2018 Sevens HPDE at NJMP - July 4-6, 2018

[Croc]

I have some video from the 360 degree camera which I mounted on a headlight bracket for something new. I need to edit it down and upload to Youtube and will post here once done.

[RGTorque]

looks like everyone got out whole and had a great time. sad i missed the awards dinner!

[Certified Lotus]

Video of Thursday's track day (July 5th). Watch in HD.

 

[Anaximander]

What a really delightful video! Very well done and excellent accompanying music. It makes me wish that we just hadn't moved 3 weeks ago and that I just acquired a beautiful Caterham Superlight 300r two days after the move that I would have loved to have gotten onto that track. Seems like a very nice time was had by all! Kudos to Tom and Mike for organizing such a nice event! Bob

 

Video of Thursday's track day (July 5th). Watch in HD.

 

[Croc]

 

 

Glen - I think this is your best video yet. It really does show the event well. Its probably best we do not video the awards dinner.... :blush:

[Croc]

This is a 360 degree video. Click through to Youtube site and then use the controls to pan around the video. You can face back to the driver and passenger while running.

 

 

Highlights:

- Set up/preparing to go out on track at Thunderbolt

- Recovering Kitcat's glove

- Thunderbolt pace laps and then faster laps

- Lightning laps

 

Sorry for sound but the Garmin does not have it.

 

 

[wemtd]

Agreed. Glen I like this one best - totally seduced, and with record production time too. I don't think most of us were even home before you were done crafting this masterpiece.

Thanks!

[Al N.]

Thanks for sharing the pix, vids, and stories for those of us who couldn't be there in person. So great to see this event growing and going strong year after year! Thanks Mike & Tom!

[xcarguy]

It’s 2:00am here in AR and we just rolled in after two days of driving. All are home safe and sound and the Storker is sleeping it off in the comfort of familiar surroundings. The trip back, while good, was not without incident. Somewhere on I-40, just west of Knoxville, the trailer tongue decided to part ways with the truck hitch at around 70mph. In short, all is well with the exception of a somewhat over heated and slightly bent trailer jack pad (now, officially a skid pad), a dented rear bumper, my wounded pride and, my inherent need for a clean pair of skivvies. :ack: I plan on devoting a new thread to this predicament explaining why it happened and what can be learned from it (hopefully avoid a repeat). In the mean time, a teaser photo below says volumes. :banghead:

[Anaximander]

Shane, Sorry for the dinged bumper. A pretty good outcome given that your beautiful Storker was cruising free of your tow vehicle at a rather high rate of speed without a pilot (pun intended). What comes to mind is the question of whether or not you utilized a safety bolt going through the ball latching device? I never leave home without one.

[xcarguy]

Shane, Sorry for the dinged bumper. A pretty good outcome given that your beautiful Storker was cruising free of your tow vehicle at a rather high rate of speed without a pilot (pun intended). What comes to mind is the question of whether or not you utilized a safety bolt going through the ball latching device? I never leave home without one.

 

Bob,

 

If you look at the photo closely, you'll see that my 'safety bolt' is actually a lock made specifically for securing the ball latch. Like I said, I'll dedicate a thread to this later this week. I will say this much, fatigue on my part played a huge roll in what happened.

[yellowss7]

Shane, Kitcat has a similar story from one of the past years events. He made it all the way back to Cincy with the hitch sitting on top of the ball. I'm sure he will explain in greater detail if prodded.

 

Well, I'm just starting to feel less sore and tired after the event even though I only made a little less than the first session before my throttle cable snapped and the TPS broke. I did do a few instructor laps with Matt in his Westfield, but My ears started to bleed from him doing 9000 rpm in third at 110 mph!!! ( well maybe it just felt like they were)

:ack:

Luckily Simon filled in for the last session with him for me. Thanks Simon!

 

All in all it was a pretty good event IMO. Only Fred, Chris and I had mechanical issues which cut our participation short. Nothing of a serious nature. Simon replaced my throttle cable and TPS, so mine is running again. Fred lost a rectifyer and went looking for a part but never came back. Hopefully he found one and his way home. Chris S, brought his recently rebuilt Lotus 7 out with a brand new engine rebuild that limited him to 4000 rpm, but had a vibration which he felt needed attention and as a former SCCA racer, he has more sense than most of us and packed it up to run another day. He says he will definitely be back next year. Norm did have an on track incident

:willy_nilly:

which was a bummer, but he's ok and hopefully his wife is the understanding type.

 

Everyone played very nicely out on track, and from the smiles, I'd say that everyone had a great time. It was also nice to have a great turn out of wives and significant others. They were troopers putting up with the noise, heat and long days of watching us. Luckily the timing towers offered some good cool A/C and viewing.

 

Thanks to all who made the commitment and effort to attend. It is so nice to have our own run group of 7s out there on track. Thanks to Glen and Mike for their video and Photo contributions. And Thanks to NJMP for allowing us to bring a lot of guests and giving us our own run group.

 

Hope to see a few other here join us next year. Tom

[xcarguy]

. . .Only Fred, Chris and I had mechanical issues which cut our participation short. Nothing of a serious nature. Simon replaced my throttle cable and TPS, so mine is running again. Fred lost a rectifyer and went looking for a part but never came back. Hopefully he found one and his way home. Chris S, brought his recently rebuilt Lotus 7 out with a brand new engine rebuild that limited him to 4000 rpm, but had a vibration which he felt needed attention and as a former SCCA racer, he has more sense than most of us and packed it up to run another day . . .

 

Well, you left the ‘drag queen’ out. :jester: Or did you forget that the Storker laid down at the very end of the first T-bolt session. While you were being towed away from that attractive corner worker, I was on the opposite side of the course hitching a ride with the local tow vehicle. On top of that, when the car quit, I coasted off track and across a small ditch that wasn’t visible in the grass. Mucked up the aluminum mount for the front wing. Spent the morning shopping local hardware stores for a ‘gud ol boi’ fix. Got that squared away and spent the afternoon figuring out why the car just simply quit. With Roman by my side, and a multimeter in hand, we traced it to the charging wire having come loose at the alternator. Did manage to run the last session of the day.

[yellowss7]

Yeah, I guess I did forget about that. But as You say I was busy talking to Ashley. :drool: And I did lend you the multi meter. But your electrical issue was a disconnected plug, so I don't count that. :smash:

 

But you have to admit that it was a pretty clean event. Croc and I had to struggle to find worthy recipients of the "awards"

[xcarguy]

. . . I did lend you the multi meter . . . your electrical issue was a disconnected plug . . . But you have to admit that it was a pretty clean event. Croc and I had to struggle to find worthy recipients of the "awards"

 

All true. I’m just looking for sympathy...I think it’s the red sash. :jester:

[Croc]

While you were being towed away from that attractive corner worker...

 

Dragged away more likely... :jester:

[Kitcat]

Left NJMP Saturday @ 5:45 a.m., picked up 6 year old grandson Max, in Frederick, MD, on the way back and instantly went into "grandad mode" for last 4 days, hence my absence here.

 

Once again, Croc and Tom outdid themselves! This is a ton of fun for all of us mostly because they do a ton of work in advance. We had a progressively more interesting dinner option, starting Tuesday with great pub food, seafood on Weds on Delaware Bay, culminating in as nice an Italian dinner as I have ever had Weds eve in Millville. And the NJMP Pub/Clubhouse/pool is a great place for breakfast lunch and cooling off with adult beverages post race.

 

And, there is even racing:)! I was pleased that I only slowed up by 1/10 of a second on Lightening. Also happy that, to Croc and Tom's evident disappointment, I did nothing (much) to embarrass myself (for a change:)).

 

I had fun catching up on everyone's news. And, as I mentioned in my "acceptance speech" for the debris award, I enjoyed meeting the amazing women who have somehow found it in their generous hearts to overlook our se7en fetish.

 

Final shout-out to Shane, first for bringing his entire lovely family all that way, and second for mentioning the air museum at nearby Wright Patterson airport, where grandson Max and I and grandma spent 3 happy hours yesterday.

 

And yes Shane, I once put the closed and locked trailer hitch on top of the ball, not over and around it. And drove all the way from NJMP to Cincinnati w/o incident (I wonder what is causing all that squeaking????). It even survived a panic stop on the Penn Turnpike for a wreck when a lady flipped her car in front of me. Who says all the driving excitement is on track?

[xcarguy]

. . . I once put the closed and locked trailer hitch on top of the ball, not over and around it. And drove all the way from NJMP to Tennessee w/o incident (I wonder what is causing all that squeaking????).

 

Kitcat. Fixed your post to reflect my own adventure (yep, made it aaaaaallll the way to TN). And ditto on the squeaking. :jester:

Edited July 11, 2018 by xcarguy

[simon450]

What?

 

 

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[l7s1]

First time here so hope I am getting through. Thanks again for the warm welcome at NJMP. That towing story is almost an exact copy of mine going to Watkins Glen with my SCCA FP Sunbeam years ago. Great fun at NJMP despite that strange noise on accelerating in right turns. A closer look shows that the rear universal joint bolts were trying to carve up the rear section of the transmission tunnel so am happy I stopped early before any real damage. Sorry I was slow with the new motor and noise. The Series 1 has a different set-up than 2 or 3 for rear axle (old Sprite design) lateral location. I had it set with insufficient right side clearance between the universal joint and trans tunnel with driver weight plus acceleration. Also, I had the coilover Spax shocks adjusted soft and as low as the spring mounts go. So I am changing things now.