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Lotus 7 wins F Production at Runoffs today


Kitcat

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Congratulations to John Walker in his '65 Lotus Super 7 for knocking off all those Miatas! Another Lotus driven by Peter Morton was 5th. Quite an accomplishment at Mid-Ohio, a track that favors aerodynamics.

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Couple thoughts/corrections to add to this thread. Mike, Mid Ohio is certainly not a course that favors aero. Mid Ohio is a classic handling track where if there was ever a chance for a car like a Lotus 7 to win, this was it. Top speeds at Mid Ohio in F Production are in the neighborhood of 128 mph in the front-running SCCA Lotus 7's, from pre-crossflow 1500cc Kent motors, so not a big "aero" influence at those speeds, and besides the back straight, Mid Ohio is all about handling and "transitions" where the Lotus 7 excels. This was why you saw 3 Lotus 7's qualify in the top 7, and none even bother to go to Daytona last year, and likely none will be able to qualify in the top 10 at Indy next year. If there was ever a year for a Lotus 7 to win the Runoffs, this was it and John Walker took advantage of it and congrats to him. He drove a car that his dad has been racing for probably 20 years and I actually did the setup on it on Monday morning before first qualifying. The Steve Hussey car that qualified 2nd may be a total write-off is a chassis that I built from scratch about 10 years ago and is a super-strong car that did it's job in a 120mph impact, and the Peter Morton car that ended up 5th is actually my old SCCA car that I raced in the late 90's and finished 2nd in. Eric Prill raced his dad's (Paul) Lotus for many years and qualified it on pole at the Runoffs in Topeka 7 or 8 years ago but has never won the Runoffs in a Lotus, or in his current Miata. A Lotus 7 had only once-previously won the Runoffs, back in 1978 I believe with Tom Robertson winning in CP, and that car can now be seen at the Barber Museum.

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Great info and insights Craig! I suspected you had role in the development of some of the sevens there. Didn't you win F Production at the Runoffs there in a Ginetta some years ago? Glad to hear the driver of the wrecked seven is recovering well.

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Correct, James. Caterham technically not a Lotus 7 but Kim did win back in '05 in a crash filled EP race as he did a good job avoiding the last lap carnage. I was correct in saying only two wins for Lotus 7 in SCCA Runoffs history. Mike, SCCA never homologated the Ginetta G4 for club racing but it is a popular vintage race car here in the US (and Europe), for the most part using the same running gear as the pre-crossflow Lotus 7 (although some run 1 liter Kent motors, and some run twincams). I won FP in a Midget and EP in an Elva Courier. Craig

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