I’ve been to the Conclave as a spectator twice. Three years ago I registered the car but the floods caused a postponement and the rescheduled date didn’t work for me. I figured I was overdue for a return trip.
“What’s it say?”
When I got back from the Laguna Seca trip I decided to get track outlines for each track I’ve driven it on. I’d put them on the hardtop, which sits in its canvas bag on a shelf all the time. I’d like to build a wall mount for it, put it on display and free up some shelf space. I haven’t figured that out yet, but I can certainly mount the roof on the car for car shows. I have all the tracks except CSP, which should be available soon. In the mean time it’s nine tracks. I can’t remember when I last had the top on, it must be at least three years.
The car is pretty filthy. I need to get all the road grime and black marks removed. I didn’t even give it a good wash; I just rinsed it off, didn’t touch the wheels. It definitely looks like a road warrior and not a show car. I figured I might have the dirtiest car in the show.
I made up a picnic lunch, took water and sunscreen, threw a chair in the boot, and headed to Oak Park. Registration started at 7:30, I figured 8:00 would be good. Arrived at the planned time. I was the second Lotus. A couple cars ahead of me I saw a mid-fifties Chevy. What’s a Chevy doing at an English car show? Then I noticed it was right hand drive and thought that was the answer. But it was misdirection: the car isn’t English after all, it’s Aussie.
The other times I attended there were about fifteen Lotus, a third of which were skittle colored Eliges. I think we had two Evoras as well. Today there were no Exiges, no Evoras, and I was the only Elise. There was an Elite, an M100 Elan, two or three Europas and the rest were Esprits and Caterhams. One of the Esprits was shod in Giugiaro design tires. I had no idea such things existed. I heard dozens of people say “That’s the James Bond car” but never heard one Pretty Woman reference.
When we moved to Colorado fifty odd years ago, my Mom and Dad and brother and I drove two cars from Ohio. One was a 1962 Hillman Minx, light blue. I don’t have any vivid memories of the car, other than crossing Nebraska in the summer in that Hillman. Air conditioning wasn’t common and neither car had it, but Dad’s car had a radio. Mom’s Hillman didn’t. My brother and I took turns in each car, so we didn’t even have each other to pester. We sold it soon after we got here. Parts were impossible to find here.
So, of course, I always look for a Hillman. There was one the last time I was here, but not a Minx. It stood all alone in one corner of an area for miscellaneous marques. Today there were three: two Huskys and a Minx convertible. I chatted with the owner of the Minx. He has replaced the motor with a different English make. He also told me that in 1959 Hillman was the second most imported make. Funny, then, that by the mid-sixties parts would be so hard to find. When I first approached him, he was telling another gentleman, “It’s rare, but that doesn’t make it valuable!”
Powered by Lotus
One of the Huskys is worth mentioning. It has a bunch of medallions on the grill. When I was walking up to it, I noticed that one of them was a Lotus roundel. I wondered what that was about, as to the best of my knowledge Lotus didn’t have anything to do with Hillman. Normally it doesn’t, but this fellow powers his Husky with a Lotus motor.
My track decals were a topic of conversation. One older gentleman asked me what it said. “I don’t recognize the language.” Another guy said he was thinking of buying an Elise. I had him sit in it; he didn’t say it, but I think he was concerned he was too tall. He was maybe an inch taller than me. He had a bit of trouble getting in and out. I know I did the first time I sat in one.
It was quite the enjoyable day. The weather was fine – sunny, clear, calm, a bit on the warm side but not hot. I talked to people who were interested in the car. I made a couple circuits of the place and saw at least one of damn near every British car make I’ve ever heard of. Yup, it was a good day.
I was the beneficiary of Scott’s misfortune. He had registered and paid for the track day with CECA at the Colorado State Patrol training facility. But his car was still in the shop. The original plan was I’d show up for a while and he could give me a ride. Instead, I ran in his place and I gave him a ride.
This was my third time here, the other two were back in 2012 and 2013. Back then the dirt road leading to the facility was heavily rutted and a challenge to navigate. We had to crawl up, often switching from one side of the road to the other to avoid bottoming out. It was a pleasant surprise to see that it has been substantially improved. It’s hardly the same road. This road will never get ruts like it used to.
There was a nice turnout. The event was limited to forty cars. I had heard that with a week to go there were only eleven entrants. I didn’t count but would guess there were twenty five or thirty cars. I could be over estimating, though. CECA allows second drivers for free, so several cars went out in more than one group. In any event, CECA is back to break-even for the season
Nissan Skyline GT-R
It was an interesting mix of cars. There was another Elise, Mark, who’s had his pretty blue car for only a few months. A Caterham made up the rest of the Lotus contingent. There was quite a group of 1960’s cars. CECA days always have a Hertz GT 350. There was also a nice orange Mustang fastback, a green Firebird, a white Falcon (1964, maybe?), and a red Corvair that smoked like he was spraying for mosquitoes. There was a later Mustang, a race car, but pretty beat up, and a recent GT 350. A few Miatas, a few very expensive 911’s, two silver Scion FR-S’s.There must have been a Corvette, certainly, but… perhaps not.
Two cars in particular attracted my attention. I couldn’t help but notice a Nissan Skyline GT-R, right hand drive. Not a flashy car, grey inside and out, but unmistakable. It has something I’ve never seen on a coupe or sedan: a wiper for the back window.
The other was a recent Mustang. Metallic blue, with gold stripes, a GT-500 Super Snake. He just had it dyno’d – seven hundred ninety something horsepower at the flywheel. He thinks it’s capable of 180mph and says that to get it to 200mph it would cost an additional $20,000. He was running in the green group and we were never on the track together.
Mustang GT 500 Super Snake
I have no data from my earlier visits. I may have had a lap timer on my old phone, but if I did the data is long gone. Laps are counter-clockwise and cover about 1.4 miles. Depending on how you count it’s either eight turns or three turns and a chicane. A lot of the guys say it’s flat, but that’s not true. There are two big humps that make some passengers nauseous. And the entry of one turn has enough downhill grade to make late braking more challenging. One thing I like about it is that there are no long straights: it’s not a horsepower track. That said, I manage to hit 100mph twice each lap (well, most laps) and average 70, which is a higher average speed than I manage at HPR.
Caterham
The weather couldn’t have been much better. It was cool in the morning, clear and calm. It stayed clear, with the usual brilliant blue Colorado sky, but never got hot. In the morning, oversteer was a common complaint. Everybody expected it to get better as the track got some heat into it, but my car felt loose all day.
Scott seemed reluctant to take a ride. He said he didn’t want to slow me down with the additional weight of a passenger. But I like giving rides. I told him I don’t really notice much change in the car, and doubt that my times are significantly slower. We speculated that it might be two seconds a lap here. It turned out to be more like a half second. I was able to do a 1:13.6 in the second session and 1:13.4 in the fourth. Most days my times improve each session so I might have been able to do a 1:13.5 in the third. With Scott as a passenger, I managed six laps in the 1:14’s with a best of 1:14.1.
When Scott got out of the car he complained of a bit of nausea. I hope it was the humps and not my driving. I missed a lot of apexes and took some funny lines. And made my biggest mistake of the day: braking too late on the downhill section. I couldn’t get the car around the corner and put four wheels off. I wasn’t black flagged but should have self-reported. I didn’t. I had the car straight and under control, down to 25mph.
The fourth, final, session was open track – all groups could run. But a number of people had had enough by then. There weren’t many cars on the track, even with whatever green and blue drivers were out. I managed six consecutive laps without traffic. Scott took a few laps in Mark’s car; he exited the track just as I was catching him. Then Mark drove and did the same thing. I was hoping to get his car on camera for a few turns but so it goes.
After the last session I had a nice chat with Bill and Heike. Bill had an interesting proposition. “The track,” he said, “isn’t really a track. We use it like a track but it’s really an endless two-lane highway.” He’s correct, of course. It’s built like a road. It has a crown like a road, it is striped like a road. The Troopers use it as a road. Bill suggests “Stay in your lane and see how fast you can do a lap.” Next time I come here I’ll have to give it a shot.
The video is two laps plus my off. The map gauge worked this time. I have no idea why it works sometimes and not others.
The low flying planes quit buzzing the motel soon enough, and I was finally able to sleep a troubled sleep. I tried to remain positive. This couldn’t have happened in a better place. Eight miles away are the region’s Elise experts. I topped off the gas tank then headed to the track. When I arrived at the entrance to the track, another green Elise with a wide centered yellow stripe was behind me. There’s a entrance booth that was unmanned. I pulled aside and he pulled up. “Don’t stop here. Follow me.” So I didn’t, and I did. I just met Bryan.
The check engine light hadn’t come back on, not yet at least. But the car wasn’t warming up. I didn’t think I’d be able to run if it didn’t get up to temperature and by now it should have. Just as we enter the paddock we had to stop to sign the waiver. While I was queued up behind Bryan that the temperature finally got into the operating range.
We pulled into spots right up against the pit road, just a few car lengths from the pit lane entrance. After checking in, I went back to chat with Bryan. His 2005, Lotus Racing Green, not BRG, is his track toy. Supercharged, and sporting a new device for his exhaust to mitigate the sound. He’s had some experience at this track, but only his second time in this car.
Chasing Eleanor down the Corkscrew
There was an excellent turnout. As expected, a good proportion of Lotus. Mel, who I met yesterday, brought is ’74 Elan. There was an X180R race car, “Eleanor“, the second of two type 105 race cars built to compete in the SCCA World Challenge series. There were a ton of Elises and Exiges, a 2-Eleven. In addition, there was the usual complement of Porsches, Miatas, Minis, Audis, and BMWs. What I thought was a Noble turned out to be a Rossion. There were several Mustangs. Most were new, but there was a 1973 Mustang that was a race car when new and still is. A Cobra, I believe, and not a knock-off. Even an old Volvo station wagon Lemons car.
A Golden Gate Lotus Club track day is a well-organized event. Snacks were available at check in. The drivers meeting was efficiently run, everything covered yet succinct. The photographer, Dito Milian, spoke, giving pretty much the same spiel as he did on Friday. “If you’re in the front of a line of cars, it doesn’t mean you’re holding them up. In the picture it looks like you’re winning!” We were dismissed; let the festivities begin.
I’ve been carrying a second helmet the whole trip. I’d invited people to Sonoma but I didn’t really expect them to show up. I had the spare helmet on my trip two years ago and never had a guest. Carrying it is a waste of space, and I should bring something else. But today Caleb showed up so it wasn’t a waste of space after all. I like giving rides. I’ve probably had riders at nearly half my track days. But nobody was ever as excited as Caleb. He was like a kid at Christmas.
Mel and his Elan
We would have a 20 minute session each hour and a twenty minute break for lunch. Everybody got seven sessions; I drove five and a half. To start the first session, Bryan offered to lead me around for two laps. He was giving a ride to another intermediate driver; would do two laps, drop him off, and resume. I could follow the two laps.
This worked out pretty well for me, he showed me a good line. The first session was a madhouse. It seemed like there were too many cars out. It’s partly down to the rush to do three sessions an hour – they release the cars from the grid quickly, not much space between cars, so we start the session bunched up. In the drivers meeting, they announced that if you spin or go four off in the first session, or put two off with a passenger, you’ll be the Bozo. They’d actually put a Bozo sign on your car. Although I put two off with a passenger it wasn’t in the first session, so I avoided being Bozo.
That first session never really loosened up. At home, checkered flag means cool down lap, don’t use the brakes. In this trip, checkered flag is “hustle home, boys.” Keep at eighty percent of your pace, and bring it in. Today checkers were displayed at 1 and 7. In this lap. We took the checker at turn one, so had nearly a whole lap. Even at the relaxed pace, half way through the lap I was setting my best lap time for the session.
In the second session the CEL illuminated again. I had talked to Rob Dietsch earlier. He said I’d have no problems running today and no problems driving home; the only issue will be extended warm-up times. Unless, that is, the misfire code returns. I wasn’t experiencing any misfire and when Rob checked the code it was just the thermostat. [In the subsequent two weeks, no codes have been thrown and warm-up times have been normal.]
Each session got progressively better, which is the usual case. Had I given more thought to it, I might have skipped the first session and run a later one instead. Each session was better than the previous. I was starting to figure out some of the turns, working out the braking points. I was getting used to the other drivers in the session.
I don’t think I passed anybody in the first session. By the third session I was really starting to get comfortable. Now I was getting stuck behind an orange Exige. I’d get close to making a run on him and I’d have to let a faster car by. Finally got up on him, got large in his mirrors, but his extra horsepower let him pull me on the straights. Not being able to get around him, I let a space open up; I could start away from him in the next session.
As odd as it was that my fastest lap in the first session would have been my in lap, had it been complete, my fastest lap in the third session was the one where I made the most mistakes. That gave me confidence. Make fewer errors, I’ll obviously get faster.
I’m sometimes surprised at how fast my modern car is compared to some classic race cars of not that long ago. The X180R is a beautiful car, sounds fantastic, it was a real pleasure to get to see it in action on the track, to run with it on the track. I was surprised I was able to catch it so easily. One of my neighbors speculated the car had a timing problem and wasn’t running properly. But it shows how automotive technology has advanced that my little 2006 street car can outrun a championship race car from 1990.
The thermostat didn’t give me much grief. The engine didn’t cool down too much between sessions, except for the lunch break. I was now faster than Bryan, so he wanted me ahead of him on the grid. Unfortunately, it took two laps to get the temperature back up. I’m fifteen seconds a lap slower without the second cam. After the two laps, I took off like a scalded cat; was able to execute a pass on the orange Exige that had flummoxed me earlier.
I improved my best time in each session, until my final aborted one. I put two wheels off twice, just barely, and was a little sideways or had wobbles a number of times but felt in control the whole time. With one lapse. In my final full session I came up on a black and yellow Mustang. He waved me by, pointing me right. I passed him on the left. After the session was over I found him in the paddock and apologized. Looking at the video, I see why I did it. He was moving right as he was pointing me right. Still, I was correct to apologize.
By mid afternoon, Bryan’s exhaust gadget was discoloring his license plate. He unmounted the device for the final session and was not black flagged. He didn’t need to use it.
I ran half of what I thought was the final session, due to low fuel. Okay, I admit I was beginning to get fatigued. I didn’t have the best night’s sleep, and we had gotten a good dose of track time. I certainly won’t complain that I didn’t get my money’s worth.
Bryan follows me into the Corkscrew
At the end of the day, Caleb asked me which of the three days was my favorite. It didn’t take me long to say that today was the best of the three. There’s no doubt that a big part of it is the iconic nature of the place. I still can’t believe I got to run laps at Laguna Seca. Incredible, the stuff of fantasy. Lapping Laguna Seca in a Lotus is definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
My feelings now are quite a contrast to just 24 hours ago. I’m relieved and elated, still somewhat adrenalized, looking forward to a sound, well-earned night’s rest.
At Willows we switched gears. Now we switch directions: homeward bound.
The upgrade to Windows 10 has interfered with my video editing. Although I haven’t been able to do one yet for Sonoma, I did manage to make this two lap clip, second lap is my fast lap for the day.
It’s an hour drive to the track from Danville. I should have left earlier; I didn’t realize how crowded it would be. I drove through the entire paddock looking for a place to park and ended up back near the entrance, closest to food. I may have gotten the very last spot. I was between two Miatas on one side, two Porsches on the other. On the other side of the Miatas is a Volcano Orange McLaren and on the other side of the Porsches is a silver one.
The place is a madhouse. Track Masters and Speed Ventures are co-organizers of the track event. Track Masters is also operating an autocross here in the parking lot so we’re quite crowded. I found the sign-in desk and submitted my paperwork, was directed to the classroom for the drivers meeting. This meeting lasted about an hour, about twice the usual length. Much emphasis was placed on the fact that there are concrete barriers in close proximity to pretty much the entire track. They called it a “professional driver’s” track: a track for drivers who’s cars are paid for by other people.
Between that and the large number of participants I was feeling less than happy.
They were running five groups: Red, Orange, Green, Purple, and Black. Four sessions, 25 minutes each, with the first Red and Orange sessions running during our meeting. I’m in Purple: Intermediate, Point-by passing. I could have run in Black, which is Advanced/High-Intermediate, Mixed Passing. Cars that don’t want to be passed without giving a point-by can put a red circle sticker on the back of the car. No sticker means pass at will. Being new to the track and on street tires I was more comfortable signing up for Purple.
I circulated the paddock area off and on all day, looking to introduce myself to any other Lotus runners. George found me. I’d been through the place once or twice without seeing his car, deep in one of the garages. He’s in an S1 Elise. After talking to him, it sounds like he has the same car as Tony from yesterday. George’s is yellow, Tony’s is green, but in all other respects the cars look identical to me. George didn’t seem to know about Tony. The only other S1 I’ve seen was at LOG. What are the chances I’d see two in two days?
I found Josh and Tony parked together. Josh is running a 2-Eleven, Tony an orange Exige. I told them my story and Josh asked what size tires I’m running. It took me a minute to understand what he was really asking. He had a spare set of slicks and was offering to let me run on them. If I was more familiar with the track, I might have taken him up on the offer. Very generous.
Josh had some unwelcome excitement in the second session. After a couple of laps, Tony was behind him. Josh waved him by but in the process put two wheels off. When he came back on track he over corrected and spun, putting him in the wall. Broken left rear suspension and some fiberglass damage. I didn’t know any of this until after the session, other than seeing him parked beside the track. Our session was black flagged to get him off the track. It only took 10 minutes, but that really cuts the session short. I had two “fast” laps, but they were both heavy traffic and I was unable to get a clean lap.
When I got off track, I headed over to see what had happened to Josh. They showed me the footage on their GoPro. Josh was assessing the damage when I took a picture. Tony says “You’re going to be in the magazine now.”
I really enjoyed the third and fourth sessions. I was getting more comfortable on the track and was able to improve my times by about three seconds each session. The fourth session was best – by now a number of cars had already left, so there was noticeably less traffic.
I chatted with a couple of other Lotus owners, whose names I’ve sadly already forgotten (I’m so bad with names). One had an ’06 Elise special edition (yellow, silver stripes). The other in an Chrome Orange S260 Exige. There was also a silver Exige there. I didn’t get to chat with him, other than to exchange hellos. As usual, all very nice, friendly folks.
When we were all packing up I chatted a bit with the owner of the orange McLaren. He used to have an Elise. He said he wondered if it was too much. “Not too much money, too much car.”
At lunch, waiting in line for the nine dollar burger I asked the guy in front of me if his car matched his cap. “Of course,” he said. He was driving his Ferrari FF. On it’s release, it was the world’s fastest four seat car. He said he might be driving the heaviest car out there today: 4200 lbs.
Many of the guys I talked to said Sonoma was their favorite track. Of the two so far, I prefer Thunderhill. I’m a big fan of having plenty of run-off room. If I make a little mistake, like Josh made, I don’t want to pay a major penalty. Mowing the weeds is enough for me. There are a number of places on track here (turns 10 and 11 in particular) where I know I can go faster, but I’d hate to misjudge the grip level and end up in the wall. That said, my early unhappiness was forgotten. I’m happy to have come here once.
As always, I enjoyed the company of the people around me in the paddock. We had to team up to defend our territory. When we were out, somebody parked in Glen’s spot. They made an announcement on the PA for the car to be moved. The guy thought the spots were for customers of the Wine Country Motorsports store. We borrowed a couple of traffic cones to put in our spots while we were on the track.
There was an “official” photographer there. This guy did a lot of paddock shots and fewer on track. I already planned to buy two days of photos, and that wasn’t part of the budget, so buying any here was out of the question. The guy had some nice shots, though.
With the shortage of track minutes, I managed to drive back to Danville without needing to gas up. Quite a difference from yesterday, where I put 9.95 gallons into my 10 gallon tank a few miles from the track.
MJ and Rod made a nice tasty dinner for me and we spent the evening in conversation, with the failed coup attempt on the TV in the background.
It’s a quick 15 minutes from the motel to the track. The facility is pretty nice; they have two large canopies to park under. The one nearest race control, bathrooms, and meeting rooms was already full when I got there, so I had to park at the farther one. Late arrivals were out of luck when it came to shade. This can be quite important as the day progresses. It ended up being about 100 degrees, so shade is important to some semblance of comfort.
Checked in. All cars are required to have numbers. Evidently, that’s some sort of rule in the region, not just for this event. I could use painters tape to make a number, if I could borrow some, or I could purchase a set from them for five bucks. That’s a sticker for each side of the car and a smaller one for the windshield. I got #29.
They have an official photographer there – gotbluemilk.com. They have a trailer (“with triple air conditioning!”) full of monitors where you can view what they’ve shot. Pictures for the day are $75. For two-day events, they charge $115. Chatting with them, I discovered they would be in Laguna Seca on Monday, so I told them to bring today’s photos with them on Monday and I’d buy both days for the 2 day event price (even though it’s two one-day events, not a two-day event).
Hooked on Driving (HoD) runs four run groups. A and B had their drivers meeting together, then A went upstairs to a different room and had ground school. C and D were the advanced groups. HoD runs five twenty minute sessions. I’m used to 30 minute sessions and prefer fewer longer sessions than more shorter ones, even if it works out to be the same amount of track time. Fewer longer sessions means fewer in and out laps and more fast laps. Each group is limited to twenty five cars, which is a reasonable maximum. Twenty five cars over a three mile track means we’re generally well-spaced and had a good chance of getting a few unobstructed laps each session.
For the A and B groups, “download” sessions were held after each track session. We went over subjects such as the proper line for various turns, proper gear selection for a couple of the tricky places, and so on. The instructor in charge of the group went on track to get video of the cars in the group to illustrate the good and the not so good.
The first couple of laps of our first session were run under yellow flag with a number of instructors out leading us around. This lets us newbies get an idea of the proper line. I really enjoyed the track. It’s quite challenging with the blind crests and off-camber turns.
I make it a point to meet the other Lotus drivers at these events. Today we had two. Tony was there running his S1 Elise. He says it’s not street legal. It’s a race prepared car from the factory with roll bar, fire suppression, fuel and electrical cutoffs. It’s Lotus Racing Green. It’s left hand drive, which surprised me. Tony says it was sold in the French market. Rover engine, very similar in power to the Toyota in the Federal Elise.
Bo has an orange Elise. He’s had is about a year. Big wing, race seats, after market wheels, bigger diffuser. We were all running in the same group, so we sat together at the classroom sessions.
I don’t think all five groups were fully subscribed. At least one of the drivers in my group would normally run advanced instead, but those were full. For the most part, it was not a dissimilar group of cars to what you’re likely to see at HPR – the usual mix of Mustangs, Corvettes, Porsches, and so on. One car that stood out for me was a Ferrari race car, complete with pneumatic jacks.
The track is quite challenging. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, like HPR, so there is plenty of room if you make a mistake. If you go off, you just mow some weeds. It has a nice mix of high speed and low speed turns, off-camber turns, and blind crests. The facilities are nice as well, with air-conditioned classrooms and plenty of shade for the cars and drivers.
I ran five sessions and improved my best lap each time. I was quite slow the first session; every lap in my second session was better than my best lap in the first session. If we ignore that first session, my time improved by five seconds a lap over the course of the day.
One of the great extras that HoD provided was the presence of a performance tire company. When we exited the track, we could pull into their area of the paddock and they’d get the pyrometer and pressure gauge, collect all the relevant data, and recommend changes. I struggle with setting my tire pressure; I think I got some good tips from them, it just remains to be seen if I put them to good use.
Like yesterday, it was quite hot. I don’t know what the official high temperature was for Willows. As I said, it was close to 100 degrees. This is the first time I’ve been at a track where they had a relaxed dress code. I wore my suit for the morning sessions while everyone around me was in shorts and short sleeves. I lost the suit for the afternoon and was much more comfortable. But it did feel a bit odd.
I stayed to the very end and was one of the last cars to leave the track by the time I got all packed up. I gassed up in Willows before heading south on I-5 to the Bay Area. I’m staying with friends the next two nights in Danville. It was almost exactly a two hour drive, hitting a number of interstates (I-5, 505, 680) before successfully placing me in front of my destination.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day. The track was challenging but not frustrating, HoD ran a great event, and I always enjoy socializing with people with a common passion.
The original plan was that Michael would come to the track with me. CECA charges by the car, not the driver, so he would get do drive for free. But he had scheduling difficulties and work and he couldn’t make it.
We get a slightly different crowd on CECA days, a bit more upscale. When I got off I-70 I passed a Mercedes SLS AMG parked in the shade of a cottonwood, occupants relieving themselves (did I say “upscale”?). At the gas station, Dave was filling up a couple two gallon cans for his Elise. He prefers those over the five gallon because they fit in the boot. But I think he only carries one helmet. Before I left, a red Ferrari came in for a pit stop.
About two weeks before the event, organizers were concerned about attendance. Only a dozen or so cars had registered. With a week to go, it was nineteen. In the end they were happy to announce that we had 41 or 42 cars. Of those, nine were Lotus. Specifically, six Elises (three green, two black, one orange), two Exiges, and an Evora. We outnumbered all the other marques. Corvettes and Porsches numbered five or six each. In addition to the aforementioned SLS and red Ferrari there was a gray Ferrari as well. And, of course, the usual assortment of Mustangs, Miatas, Minis, and BMWs. I think this is the first CECA event I’ve been to with no Vipers.
It was a pleasant day, clear and sunny, a bit breezy. A bit on the warm side, but not uncomfortable.
I enjoyed the second session quite a bit. My last few visits to HPR were the free day and the two Emich days – well over a hundred cars each time. With three groups instead of two, and so few cars, most of my laps were free of traffic. For the first four or five laps, Jeremy was following me in his Exige. He wanted to see my line. I was able to open up a little distance between us on the twisty bits, but with his extra horsepower he could catch me on the straights.
I wanted to switch places with him, follow him for a couple of laps and get his line on camera. The red Ferrari was behind him. In the first session, even though I was three or four seconds a lap slower than the second session, I was able to gain on the Ferrari. But in the second session he was now a bit faster than me. I waved Jeremy by but could only follow him for about a lap before I waved the Ferrari through. The rest of the session I worked hard to keep up with them. The Ferrari couldn’t catch Jeremy, and I couldn’t catch the Ferrari; we were all running very similar lap times. Following them, I put together my two best laps of the day.
Even so, my fast time was about five seconds slower than my best. I never put any wheels off the track (although Jeremy says I was consistently hanging half my left side tires off the outside of the kink before the highway straight), I felt like I was sliding around quite a bit. I need to figure out tire pressures.
With my big trip starting soon, today was sort of a shakedown run. We mounted the stock exhaust in preparation for Laguna Seca. We did an oil change and had the brakes flushed as well. It could be that the stock exhaust is part of my five second deficit. It’s quite a bit quieter – more restrictive – and it weighs fourteen pounds more.
I normally get faster every session, and I tend to run every session I can. But today didn’t work out that way. Jeremy said he could see something flopping around under my car. This winter I mounted a cheap splitter. I figured it would be a sacrificial piece; instead of grinding the front clam I’d grind the splitter instead and replace it as necessary.
However, this one is quite flimsy, and attached only with six bolts with large washers. You can take it between index finger and thumb and move it up and down. Certainly not an aerodynamic aide. Jeremy asked if I could feel it causing any vibration. After two sessions I hadn’t felt a thing.
Late in the third session, though, the story changed. Over about ninety I developed a huge vibration at the front, bad enough to move my rear view mirror. I cut the session short a lap or two. I’d have taken it off right there at the track but I couldn’t do it without lifting the front of the car. It has pretty much destroyed itself. The door edge trim piece I had on the edge was disappeared and the front of the spoiler looked like it had been run over by a tractor. I’m disappointed that it’s a total loss, but happy that it happened here instead of on my trip.This was caused entirely by the vibration – I didn’t go off.
Okay, I know nobody watches these videos, but here’s my fast lap. Nothing special here, the Ferrari isn’t close enough to get a good look and my time isn’t noteworthy.
I started planning a trip to California back in November. This trip will be centered around a track day with Golden Gate Lotus Club at Laguna Seca, one of the nation’s premier race tracks. I’ve made a number of reservations, and have already paid for track days at Thunderhill and Sonoma. One of the first interesting tidbits I learned when I started this plan is that both Laguna Seca and Sonoma have noise restrictions.
Laguna Seca Raceway was built back in 1957. In recent years, however, people have been building homes around the track. And, of course, nobody wants noisy race cars in the neighborhood, even if the noisy race cars were there first. We see this sort of thing all the time, usually with airports. “I built this house knowing an airport is right next door, but it’s too noisy. Can’t we do something about those noisy airplanes?”
Ugly exhaust
Laguna Seca has a number of days where they’re allowed to run without noise restrictions, but most days are limited to 90 dB. I asked the folks at GGLC if my after market exhaust would be okay. The consensus was that an Elise running with the stock exhaust would pass, but most after market exhausts would not. At least, not without some modifications. Many people resort to welding odd attachments onto their cars to direct the noise away from the detection station. Google “Laguna Seca exhaust” images and you’ll get a bunch of things like the picture at right.
I really want to run at Laguna Seca, and it wouldn’t be any fun to do a two-week trip around this event and end up not being able to participate because I’m too loud. And I’m certainly not going to weld some ugly-ass pipes to the back of my car. Luckily, I happen to have the stock exhaust in the attic. When I bought the car, the previous owner included it and I had to have it shipped home. It’s been in the attic ever since, and I never had any intention of using it.
So yesterday Michael and I went about swapping the exhaust. I’d been told by the GGLC guys that it would be possible to rent an exhaust for the day. How hard can it be to swap, then, if somebody is willing to do it twice in one day, to make it stock in the morning then put it back in the afternoon? Of course, those guys probably have done this operation a number of times and have it down to a science. Michael and I, on the other hand…
It took us nearly four hours.
When I had it shipped all those years ago, it was packed up in a box full of packing popcorn. Those things got everywhere. Before we went to put it on we shook it pretty good and managed to get about three dozen of the things to fall out. We thought we got them all. When we finally had everything put back together and I started it up, a few more popped out.
It had just started raining when we finished so I didn’t get a test drive in until this afternoon. The car is much quieter. The burbles and pops I like so much are gone. And I think the radio is usable now. With the 2bular exhaust the car is just too loud to listen to the radio unless you’re stopped at a stoplight.
I probably should have snapped some pictures of the process, but that wasn’t real high on my priorities. I did manage to remember to weigh both pieces. The stock exhaust weighs 26 lbs and the 2bular is a feather light 10.5 lbs.
Scuderia Rampante is a Ferrari restoration and repair shop in Erie, Colorado. They’ve been in business for something like forty years. Skip arranged a shop tour for the Miata and Lotus clubs. It turned out to be not so much a tour of the facility as the opportunity to wander freely about the place.
Life sized Matchbox collection
It’s loaded with interesting sights. In addition to all sorts of exotic Ferrari automobiles, there were cars of other marques, a helicopter and a half and two stuffed bears. Some of the cars are there in storage but most seemed to be undergoing some repair or other.
I seem to gravitate to the unusual. Certainly it could be said that wandering around a world class Ferrari shop is unusual in itself. For the most part, though, I’ve seen these cars on the road; out in the wild so to speak. But there were a couple of notable “which of these is not like the others” cars.
In the small show-room like entryway was a Ferrari I’d not only never seen before, but had never heard of. In the first couple years of the fifties, Ferrari produced eighty two copies of the 212 Inter. Powered by a three carburetor V-12 that pumped out as much as 165 HP it was capable of hitting 116 mph and going from 0 to 60 in just 10.5 seconds. My how automotive technology has advanced. Someone there told Michael this car is worth $18 million, but a quick search indicates it’s more likely in the $2 to $3 million range.
Ferrari 212 Inter
The 212 isn’t unusual because it’s a Ferrari, it’s unusual because of its vintage and rarity. There was at least one other unusual car of the same vintage, if not the same rarity. In the rack I couldn’t help but notice the Wolseley 16/60 with the Bahamas license plate. This is another car I’ve never even heard of. It’s not out of place here, though. Although the car was made by BMC it was styled by Pininfarina. About 63,000 of these were made.
Wolseley 16/60
Scattered throughout the shop floor were various Ferrari drivetrains under repair. Some where just the engine, others were both engine and transmission. I was quite interested in the flat 12. There was a red Testarossa in the giant car rack with a license plate “FLAT 12” but this engine probably belonged to the black Testarossa on the floor.
Flat 12
Scuderia Rampante wasn’t the only place we went on Saturday. We started at cars and coffee in Louisville and ended at a show put on my Hagarty’s and Auto Archives. Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing a Porsche 918 on US-36 where I managed to get a crappy cell-phone picture. The same car was at Louisville. I hadn’t seen it there before.
We were planning on having hot dogs at the Hagarty event. By the time we got there the weather had deteriorated quite a bit. No longer just chilly and overcast, it was now raining lightly. We elected not to stand in line in the rain for hot dogs. After a quick tour of the new home of Auto Archives we made our way home. It turned out to be excellent timing, as we were hit by an intense hail storm. Most of the hail was BB sized or pea sized but some stones were more like marbles.
The forecast was for a high in the low sixties with a chance of rain in late afternoon. They hit it pretty much spot on.
They limited the day to 120 entries and we had perhaps a few more than half in the experienced session.
We got started a bit late. Emich had a Z06 there to give people rides. Brand new, $95,000 price tag on the window. At the end of the first novice session one of the Emich guys put it into the wall between one and two. Deployed both airbags; they had to flatbed it off the track.
My fastest lap was in the first session, a 2:12.5. This is the first time I’ve gotten my fastest lap in the first session. I ran six sessions, sort of. One time I didn’t get on the track until the session was half over; another session was ended early due to an incident I’ll describe shortly. The tow truck was deployed two other times.
The track now has lights at every corner station; a nice upgrade. Usually they man about half the corner stations. There are several cameras that are monitored in race control, but with only half the stations manned, any yellow flag conditions might last three turns. With lights on all corners, there’s twice as much information available to us drivers. The same number of corners are manned, but they don’t use flags (except the meatball). Flashing yellow, steady yellow, red (stop), or “police lights”: flashing blue and red (exit the track).
I’ve often said that the race track is the safest place to drive your car. Everybody’s going the same direction, there are no potholes, nobody’s on their phone, all the cars are in good working order, and people wave flags at you if something unexpected has happened in front of you.
I’m going to have to add a condition to that: it’s a club day rather than open lapping. Unfortunately, as has been all too obvious these last two track days, there are people who can’t be relied upon to pay attention and to follow the few simple rules.
There was a white BMW with a giant black wing. A race car. He was fast; a few seconds a lap faster than me. He came up behind me in turn two. When I went to apex turn three I glanced in the mirror to find him missing. He was passing me, taking my apex. If I’d have stayed on my line, his left front would have hit my right rear.
Multiple times in the drivers meeting it was stressed that the slower car stays on the racing line. It’s the responsibility of the overtaking car to go around the slower car. This jackhole in the BMW, running at least twice my horsepower, couldn’t wait three seconds to pass me on the straight.
Back in the paddock I went looking for him. He was clear across the paddock from me. I asked several drivers if they knew where the white BMW with the giant black wing was. More than one said he’d passed them unexpectedly in turns. When I found him I was still pretty pissed. My cutting wit sometimes gets me in trouble, but today words failed me. I was unable to articulate exactly what he did wrong.
I just kept telling him to watch where he’s going and to think about what he was doing. I’m sure he still thinks he did nothing wrong because I failed to be articulate. He said “I thought you saw me” and “no hard feelings.” Yes, I saw him. Just because I’m paying attention doesn’t mean he can have my line. And, yes, there are hard feelings. I reported him to the assistant track manager and told other drivers to keep an eye out for him. Later, one guy told me the idiot passed him in turn three, same place he did it to me.
Now the story of the shortened afternoon session. I was running in proximity to a Subaru, blue and black with gold wheels. I passed him early on, but the next lap he seemed to be faster than me. He was clearly faster on the straights. I didn’t want to hold him up, so I waved him by. As soon as he got around me, my windshield took a light misting of fluid from his car. It was just that one shot, just as he passed me. I didn’t follow him too closely.
After another lap it was obvious I was quicker. I figured I’d get in his mirrors enough to get him to let me by on one of the straights. Coming out of the corkscrew he blew a big cloud of blue smoke out and jerked to the left. I stayed well right and went through another shower of fluid much heavier than before. He went in an arc across the track exit, spinning, kicking up clouds of dust and dumping a wide swath of oil across both the track and the pit lane. The police lights were on by the time I got to turn 3.
I finally got around to going through the in-car footage from the free track day at HPR a couple weeks ago.
I feel there’s an argument to be made that driving a car on a race track is the safest place you can do it. Nobody is on the phone or texting; everybody is going in the same direction; people wave colored flags at you if anything unexpected has happened in front of you; there’s no debris on the road; even if you go off the track there’s nothing to hit, and so on. Mind you, I’m talking about a track day, not a race. We all understand there’s nothing we’ll do during a track day that will make our cars more valuable and there are no F1 scouts looking for the next Lewis Hamilton.
Every track day I’ve participated in has begun with a drivers meeting. At each meeting we’re told the same things we’ve been told at all the other drivers meetings we’ve attended. “This is a yellow flag. When you see a yellow flag, slow down. No passing until the next manned corner station.”
Still, it seems some folks get on the track and get a bit too excited. These words appear to fall on deaf ears. When watching the video, keep in mind that the camera has quite a wide angle – the yellow flag is much more obvious in person than on the GoPro.
One of the drivers in the video is a student. I can only assume there is no instructor in the car, as I’d expect the instructor to notice the yellow flag. I understand that this car, this student, was involved in car to car contact during the session. I’ve never known of any contact at any other track day I’ve attended.
I see the case of the red Porsche as even less forgivable. The yellow flag has been out here for at least two laps. Did he not see the stricken Corvette two minutes earlier? Had he already forgotten? Even worse is that he passed me in that turn. The normal line is to begin way on the outside, then cut sharply to the apex. Had I not seen him, I’d have followed my line and we’d have occupied the same space. If I had any way to positively identify this guy, I’d make my case to track management that he is in need of remedial action. At every drivers meeting he’s attended, I’m sure, he’s been reminded that the car being passed gets to keep his line – it’s the responsibility of the passing driver to go around him.
The other times I attended there were about fifteen Lotus, a third of which were skittle colored Eliges. I think we had two Evoras as well. Today there were no Exiges, no Evoras, and I was the only Elise. There was an Elite, an M100 Elan, two or three Europas and the rest were Esprits and Caterhams. One of the Esprits was shod in Giugiaro design tires. I had no idea such things existed. I heard dozens of people say “That’s the James Bond car” but never heard one Pretty Woman reference.
When we moved to Colorado fifty odd years ago, my Mom and Dad and brother and I drove two cars from Ohio. One was a 1962 Hillman Minx, light blue. I don’t have any vivid memories of the car, other than crossing Nebraska in the summer in that Hillman. Air conditioning wasn’t common and neither car had it, but Dad’s car had a radio. Mom’s Hillman didn’t. My brother and I took turns in each car, so we didn’t even have each other to pester. We sold it soon after we got here. Parts were impossible to find here.
So, of course, I always look for a Hillman. There was one the last time I was here, but not a Minx. It stood all alone in one corner of an area for miscellaneous marques. Today there were three: two Huskys and a Minx convertible. I chatted with the owner of the Minx. He has replaced the motor with a different English make. He also told me that in 1959 Hillman was the second most imported make. Funny, then, that by the mid-sixties parts would be so hard to find. When I first approached him, he was telling another gentleman, “It’s rare, but that doesn’t make it valuable!”
