build diary
<< | show individual entries | >>April 26, 2006: 
The new tonneau cover.
It makes a huge difference to the finish of the car but it does hide my cool gas tank.
entry 1219
Chances are you already know about this website.
Thanks to Jonathan for providing the decals!
entry 1220
The fit of the new hood.
As usual, I put a bit of electrical tape along the edge to finish it off. You can see the metallic in the paint in this shot as well - most people at the Se7ens festival were surprised at how the paint looks.
entry 1221
The long tow to Texas.
From this vista on Red Mountain pass, I went to the flat scrublands of Texas and New Mexico. Noontime temperatures ranged from 97F to 34F on the way home!
entry 1222
At the Southwest Se7ens Festival.
entry 1223
A wide range of cars showed up at the festival.
From left, we have a Caterham, Birkin, Ultralite, some weird orange car, BMW-powered Locost and there's even a Stalker hiding somewhere else.
entry 1224
Mark Rivera assembles his car at the event.
entry 1225
Mark's car has a potent turbo Miata engine underhood.
It's a quick little thing. Well, not that little.
entry 1226
Mark decided to make his own fenders from steel.
They're not too light, but they're solid and look kinda cool.
entry 1227
Chris' matt black bike-engined car.
This thing is a head-turner.
entry 1228
The exhaust on Chris's car.
The stainless surround and polished pipes against the matt black paint really stand out.
entry 1229
Nicely integrated bike instruments on Chris' car.
Note the kart wheel to match the (unseen) kart seats.
entry 1230
This Birkin has a very well-made wooden dash.
It might not be as sexy as carbon fibre but it's a good material for a little sports car.
entry 1231
Jon built this nose cone - and all the rest of his bodywork - from scratch.
entry 1232
Four very different Locosts together.
Mine's hiding in the back because that's where the photographer wanted it.
entry 1233
A photo session for Kit Car.
entry 1234
Pretty car.
entry 1235
A tired tire.
It was worked pretty hard during the "skidpad" session as you can see from the wear, but it also seems to have developed a leak that was later traced to a nail.
entry 1236
April 27, 2006:
Video update.
Some video and audio of the Car and Driver sessions have been added to the video page.
entry 1237
Larry Webster, hard at work.
This is one of a bunch of videos I've just added from the Car and Driver test sessions, including some audio files.
entry 1238
May 1, 2006:
I found out last Thursday that the local Corvette club was holding an autocross.
The first time I took the Seven on an autox course was with this group, almost exactly a year ago. Since then I've done a little work and managed to get a little faster. I also pulled the nail out of the rear tire so it holds air now.
My first run was quick but messy and I proceeded to take big chunks of time out on every following one. I'd been afraid the course would favour 'Vettes as it had a couple of significant straights but it turned out that this wasn't a worry. My first run was 50.060 seconds. My fastest was a 46.620. The fastest Corvette? 51.450. Those straights got me up to 60 mph which is still in my full acceleration range. Now, if we'd been running up to 90 mph it would have been a different story! And a pretty odd autocross. It was a real pleasure running with the club. Despite my being an interloper - one who was rude enough to completely obliterate his hosts - they were very welcoming and ran a smooth event. It's a good group to run with and they now restrict "metal" cars to keep the numbers down. As it turned out, that wasn't a problem as there were only a dozen Corvettes and myself. The cornering ability of the Seven is what really impressed them while I got all excited by the noise of the Z-06 and C6 cars. Video of the fastest run is now online.
The car ran pretty well. I loaded my "high altitude" settings back into the ECU but the Texas gas in the tank still meant I had to pull out a bunch of fuel. Once I burn it off (sigh) I'll have to go back to my crappy Colorado gas setup.
entry 1239