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build diary April 14, 2005: Back from a very long road trip. Luckily, the next day was dry. The seats had survived pretty well so the car wasn't as uncomfortable as I'd feared. The problem was that the car gave a single cough and then refused to start. This did not fill me with happy thoughts as I struggled to find the problem in front of various people who had read about the Seven or were attracted to this weird Lotus thing. The car didn't seem to have any spark. I pulled and cleaned the plugs over and over because they were getting fouled but couldn't coax more than a little stumble out of it. While I was out on the track with a student, Janel managed to find a set of used plugs from a Spec Miata racer. It's handy bringing a tall blonde along to the racetrack, people are nice to them! She's also quite happy hanging around in the sunshine in the pits. Am I lucky or what? The plugs went in, the car fired up immediately and my outlook on life became much brighter. The race tires were on the car and Janel and I headed out. The car felt terrible. The track was still a bit cold but the tires felt as if I was driving on ice. There was almost no traction. Finally, on my second or third lap I had a major brake lock-up coming in to turn 10 and slid off the track on to the wet grass. It turns out I had the brake bias far too forward after changing the master cylinders. There was no harm done to the car, only to my confidence and ego. We headed back to the pits where I pulled the old race tires off and put the Azenis street tires back on. I also cranked in more rear bias.The race tires I was using were a set of BFG R1s that were at least 8 years old and I swore to never use them again. Back out again on street rubber, the car was much happier. It was a little squirrely in the corners but there was grip available. I came in and talked to Rick Weldon about this. Rick is an ex-pro racer who's a good friend of mine. He's the one who taught me how to drive on the track although I would still call myself a work in progress. Anyhow, he suggested that the tires might not be quite up to full operating temperature and this is fairly normal behaviour. Since I'd always wanted to let him drive the car, we went out together. Rick proceeded to make it quite obvious that I wasn't driving anywhere near the limits of the car. I'd forgotten just how hard a car could be pushed on the track. On turn 5b, an off-camber sweeper that's reasonably quick, the tail stepped out on Rick and he just rode it out. He found out that the car was quite forgiving in this manner and then proceeded to drive sideways for the rest of our session. It was very entertaining. Back in from that ride, I went out on my own and pushed harder. The edgy feeling went away when the tires heated up but I still wasn't fast. My driving basically fell apart and I was fairly tentative. It took a few more sessions before I came up to speed but by the end of the day I was doing pretty well. Not setting any lap records and probably slower than I've been in a Miata on the same track, but I'd made friends with the car again. I had some fun chasing down an M3 and an M Roadster and playing with the tail on the turn at the end of the back straight. The car was flawless for the rest of the day although the exhaust was very loud. I'd blown a baffle out when the car backfired while trying to start it. The brake bias was dialed in perfectly by the time Rick drove the car although he felt the pedal was too hard. Imagine if he'd tried it earlier! The car still needs some sorting, as it oversteers at the limit and photographs show an incredible amount of body roll that's putting the wheels into positive camber. Stiffer springs are definitely in the cards. The higher speeds at Thunderhill really highlighted the lack of aerodynamics on the car as well so a lower windscreen or a wind deflector might prove worthwhile. I also want some new race tires and more power. It might turn out to be an expensive trip! The starting problem was probably a wet component that dried out, but by that point the plugs were fouled. The driver's side mirror decided it wanted freedom so it escaped on the track - I'd repaired it at one point but it was likely weakened when Rick adjusted it. He donated a set of used Spa formula car mirrors which should actually be a nice upgrade to the car. Overall I was left a little dissatisfied. I wasn't terribly fast and while the Seven does make up for a lot, it wasn't up to the pace of well-driven Miatas on good rubber. I want the car to be all-conquering! Obviously some work on the driver is still needed but the car isn't fast like our race car is fast. I want something otherwordly. The rest of the week was pure tourism. I did meet up with Ben Rillie who's interested in building a Seven of his own, and he showed us around Pixar where he works. Fair trade! We also visited Ted Saton who is a serial car builder, the sort that likes building the cars more than driving them. He had in his garage an oversized Seven powered by a supercharged small block Chevy. Yikes. entry 832 of 1439 |