawn. Directions below. (Google directions are inaccurate!) Direction to the McGovern’s: 11356 Homewood Rd. Ellicott City, Md. Take Route 95 to either Route 100 or Route 32 From Rt. 100 : Follow 100 west to 29 south to 108 west. Stay on 108 west. At 4th traffic light ( Homewood Rd) turn right *Stay on Homewood Rd for 7/10th of a mile then turn right into our driveway. It is a large opening with stone pillars and a gate. If you go over a bridge you have gone too far. Follow the driveway back and go through a set of white brick pillars. Continue until you get to the house From Rt. 32 : Follow Rt 32 west to Cedar Lane/ Sanner Rd exit. ( the first exit after Rt 29) Make a right at the end of the exit. Take Cedar Lane to the end. Make a left onto Harpers Farm Rd. At the third light Harpers Farm Rd becomes Homewood Rd. stay straight. Follow the direction from * For those using Google Directions: If you are instructed to turn on Castlebridge Rd do not turn. Instead go to the next right turn which is my driveway and turn into driveway and follow it to the house at the end of the drive

Below is the sign posted at the exit from Katie's, onto Georgetown Pike. The other picture was taken a few weeks ago, of a guy who decided to do a burnout up the exit, towards Georgetown Pike. Are you impressed? The cop, who was sitting across the street, and beat the truck thru the intersection, was not impressed. A large group of Katie's regulars applauded the cop. --Bob Collum

Cameron's has become a NoVA Lotus gathering place. I go pretty much every week, and Bob Scates is a regular, too. It's a small but interesting collection of people and cars, and we don't start until 8:00AM on Sundays - come on out! It would be nice to see more Sevens here - let me know if you want to come out! --Bob Collum

A perfect-weather day at Katie's... and, a good turnout of 'our' cars. I had my Seven, and there was a Westfield Seven there, as well. Greg Smoak showed up in his blue Elise, Mickey and his daughter were driving their Evora, and there was a grey Exige from Maryland. I saw a yellow Elise as I was leaving, but I didn't get a picture of it... There was a brand-new Ford GT there today, too. --Bob Collum

In recent weeks, Katie's has had too many incidents that reflect poorly on the vast majority of attendees who know how to act. From the medevac of the McLaren driver, after he put his brand-new car into a tree, to the pickup driver who did a burnout, directly in front of a policeman, Katie's is coming under ever-more public scrutiny. This morning, I spoke to Mike Kearney, the owner of Katie's and the Old Brogue. Mike is also in charge of the Great Falls Village business owners' association. As such, Mike is the recipient of complaints from the other business owners, regarding parking and other issues. If you move one of the orange pylons to park your car, Mike hears about it. If you park in one of the marked 'No Parking' areas, Mike is the one that gets the call. In short, all of us who come to Katies Cars & Coffee are guests of Mike's. Too often, when Mike asks someone to move from where they are parked, Mike gets abuse from the people who are in the wrong. That's not right - we are guests at this venue. Katie's is arguably the best gathering of its kind in the area. Several of us have been coming to Katie's since it 'officially' started, in April of 2010 - some even earlier. It is a privilege that should not be taken lightly. Amazingly, I have heard people complain about being asked to move their car, saying that Katie's makes a fortune off the cars & coffee. Let's be clear - on a great Saturday morning, Katie's makes a small percentage of the dollars the restaurant takes in on an average Saturday night. Believe me, this event is becoming more of a pain for Mike and his staff than it is worth. (And, by the way, if you don't buy anything from Katie's, inside or outside - you have no room to complain...) Mike and the staff have adjusted to our crazy-early schedule, and are serving us as early as 6:00AM. Put yourself in their shoes - do you think it's their first choice to get up so early on a Saturday morning? It's damned tough to recruit for positions on a schedule like this. To put it as bluntly as possible - we could lose this venue. I was a regular at the Kohl's Sunday cars & coffee in Fair Lakes, which we lost a couple of years ago, because of several bad actors. It's no fun, but we were all to blame, for allowing those few to ruin it for the rest of us. If you value this venue, make it clear that we will not tolerate childish behavior. Loud engine revving? Take it elsewhere. Burnouts? High-speed runs down local roads, to & from Katie's? Take it to the track. If you behave like the guests you are, you will be welcome. People that cannot behave should be firmly but politely asked to leave. I would welcome any suggestions regarding self-policing, to save this venue. --Bob Collum

A beautiful day for a drive, which made for a good turnout at Cameron's! I was joined by Bob Scates in his esprit, and Jim Hurd in his Evora. We had Dino's Murcielago, and a Ferrari F430 there, too! --Bob Collum

It threatened rain this morning, but we never really had any, to speak of. As a result, attendance was a bit lower than usual. Still, a lot of interesting vehicles and people. Our friend Paul has a '32 Ford Roadster, with no top. We kept our umbrellas at the ready to keep his seats dry. --Bob Collum

I believe there were 7. Next year, this event will be in Sturbridge, MA on August 23-26, 2019.

The national Lotus club meet was August 10 thru 13, 2018. We had a decent showing of Sevens, both Lotus and Caterham. --Bob Collum

For our second year in a row, Debbie and I will drive our Caterham 7 in the DC chapter's America's British Reliability Run. This is a terrific event: well-run, with amazing people, and for a good cause. Our Military Kids provides activities for the children of deployed or hospitalized National Guard and Reserve members. There are two ways you can participate: 1.) You can join the event, if you have an appropriate British car. (Since the 'look' of the Seven is appropriate for the 'old British car' vibe, they will accept most Sevens for this event.) If you have a 25-year old (or older) other British car, it is also acceptable. www.dcbritishreliability.org/ If you can't participate directly in this year's event, you can help us raise funds for our team. 2.) Debbie and I are soliciting donations for our team... Any amount donated is much-appreciated! www.classy.org/team/181442?is_new=true Thanks! We hope to see some other Seven people there! --Bob Collum

We had very good weather today, and a lot more cars, too! I had taken Friday off from work, to fully detail my Elise, in preparation for the annual Lotus Owners Gathering in Cleveland in two weeks. Is anybody here going to LOG in Cleveland? --Bob Collum

A perfect-weather day for a drive to (and from) Katie's! --Bob Collum

It rained heavily last night, but was mostly clear and rain-free all morning. It's not supposed to rain until this afternoon. A lightly-attended C & C this morning - but still a bunch of nice people! --Bob Collum