Should we attend LOG 31 or aim for a National USA7s Meet in 2011?

[BusaNostra]

@Jon: The only thing that I would add regarding it being "Se7ens only" is that Se7ens of all kinds should be the focus.

 

 

 

I agree!

Sorts like tribute to Elvis (Seven).

[Kitcat]

As I posted elsewhere, I found the Lotus folks very friendly and inclusive and they showed unfailing interest in my Caterham. Unlike Croc, I didn't attempt to interact with any of the SimpleSevens owners, which seems to be where some of the bad vibe originated.

 

So, other than being banished to the far corner of the parking lot, there was never a sense of being treated differently. And its a Lotus event, their members do all the work and we show up and play. So what's to complain abt? I will say that the entire auto-X was a Caterham affair, it was put on and staffed by Caterham owners-so we did make a bit of a contribution.

 

And, sorry abt the lotus badge on my Caterham, guilty as charged. It was there when i bought it 3 years ago, having been so affixed by the prior owner. I just never removed it.

 

Finally kudos to Dean and his crew for putting so much sweat and time into making this LOG, my first but hopefully not last, so terrific.

 

Mike.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Kitcat

[Automoda]

Count me in on Gert's cruise.

[Alaskossie]

i also plead guilty to having black and silver Lotus badge on my Caterham's nose.... and on the wheel centers.... I put them there.

 

My excuse? The colors matched my car's body colors perfectly -- the Caterham badges do not.

 

When scannon and I attended the LOCO monthly gathering in Denver last July, I didn't hear any negative comments about my badging (and as scannon said, my car attracted more attentin in the rain than did the new Evora).

 

Perhaps for the next LOG meet in Vegas, we should devise a back-panel sticker that says, "Slightly More Evolved Sevens" or something like that....?

[lancylad]

A seven is a seven is a 7.. isn't that the point of having one of these cars.. When I slide into the cockpit, strap myself in and turn the key, manufacturers names dont mean diddly. I am there for the sheer joy and exhileration of piloting the most sensory attached machine on the road. I really wish there wasn't snobbery within the world of 7's but, there is, so let the ones who have to feel superior with flashing the NAME.. card have their own little world. How about the rest of us who simply love our cars regardless of what name is on it, get on with promoting our 7ness and attracting more to our open and friendly minded forum. A USA7 meet in Vegas would certainly be attractive to Linda, me and "Her Madge".

[scannon]

When scannon and I attended the LOCO monthly gathering in Denver last July, I didn't hear any negative comments about my badging (and as scannon said, my car attracted more attentin in the rain than did the new Evora).

 

Perhaps for the next LOG meet in Vegas, we should devise a back-panel sticker that says, "Slightly More Evolved Sevens" or something like that....?

When I first joined LOCO I felt somewhat isolated. The first event I took my car to was a large sports and exotic car show for a charity. When I drove into the Lotus area I was directed to park at the far end of the Lotus designated area. My car was nearly 50' from the nearest Lotus. I felt a little put out about it but it soon became evident that my car was getting more attention than the rest of the Lotus cars.

 

I almost decided to quit the club but gave it more time and now feel accepted. There is a core group in this club that have been there for over 20 years and it is naturally hard to break into a group like that.

 

The new club president and his wife have really taken upon themselves to welcome new members the last couple of years and the club seems a more friendly place now.

 

Some of you might have met them at LOG30, Ross and Ann Robbins. They drove their Elan and Lotus 7 from Denver to the LOG and I expect they are still on the road returning. Their Lotus 7 doesn't have a top so they braved the rain on the trip out. Someone posted a picture of the car and you could see the handles of a couple of umbrellas strapped to the luggage rack on the back of the car.

[Lotusrepair]

I have heard that there was some mixed feelings from some of the attendees. I have come here to see if I can work those relating to the LOG staff.

 

This year it was decided to change the layout of the concours. We are all used to the standard pie shape wedges that we all get squished into. The first ones there get the front and then it spreads out from there. For a change it was decided to group the cars from oldest to newest. Take out the pie wedge and try and make the same cars go side to side. We tried something different. The car count surprised us and we were more concerned about fitting the amount of cars we had. The final layout for car spacing did not get finished till just before LOG. The car count kept rising. Just fitting that amount of cars on the lot was the main concern. LOG normally has 125 cars on average.

 

The Caterham 7 is still being sold and we consider it a current car because it is still in production. It was grouped with the models that are currently in production. I am sorry if anyone felt that they were sidelined. It was not the intent.

 

Personal gripes between attendees is beyond our control. If there was specific problem with a member of the LOG Staff, I would like to know about it.

 

Chris Kosko

LOG 30 Chairman

tracker@smart.net

[Croc]

Having let my post evolve for a few days it has been interesting to see the themes and ideas different site members have. Selectively quoting and responding to those:

 

I have heard that there was some mixed feelings from some of the attendees. I have come here to see if I can work those relating to the LOG staff….

 

Personal gripes between attendees is beyond our control. If there was specific problem with a member of the LOG Staff, I would like to know about it.

 

Chris Kosko

LOG 30 Chairman

 

Chris – As I said on the LOG 30 pictures thread, and when I thanked you in person at LOG 30, I believe you, your wife Siobhan and the rest of your LOG 30 team put an incredible amount of effort in to make sure LOG 30 was a success. And it was. Your clarification of the concours layout makes perfect sense now although I did not understand it when at LOG. My core issue was with the personal attitudes of a small group of attendees which as I noted in my original post and as you rightly point out in yours is beyond the control of the LOG organizers. I can only say again thank you and congratulations on pulling off a successful LOG.

 

 

 

I have stated before that the Balkanization of the Se7en community would be a disservice to those who love the type…..

 

2 - Lotus Ltd has the specific mission of supporting Lotus. The club's governing recognizes that the Seven lives on in many forms. Legally the Seven name lives on via Caterham. In spirit it lives on by multitude of manufactures.

 

Please don't paint an entire club by the actions and words of a few individuals.

 

 

Dean – I could not have expressed it better, we want to avoid Balkanization. Unfortunately not all Seveners share this worthy goal, although I believe the USA7s group is united on this point from reading this posting thread. This post was intended to take the temperature on whether this was just an isolated incident or something more serious. The quality of posts in response just shows that it was just isolated and should not be viewed wider – something I am personally thankful for.

 

Continuing on the Mustang Ranch theme mentioned elsewhere, I have been around life long enough to know that you always find a couple of bad “twunts” in any whorehouse. Like the skunk in the nosecone of my Seven, it was my usual luck that I happened to score those twunts. Thanks to the positive messages on this post I have taken my medicine and I will be back on top in no time….and avoiding those individuals in the future.

 

 

I'm all for a usa7s only event. we need to reinvigorate the club a little bit. Al did a fantastic job with 7/7/7, but we have not had anything even close to that type of effort since. We need to step it up as an organization in '11.

 

I think you are right that it is probably time to have a national USA7s event of some sort. It is difficult for us having a fairly esoteric club that is geographically spread across the US and Canada to make a big meet work. Given the last event was in 2007 maybe we set ourselves the promise of having one formal big event every 5 years (e.g. 7/7/07 or LOG-like) – next is 2012 – and then we use events like Gert’s annual road trip as a more informal circuit breaker for those who want something more regularly.

 

I like the club's mission being marque inclusive. That was one of the things that attracted me to USA7s. Anything we do as an event should have the club's mission at its core. Of course we will invite Lotus Seveners, even the twunts that I had the misfortune to meet, as long as they buy into the club's aims.

 

 

I think we have a successful USA7s regional cluster meet effort – you can see the regular postings on the region/areas of USA7s website across the US and Canada. The regional meets are important as they offer a more frequent mechanism for us to connect as a club.

 

Al’s comments in this thread that a National meet is a huge effort is so true. However, as a club we need something like this that keeps us knitted together at the center across US and Canada otherwise it eventually all falls apart into the “Balkans” situation so eloquently described by Dean. Our forum does achieve this to a high degree, allowing us to interact remotely. However it does not substitute for the periodic regional or national meet where you can strengthen the clubs’ bonds through personal interaction and a Sevens blat (and a few drinks afterwards!).

 

Having seen Gert’s proposed itinerary I have to admit I am very tempted. I cannot get that much time away from work to drive out there and back but does anyone want to share a USA7s truck from the east coast to ship their car? In between writing this post I just sent an email to my secretary asking her to find quotes to rent an entire car carrier there and back to NJ….LOL

 

A seven is a seven is a 7.. isn't that the point of having one of these cars.. When I slide into the cockpit, strap myself in and turn the key, manufacturers’ names don’t mean diddly. I am there for the sheer joy and exhilaration of piloting the most sensory attached machine on the road. I really wish there wasn't snobbery within the world of 7's but, there is, so let the ones who have to feel superior with flashing the NAME card have their own little world. How about the rest of us who simply love our cars regardless of what name is on it, get on with promoting our 7ness and attracting more to our open and friendly minded forum.

 

Beautifully stated! It does not get much better than that.

Edited October 14, 2010 by Croc

[Kitcat]

Croc/Mike:

 

Let me know if your car carrier passes thru Cincy.

 

Mike

[bsimon]

RE: Lotus Badges

 

Not that it's critical to this discussion, but all Caterhams had Lotus badges until 1980 or so...

 

var Poo=pedantry.off

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[MightyMike]

I put a Lotus badge on my Birkin. I also had a '69 Chevy Malibu in high school with all the 396SS trimmings. If I had a Cobra replica, I'd probably deck it out with all of the Shelby/AC badges. I'm thinking about putting Proton or Toyota badges on my real Lotus.

[slngsht]

I'm thinking about putting Proton or Toyota badges on my real Lotus.

:rofl:

[DeanG]

I suggest that the national event committee of USA7s consider have a formal agreement between themselves and the organizers of LOG 31. There is strength (and better prices) in numbers. Some events could be shared and some separate. USA7s could solicit participation and sponsorship from such as Birkin, Westfield, Caterham and etc.

 

LOG 29 was a shared event with the Mercedes club. Each club had separate events that focused on their unique interests and events in common. The Talladega lapping and Drivers Education events were shared (and maybe some other events such as the autocross). The receptions and car shows were kept separate. Of course Lotus and Mercedes Benz are vastly different cars that attract different personality types. It is sometimes easier to get along with strangers than brothers.

[s2k7]

Take this note: Aside from Caterham, Westfield has one of the biggest membership among Lotus clones in England

http://boardroom.wscc.co.uk/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi

 

Most promoted & supported their badge "Westfield" instead of saying it's a "Lotus".

It's really not. I respect the club by not calling their clone a Lotus .

The purist has the bragging right and I will leave them alone.

The Westfield has similar LOG like the Lotus LOG but strickly their own club. I wish we can do the same and not tagalong everytime there is a Lotus event. I'm a bit worried, uneasy & reserved everytime I go to Lotus event.

 

At the end, no one stopping you to call your clone a "lotus" but as someone said, support your badge & be upfront

not to call it a Lotus 7. Let the enthusiast mind wanders in the seven heaven.

Edited October 15, 2010 by s2k7

[Lotusrepair]

I have always wanted a seven. It could be a car made by Lotus or by Caterham. To me they are the same car, just old vs modern. In my mind the Caterham is a continuation of the Lotus 7. Everything else is a copy or clone. Then again I am strange, I would really like a series 4 seven. I like the fiberglass body.

 

One day Caterham may sell the rights to the car to xyz company. The Caterham owners will want to make sure they are not confused with the cars from xyz. The spirit of the origional 7 still lives on in linage but the name changes.

[lancylad]

s2k7;47445]Take this note: Aside from Caterham, Westfield has one of the biggest membership among Lotus clones in England

[

I attend this forum regularly, as you all know I drive a" Westy" . There are a good number of the members of the forum who drive Caterhams and are accepted with open arms and of course a good dose of Brit humour. Like most of us, they just want to drive their own piece of madness and associate with like minded individuals. Speaking of which.. lets really make a huge get together a reality, Vegas sounds great, would be a great trip for me,the Missus and 'Her Madge'.. ROAD TRIP...:hurray:

[Mondo]

I have my WCM Ultralite badge prominently displayed on the hood. But I made this and am planning to put in the center of my steering wheel.

 

Thought it would be funny to possibly ruffle some feathers... until they take a closer look and see it says "not us" (couldn't get the right N font).

 

Maybe we could put something like this on all our cars at the next LOG;)

Edited October 19, 2010 by Mondo

[snookwheel]

I have my WCM Ultralite badge prominently displayed on the hood. But I made this and am planning to put in the center of my steering wheel.

 

Thought it would be funny to possibly ruffle some feathers... until they take a closer look and see it says "not us" (couldn't get the right N font).

 

Maybe we could put something like this on all our cars at the next LOG;)

 

FANTASTIC!!!! I want one!

[S1Steve]

Stirring the pot, I like it, I'll take one also !!!!

[scannon]

My steering wheel and nose cone each need one, put me down for two.