Weekend 10/11 Dec

[Cat7even]

Hi! I will be in Irvine from the 5th-9thDec and was wondering if any events will take place during that week or the following weekend? The 12-13th I will be for 2 days in Carlsbad.

Anything within 6-8H drive or a 1H flight from LA should be possible :-)

[Doug Liedblad]

There is SuperCar Sunday every Sunday. http://www.supercarsunday.com/

Also Cars and Coffee in Irvine. http://irvine.carsandcoffee.info/

We might be able to come up with a drive thru the mountains too. Unless it's raining, then only Gert will show up. At least in his Seven.

[escondidoron]

Cars & Coffee and Donut Derelicts are always good for an interesting Saturday morning trip. As mentioned, Cars & Coffee is in Irvine and Donut Derelicts is in Huntington Beach. The best way to do them both is be at Donut Derelicts at dawn for about an hour and then go over to Cars & coffee for another hour. Then over to the mall to the Corner Bakery for breakfast. It's also an easy Saturday morning drive from Carlsbad.

I'm in Escondido, about 20 minutes from Carlsbad. There's a semi regular Sunday morning Lotus drive too. Usually we leave from Rancho Bernardo or Escondido and head up into the hills near Julian and have breakfast there. Sometimes on up to the top of Mt Palomar before returning home.

Cat;

Do you recognize any of the cars in this picture?


Or maybe faces in this one?

[slomove]

Hi! I will be in Irvine from the 5th-9thDec and was wondering if any events will take place during that week or the following weekend? The 12-13th I will be for 2 days in Carlsbad.

Anything within 6-8H drive or a 1H flight from LA should be possible :-)

Hey Stijn, would be great to see you again!

I would not mind a Palomar Blat if others decide to go. Maybe I even go and fix the front wings.....

[escondidoron]

Hey Stijn, would be great to see you again!

I would not mind a Palomar Blat if others decide to go. Maybe I even go and fix the front wings.....

It would be great fun to have some other Sevens to drive with.

Just got back from a San Diego Sunday morning drive. We went out to Borrego Springs and back today. Decided not to go to Palomar after we saw the police presence near Lake Henshaw. Here's a pic from the overlook above Borrego:


Just remember to bring some sun glasses. This time of year the early morning sun can be brutal when heading into the hills to the east!

[Cat7even]

Hi Guy's,

Sorry it took me so long to reply but life has been busy. I'm currently stuck at a boring tradeshow in Copenhagen and suddenly remembered I had a proper internet connection here ... surfing time!

I'm up to whatever you guys offer me. It would be good to see those faces I know already again and just as nice to see new ones. I will have transport while in CA (reminder: book a car) so meeting any of you at a distance is not a problem. While doing the training at Canon in Irvine I will be limited to 1H driving time and not to many beers from there. For the weekend sort of anything goes as long as it is in the US and I can get back to Carlsbad Monday morning :-)

Let me know what you are up to and I will follow. So far I have booked only my hotel in Irvine from Sunday evening until Friday morning ...

[Cat7even]

@Escondidoron: Sorry but no, I do not know any of them. Although I have the Seven 14 or so years now and did 80000miles with it I'm mainly connected to the UK Caterfield crowd.

Don't ask my why but most Belgian Seven owners don't spend much time on the track ... and that with SPA, Zolder and the Ring within an hour drive :-(

[escondidoron]

Don't ask my why but most Belgian Seven owners don't spend much time on the track ... and that with SPA, Zolder and the Ring within an hour drive :-(

Apparently my friends aren't typical Belgian Seven owners:


That's me, with back to camera, getting final instructions from my friend Mark before setting out from the box at Zolder, in his turbo Fiat 5-cyl Seven clone.

[slomove]

Ron and/or Brad,

can you suggest a nice route and we can see then who is interested?

I have not been to the Palomar/Julian/Borrego area for years and I am absolutely willing to drive down there. For that matter, the loop around San Jacinto and Idyllwild would be nice, too (maybe something like this). Saturday or Sunday both O.K. with me.

To make sense of the long haul to get there I think we should have a 150-200 mile drive.

[Cat7even]

I would not compare a VTB-VAB day with a proper trackday or testday ... this one day a year event is more of a leisurely drive for local boyracers. Trust me, you will not have a 650BHP LeMans car in your rear view mirror there :-)

[escondidoron]

Ron and/or Brad,

can you suggest a nice route and we can see then who is interested?


To make sense of the long haul to get there I think we should have a 150-200 mile drive.

OK. You've got a good start. Let me think on it for a day or so.

[escondidoron]

I would not compare a VTB-VAB day with a proper trackday or testday … you will not have a 650BHP LeMans car in your rear view mirror there :-)

Very true, but there were a few big Hp road cars and a Lola T70 recreation that was pretty quick. This particular annual event is to show auto club members who get tickets, what it is like to ride along on a track in a "performance" machine.

Never the less, my Belgian friends track their Sevens several times a year at sites like Zolder, Spa, Padborg, the 'Ring and a place in France that I can't remember the name of at the moment.

[slomove]

I don't know....nothing moving on the southern trip?

Stijn, if the blat out to Palomar and vicinity does not materialize, I will be happy to show you the local mountain roads. Just as good even if my car does not have front wings ;-)

PM for phone number.

[escondidoron]

Sorry for the tardiness on a response. I took a look at my rear suspension about 3 weeks back and found that I had a bent wheel. That lead to a look at the rear wheel bearings. And that's how I determined that I needed to replace an axle. I've got the axle back together and the new wheels should be here middle of next week. so with any luck the Seven will be back on the road by the 7th or 8th.

The proposed route looks like fun. I'm not too familiar with the roads although I have driven from Temecula out to Palm Springs and also up to Idlewyld, just not in a sports car.

A couple of questions about it:
1) Is there any place along the way to stop for fuel? (My Seven is only good for about 125 - 150 miles on its tiny tank.

2) How about any places to stop for breakfast and/or lunch along the way?

And a comment: There's a lot of cherry top (police) presence around Mt Palomar on the weekends.

I'm not stuck on this, and I realize that it's waaaay south, probably too far south for you guys up north, but I know that these roads are very nice. Also both Julian and Borrego Springs offer fuel and food opportunities as well. Just a thought.

If a southern drive event, no matter the route, looks to have some interest I will cross-post down here and see if there is some local interest as well.

Anybody else want to do something like this on either Saturday or Sunday, the 10th or 11th?

[rzempel]

If I'm in town, I will likely show up whichever route or day.