Uh oh...my life is ruined!

The short version is that I drove an FB today for the first time, and I may never recover from the experience... :D

Herman Pahls of Oregon was kind enough to offer me some seat time in his 1st gen Phoenix (thanks Herman!!! :thumbsup:) at Thunderhill, so I jumped at the chance. It was a track day event with the Bay Area Lotus Club, so there were some limiting factors to how fast we could go, but it was still just about the most fun I have ever had in a race car.

The car was a joy to drive. It stopped on a dime, accelerated like a rocket, and went exactly where one pointed it...almost before you thought about turning. I had a blast...thank you again Herman! :checkered:

Stan,

Glad you had a chance to see what FB is all about. These are really great cars.

Was the Blipper hooked up when you were running his car? I'm curious to what your shifting thoughts were.

Yes, Dan, the blipper was installed and working perfectly. I left it disconnected for the first session, as all my racing has been done in H-pattern cars until today (excepting a couple of Solo runs in our kart), and I wanted to get used to how the basic car worked. For the second session I hooked it up and was quite pleased with how well it worked, and how quickly I got used to it. Another few sessions and I would be perfectly accustomed to it. Thank you...great job! :thumbsup:

We told ya so! :D

Very cool Stan.

Coming from a former U2 pilot I would say this is a very positive endorsement.

Nearly as fast as an Atlantic for a third the bucks, what else could you ask for?

I was fun watching you Stan. I thought I could see the grin through the helmet.

After all the advice you gave me over the phone the last 2 years when I was building and sorting my Sportsracer I at least owed you some seat time and needed to meet you.
I am not sure what is more brave of you; driving an unknown car or eating our unknown "vege food".
I had such a great day that I enjoyed the 7 hour tow home.
Next time I expect you to humble the V-8 car in the 1st lap!!!!
Herman

Thank you again, Herman. It was a fantastic experience! :thumbsup:

But not to worry. The food was great and the company was even better, but going inside those snorting v-8 thunderbeasts with someone else's pride and joy? :yellowflag: :yellowflag: ... :o

Of course, we got lots of point-byes...the Lotus Club folks were great to work with, but I still felt like a whippet among elephants.

Gary, don't be too impressed with that U-2 tour. For one thing, we were mainly the 'NASA-trained monkey' taking it off and landing it, with the boffins running everything in between, and for another it doesn't seem to have helped my racing car driving skills much! :ha:

It was great to see you, too, Dan. For those who don't know Dan Wise, he was out there going toe-to-toe with the Lotuses in his Zink Z-10 Club Ford (and faster than all but the quickest of them). Now there's a brave man...that thing is considerably smaller than even the Phoenix!

There were a few sports racers, too (a couple of Radicals and a troubled FFR GTM), plus a whole herd of 7's and other species of Lotus. The Lotus Club welcomes sports racers and open wheel cars, and at just $170 for all day, you can hardly beat the price.

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Originally Posted by Stan Clayton

Thank you again, Herman. It was a fantastic experience! :thumbsup:

But not to worry. The food was great and the company was even better, but going inside those snorting v-8 thunderbeasts with someone else's pride and joy? :yellowflag: :yellowflag: ... :o

Of course, we got lots of point-byes...the Lotus Club folks were great to work with, but I still felt like a whippet among elephants.

Gary, don't be too impressed with that U-2 tour. For one thing, we were mainly the 'NASA-trained monkey' taking it off and landing it, with the boffins running everything in between, and for another it doesn't seem to have helped my racing car driving skills much! :ha:

It was great to see you, too, Dan. For those who don't know Dan Wise, he was out there going toe-to-toe with the Lotuses in his Zink Z-10 Club Ford (and faster than all but the quickest of them). Now there's a brave man...that thing is considerably smaller than even the Phoenix!

There were a few sports racers, too (a couple of Radicals and a troubled FFR GTM), plus a whole herd of 7's and other species of Lotus. The Lotus Club welcomes sports racers and open wheel cars, and at just $170 for all day, you can hardly beat the price.

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Hey Stan, no matter what you say we are all highly impressed with & thankful for your service to our country flying the U-2. The U-2 has been one of the most important military aircraft to serve our national security for many years. Thanks again!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Stan Clayton

.... and a troubled FFR GTM)....

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Stan,

Was that a 'street version' or the one and only GTM-R (for race)? If so, they are due to be up here on April 10th to run a 4 hour Enduro. May have been testing at Thunderhill as they also run enduro's there.

So, when is Rennie getting an F1000?? :) :)

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Originally Posted by rickb99

Stan,

Was that a 'street version' or the one and only GTM-R (for race)? If so, they are due to be up here on April 10th to run a 4 hour Enduro. May have been testing at Thunderhill as they also run enduro's there.

So, when is Rennie getting an F1000?? :) :)

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I believe it's the race version, as it looks like the one that was here for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

Rennie? Who's he...? :p

how about your shorts?;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stan Clayton

Thank you again, Herman. It was a fantastic experience! :thumbsup:

But not to worry. The food was great and the company was even better, but going inside those snorting v-8 thunderbeasts with someone else's pride and joy? :yellowflag: :yellowflag: ... :o

Of course, we got lots of point-byes...the Lotus Club folks were great to work with, but I still felt like a whippet among elephants.

Gary, don't be too impressed with that U-2 tour. For one thing, we were mainly the 'NASA-trained monkey' taking it off and landing it, with the boffins running everything in between, and for another it doesn't seem to have helped my racing car driving skills much! :ha:

It was great to see you, too, Dan. For those who don't know Dan Wise, he was out there going toe-to-toe with the Lotuses in his Zink Z-10 Club Ford (and faster than all but the quickest of them). Now there's a brave man...that thing is considerably smaller than even the Phoenix!

There were a few sports racers, too (a couple of Radicals and a troubled FFR GTM), plus a whole herd of 7's and other species of Lotus. The Lotus Club welcomes sports racers and open wheel cars, and at just $170 for all day, you can hardly beat the price.

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Herman, it was great to meet you too, finally see the Phoenix #1 up close and watch it run. Hearing a dozen FB's go by on the start of a National is a real experience. Hope you come south again and run with SCCA here in SF Region.

At first I was a little nervous running open wheel with a group of fendered cars... Then after a few laps in the first session, I realized it was actually easier than commuting to San Francisco in the Elan.. No one on the phone, no one texting... Then there was my spin going through 9 when I missed my brake point and turned in on the marbles. I really needed to shake off the rust of winter.

Stan, I have been a member of the GGLC for almost 30 years. I know almost all of the guys running Elans, Sevens, and Europas. Most of them are very good drivers. They welcome most anyone other than first timers because they don't offer instruction. They usuall guide the first timer to Hooked On Driving or NASA HDPE.

David Anderson in the pristine white over red Elan Sprint raced CSR.

The baby blue Elise Series 1 is a road legal DSR with a bike motor, built by Stan Murawski.

Stan raced a Seven in the late 60's early 70's. It was known by its nickname "Mudflower". I had the vanity plate made for my elan as a tribute to that little giant killer after I saw it race at Riverside against much more powerful cars.

The Elise and Exige drivers I met were great too. They were all great with point bys and drove heads up.

John Zender "The Flamer Europa" and Scott Hogben, black Europa JPS manage the events and try to make sure everyone gets their fill of track time. I plan to come out again soon. Its much more sane than sharing the track with SRFs and Atlantics on a SCCA open test day.

This was also a good time to try out a new video camera on the roll bar. It worked but very wavy video, so I am looking for a better place to mount it. The video was good enough to show me where I was making some mistakes, including hand position.

Dan, I had wavy video when I first mounted my bullet camera onto the rollbar as well. I put a small amount of foam under it to reduce 'hard' vibration, and it cleaned the video up very nicely.

Gary

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Originally Posted by Gary_T

Dan, I had wavy video when I first mounted my bullet camera onto the rollbar as well. I put a small amount of foam under it to reduce 'hard' vibration, and it cleaned the video up very nicely.

Gary

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Gary,

Thanks for the advice. I think I discovered the anti-node of the chassis from engine vibe is the roll hoop. I had a lipstick camera with a set of "lord mounts" on the mount. There was vibration in the video, but nothing like I saw Thursday.

If the lord mounts don't help, I can mount it on the bodywork directly in front of the dash hoop.

Regards,
Dan