build diary

September 19, 2006: The autocross went well overall.
There was the usual chaos in the morning as we realised that having the same guy doing tech and start line duties was a poor idea, compounded by a rockslide in one of the canyons that closed down the interstate. Hopefully we'll have a larger turnout next time, but everyone got a whole lot of track time. The pavement was cold (so was the air! Brrr) and there was lots of loose gravel on the course. I was stuck at the timing station for a while but eventually snuck away to take a run.

As per its tradition at a new venue, the Seven fouled its plugs as soon as I went to start it. Cute trick - but this time I was prepared! Sort of. I stole a set of plugs from a friend's Miata ("Hey, why is my hood up?"), fired up the engine to get the cylinders warm and then popped the crusty plugs back in. Perfect.

Not so good on the course, though. The car was running lean and I could only use light throttle, but I still managed a decent time. Why lean? My old friend altitude again. The course was no higher than the one at Aspen, but over the course of the various trips I must have forgotten to leave the fuel I needed in that vacuum range. I popped it back in and the car felt strong. On my next run I missed a cone so I looped around in a big circle to reach it - and put down the same time as the last! The big problem was gravel. Competitors had pushed it off the course, but if I got off line at all the Seven would just wash out in front and I'd be frantically adding lock. Not smooth, not fast. I had to basically the follow the same line as everyone else which wasn't all bad. The final run came in at 1:02.750, nearly 7 seconds faster than everyone else. It's hard to beat a Seven through the cones, no matter what kind of hack is driving! There are some good pro pictures online - this one is my favourite.

I expect everyone who's a fan of homebuilt cars knows about the DP1. I've been reading the build log for a few years. Why do I mention it? Because the car made its first drive today! Click on the Recent Updates for the DP1 to see the latest. AWD, turbo bike motor - yikes.

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