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the connections between the MR2 and Lotus.  Apparently, the MR2 was designed during the time when Toyota and Lotus were doing much work together, and when Toyota was toying with the idea of buying Lotus, and I was told that most of the MR2 design came from Lotus.  Steve had owned Esprits before and also owned a Countach, and his MR2 was set up very well.  Next year's rally is in South Dakota, and I'm going to try to recruit some more Lotuses.
I'm excited about the track day, which will have come and gone by the time you read this, but hopefully I will have seen you there!  Thunderhill is awesome in the Fall.  See you guys at Kiyoshi's for the October meeting!

~Victor

We held the September meeting at Huddart Park after the All British Car Meet in Palo Alto got cancelled, and boy did we have fun!  We had a nice picnic with a great turnout of cars.  Thanks to all of you who made it a great time!  We finished the day off with a great drive through the back roads, following John Z's new hybrid Esprit.  It was a great day all around, and I had more fun then I have had at the ABCM in previous Septembers.
I just retured from a high-speed rally in Utah.  We drove some great runs each day around the mountains and deserts in Utah.  This year there was only one Lotus, but in past years we had a few more.  The ususal Ferrari and Lamborghini cars and Porsches were there, but with more curvy roads than usual, Lotuses could do even better.  But unfortunately, the only Lotus broke down on the second day!  Well, a new Ferrari 360 Modena threw its ring gear off of the flywheel destroying the bell housing/tranny, and a 993 Turbo Porsche and Cobra also broke down. If any of you Esprit guys that have heard of this problem, please let me know, but the problem was a cracked intake manifold.  The intake manifold bolts onto studs coming out of the head.  A small coolant leak seemed to be coming out around one of those studs when the engine was revved up.  I thought the gasket was bad between the intake manifuld and the head.  It is interesting that the coolant comes into the intake manifold, then circulates around the intake ports, then goes into the head.  I don't know why it is designed that way, but maybe it helps cool the hot intake turbocharged air?  Anyway, one could see the antifreeze squirt out around one of the studs.  The problem was that with continued use, a crack became apparent near the stud, and it grew to a length of about six inched horizontally across the front/top of the intake manifold.  As the intake hardware is cantilevered off of this attachment point to the head, I guess the vibration and stress caused the crack to 
grow, and the leak worsened as the crack grew.  Fortunately, the coolant didn't leak into the intake port and get into the cylinder.  Maybe that is because the intake port is usually pressurized by the turbo, and the crack only leaked under pressure.  Anyway, the car had to be retired from the rally and needs a new intake manifold.  I also learned why some of you Lotus guys like the Toyota MR2, as there was one on the rally owned by a guy named Steve Lefferts, and that car really kicked ass.  It was set up different from stock, and it was showing up some new Turbo Porsches and Lambos and other more expensive machinery!  After talking with Steve about it, I learned about 
A sure sign that you are driving too fast. 


Submitted by Kiyoshi

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