2018 Sevens HPDE at NJMP - July 4-6, 2018

[xcarguy]

Shane, Sorry for the dinged bumper. A pretty good outcome given that your beautiful Storker was cruising free of your tow vehicle at a rather high rate of speed without a pilot (pun intended). What comes to mind is the question of whether or not you utilized a safety bolt going through the ball latching device? I never leave home without one.

Bob,

If you look at the photo closely, you'll see that my 'safety bolt' is actually a lock made specifically for securing the ball latch. Like I said, I'll dedicate a thread to this later this week. I will say this much, fatigue on my part played a huge roll in what happened.

[yellowss7]

Shane, Kitcat has a similar story from one of the past years events. He made it all the way back to Cincy with the hitch sitting on top of the ball. I'm sure he will explain in greater detail if prodded.

Well, I'm just starting to feel less sore and tired after the event even though I only made a little less than the first session before my throttle cable snapped and the TPS broke. I did do a few instructor laps with Matt in his Westfield, but My ears started to bleed from him doing 9000 rpm in third at 110 mph!!! ( well maybe it just felt like they were)

Luckily Simon filled in for the last session with him for me. Thanks Simon!

All in all it was a pretty good event IMO. Only Fred, Chris and I had mechanical issues which cut our participation short. Nothing of a serious nature. Simon replaced my throttle cable and TPS, so mine is running again. Fred lost a rectifyer and went looking for a part but never came back. Hopefully he found one and his way home. Chris S, brought his recently rebuilt Lotus 7 out with a brand new engine rebuild that limited him to 4000 rpm, but had a vibration which he felt needed attention and as a former SCCA racer, he has more sense than most of us and packed it up to run another day. He says he will definitely be back next year. Norm did have an on track incident

which was a bummer, but he's ok and hopefully his wife is the understanding type.

Everyone played very nicely out on track, and from the smiles, I'd say that everyone had a great time. It was also nice to have a great turn out of wives and significant others. They were troopers putting up with the noise, heat and long days of watching us. Luckily the timing towers offered some good cool A/C and viewing.

Thanks to all who made the commitment and effort to attend. It is so nice to have our own run group of 7s out there on track. Thanks to Glen and Mike for their video and Photo contributions. And Thanks to NJMP for allowing us to bring a lot of guests and giving us our own run group.

Hope to see a few other here join us next year. Tom

[xcarguy]

. . .Only Fred, Chris and I had mechanical issues which cut our participation short. Nothing of a serious nature. Simon replaced my throttle cable and TPS, so mine is running again. Fred lost a rectifyer and went looking for a part but never came back. Hopefully he found one and his way home. Chris S, brought his recently rebuilt Lotus 7 out with a brand new engine rebuild that limited him to 4000 rpm, but had a vibration which he felt needed attention and as a former SCCA racer, he has more sense than most of us and packed it up to run another day . . .

Well, you left the ‘drag queen’ out. Or did you forget that the Storker laid down at the very end of the first T-bolt session. While you were being towed away from that attractive corner worker, I was on the opposite side of the course hitching a ride with the local tow vehicle. On top of that, when the car quit, I coasted off track and across a small ditch that wasn’t visible in the grass. Mucked up the aluminum mount for the front wing. Spent the morning shopping local hardware stores for a ‘gud ol boi’ fix. Got that squared away and spent the afternoon figuring out why the car just simply quit. With Roman by my side, and a multimeter in hand, we traced it to the charging wire having come loose at the alternator. Did manage to run the last session of the day.

[yellowss7]

Yeah, I guess I did forget about that. But as You say I was busy talking to Ashley. And I did lend you the multi meter. But your electrical issue was a disconnected plug, so I don't count that.

But you have to admit that it was a pretty clean event. Croc and I had to struggle to find worthy recipients of the "awards"

[xcarguy]

. . . I did lend you the multi meter . . . your electrical issue was a disconnected plug . . . But you have to admit that it was a pretty clean event. Croc and I had to struggle to find worthy recipients of the "awards"

All true. I’m just looking for sympathy...I think it’s the red sash.

[Croc]

While you were being towed away from that attractive corner worker...

Dragged away more likely...

[Kitcat]

Left NJMP Saturday @ 5:45 a.m., picked up 6 year old grandson Max, in Frederick, MD, on the way back and instantly went into "grandad mode" for last 4 days, hence my absence here.

Once again, Croc and Tom outdid themselves! This is a ton of fun for all of us mostly because they do a ton of work in advance. We had a progressively more interesting dinner option, starting Tuesday with great pub food, seafood on Weds on Delaware Bay, culminating in as nice an Italian dinner as I have ever had Weds eve in Millville. And the NJMP Pub/Clubhouse/pool is a great place for breakfast lunch and cooling off with adult beverages post race.

And, there is even racing! I was pleased that I only slowed up by 1/10 of a second on Lightening. Also happy that, to Croc and Tom's evident disappointment, I did nothing (much) to embarrass myself (for a change).

I had fun catching up on everyone's news. And, as I mentioned in my "acceptance speech" for the debris award, I enjoyed meeting the amazing women who have somehow found it in their generous hearts to overlook our se7en fetish.

Final shout-out to Shane, first for bringing his entire lovely family all that way, and second for mentioning the air museum at nearby Wright Patterson airport, where grandson Max and I and grandma spent 3 happy hours yesterday.

And yes Shane, I once put the closed and locked trailer hitch on top of the ball, not over and around it. And drove all the way from NJMP to Cincinnati w/o incident (I wonder what is causing all that squeaking????). It even survived a panic stop on the Penn Turnpike for a wreck when a lady flipped her car in front of me. Who says all the driving excitement is on track?

[xcarguy]

. . . I once put the closed and locked trailer hitch on top of the ball, not over and around it. And drove all the way from NJMP to Tennessee w/o incident (I wonder what is causing all that squeaking????).

Kitcat. Fixed your post to reflect my own adventure (yep, made it aaaaaallll the way to TN). And ditto on the squeaking.

[simon450]

What?


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[l7s1]

First time here so hope I am getting through. Thanks again for the warm welcome at NJMP. That towing story is almost an exact copy of mine going to Watkins Glen with my SCCA FP Sunbeam years ago. Great fun at NJMP despite that strange noise on accelerating in right turns. A closer look shows that the rear universal joint bolts were trying to carve up the rear section of the transmission tunnel so am happy I stopped early before any real damage. Sorry I was slow with the new motor and noise. The Series 1 has a different set-up than 2 or 3 for rear axle (old Sprite design) lateral location. I had it set with insufficient right side clearance between the universal joint and trans tunnel with driver weight plus acceleration. Also, I had the coilover Spax shocks adjusted soft and as low as the spring mounts go. So I am changing things now.