Portland Trip: Day 7 – Portland International Raceway

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Dave

August 29, 2014

I was awake before the alarm and out the door by 6:15. I couldn’t find the day’s schedule on the web and I didn’t want to be late. I had no idea if food will be available at the track, so after fueling up I grabbed a breakfast sandwich at BK and navigated to the track. I was quite early. I got signed in and had my choice of parking spots. After unloading all my gear I got my helmet stickered and walked the paddock. People were arriving at a steady rate. I took a few pictures, chatted with a few folks.

My neighbor in the silver else was Jon. On the other side we had two Exiges. I think there were 3 Europas. A number of nice Lotuses were in the paddock just hanging out, including an Elan and a nice JPS Esprit. A very pretty yellow Esprit was there to run. Looked very like an X180 to me, but I don’t know my Esprits.He was parked next to the yellow Elise running in my group. There was also an LRG Elise, Pat, who kindly brought a can of gas for me should I need it. And there were two Europas in my group, both of them faster than me. A very nice Cortina ran, as well as a BMW 2002 parked in the Lotus parking area.

The schedule was kind of hectic. We got three morning sessions, but they were only fifteen minutes each. They ran us in four groups – intermediate, advanced, open wheel race cars, race cars. Intermediate was first up and I was running late. I fail to get the OBD-II dongle and the camera on the car.

Ford Cortina

These short morning sessions are 5, 6, and 5 hot laps plus in and out. The track is only two miles, so each lap is pretty quick, especially as I hit 110 twice a lap. In the first session I couldn’t find an apex and didn’t pass anybody. I may not have been the slowest car on the track, but every other car I saw passed me. For the third session I found a volunteer to ride with me a few laps to give me pointers. His first pointer came when I drove off at turn 6: “You need to brake for turn 6.” That got me my first black flag.

My tires were not at all suitable for the track. I had no traction issues at the Ridge but here I felt like I was on ice. Everybody else was on decent tires. Going into the Festival turn, the other Elises were on the brakes at about the 400 foot marker while I was on the binders at more like 520.

BMW 2002

After our third morning session Jon and I went to Safeway for food. We got unexpectedly stuck in traffic so the trip took nearly a half hour. He fueled up and we were back to the track with 15 minutes to chow before our next session. Afternoon sessions were longer: 11, 9, and 13 laps. I really struggled all morning but enjoyed the afternoon. I did not like the 15 minute sessions. Too much action in the paddock, too much hurrying, not enough track time. I never got into any kind of flow.

I took a passenger for the last session. It was delayed due to a communications problem: the land line was out. That’s a new one for me. We turned the cars off and sat in the hot pit until they got things squared away. Finally back on the track, my best lap was about a second and a half slower with the passenger but I felt like I was faster. I had a few nice laps where managed to go through a series of turns as fast as I could go, right on the edge of adhesion. And I enjoyed the feedback from my passenger when he took his helmet off – grinning from ear to ear.

Type 51

I had no problems with traction at the Ridge, but I felt like I had no grip at PIR. The tires sang to me all day, I was on the ABS quite regularly, put 4 wheels off twice including the one with the instructor. I outbraked myself several times into the Festival curve but never ran it straight. I never ran it, but two cars did it one after the other in right front of me one lap.

The flagging was quite good; a lot of these guys (and gals) have been working there quite a while and worked Champ Car races. I was off twice, so got black flagged twice. A first for me was seeing the blue flag “mirror” flag. I got it a few times in the final turn, at the start of one of the two places I could point people by.

GT 40 Mk IIA

There were several other interesting cars there as well, including a GT-40 Mark II, and 2 2-Elevens (one of which was at the Ridge yesterday). Some of the cars in tomorrow’s show started showing up in the afternoon. And it wasn’t just at the track. After I left, when I was crossing the Columbia on I-5 I had a classic Jag behind me. We were both passed by a Cobra, who waved.

Alvis

Many of the guys I talked to at the Ridge didn’t seem to like PIR. They felt it was too easy, primarily because there are no elevation changes. I can see how after running both tracks a few times the Ridge might be more appealing, but I found PIR every bit as challenging for a few reasons. At the Ridge we had classroom and debriefing sessions and I was able to run with a few cars that I more or less matched speed with. While I’d certainly have gone faster with better tires, traction was never an issue. At PIR I was fighting traction all day. Also, we had shorter sessions and I didn’t have anybody that was about the same speed to run with. The tracks are very different but I found them both quite rewarding.

Tomorrow I hike Mt. St. Helens, so it’s back to the north when I leave the track. The drive this evening is to Kelso, WA, a quick shot up the I-5. I’ve now run this road in both directions, my first repeated route. I arrived well before dark. After checking in to the motel I grabbed dinner at Shari’s. I like the stuffed hash browns.

After dinner I managed to fix my computer problems. A minor victory, but happy to have it sorted.

Portland Trip: Day 6 – The Ridge Motorsports Park

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Dave

August 28, 2014

I wake up before six and am out the door by a quarter after. Fuel up and drive the eight miles to track.

I’m running the first day of a two day event put on by Hooked On Driving. At first I thought it was a bit on the expensive side, nearly twice what I normally pay for a track day. But if I had never done a track day before, this would be a good way to start. These guys are quite organized. When I check in I receive a packet with name tag, schedule, track map, and group sticker for the car. I’m in group B, intermediate. There’s the usual drivers meeting before we start, then each run group has a meeting of their own. Also, we have a “download” meeting after each session. I found this very helpful, particularly as this would be my only day on this track and it enabled me to make the most of it.

My neighbors in the paddock

There was no tech inspection. I submitted a tech form which amounted to my signature and I think that’s all HOD wants for the season. They did inspect my helmet and apply a fancy sticker They have an air compressor set up for the general use, which I found very handy. They also have enough water and Gatorade for everybody to remain well hydrated.

Corvette Z-51

One of HOD’s sponsors is Chevy. They had a Corvette Z-51 there available for test drives. I got mine scheduled for late in the day. Group A drivers could only ride but all other groups had their choice of riding or driving. I rode, thinking it would be a faster ride with one of their “coaches” behind the wheel. Unfortunately, he said he had to keep it under 5000 rpm and in sport mode. That meant traction control was on. He could mash the gas in the turn and nothing would happen until the car got through the turn. It wasn’t as fast as I hoped. I should have guessed, as I had passed it a couple of times during the day.

We ran five sessions, four of 20 minutes, one of 25. I forgot to turn on the camera for one session. I was consistently improving throughout the day. I improved my time on nearly every lap, except when I caught traffic or pointed someone by.

GT-40 kit car

Weather was overcast in the morning, and cool. The overcast broke into scattered clouds by lunch time. I ran topless the afternoon two sessions. With the top off, I experienced quite a bit of turbulence. At my usual elevation, I haven’t gotten the car over 114. Here at sea level I was able to hit 120 (which is the fastest I’ve managed to get the car to go since I bought it). That got my head bouncing around quite a bit.

They put me in B group because I told them I’ve done a couple dozen track days. I noticed the group A guys were getting coaches to write comments in a log book. I’ve never had to do that. The B group was mostly Porsches. Also in the group: an Audi TT, an Ariel Atom, a WRX, a Miata, a Mini. The TT and I were running very similar times. One session I pointed him by early, a few laps later he pointed me by.

Lotus 2-Eleven

I really like the track. I found it very challenging. It is draped along a ridge with the paddock at the base. That makes it a poor track for spectators – just the long straight and the corkscrew turn that leads to it visible. It has apexes on crests, blind apexes, off camber turns, dips and swales, turns of every speed and radius. Facilities were meager. The paddock is paved but small compared to HPR. No gas on the premises, but available only 10 minutes away.

Today’s video has really bad sound for some reason: all wind noise. The engine is only sometimes audible. Very disappointing. I’ll put a highlight reel together, but I’ll have to put music over it. I’m still putting the video together – it will be a few days before I manage to get it posted.

I have a reservation at the Marriott a couple miles from Portland International Raceway. The drive from Shelton is Interstate all the way, but fairly scenic. I arrived at the hotel right at dark. There was a nice classic Jag parked by the door on a battery tender. It was moved into a nice reserved spot in the garage by the time I made my second trip to the car. Although I didn’t figure it out at the time, it was obviously there for the All British Field Meet (the day after my PIR track day).

Classic Jag

Race Against Kids Cancer

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Dave

Saturday was day one of Rocky Mountain Vintage Racers big weekend at High Plains Raceway. One of the objects of the event was to raise a bunch of money for the Morgan Adams Foundation “Race Against Kids Cancer” to buy a flow cytometer, whatever that is.

One of the many ways of generating cash was to sell rides in cars during the lunch hour. Rides were available at the $200, $100, and $40 level. For $200 you get to ride in a race car. Those were fairly limited as not many of the race cars have passenger seats. The forty dollar ride was in a “guest car”. I figured that would include me. Rides were an out lap, fast lap, and in lap.

I’ve done lunch laps a couple times before. There are two basic types – fast laps with corner workers or parade laps behind a pace car. This was more of a mix – helmets were required, but other passenger attire rules (long sleeves, long pants, no open toed shoes) were waived. Also, kids under 18 were allowed. Grid girls got a free ride in a $100 car, and corner workers also got free rides. I had six passengers – four who made contributions, a grid girl, and a corner worker.

I got there a bit before 11 thinking I’d need to get an inspection after checking in, and I wanted enough time to grab a bite to eat as well. I found the booth where they were selling the rides and they pointed me to one of the carports where I signed in and got my wrist band. Turns out I didn’t need an inspection. After I ate I stuck fairly close to the pavilion. Schomp BMW had several cars there, which turned out to be lunch lap cars too.

The races were running a bit late so we didn’t grid up until about 12:30. This was in the pit lane rather than where we grid up for club days. One of the grid workers said a few words to each driver. He told me I was a $100 car and was lined up in the proper place. That was a pleasant surprise. I was sure I was a $40 car – most of the cars gridded up were faster and much more expensive. Chalk another one up to the Elise’s drop-dead good looks!

Photo by William Taylor, Coterie Press

I asked each rider if they wanted to go fast. They all said “yes”. Of course they did, that’s pretty much the object of the game. But I don’t know that they really have the same idea of fast as I do. I’m guessing most of them had never been on a track before. I’m going to enter corners twice as fast as many of them have ever experienced. Most of them obviously enjoyed it. But I wonder if I freaked out the kid a bit. He was too short to brace himself with his feet. I’m belted in with a CG lock, but I don’t have one for the passenger. He got tossed around a fair amount, and I’m not sure how well he could see.

On track days cars get released from the grid several seconds apart. Here you made your way out whenever you got somebody strapped in. With my first passenger we were in a line of cars fairly close together. A Porsche GT-2 and a BMW flew past us half way down the highway straight. I didn’t wave the second BMW through, but he passed me at the last moment. I admit I took more than a little pleasure knowing he shouldn’t have done it. His acceleration and top speed weren’t much better than mine, but he missed apexes and had to brake much earlier than me. He let me by less than a lap later, in turn 2.

Due to the lax attire rules, the grid girls all got rides. Luckily, I had the top off. They were leggy and wore high heels and form fitting outfits that barely covered their bottoms. My rider managed to ingress and egress without major loss of dignity. I chatted with her briefly afterwards. She made two observations. First, she couldn’t help but notice that while she was wearing what she was wearing, I was dressed head to toe in a fire resistant suit. And second, when we were going down the highway straight I pointed out a truck carrying a wind turbine blade. She felt I should have been keeping my eyes on the track. That’s about the only place on the track I can relax!

When I was hanging around the pavilion before getting on the track, there was a giant pickup truck nearby. At one point there was another truck of the same model and year parked next to it. Quite a size difference. So on the way out I had to get next to it for a picture. It’s just a few inches too low for me to drive under.

This video is a bit longer than I usually post – just short of 11 minutes, and it only includes one lap. A good time was had by all. I got to run 17 laps (6 out, 6 in, 5 flying) for free and got a bit of a “warm fuzzy” for helping out a charity.

Epilog

Today I received an email reporting that RMVR raised $137,000. I think their goal was $87,000, so it’s great they exceeded it by a good margin.

Cars & Coffee

Gallery

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Dave

This gallery contains 5 photos.

Saturday morning, August 2. I was here briefly before heading out to HPR to run lunch laps for charity. I didn’t have the real camera, so we’ll have to make do with cell phone photos. As usual, an interesting mix … Continue reading →

Ford GT

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Dave

It was only the second time I met Kent when I asked him what I had to do to drive his Ford GT. This was on the Braille Rally last year. I was delighted when he answered, “Buy me a six pack of craft beer.” Unfortunately, he left before I exchanged contact info with him. Since then, I’ve been keeping my eye out for him. I finally connected with him at the Concours a few weeks ago.

I asked him if his offer was genuine or if it was just a polite way of putting me off. He responded that the price had gone up to two six packs and we exchanged cards. One Friday he emailed and said I could drive it that Saturday. I had plans and felt it would be poor form to cancel, so I told Kent that didn’t work for me. Then I worried I wouldn’t get another chance.

But persistence won out and we arranged to get together yesterday for a beer. So with painters tape holding one turn signal in and the other one missing, I drove the Elise to Kent’s. I even was lucky enough to score a parking spot right in front of his house. We went to his garage and he gave me the nickel tour. He has some very nice automobiles, any of which I wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to drive, but the Ford GT stands out for me.

I can’t say that the GT is the car I most want to drive of all cars ever made. I can only dream of driving an F1 car. Likewise, I’ve never even laid eyes on many supercars you see on Top Gear. At museums and auctions I’ve seen dozens of fantastic cars that I never had any realistic chance of even sitting in, let alone riding in. But I’m hard pressed to come up with any other car that given a chance to drive that I’d choose over of the GT.

My specific request was, “I don’t even want to drive it fast, just around the block.” So after the tour of the garage, he backed the GT out and we headed to Strange Brew for beer. On the way, he gave it just a little kick in the pants. Just that little squirt of the throttle was … sublime.

But before quenching our thirst, we switched seats and Kent directed me on a short circuit of the area. We got on I-25 and then immediately off. I really wanted to punch it but I took it easy – you never know what other drivers will do. Then we made a wrong turn and had to turn around. I made Kent a little nervous when it took me a couple tries to find reverse, but we made it back to the Strange Brew without incident. I’m used to getting a lot of attention in the Elise, but I don’t think I ever had a guy in the next lane at the light yell at the top of his lungs, “That is an awesome car, man!”

Over beer we swapped car stories. His are much better than mine. It started raining when we were chatting and Kent needled me a bit – “Now I’m going to have to wash it.”

It took me quite a while to stop calling these cars GT 40’s. When the GT was at the SEMA show in 2003, it was labelled GT 40. But there was an issue with rights to the name, so it ended up just Ford GT. Kent has a small poster made from materials from that SEMA show in his garage. And he had GT 40 graphics made up and applied to the doors.

I was quite surprised how easy the car was to drive. I was expecting a brute. It was quiet, had a smooth ride, was comfortable. It has leg room to spare; I did not drive with the seat all the way back as in most cars. It’s a very wide car, the driver and passenger sit quite far apart. Rear visibility was a bit worse than the Elise. The wing mirrors are small, and the a-pillars are so big if you’re short you won’t be able to see the one on the drivers side. And ingress and egress require a wide parking spot – you pretty much have to open the doors all the way.

I can’t thank Kent enough for letting me drive his car. We’re barely acquaintances. And I understand why exotic cars don’t get driven much, but I always kind of felt that a car that isn’t driven isn’t fulfilling its destiny: cars are made to be driven. So I think it’s great that Kent drives his cars, and I’m happy he shared his passion with me.

SAAC/CECA Track Day, HPR

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Dave

High Plains Raceway had club days on both Saturday (Z Car Club) and Sunday (SAAC/CECA). Being a cheapskate, I’d have rather run with ZCCC because they were forty bucks cheaper but we had a garage sale Saturday so CECA it was. Plus, it was the LoCo track day as well, an added bonus.

The day started on a bit of a down note. On my way to the track, on I-70 near East Colfax, my right turn signal assembly popped out. It has happened three or four times before, but this time the wire failed to tether it and it was gone. I spent a few minutes looking for it, hoping it made it to the grass and might be intact. But no luck on the search.

Arriving at the track, I spotted the LoCo contingent and joined them. I bummed some tape from Pete and secured the left side turn signal and covered the gaping hole on the right. I had invited Bill and he surprised me by getting there before me. I grabbed a breakfast burrito the size of my head. Took me the entire drivers meeting to eat it.

It looked to be the usual CECA contingent – Corvettes, Vipers, Porsches, a classic Ferrari, Mustangs, old and new, Minis, Miatas, and Subarus, a couple BMWs, a couple NSXs. In the Lotus paddock we had an Evora, two Exiges, and a handful of Elises. Perhaps the highlight of the day was the brand spanking new McLaren 650S.

I ran in the red group, which I think was the smallest group. Of this group, only a few cars were slower than me. Today we were short handed on corner workers, so the only legal passing zones were the straights – couldn’t pass in the short chute between 6 and 7. Bill decided to sit through the green group classroom session, so I was without passenger the first session. I had the soft top on for the first session, then took it off for the rest of the day.

In the second session, the McLaren came up behind me pretty quickly and I was able to wave him by without slowing him down too much. Lucky for me, he caught up to traffic right away and I was able to run close behind him for a short spell.

At lunch they did some parade laps and a ladies only session. Anybody could do the parade laps, so we sent Bill out. When he came back a short while later I thought he was done, but he had time for one more lap so I got a ride in his almost new Taurus SHO. I wasn’t aware they were making them again.

Most folks left after three sessions. They ran green and blue together for the fourth session. So few cars were out, the let the reds back on track. I ran 15 timed laps that session (as opposed to 10 or 11 in the others) and even came in before the checkered flag.

On the way home I stopped again to try to find my turn signal. I walked maybe a mile of that highway, between morning and afternoon. I got back in the car after seeing the same crumpled license plate on the shoulder and was about to shift to second gear when I saw it. Unfortunately, it hit concrete instead of grass. The lens and bulb were gone, and it was missing pieces and badly cracked, but surprisingly still had the grommet.

These things are on back order from Lotus, so no idea how long I’ll have to do without it. I wonder if you can get green or yellow painters tape…

31st Annual Colorado Consours d’Elegance

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Dave

Back on June 8 I entered the car show at Arapahoe Community College. This was my second year in the show. Last year I had the car judged and came in second. This time I didn’t bother with getting judged but somehow ended up with another second place ribbon!

The rules are that entrants be on site from 9am to 3pm. Any early departure requires rounding up a police officer to help navigate a safe path to the exit. And, of course, we had to be there well before 9. I left the house a bit later than I’d hoped. To make matters worse, I soon realized I left my paperwork on the kitchen counter so had to run back home. In the end, I was only a few minutes late.

This year’s show celebrated the 100th anniversary of Maserati, the 60th year of the Porsche Speedster, the 50th year of the Ford Mustang and McLaren, and the 40th year of the Porsche Turbo. There were more McLarens there than I’d seen in one place before – the Phoenix McLaren dealer trucked a few cars in, and there was a McLaren race car as well.

I was a bit delinquent in taking pictures, but so it goes. I was thinking I had plenty of time to do this, but the weather became a problem. Skies to the west were slightly threatening most of the morning, but I kept a positive attitude that we’d be spared any grief. My positive attitude didn’t help much.

It started raining before long. Lots of people scrambled for cover. Some of us sat in our cars. Others got in their cars and drove off – we were given permission to leave the grounds early. It didn’t stop with rain, though. Soon we had hail. I can only imagine what was going through the minds of those folks who brought out their seven figure museum pieces.

After the rain and hail stopped, a police cruiser was circulating with an announcement to take cover in the building. Other officers came through on foot: “Go inside now! There is a tornado warning! Take cover!”

By this time, well over half the cars had left. Most of us Lotus folks were nutty enough to stay. I think only the Saab owners adjacent to us stayed in a greater percentage.

Even with the less than ideal weather, I had a great time. I made the day for a 3 year old boy when I let him sit behind the wheel. I spotted him from thirty yards away when he first saw my car and came running toward it. “Look at this one, daddy!”

Red Rocks Ramble

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Dave

Red Rocks Ramble was the sixth edition of LoCo’s Colorado Good. This time we explored Moab. Saturday drive to Moab, Sunday a morning loop, a free afternoon followed by happy hour at the motel, Monday tour Colorado National Monument before the final blast down I-70 to home.

Saturday, May 31

We met the Denver contingent at the Fort for an 8:30 departure. We were told that photographer Mike Rodgers (Driven Imagery) would get some shots of us from an overpass at Parmalee Gulch. Turns out he went as far as the summit of Monarch Pass. I’m pretty sure I saw him shooting us in South Park, too.

Most of the drive would follow our tracks from last spring: meet folks from Breckenridge in Fairplay, Springs folks near Buena Vista, lunch in Gunnison where we picked up our last participant. But after Ridgway we went straight instead of turning left to Telluride. This took us up the Norwood grade, through the town of Bedrock and Paradox Valley. There was absolutely no traffic all the way to the junction with US 191, a high-speed blast punctuated by occasional cattle guards.

We weren’t so lucky on 191 all the way to Moab – lots of trucks and RVs. We arrived at the motels – we were in two motels, across the street from each other – in plenty of time to check in and get cleaned up before dinner with the group at the diner next to the motel.

One sad note for the day – Jeff broke the suspension on his Birkin near our fuel stop in Montrose and had to drop out.

Sunday, June 1

We woke to a beautiful morning and after breakfast assembled for a drive on the La Sal Loop Road. As it was hot the whole weekend, we kept the top on most of the time but we slathered on the SPF and went al fresco.

We made the run clockwise, going north from Moab and along the Colorado River through a dramatic red rock canyon. The river is calm through here, no whitewater. But the water looked very high. Quite a lot of traffic through here, as one would expect. We soon found our turn and headed south into the La Sal Mountains.

I’m sure it was a beautiful road, however many decades ago it was last paved. But it was very scenic and I think everybody enjoyed it. We pulled over for a break and a group picture. Some of the folks were wishing they’d brought a light jacket, which was a pleasant break from the heat we had the rest of the trip.

We broke into smaller groups for lunch and went off to explore on our own for the afternoon. A lot of folks headed to Arches, but we’d been there before so the choice was Dead Horse Point or Canyonlands. I suggested we do Canyonlands and hit Dead Horse Point on the way back if there’s time. There wasn’t.

Upheaval Dome

I’d looked at the map of the park before leaving the house. I hoped maybe there’d be a short hike we could take, not much more than a mile. Upheaval Dome fit the bill, so that’s where we headed first. Round trip is a mile, characterized by the pamphlet as a “steep” 200 foot climb.

After that, we pretty much stopped at every major scenic point on the road. We didn’t see anybody else from LoCo and in fact it seemed like most park visitors were foreigners. I chatted with a guy from Germany (“I see a lot of Lotuses in Germany!”), heard Chinese and Japanese, French and Spanish spoken.

Back at the motel, we had happy hour – margaritas, snacks and conversation. Then out to Eddie McStiff’s for dinner with the group.

The day wasn’t without glitches. One of the M100’s suffered not only a nasty rock impact and broken windshield but had a mechanical problem as well. And an Elise had to make a run to Grand Junction for tires.

Monday, June 2

The first few miles of the day were a repeat of yesterday. We stopped beneath the canyon walls for a group picture. Ross’s general rule is not to put the same color cars next to each other, but that is especially true for yellow. I think Mike parked next to him just to needle him a bit. Sometime I’d like to try lining them up like a rainbow.

At our morning pit stop in Fruita I managed to catch an impromptu group shot at the Loco station. Gotta get a shot of LoCo at Loco, right?

Gassed up and refreshed, we headed into Colorado National Monument. I’ve been by here a handful of times but never stopped for a visit so it’s about time. It is a pretty interesting place. The geography is similar in many ways to Canyonlands, but smaller and more intimate. I ran the camera for this part of the drive and will post a second video if I manage to put together anything interesting.

Lunch in Grand Junction at the Kannah Creek Brewing Company for the official end of the gathering. Several of us stuck together for a few miles of twisty roads along I-70. We took County Road 45.5 into DeBeque, then side roads up and down the side of the valley to minimize our time on the super-slab.

For the run from Rifle to Frisco, we were down to four – an Evora, two Elises, and a Miata. We find the trip through Glenwood Canyon always interesting – the highway is quite the engineering marvel, even if it is just a highway. But this time, the river was running higher than either of us recall seeing it. The bike path was flooded for long stretches, and the water looked to be within a foot or two of the railroad tracks.

Once through the canyon, we put the hammer down for a high speed run over Vail pass. A Volkswagen stayed on our tail until we got to the foot of the pass. There we passed a Pantera, who made an attempt to keep up with us. After a few minutes neither he nor the VW was in our mirrors.

We had to gas up in Frisco. At the next pump was a guy filling his Harley. I was thinking he looked familiar when he said, “You were in Moab.” We had met the day before. He arrived in Frisco along an entirely different route and was headed for Trail Ridge Road next. He had ridden 1600 miles in three days, starting in Texas.

The rest of the trip was leisurely and mostly uneventful. We were held up for a few minutes while they did some blasting at the tunnel construction east of Idaho Springs. And there was construction on one of the overpasses. They ground the asphalt off but didn’t make a little ramp as normal. I hit that edge hard at about sixty and both my turn signal assemblies popped out of their mounts and flopped around until I could get pulled over. Lost one of the grommets. It’s an $8 part, but $20 for shipping.

I can’t speak for everybody, but we had a grand time.

Clive Cussler Museum

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Dave

I’m a bit late posting this… on Saturday LoCo was invited by the Peak to Peak Miata Club to visit novelist Clive Cussler’s car museum.

We met in Golden for a short drive before visiting the museum. Up Golden Gate canyon, north on the Peak to Peak highway, then down Coal Creek canyon and to the museum in Arvada. The museum parking lot is quite small, so most of the dozens of cars parked on the street. This is where I met Ron, the owner of the Ariel Atom I saw a few weeks ago at Cars and Coffee. I just missed getting a picture of his “trunk”, which you can see him fastening in this photo. He’s only had the car about a month so he hasn’t had a chance to get it to the track yet.

I haven’t read any of Cussler’s books, but I may have to pick one up just to see how he puts these fantastic cars in the stories. Many of the cars in the museum have books in front of them, with the picture of the car on the back cover.

I’d say this collection of cars compares quite favorably to the Tebo collection. Tebo has many more cars than Cussler, but Cussler’s are much more impressive.

I’ve been taking pictures of cars in this sort of setting for quite a while – the Barrett-Jackson auction, the Tebo collection, Cars & Coffee meets, here. It’s next to impossible to get a good picture of any of the cars. They’re packed tightly together in a small space and there are always other car lovers looking at them. So, for the most part, I concentrate on the details: hood ornaments, emblems, hub caps.

Hood ornament from 1928 Isotta Fraschetti Tipo 8A S Boattail Speedster. This car sold for $26,000 in the 1930’s. Ponder that for a minute.

1931 Stutz Boattail DV-32 Speedster. Sixteen were built, six are believed to still exist.

1933 Lincoln KB-Series V-12 Limousine. 448 cubic inch displacement engine puts out 150 horsepower.

V-16 Cadillac

1913 Stutz Bearcat Series 4B. 389 cubic inch 4 cylinder, 50 horsepower.

1955 Chrysler 300 hubcap. The world’s first true muscle car, it had the first commercial stock engine to deliver 300 horsepower.

Cars & Coffee

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Dave

I went to the Cars & Coffee this morning. Got there about nine, the place was pretty full. I managed to back into one of the last few spaces. As usual, a nice mix of cars, weighed heavily toward the exotics. I counted four Elises, two Exiges, an Elite and a few Esprits. More Ferraris than Lotuses. A couple Lambos, the usual plethora of Porsches, batches of BMWs, and stable of Mustangs.

I took a few snapshots:

McLaren MP4 12-C Spyder. When people mistakenly think my car cost $300,000, I can only assume they haven’t really looked at my car and have certainly never seen any car that did cost $300k. This here, boys and girls, is a $300,000 car. It makes me shudder to think what service and insurance costs for this every year. Prime example of a “stupid money” car and a gorgeous example of automotive engineering.

Notice here the size difference between the Exige and the Ferrari. The Exige isn’t backed in as far as the Ferrari and still comes up more than a foot short.

When I saw this right hand drive Celica I had to talk to the owner. When I lived in Estes I saw a green first generation right hand drive Celica several times between Estes and Lyons. I thought perhaps this was that car. Nope, this guy just imported it from Japan last year.
My initial reaction when I first saw pictures of the new Vette was that it looked like a Camaro from the back. And when I first glimpsed this car, my first thought was “Oh, a convertible Camaro.”
This Ariel Atom is a ridiculous car. This one looks brand new, doesn’t have a scratch on it. Granted, I didn’t get that good of a look at it, as they were pulling out just when I spotted it. Given its pristine condition, I can only assume it’s yet to see a lap on the track. There is no other purpose for this car, except to be tracked. Yes, it’s street legal. But you can’t carry anything. Even without a passenger, I doubt you could carry a sack of groceries. I laughed when I saw the cupholder.
This sure got me to do a double-take. I immediately thought early Corvette. But the size is all wrong. This seems giant. The huge wheels help with the proportions, but the style is all wrong to pull off the early Vette look. I have no idea how recent the Vette is that it’s built on but it looks pretty new. Completely custom interior, of course. But what sort of tool takes up two spots at these things, anyway?
I don’t know my Hudsons. Is this a Hornet? I have no idea what year it is, except that it’s early fifties. I love the bullet hub caps. I also love that it seems to be getting more attention than the Astin Martin next door.
I first saw this from the front. Immediately saw the Mugen badge. Had no idea what model it was, had to walk to the back to find the Fit badge. Really? Mugen Fit? Are there performance parts here, or just body pieces?
Got this picture of the Factory Five 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe when he was pulling in. It’s a kit car.