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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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