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I convinced my wife the other day that if I sell my creampuff E46 M3 and the R53 that it made sense to get an Exige. Those cars have always done something for me and a Cup one...WOW! Congratulations!
Until all things fall in line I will be living vicariously through you.
Thanks guy, and your posts mean a lot to me for our mutual love of ICE driver's cars. I needed to think out of the box to get it, as it is a race car technically. While I applied and was approved by my bank for an auto loan with attractive rate, I decided to fund it myself rather than deal with their need of a typical road car auto insurance, which my insurance will likely balk. Buying it with cash from my savings is relative easy if I just live on instant ramen for the next year. Now the biggest challenge is finding a place to park it, as I cannot part with any of my existing vehicles, especially the Westfalia Vanagon Camper.
I am plotting a property with a good size garage where I can have a 2 pole lift so I can do more and more efficiently, and 365 days a year.
Very cool video...
And, wow, what a bike. While I never got the bug to ride a bide, I can alway appreciate anything with wheels and engine. And I can appreciate what she does on the track... Sidecar racing, you’ve got to be kidding me.
Sad, though, that “some of the boys get mad when they get passed by a girl”.
Petrolicious' videos are always excellent in both subject matter as well as production quality. What a fortunate girl with a good father. I hate to estimate the worth of her vintage Ducati 350 race bike. Both the bike and the rider are gorgeous, and she is a real thing that gives boys some challenges for sure, at her young age. I wonder what vintage bikes do the boys ride. I have always in love with Ducati's race bikes of that era. They are pieces of art in addition to being amazing product of engineering and passion.
Sidecar racing is very interesting and a father and daughter team...
Her vintage single Ducati has a mere 40 horsepower and most would think so what? For the era anything over 100 HP per liter was a big deal, and her bike produces 114 HP/liter!
I only notice upon rewatching the video that she was riding a MV (Augusta?) @7:26 on the road with her father. MV was a legend in the era.
my dream garage going up; sick and tired of crawling on cardboard box under Desire in the driveway at the mercy of the elements
This post from a while back was meant to be just a tease. That is not our dream garage but a photo a track buddy sent me. There is no law against dreaming a big dream and in this case a big and tall, beautiful garage and shop.
With the addition of the Lotus Cup car something must be done to address the parking and storage challenges and more pressingly a place to work on the vehicles. We have been thinking on and off for a property on an acreage over the decades, but we love our existing home dearly. It is becoming now or never. The weather here has been terrible so we had only taken one trip with Desire to look at a couple of prospects. We resigned to the fact that the chance of finding one with existing house to our satisfactions, short of needing to throw in a few grenades and start from scratch, will be next to nil. If found at least the interior would need to be totally gutted for a major renovation.
Desire the location scout loves the drive to this piece of land as it involves 8 miles (with 1800 ft elevation rise) of winding canyon hill climb
Desire love this giant barn and she says she doesn't mind sleeping in a bed of hay, or next stall to a herd of alpacas
baby alpacas sport the same pepper-white coat as Desire
Realistically, I have the same dilemma. 4 cars and a 2 car garage. And have supplemented the garage with 2 of the above canopies. Love my house and where I live. So I make do. At 20’ those canopies are too long so I assembled them with 2 few section so they are only 10x13. They are also too tall, so I cut a foot off each leg. Fits the MINIs and Wrangler great. Not sure how much snow load they well take, though. I have noted that some secure storage facilities around here allow car and storage, and the thought of using one of those has crossed my mind. Would a storage place work for you? Seem like that would be cheaper than buying something bigger than what you have and moving out of a place you really like.
Realistically, I have the same dilemma. 4 cars and a 2 car garage. And have supplemented the garage with 2 of the above canopies. Love my house and where I live. So I make do. At 20’ those canopies are too long so I assembled them with 2 few section so they are only 10x13. They are also too tall, so I cut a foot off each leg. Fits the MINIs and Wrangler great. Not sure how much snow load they well take, though. I have noted that some secure storage facilities around here allow car and storage, and the thought of using one of those has crossed my mind. Would a storage place work for you? Seem like that would be cheaper than buying something bigger than what you have and moving out of a place you really like.
The tents can be a good option I used them in Alaska with success, but...
Don't go poor quality-thinner fabric, less stitching, and lower grade frame will cause you problems-at the worst time.
If snow load is a concern, I would recommend a taller dome-roof design. The flatter peaked roofs won't shed snow. You can try to keep it cleared, but that stresses the fabric and seams. And if you get a big overnight dump, the frame, even in higher quality units, can buckle. Onto one of your toys.
Plan for wind. Try to site with natural wind breaks, Anchor securely, and keep your canvas taut. These can fly, turn over, tumble, etc. If you are in an area with significant winds, consider pouring footings to anchor to.
Or just by new property with the garage you want, and put a mobile home next to it (my widower fantasy🤣
And I have experienced all of the above, including twice dropping the umbrella versions on my cars due to snow load and drone-like flights into my backyard.
But no damage any of those times.
I like the dome ones for that reason, but the size (height mostly) is a factor where I live. Right now I am experimenting with the HF one, with some straps to reinforce the strength of the peak. If it looks like I’ll get a heavy snow I plan to just undo the cover and let it hang. It is easy to do.
The sad thing about all of this is, if my garage was a few feet long, I could put all 4 cars in it...
Realistically, I have the same dilemma. 4 cars and a 2 car garage. And have supplemented the garage with 2 of the above canopies. Love my house and where I live. So I make do. At 20’ those canopies are too long so I assembled them with 2 few section so they are only 10x13. They are also too tall, so I cut a foot off each leg. Fits the MINIs and Wrangler great. Not sure how much snow load they well take, though. I have noted that some secure storage facilities around here allow car and storage, and the thought of using one of those has crossed my mind. Would a storage place work for you? Seem like that would be cheaper than buying something bigger than what you have and moving out of a place you really like.
I have explored all options to stay in my current house. There is not much and there is no viable option to access the backyard. In fact I am very fortunately that I can even accommodate this many cars, the car trailer as well as the compact motorhome, compare to most of my neighbors. There are many other considerations that all accumulated enough for me to galvanize and move out of the state, not just the city. I really want to be able to store all my vehicles indoors as well to have a decent 2-pole lift, and good amount of space for workshop. To maintain comparable amenities and architecture of this house I would have to build one myself.
Those car tents often are not allowed in the front or side yards in the city. Even if it was would not solve my problems. They are not designed to take any snow load and the best you can hope for is the snow will slide off them rather than sticking to the fabric.
My Lotus is still in limbo at the dealership even though I wrote a big check for it weeks ago. It is waiting for some reinforcement plate and fasteners for the rollcage that someone misplaced. They have to contact Lotus in UK directly as the US entity must be totally incompetent or not responsive. I expected owning this car, service and parts will have ongoing pains. My main concern is it is safely stored there during this limbo. They sent me these photos and I am much relieved. It is surrounded by $250k or more cars in all three sides.
this is the only photo I have with the top on
I had a lot of fun identifying the three cars protecting it
I’ll see how long the zoning people ignore my canopies if they notice them at all. And I do understand your dilemma. It will be interesting to read about how you make out.
In the mean time, I’ve decided to start signing up for track events...
Wow, that yellow does stand out in a sea of black, white and shades of gray and even against red and maroon...
Ha ha!. I didn't notice how the yellow pops in the sea of muted colors as I was so engrossed in identifying the luxury sports cars around it. The second photo sure looks surreal, as if it have been manipulated to make my Exige stand out.
I would not want an intense yellow car for the roads for it being too in your face, and besides being a cop magnet. For the track is polar opposite especially being a smallish one for visibility.
It is hard to be thinking of track events in the midst of January, but the change of season first starts slowly, and then before we know it it is here. Our first track event is in late March and I have made a soft (i.e. weasel) commit. I plan to use the early season events to gently break in the new little car, like whispering a high-strung pony. To get it track ready the first task of business is to install paint protection.
Since I creatively struggled to come up with the cash to purchase the Lotus, I told my friends that I would be on instant ramen diet for the next three months. By that I meant the 24 bags in a box that Costco used to sell that comes to about $0.30 a meal. The reality is not as dire as my joke. I sure eat a lot of beef soup noodles, and here are some photos of ones I made recently. I posting them as there were a few posts on Taiwanese beef soup noodles. None of these are my attempt to replicate those from my recent trip, but some were inspired by the use of unconventional ingredients such as carrots, celery, and tomato.
with beef shank and flank
with homemade hand-cut noodles
with beef shank and live clams
served with homemade pickled diakon
with beef flank and shank, clams, and Asian mustard green
with beef flank and tripe, and diakon
and lastly this mother of a bowl that is an unusual large serving with flank, shank, and mock hand shaved noodles
Here are more of my no-recipe cookings. These are inspired by Japanese curry rice. I use most ingredients I have on hand.
beef curry rice made with many root vegetables as well as napa cabbage
the same beef curry base but with gulf shrimps on a bed of mock hand shaved noodles
the same beef curry base but enriched with crab tamale, a lot of cabbage, and with gulf shrimps and fresh big chunks of dungeness crab meat; and japanese beer served in a Taiwan Beer's glass
Desire the location scout is heading into the woods and up the hills in search for more square footages. Let's hope she does not turn into a deer hunter.
Would a storage lift work? Not to dissuade you from moving but it would turn one parking spot into two. Way cheaper than a house and mortgage payments.
This one is just for illustration purposes only - but something like it might fit the bill as you can do some work on the underside of the car with one. https://www.toolots.com/friend-four-...t-8000-lb.html
Would a storage lift work? Not to dissuade you from moving but it would turn one parking spot into two. Way cheaper than a house and mortgage payments.
This one is just for illustration purposes only - but something like it might fit the bill as you can do some work on the underside of the car with one. https://www.toolots.com/friend-four-...t-8000-lb.html
In the Lotus you will be looking UP at my door handles on my MX5 and I have to look UP at the MINI's door handles in my MX5! You got room.
It has been close to a month since I paid for the car and it is still at the dealership. Today finally there is light at the end of the tunnel. Once it arrives I will break out the one foot ruler to see if you are right. The interesting thing about these Loti is if you overeat you may not fit in the cockpit in the next track event. Adding lightness is an old wives tale.
The torture is intolerable. Killing me softly with dripping supply of photos. Today I received one more. The dealer finally received the missing fasteners from Lotus UK to re-fit the roll cage. it sure is one strange looking cage in that there are two downtubes on each side at the front, for the already confined cockpit.
Hope those are all low cal meals you have been showing...
Let the Lotus be the virtual trainer. It is one unforgiving one at that. A bit too much cal or carb and I would find out I struggle more to get in and out. For me I notice high carb diet is the fastest way to gain waistline. Carb processed very quickly by the body and you feel hungry in no time while meat tends to take more time to digest and you are full longer. I cut out bread all together except for occasional treat. I also don't have sweet tooth which tend to be challenging for many. Making slow food helps as well.
I am signing a breath of relief. Finally the Lotus is on the way here via an enclosed carrier. My sales associate sent me these photos of the transport. I like the cleanliness of the tractor which indicates it is a driver owned rig. He has a stake in the game and tends not to be reckless like those hired semi drivers that've got nothing to lose. The weather forecast looks good as he has to negotiate the Siskiyou Pass at the California and Oregon border.
According to the internet -
The MINI is about 56 inches tall.
The MX5 is about 49 inches tall.
The Exige is about 45.5 inches tall.
I must say, though I would love to have an Exige, the MX5 is about as low in overall height as I think that I am willing to go. Ingress and egress are far from graceful in the MX5. That 3.5 inches will make a big difference.
Not to hijack the threat too much but my brother plays in a band that is playing at the Hawthorne Theater here in Portland (SE 39th and SE Hawthorne). It's a benefit for Parkinson's research. They have a 5 piece horn section and they play covers from the likes of Tower of Power, Huey Lewis and the News, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and more. They are a really good band.
Exige/Elise is my current dream car. When I'm done with the MINI convertible (I still occasionally need four seats right now) I'll get a Lotus if I can afford one, a Miata if not.
I am 5'9" and 160 lb (175 cm, 73 kg) right now, and don't anticipate any problem with the size of the Lotus.
I've owned a third gen RX-7, just about 1/2" shorter than a Miata.
01-04-2020, 06:14 AM
I have noted that some secure storage facilities around here allow car and storage, and the thought of using one of those has crossed my mind. Would a storage place work for you? Seem like that would be cheaper than buying something bigger than what you have and moving out of a place you really like. 
I plan to use the early season events to gently break in the new little car, like whispering a high-strung pony. To get it track ready the first task of business is to install paint protection.
