The list has been quiet, so something to share. Too Many Words as is typical
with my submissions.
Completed a backroads driving event this past weekend.
SoCalTT. ~200 miles of twisties per day for two days. LA to Southern Central
California Coast (Lompoc / Vandenburg Village area)
Avoid all freeways at all costs. Imagine doing a search for the location of
all signs which read "twisties for next X miles", then just connect the
legs.
One could call it a rally but there is no competition.
One could call it a tour, but put a bunch of people in pre '75 sports (and
other) cars and they all start wildly chasing each other, so "non-competitive"
is probably more apt.
Great time great weather. (stayed below triple digits, and once your t-shirt
back is soaked, does it really matter?)
Great roads, some gorgeous and some unusual vehicles.
Nash Metro with an MGB engine and a slushbox due to his age and mobility,
(but this guy drives 205mm of tread on his 155mm tires... you do the math)
MB Pagoda with a Buick V6,
Myers Tow'd with a Corvair engine (and only ~150lbs of weight on front
wheels - can you say PLOW!)
Opel Ascona with a GMV6
a cool (modern) Lotus Super Seven that we all got to see for 40-60 seconds
each day (in 10 second bursts) while he passed us, cornering at what seemed
like fighter jet speeds.
The 4-5 later model Porsche entries were permitted due to low reg numbers.
A brace of gorgeous Alfas from the SF Bay area. A really nice BMW 1600 4 door
"newclasse" that was a sleeper from the outside but nicely upgraded engine
compartment.
A brace of 510's showing the whole spectrum:
Orange with a rotary and dual exhaust, sounding much like a 2-stroke Yamaha
RD400
Red with an Autech SR20 (Ted Hedman, the photographer of the pics at link
below)
Mint green with a Rebello L20B
Dark green bluebird with an SR20DET
My homely roadster, (I didn't drive with the above group) of course running
topless.
I began the ride with premonitions due to a previous cooling system "event"
which I thought boded doom for the roadster driving in extended heat.
Turned out it was completely baseless, car ran like a dream and was pushed to
4-5.5krpms for most of both days. (self-imposed redline)
The only speed-induced "off" of the route was by the modern Porsche crowd,
proving once again that if you run in a group and start round robin
tournaments of "oh yeah, well watch this..", eventually someone will either:
* Get in over their head talent/equipment/rubber wise, or
* Encounter an offcamber turn when they are not prepared
No harm done, except some significant paint scratches from barb wire and
bruised egos.
snapshots here:
https://socaltt510.shutterfly.com/
Cheeks are sore from 9 hours of grinning for 2 days.
Happy Roadstering,
Fergus O
Renewed invigoration in roadster projects, plus
Newly added tasks on roadster project list
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