Trip to LOG 32 to Celebrate Elan 50

[stugilmour]

The LOG was great except that despite the celebration of the Elan 50th there were only three type 26 Elans there a series one, a series one and a half and my series two, so at least we had all the bases covered. There were another half dozen S3 and S4 cars there including Greg Z's beautiful S4 and two Plus two Elans including Stu Gilmore who won the long distance in a Lotus award for a trip one way of over 2,800 miles. He is still touring around the south and probably will have over 6,000 miles before he is done. Hurricane Sandy only brought wind of about 50 mph and no rain to speak of other than the deluge while I sat at the Orlando airport waiting for my wife's delayed flight to arrive. I was soaked inside the car just sitting. it seems to leak less when moving and that isn't saying much.

The facility was great albeit quite expensive and was filled with weirdos and strange characters. And then there was a Zombie convention in the hotel with 5,000 attendees all dressed in costumes and they looked even stranger than the Lotus folks.
Sebring was a delight, weather was cool but dry, Food was great, both Vic Elford and Derek Bell were delightful speakers and the photo from the concours will be a Woodstock kind of thing...ten times as many as were really there will say they were.

Photos on Tony Vaccaro's site:
http://www.lotusowners.com/2012Meetings/LOG32/Set1/index.htm
All in all a good LOG though lightly attended and pricey.

Plus one on Ross' excellent summary. Really enjoyable time. Tony, thanks for the fantastic pic's. Thanks also to all who assisted with organization of this excellent event. The food was great, and I really liked the informal socializing at the check in and welcome party, which set a very nice tone to the event.

I ended up with approximately 6,900 miles on the car round trip. This included about 150 miles of Sebring track time. As the speedo cable let go on the way down, numbers are approximate.

List of required Lotus repairs is very short. The after market windshield squirter pump quit, the aforementioned speedo cable broke, and a bit of a dragging caliper on the front are all that come to mind. I am kind of wondering if the thermostat is not closing correctly as I was running as low as 60 degrees C on cool mornings and at night. Sebring is pretty rough, so just about every interior screw needs tightening and the exhaust separated at the muffler in the second track session; oil change and welding was only $40 the next day though. The car is actually running better than when I left, having benefited from a carb adjustment in Orlando. My brother's BMW 318 didn't fair as well and required a clutch upon our return, so plus one for Lotus.

My route included two Canadian Provinces and 20 US States! We only hit snow two days after our return to Calgary, and the sun roof was open most of the time. I believe we hit an elevation of 10,900 feet on the Million Dollar Highway through Durango CO in Ross`back yard. This is an absolutely sensational road, even better than i remember from 15 years ago. Another memorable section was The Blues Highway 61 and the Natchez Trace. The rest of the route was largely Interstate due to time constraints, but with the five speed and 3.55 diff we could easily keep up with the 75 to 80 mph traffic speed. The Lotus literally didn`t miss a beat, although it was a bit cranky starting in some of the colder over night stops. The long distance award was icing on the cake; it`s a really cool solar powered spinning globe that intrigues the dogs.

I have never done a track day before, and Sebring was absolutely fantastic. When I mentioned I was a newby, one of the other participants filled me in, saying`the needle doesn`t hurt when it goes in, but it goes in slow and deep; you will be doing this again`. I now highly recommend trying your car on the track; our cars are perfect for this type of activity with relatively modest power and great handling & braking.

I had Steve Smith (Twin Cam Sportscars, Sarasota FL) as my instructor, who was absolutely great. He has two very nicely prepared cars (an Elan and a TC Ginetta), and Sebring is pretty much his home track. He drove the first two laps which was a complete eye opener; pretty sure he figured he was at 5 10ths, but my eyes were like saucers and really wondering about my sanity in taking the car on the track. The course is so long that for the first two sessions I had no idea where I was for a quarter of the time. I was slow enough I was lapped by the field every session, but Sebring has lots of passing areas so this was not an issue. By the fourth session I was starting to get the hang of things, but never came close to putting in a full lap I was happy with. A few times Steve expertly guided the wheel for me to remind me of the line, and the difference from my efforts were incredible.

A huge thank you to the organizers, instructors, and the Sebring staff for a great day. The Sebring guys were absolutely great and kept everything very safe and on time for the whole day. The food was really good too. We stayed over night at the fittingly named Ch?teau Elan Hotel, which is located track side. They gave us a great `Race Team` room rate`.

Sure looking forward to next year!

[DeanG]

Stu;

I'm very happy that you enjoyed LOG and arrived home safely. Your car is nice & you deserved the long distance award. Hope to see you and your brother at LOG 33.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to get our Elan in reasonable shape so towed the aluminum Seven. I hope to have the Elan at LOG 33.

[Ross Robbins]

Nice writeup Stu It was good to meet you and put a face to the name (which I seem to be doing with frequency lately) and to experience your mega enthusiasm and good spirit. Your REALLY long journey and my pretty long journey should put paid to the notion that these cars cannot be trusted to take a lengthy trip. In addition you wrung it out on the track which I was too chicken to do facing a trip back to Colorado. I am a bit disappointed that you were in my back yard and didn't stop in to say hello. Next time?

You have a really beautiful car and, while I acknowledge you as the clear long distance award winner, Dean's comment that you "Deserved" it stimulates this challenge: I will drive your car anywhere twice if you will drive mine with the top down once You, Sir, have a luxobarge compared to being beaten to death by the sun and wind at 4,000 rpm. Not that I minded

Now for next year. Let's get a caravan to Lime Rock, eh?

[stugilmour]

Ross, sorry we couldn't stop by Denver. Lynn was always saying "Where's Waldo" to me on the phone, so we turned left at Grand Junction and blasted up I 15 thru Salt Lake City to get home (a day late).

Caravan thru Denver next year sounds like a great idea. I hope others consider the idea as well. Lynn is trying to reserve vacation time, but would likely fly to NYC and do some local touring. Would be great to motor up to Montreal for her return flight.

I agree with Ross that with a bit of preparation our cars can be fun and reliable for a longer journey. I did a little counting and my car has visited five Canadian Provinces and about 24 US States so far. LOG33 thru Denver would add significantly to the State total. Might have to get one of those US maps with State stickers the RV dudes use to show off their adventures. After all, being a Luxobarge...

PS Definitely up for trying an Elan. I only ever drove one once 'back in the day'; at the time my daily driver was a 950 cc MG Midget, and I thought I had hopped in to a Cobra...