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build diary September 28, 2005: Anyone near Moab this morning would have seen a very dirty orange Seven roaring out of town at about 7:30. The Se7en tour group hit their first rain on the way out of Vail. Not just a little bit of English drizzle, a full-on Colorado thunderstorm. Some were able to dodge the weather, others were not. By the time they started to roll into the Sonic drive-in in Grand Junction, everyone was at least a little damp. The appearance of all the little cars caused a bit of consternation in GJ and from the reaction of the Se7en drivers, none of the questions were new ones. To my surprise a number of the Se7en owners recognised my car! That was flattering. I was planning on running through the Colorado National Monument with a group and then on to Moab. A couple of drivers wanted to borrow the Flyin' Miata garage in order to do a little work on their cars so we stopped by there first. It became obvious that I was distracted by the gorgeous car on the lift so the group took off, leaving about 4 Se7ens hanging around the shop. While one Duratec car got a new thermostat, I watched as Mike changed the oil on his car. His car has a massively powerful RST V8 underhood and has been modified in just about every possible way - you can see a number of photos of it on the RST website. Everything went well until he started refilling the dry sump tank and fresh oil started leaking out of a fitting. The suction pipe for the dry sump had to undergo some strange contortions and a custom fitting had cracked. We headed off to a hydraulic store, picked up a couple of pieces then started heating, bending and welding. By 5:30 or so we had a replacement fitting and the car was happy and leakproof once again. Mike and I were the only ones left so we took off to Moab under ugly skies. He has no windscreen and was wearing a helmet. I had a windscreen but no wipers. Not a good pair. The route in to Moab is one of my favourites. Well, usually. Earlier rain had washed some of Moab's signature red dirt on to the road and turned it into snot. All we could do was just aim the cars straight and let them surf through. It was getting dark enough that a bit of local knowledge of the road helped considerably. By the time we arrived in Moab, the cars were totally encrusted in dirt. Mike offered to buy me dinner in exchange for the fun I had playing on his car, so a group of us went out in a pickup leaving the Se7ens behind. We got back and there was lightning everywhere. A group of the drivers were standing under the car port in front of reception where I'd left my car and it was obvious that truly massive amounts of rain was falling all around. A number of folks offered me space in their rooms so I ended up crashing with Ben from Rocky Mountain Sports Cars. While we were hanging out in the lobby and talking about cars (really!), the rainstorm outside turned completely biblical in proportion. The decision to stay was a good one! After a dry early morning run home, I was able to vibrate in to work. It's too bad I had to leave the group as they're a fun bunch and have some great days ahead of them. Maybe I'll have to head over to Europe for one of their tours someday. So, what have I decided I "need" to do after looking at these cars? A lower windscreen for sure. Possibly some sort of different front suspension setup as well - I love the clean, light design of the Caterham control amrs but my shocks are not the right dimensions. They'd work as a pushrod setup, though. That would be sexy and might not cost much more than putting on 500 lb springs like Heikki has done. I might also run a smaller radiator to lighten the front end because my cooling system is total overkill right now. Another suggestion was to cover my exposed timing belt given the amount of debris that ricochets around the engine bay - good plan. Also some more bracing for the front suspension. Heck, maybe just cut the nose of the car off and re-engineer that whole thing! I have to say the group was extremely welcoming to my weird little one-off car. They were really interested in the Miata engine and it was thoroughly inspected by everyone who got a chance - some of the underhood wiring that resulted from the throttle body swap was embarassing! Even Ben from Rocky Mountain was welcoming despite my cut-price version of one of their cars, consistent with how he and Nathan have treated me since I started this project. entry 1023 of 1439 |