Categories
cars personal thoughts WCM Ultralite S2k

Setting up a Seven – The Ultralite Experience

My new WCM Ultralite S2K

As many of you know I purchased a Lotus Seven replica called the WCM Ultralite S2K late last year to make it a street legal track toy. While the Ultralite may maintain the spirit of the original Seven, as you can see below, it has a distinctly different shape and has generally larger dimensions to accommodate drivers of all sizes. In order to move this extra bulk (relatively speaking) around it comes with the incredible F20C engine out of the Honda S2000. The end product has some astonishing performance figures:

Weight: 1300 lbs
Horsepower: 240 bhp
Redline: 9000 rpm
Power to weight ratio: 400+ hp/ton
0-60 mph: 3.5 seconds

With the (more) original predecessor

My particular car was the first prototype built by World Class Motorsports and is the actual car used in most of the magazine tests.… Read the rest

Categories
mashup

GGLC Membership Map

I originally posted this on the Golden Gate Lotus Club blog but figured I should cross post it here as well.

A few days ago I received the latest GGLC Memberhip roster in the mail (if you have not gotten one please contact David Anderson (ggmail AT gglotus DOT org) to update your postal address) and was fascinated to see the large number of cities that our members are spread over. After talking it over with a few folks at our last monthly meeting I hacked together the following map of club members:


View Larger Map

Each marker on the map represents a zipcode that has at least one GGLC member.

… Read the rest
Categories
24 Hours of Lemons cars personal

Pink Pig turnkey LeMons car for Sale!

UPDATE: The car is sold!!!

In a bittersweet move, the Formula BMW team is officially retiring from Lemons racing and we are putting our “Pink Pig” lemons car for sale. After 3 years of successful racing the team is splitting up and the members are moving onto other pursuits including Spec Racing. As a result we are selling the Pink Pig as a fully setup turnkey LeMons car for teams who want to get into the series without going through the hassle of building their own car.

Pink Pig at Reno

Car info:

  • 1986 BMW 325 E (E30)
  • Class winner at Reno-Fernley 2009
  • 2 Top 5s and 2 Top 10s in the last 4 races
  • Excellent handling and fast lap times
  • Ultra reliable – no major breakdowns in last 5 races
  • Full safety gear
  • 6 TR-Motorsports wheels with Hankook tires (enough rubber for 2 races)
  • Fully stripped for maximum weight reduction
    • Lexan windshield
    • Sunroof and rear parcel shelf replaced with sheet aluminium
    • Door skins only
    • lightweight sealed battery
    • dashboard, excess wiring and interior completely removed
  • Updated brakes (new master cylinder, stainless steel brake lines, new Hawk race pads, Super Blue racing fluid)
  • Wired for in-car radio (4 radios and helmet mics included)
  • 2 gallon drinks system in place (separate 1 gallon bottles)
  • Cool suit mounting system (cool suit not included)
  • Numerous other safety, reliability and speed modifications – contact for full list
  • Never had any BS Penalties or tech issues
  • “Lemons Legend” on Jalopnik
  • Click here to follow the history of the car and its racing efforts

    • Car package includes all safety gear, radios, wheels, tires, drinks systems, fuel filler hoses, etc… – just add gas and race!… Read the rest

    Categories
    cars motorsport technology thoughts

    Recreating your track day laps in GT5

    Polyphony Digital has announced a new feature in Gran Turismo 5 which will allow you to upload data from an automotive data logger and recreate your laps within GT5. The technology currently requires the use of the CANBUS data along with a Denso GPS controller and will initially be built into the Toyota FT-86G. As the owner of a Race Technology DL1, I can only hope that one day we might be able to use this technology with existing track day dataloggers.

    In the meantime check out this video of a Lexus IS-F lapping the Fuji circuit with its virtual recreation side-by-side.… Read the rest

    Categories
    thoughts

    Cathay Pacific Upgrade Experience

    A couple of days before my scheduled return flight from Chennai to SF I was thinking about the wonderfully uncomfortable economy seat and decided that it would probably be worth it to pay a fee and upgrade to business. This was on a Friday night (flight was on Sat night) and the Cathay Pacific office in Chennai was already closed so I went to their website to see if I could upgrade online. After spending some 20 minutes looking through their website I had to admit defeat and decide to instead give their office a call on Saturday morning to see if I could do the upgrade over the phone instead.… Read the rest