"While I was at LOG29..." the update thread

[RoadDad]

Thanks and keep 'em coming.

[Phantom]

Tunnel to the infield at Talladega

Cool stripes

Elan

The nerve of this guy! (standing on my wing)

One from Mr. Barber's collection, I'm sure

[Phantom]

My car (black Elise in background)

Lambos are over the top

Perty color

SweetDaddy was movin'

Wow, this guy can drive

[SkipL]

More photos from log29

In-car shot at talladega superspeedway headed for turn 1. Leaving some room for the "slingshot" maneuver. The wife included a great shot of the wiper.



A 33 degree banked shot. Where'd the tree tops and horizon go??



Group shot from atop the hill at Barber on Saturday. Thats a lot of glass and aluminum down there!

[MickOpalak]

Originally Posted by RichS

Not very exciting, but here you go. You'll have to click the HQ button to see the needles and the wheel blocks the speedo, but you'll get the idea:

Hey! That's me! (at the beginning of the video, I mean)

[MickOpalak]

Originally Posted by ms355

Did anyone try to sit in the rear seat?

[slaughtr]

What did I do at LOG?
Met some fantastic people.
Drove a new, stupid fast car.
Sat in an Evora.
Lost sleep.
Decided to move to Birmingham when I retire just to be close to Barber Motorsports Park.

[Vishus_1]

Mick, if you don't mind me asking - how tall are you? It doesn't look like you are fitting too good in the back seat. I expected there wouldn't be much leg room but I didn't expect an issue with head room.


And what is that by your hand?

[ms355]

Originally Posted by MickOpalak

At least you tried ...

Thank you.

[Bgwilly31]

hahahha i had a little captain in me. :lol:

[MpBrady7]

Originally Posted by Bgwilly31

hahahha i had a little captain in me. :lol:

Get your foot off the spoiler man! haha

[shovel383]

That's me!! WOOOOHOOOOOO

Originally Posted by Phantom

Tunnel to the infield at Talladega
Attachment 122784
Cool stripes
Attachment 122785
Elan
Attachment 122786
The nerve of this guy! (standing on my wing)
Attachment 122787
One from Mr. Barber's collection, I'm sure
Attachment 122788

[Moto44]

Admittedly, if LOG29 hadn't been held at my favorite track [Barber], have the opportunity to get onto Talladega Superspeedway, and include a detour to Deal's Gap with a group of LotusTalkers, I probably wouldn't have attended. And although those things exceeded my expectations, hanging out with my fellow car fanatics was by far the most enjoyable aspect of the trip!

[glb]

Moto = 100% correct.

the rest of you should consider going. You meet people for whom you have an instant affinity. Then, every time you go it's a giant reunion.

Almost everyone walks around w/big grin on faces.

The ppl are the best part. You learn, they learn. HUGE amt of laughs.

From LT, I met:

Moto
Slaughtr
MickOpalak

(All of whom were so nice, the kind of people everyone wants to be friends with)

Ace10 - great time, just the guy to be with at a boring party

Randy - as much fun as you'd expect

Racy Tracy - as nice in person as here, really interesting


Spent time w/Chris Beebe (sp?) who was v smart. Reminded him to tell Peter Egan not to use 40+ yr old seatbelts in his elan.

Had a couple conversations & drinks with Burt Levy, great time, v funny.

Met another dozen owners who were just wonderful to be with, including cool guy I'd met @ Roebling Rd vintage car race last fall.

Regret: Met an older gentleman who arrived by automatic Yamaha motorcycle. I explained he was too early for track participants' meeting. He wanted to talk, so we went outside during banquet.

He was there as an instructor.

Note that this guy started racing in 1948; I was 1 yr old. He raced in Europe while stationed there. Went to Korea and Nam.

Raced and won in many cars, especially a Datsun 2000.

Alas, I had to leave to hear levy. I ckd to ensure he made the meeting. BUT, forgot to get his name.

He was fascinating and if someone could tell me his name, I'd be appreciative.


1st LOG for me was 1988 and they just get better each year, as you meet more ppl you want to see again. More and more events, too.

I can't stress enough how fun these are, how all of you should try it.


PS: Driving 15 hrs straight home w/rotator cuff injury was not great.

[SweetDaddyD]

Originally Posted by Phantom

Tunnel to the infield at Talladega
Attachment 122784
Cool stripes
Attachment 122785
Elan
Attachment 122786
The nerve of this guy! (standing on my wing)
Attachment 122787
One from Mr. Barber's collection, I'm sure
Attachment 122788

I helped load the polished aluminum Lotus that sat outside the banquet through the hotel, down the elevator, and into the trailer. One person could effortlessly push it. It was really neat.

[SweetDaddyD]

Just now getting back to the internet. Wow, it went by fast. Was a complete blast. Really enjoyed meeting many of you and reconnecting with many more. It was a real treat to extend the trip and get to go to the tail of the dragon with a great group. Was quite exhausted by the time I got home last night. Doing some of the little inside things was great and a special treat. If anyone ever gets the chance to take a private tour of Mr. Barbers house along with Clive Chapman, I'd highly recommend it.

Talladega was much more fun than I even expected. Wasn't going to bother with the museum but it was quite interesting. The Barber museum is mind blowing and I'm planning a trip back. The Barber track is equally impressive. One great announcement (after BS Levy finally got off the stage...geez!)was that the Lotus Challenge Series got LCU's support and is going nation wide!!!!! So I'm greatly looking forward to running in it on the Barber track. The Dragon was awesome afterwards. Randy's (and Slaughter's)
rossions are disturbingly awesome. Racy Tracy brought out her amazing Porsche from Chicago, was really nice, and a fantastic photographer- can't wait to get the pics! Thanks to Rich S for letting me crash with him, and the track instruction as well. Also thanks to Bonzai and Moto44 for helping me keep my LOG costs low on the room side as well. Many thanks to all my repeat and new customers. It was great to not get stuck bringing too many LOG29 shirts home (still have a bunch of LOG29 decals if anyone still wants them) I got a big kick out of seeing someone in them nearly every time I turned around. Even neater is that Colin Chapmans son and Grandkids have them as well! Clive Chapman is as down to earth as anyone you'd ever meet and a real pleasure to talk with. The same with the other English chaps that came over. The Evora was amazing in person. I first saw pics and thought it was neat but wouldn't be interested in purchasing. Attention to detail, quality, fit and finish was awesome and it looks sooo good in person. You could as easily see a Ferrari badge on it as a Lotus one.

It was a looot of work helping plan the event and making banners, signs, posters, shirts, car numbers, directionals, etc etc but so worth it. If you guys in Gettysburg need a hand next year, just let me know.

As fun as the events were, and every single one of them was a complete blast, the most enjoyable part for me was the people. It was great to put a face with a name from so many folks here, and great to see a lot of people I met at LOG last year. Patrick and Charlie were missed.

[slaughtr]

One of the best parts about the trip was putting so many Lotustalkers on my list of people I've met. The list is too long to write out, especially with all the catch up work I have, but thanks to everyone. It was a true pleasure.

[MickOpalak]

Originally Posted by Vishus_1

Mick, if you don't mind me asking - how tall are you? It doesn't look like you are fitting too good in the back seat. I expected there wouldn't be much leg room but I didn't expect an issue with head room.


And what is that by your hand?

I'm 5' 8.5" In that picture the back of my head is against the roof.
An average sized adult simply won't fit back there. No head room, no leg room. A baby seat would work as well as groceries or luggage.

This Evora had some wires sticking out of the side of the rear seat for diagnostic purposes. Obviously production ones won't have this.

[MickOpalak]

Speaking of LotusTalkers, here are some pix from out get together. Please try to identify as many as you can.

[MickOpalak]

One more...