Never one to mince words, Jonny Lieberman declares the Lotus Elise a Fat Pig! Wait a minute here, what the hell is that boy smoking?
Well, he’s just hi on the power of Se7en! You see, Jonny just had the time of his life traipsing up and down the legendary Tail of the Dragon in an assortment of creations based on the vision of Colin Chapman. The fat pig comment was the way the Elise felt in comparison to bright orange, Miata powered Westfield built by Autopro Motorsports.
Be sure to read the full story over at Jalopnik, where Jonny’s story may even bring a tear to your eye. Now how can I get invited down to Deal’s Gap myself?
4 comments ↓
Really enjoying my coffee this morning as I read your blog. I especially liked the Caterham article and what a fun ride to drive door to door with at speed as usually I am looking at the center-cap of someone else’s wheel when passing in one. I have been in many races with them since several racers here in Northern California really enjoy them and run with us reguarly. Starting in 2003 I was involved with the Car and Driver sponsored Caterham when they ran in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill consisting of drivers from Car & Driver Taem. That was one hell of a cold, wet year and those brave guys really did well considering. That year they finished 4th overall and you must remember they did it soaking wet! There were teams there from all over the United States, Canada and even Japan and the top three finishers that year were Porsches that averaged over $150,000 each and it was reported that the top two teams used over $40,000 worth of tires in that one race!
That was one of the years I won the E2 class in that race with the oldest car entered and 6th overall, a 1979 Mazda RX7 including beating all the factory teams. Here are a couple good articles on that race.
http://www.nasaproracing.com/enduro/25hour/after_rain.html
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/8934/2004-25-hours-of-thunderhill-race-preview-page6.html
If memory serves, there was a shot of your Mazda in Grassroots Motorsports coverage of the race that year.
There have been plenty of photos of that car and the other 7 of them I owned. I kept a stable of them all identical for testing, training, different tracks and those “What if’s.” That particular car was recently purchased from me along with it’s sister car that I won a major race in Mexico with. They are presently being restored by the new owner who is preparing them for Mazda’s museum as the winningest RX7 ever raced. Boy were those some fun cars to race.
Funny you mentioned Grassroots Motorsports, I was just on the phone with the managing editor, David Wallens this afternoon.
The GRM guys do such a great job! They really are more like bloggers than magazine guys, as they’ve been careful to let their personalities shine through and keep the mag feeling small.
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