March 25, 2009

Hey gang,

Here is a recap of this weeks events.

Sunday was the Terry Fanning Rally run in conjunction with The St Louis MG club. I was unable to attend but from what I've heard it was a success, although Lotus turnout was low. I'll give everyone a break and blame it on the potential bad weather... THAT NEVER APPEARED!

Only 2 drivers got pulled over and for the most ridiculous reasons. Jim and his white Esprit got pulled over for taking a corner too fast. Not speeding but just too fast. Do you think the police officer understood this was normal driving for a Lotus guy? I believe the MG was pulled over because the cop had a MG in his past and couldn't believe how fast this one was.

The rally ended (with no tickets issued) at Creve Coeur Park. There they played games involving car parts and items that are way to pointy to be tossing around without Bob's supervision. Great time for all!

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Last night was F1 "101" at Designs in Motion, and what a night it was! Everyone once in a while a club event just clicks. This went off without a hitch. Todd McCandliss of Formula1blog.com gave the hilarious yet instructional presentation of Bernie's current F1 circus. We started with "What is Formula One?". Not what you would expect. Can you say leather whips? Oh you bad, bad Germans. Then Todd got into the new rule changes and a pleasant discussion of how ugly the new cars are. Next was his/our predictions for this year. I'm sure we have it all figured out:) Todd completed his presentation with an introduction to www.Formula1blog.com

Then it was "open session" with a lot of great discussion and opinions on Nascar. Ha ha.

For those that missed it don't dispair. You'll get another chance later this year. I'm sure of it. That's it for now. May the Lotus sun gods shine upon us soon.

Happy Lotusing

Eric Nordstrom

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Hello Lotus Friends,

Here is another weekend review for those that couldn't or didn't want to brave the cold. This Saturday Ron Flier, Elise racer extrodinaire, organized a tech session about wheel alignment using the string method. I personally learned a bunch about caster, camber, bump steer etc. I also enjoyed the hotdogs and beans. Those mini pickles were good too:) Ron's wife Vicki (also racer extrodinaire) had a big hand in preparing the grub for the guys in the garage. Nothing beats having a heated garage especially when it's 15 degrees outside. Very nice Ron!

After Ron finished his lesson Bob Horzmann showed another method with lasers. Lasers are always cool. Darth Maule had the coolest one. OK, I confess I'm a Star Wars geek.

It was so cold when we left my tranny linkage froze on the Esprit. After a couple of laps around Ron's neighborhood I was hoping it would thaw out. Well, it didn't. I asked Ron if he could move the "student chairs" from the other half of his garage so I could warm my car up. Well, after all that work the car fixed itself. Whooo Whooo.

This is going to be a great year gang. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Remember this is your club!

Spring can't come soon enough,

Eric Nordstrom