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35th annual Lotus Owners Gathering - Colorado Springs


scannon

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Note that if your Se7en is not at the event and you paid for the event you can still drive your rental Mustang or whatever up Pikes Peak with the group.

 

When we get a little closer we can pick a day and time to meet for a Se7ens breakfast or lunch.

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Hey Skip - you ought to try driving your baby7 up Pikes Peak.

I wouldn't want to make all the Lotus cars look bad. :jester:

 

I worry more about it making it up the hill from the parking lot to the lobby of the hotel.

 

Are you still bringing your Baby 7?

 

K&K in Morrison Saturday? I'm planning on taking the Caterham if the weather is good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got talked into entering the Baby 7 in the autocross. I managed to not DNF on two of the five runs I made. I wasn't quick but I was faster than the two electric wheel chairs that ran.

 

Its hard to make out me and the car until near the end of the run.

 

https://youtu.be/tXPDGz23I3U

__________________

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Great time at LOG 35! Nice to put some faces to names. A few pictures:

http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28881&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28846&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28877&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=28853&g2_serialNumber=2

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Britt - how did your storker do on the track? I had to leave before your group went out.

 

 

Mike, it was spectacular and educational. Surprisingly, they initially had trouble finding an instructor for me; once they did, that instructor told me that some were afraid of the car.

 

I drove the oval section very conservatively, usually shifting into 5th or 6th with only a tiny bit of throttle input to get some low rev airflow to see how the coolant temp reacted and because the oval just isn't that exciting to me. My coolant temp warning light is set to come on at around 230F, which meant most of the time I was driving, that red light was on. But, after poking around the interwebs some, it appears that LS3's can operate higher than that without issue. My oil temperature light never came on, and it's set to trigger at about 270F; I think the oil temp was around 240-250F most of the time.

 

The infield portion of the course was fun, and the car handled it beautifully - so much grip, great brakes, gobs of power, and very well balanced. The same instructor rode with me on my last 4 sessions, and he was very complimentary of the car.

 

I exited early on one session because of a fuel smell and because fuel droplets splashed on the inside of the windshield, coming from behind the cockpit. After getting to the pits, I realized that my tank was so full that on the sharp right hander after the oval (Turn 4?), liquid fuel was overflowing into the vent hose (which connects to the top of the tank), then working its way down to the little breather filter at the bottom of the car, and as it dripped out of the filter, the wind would pick up the droplets and fling them into the cockpit. The same thing happened on the Pike's Peak drive, only it was tiny pebbles being carried by the wind back into the cockpit, not fuel (wifey & I couldn't understand why it kept raining rocks inside the cockpit)

 

It wasn't all puppy dogs and ice cream, however. Apparently, some of the instructors' fears about the car were well founded, and this point was illustrated when I let an instructor friend drive the car during Group A's session late in the day. I was riding with him, and before we set off, I gave him a briefing on the car, but as you'll find out shortly, I omitted a key detail. As he drives around the oval and enters the first braking zone, he locked the brakes, we spun 180 degrees, and exited the track backwards into the grass. Tires were fine, but something wasn't quite right, so we limped back to the pits and discovered two bent lower control arms. The replacements are on order from Stalker HQ. (The detail I accidentally omitted during the briefing was the lack of ABS.) The instructor let me drive his car during my last session and offered to cover the cost of the replacement LCAs. I took the rear suspension apart two days ago, and it does look like the only casualties were the rear LCAs. He & I are still friends.

 

The spin is interesting because it might mean that the rear brakes locked first, which would actually make me happy since there has been some debate about the brake bias with the Stalkers and since I had the brake bias knob set to give full pressure to the rears. I'll do some more controlled testing at a future track day.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, coming up for air. Been a busy time of it. Our road trip to LOG and back was epic. I need to do a write up and post pics.

 

My business partner was supposed to drive the car from San Diego to LOG and then hand me the keys. That ended up not being able to happen. I am a bit sad we missed a good opportunity to showcase the car, but on the other side, we have more marketing opportunities in SoCal right now than we do in Chattanooga TN. We may have the car at SEMA. I still have to arrange getting the car back east and if I drive it or ship it. We are also planning on somehow getting the car to Austin. 5 new Zenos cars are being shipped this month to USA, so soon we will have other demos around the country.

 

For me personally... LOG was very good all around...Robby Unser was a great speaker and loved the drive up to Pikes Peak. The rest I missed as I was on a deadline project for a company I am doing work for. They were very gracious in telling me to go ahead with my trip when I offered to cancel (millions of dollars on the line for one of the largest global tech firms we all know). But get it done by the weekend of LOG. Well... in spite of being in my hotel room glued to my laptop, we finished the project after leaving LOG while still in Kansas. I am sad I missed the concourse, Garden of the Gods, etc. But looking forward to LOG in New Jersey next year with the Zenos, maybe 2 or more of them.

 

 

Randy

 

What's your status re LOG?

Or am I blind, missed the car?

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Randy; I missed seeing you at LOG. It is good that you were able to make it at all.

 

Some Se7ens, a Westifeld XI, a bad picture of the baby 7 and the biggest turbocharger I've ever seen. The turbo installation is from a P47 Thunderbolt.

IMG_4578.jpg

IMG_4583.jpg

IMG_4594.jpg

IMG_4755.jpg

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