Saturday May 17th STREETS of Willow! 4 places left!

[SKYVUE]

What dealer, Mark?

--Hal

[Zen Dude]

Originally Posted by SKYVUE

What dealer, Mark?

--Hal

Well, it's not actually at any 'dealer'. There is a small 'Foreign Car' garage down the street from me that seem to know what they are doing. They mostly work on wheels and tires and older vehicles but they said they could do some research on the car and figure out what needs to be done.

...I have my fingers & toes crossed.

- z

[SKYVUE]

Originally Posted by Zen Dude

Well, it's not actually at any 'dealer'. There is a small 'Foreign Car' garage down the street from me that seem to know what they are doing. They mostly work on wheels and tires and older vehicles but they said they could do some research on the car and figure out what needs to be done.

...I have my fingers & toes crossed.

- z

[Zen Dude]

Actually, it's at Beverly Hills Lotus ...and supposed to be done around dinner time.

- z

[JMY]

Originally Posted by Zen Dude

Well, it's not actually at any 'dealer'. There is a small 'Foreign Car' garage down the street from me that seem to know what they are doing. They mostly work on wheels and tires and older vehicles but they said they could do some research on the car and figure out what needs to be done.

...I have my fingers & toes crossed.

- z

Look at those RIMS !!! Super Lightweight and comes in 48"s !!!

Hope your car is ready to run Mark ... Cyall tomorrow!

No umbrella girls allowed Hal ???

[SKYVUE]

Originally Posted by Zen Dude

Actually, it's at Beverly Hills Lotus ...and supposed to be done around dinner time.

- z

WELL????

[NomisR]

I just taped up my car half assedly.. too tired for the front, see you guys tomorrow.

Hal-

Just PM you my cell phone # in case it's needed for anything.

[SKYVUE]

James:
When you EXIT Rancho, give me a cell phone call.
See you at 5:30 am

Simon. I'll see you at Denny's.

I hope Mark's KG is ready to go!

--Hal

[Zen Dude]

If anyone of the tracking crew is still here ... I'm back with the Lotus ...Alan finished it up and did a track checklist on it at 9:15pm.

...and it runs awesome!!

Alan & BHL ... you guys ROCK!!

See ya'll tomorrow.

- z

[SKYVUE]

Great Day! After a few sessions, I can't catch up to Simon, James and Mark! They're out of my league now!
Great driving! The four elises performed flawlessly, even at the 107F (whew) temperature. Engine temp reading was max 210F!

I learned a tremendous amount from Rod Bean (ride along instructor). Many spins off track (not me). I was forced to spin on the skid pad. I did NOT like that!

Otherwise, a wonderful HDPE! I drove home, cleaned the Elise for another day. Maybe the canyons? Remember: JUNE 1st Lotus Drive!

Here a few pics, more coming from James, Mark and Simon.

--Hal

P.S. Thanks to SweetDaddyD (Keith) for AWESOME cling numbers!
44? This yellow Elise attracts BEES! The star cluster in the sky is the BEEHIVE and has the designation M-44! Sooo.....44! Beehive!

[JMY]

Wow .... you can't fully appriecate a Lotus until you take it to the track Today I learned invaluable things about the car handling, limits, braking, throttle steering (180 on the skid pad, oh yea!) Talking to one of the Miata drivers that I passed said he thought I was going to run off the track because I was braking so late before the turns

On the way home, I noticed that something was squeaking when I was driving on the bumpy freeways... might be the suspension ?? I'm gonna check it out tomorrow. Maybe the poor car didn't like the 107F temps and me pushing it so hard ...

Didn't get many "action" photos (hoping Ravenwing will post some up) but here's Hal in his 44 car running in the advanced group during the morning sessions.

[NomisR]

It was really fun today, I'm all burnt though. Next time, I'm keeping the top on the car.

On the way back though, I figured out why I spun out... Traction control. It felt something was wrong but that made sense. I wish I had some extra time on the track or at least skid pad so I can play with it some more.. maybe next time!

Hope we get to run together more next time instead of being split up though.

[Zen Dude]

Originally Posted by JMY

On the way home, I noticed that something was squeaking when I was driving on the bumpy freeways... might be the suspension ?? I'm gonna check it out tomorrow.

James ... mine is doing the same thing. From inside the squeaking sounds like a mouse or a duck ...or rubber to rubber or plastic rubbing together ... is coming from the passenger side. I had my daughter attempt to ride along to help locate it and it seems to be coming from the passenger footwell somewhere. Then she got out as I drove it in and out of the driveway and she said that she could hear the exact same noise from outside. And seems to be coming from somewhere near the front passenger wheel and only happens when the car is 'twisting'. Maybe it's related to the suspension. I can't find anything unusual. If you figure out what it is please let me know. I have to head down to Beverly Hills Lotus on Monday and I'll be asking them also.

I've done a bit of a search on the forum and there were notes about a couple things (the undertray, springs rubbing on the shock body, sway bar bushings, a loose front wheel well liner to ...it's just the 'infamous Lotus squeak' that comes and goes.). A lot of the threads seem to mention that it was really hot outside too. I'll be digging a bit deeper into this later.

- z

PS: As soon as I can get to it I'll be posting pics. ... my daughter's school picnic is today.

[JMA]

Re the squeak...didn't go to Willow, but did Mulholland Dr. yesterday, in 100+ temperatures, and had the same noise. Think it must be the front suspension. Seemed to be mostly on left hand turns. I'll bet Willow was 110!

[Zen Dude]

Is anyone's front end still squeaking?

I did some searching on LT and saw a couple posts about spraying WD-40 on a few places underneath and I did that. The squeaking is totally gone but I should have checked to see if it was still there in the first place.

- z

[JMY]

Mines still doing it a little bit.... This afternoon, I backed the car out into the driveway to wash it, and I heard the squeak as soon as the car started rolling backwards. I tried spraying water into the front wheelwells to see if it did anything (saw some thread about the rain quieting the squeaks down)... after washing the car, I took it out on the local roads and I would still could hear the squeaks once and awhile. Didn't try the freeway.

I'm gonna go spray the suspension parts with some lube and see what happens.

***UPDATE *** I jacked up each side of the car and sprayed all the visible suspension parts with some silicon grease (since it says its safe for rubber and water proof) and the squeaks are GONE !!! Took it out on the freeway and it was quiet. I did hear it squeak once on the street, but it was way better than before.

James

[JMY]

Hey Simon ! I was searching the Sky forums and I found a video of you and your car on the skid pad !!! Nice spin at the end !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzN1AqUjhF0

Mark ! When you gonna post your videos and pics up????

[NomisR]

Great find!

Man, I want to do that again.. only if it wasn't so hot..

[Gary(SF)]

The squeaky front end seems to be a heat issue. I had the same thing driving to a Jack Attack last Thursday. It was very hot, and it was squeaky down and back, although not on the track for some reason (maybe I just couldn't hear it).

Gary

[Pestodude]

I have it in my drivers side rear. Definately suspension related because if I press down on the rear drivers side when car is stationary I can hear it.