Thanks to Saint Louis Region for saving the Lotus Owners
Gathering autocross. General motors canceled our site with
virtually no notice. Saint Louis Region was running a Solo
at Gateway International today. They fit us in and we felt
very welcome. We had a blast.
I came right back to the hotel after helping
Saint Louis Region wrap up their event. I needed to show
our appreciation for them saving our event. Event was held
in the parking lot at the raceway and was very nice. HOT
and HUMID, but nice.
Some of you may remember that I blew up the motor in the
Europa a couple of weeks ago. I sold the car to a Triumph
guy in Champaign Illinois and delivered it Wednesday on my
way here.
Mike Griese, president of the Lotus Owners Of the North,
went on a tour in his Lotus Esprit today and threw his Elise
keys to me.
I learned several things, not the least of which is that
Mike uses the slipperiest car wax known to man. Joe
Floretta, the LOG autocross coordinator, brought three rolls
of blue painter's tape to attach the number and class
placards he had printed. (We were all CM for the convenience
of the Region computer, as they had no actual CM
registrants. This made us look pretty silly in the PAX
listing, since we had a CM PAX instead of an SS pax. This
made me PAX about 86th!)
Several of us Lotus conventioneers scratched our heads
about this tape business. Craig Nagler pulled out a roll of
duct tape. We all reasoned that if the finish would not
hold the blue tape at all, we could not damage it with duct
tape. "Hey, look at the bozo who put duct tape on a
brand-new car!" Nothing of the sort. The tape held the
paper on for runs, then came off clean, leaving nothing but
the shine.
There were several cars in the Elise-etc class. I was
third, snagging the last trophy. I came about 2 tenths out
of second place. I don't recall how fast the winner was.
We had four runs. Execution was a bit off my last run, so
I had to stand on my third.
My work assignment was to write car numbers, classes and
times on a big wipe-off board. The pens leaked, so I have
stains on my fingers. All just part of the experience. The
Saint Louis folks were fantastic. I got to meet up with
Jerry Crump again. When Minnesota Autosports Club bought
a trailer from Saint Louis Region a few years back, Jerry
met me in Des Moines for the exchange.
Also, an internet stalwart from a few years back, TRacer,
came up and said "Hi". Are you out there on the net?
At the dinner tonight, they called me up to present me the
trophy. I wrestled the microphone away from the Meet Head
and presented the trophy to Mike. I was on the other side
of this, decades ago, when Flip Shockley trophied in an
endurance race on ice, driving my street machine. Flip
elbowed the MC aside and presented the trophy to me, saying
the car "ran like a train". I keep the trophy with my own
as an honored memento of a brilliant driver who has gone to
that great race track in the sky. I hope he is smiling down
on me tonight.
Mike's Elise ran like a train. Stick was good. Balance was
better. Power was fantastic. If Mike wants to do some
autocross, he needs to crank in some more negative camber
and this car will pull some serious gees.
Tomorrow, I go to the track day. Should be easy to find,
since I was there today. The road might look different from
the seat of a Suburban, though.
My perfect record is intact. At every sports-car convention
I have ever attended where trophies have been offered, I
have earned a trophy. But never for first.
Not sure what my next autocross car will be, but I'd like to
try an ES Miata. Anybody know where there is a real deal?
Phil "Former Lotus Owner" Ethier
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