It’s been a while since we had an update on this car and a lot of people were starting to wonder what happened to it. Between the many obstacles to overcome, developing some custom parts, going back and forth on decisions, the owner of the car (and myself) having two having kids, this became a sideline project in the shop. Our usual chats shifted from the K20 swap to sharing our experiences raising two young children. Although progress was made slowly throughout, I wanted Part 3 to be the final part of the blog.
The team arrived back in Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 15th and we were greeted at COS airport by some really cool window artwork promoting this year’s race. After leaving the airport, we immediately headed over to our home-away-from-home: Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs and we were met with another fun surprise; this year’s “Signature” car, a BMW Z3M coupe and “Parade of Champions” car, a new BMW i5 M60 electric performance sedan. The liveries for both cars were unique for the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Legendary PPIHC Hall Of Fame Inductee, Clint Vahsholtz, was this year’s driver of the “Parade of Champions” car; which meant that after the race on Sunday he would lead all of the competitors down from the summit of the mountain back to the start-line. It’s an incredible honor, and I can think of no one better for the job considering Clint has raced Pikes Peak 30 times. And out of those 30 times, he’s won his class 24 times and he was King of the Mountain in 2020. Wow!
Following several successful planned test days at our home track of Sonoma Raceway in April and May, we finally arrived at the first Official Test Weekend ahead of the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). This weekend took place on Saturday and Sunday June 1st-2nd, and as a rookie I was informed by the event-organizers that my performance across both days would be evaluated in order to make a final determination of my eligibility to race on June 23rd. No pressure or anything, but game on.
Over the 2023 winter holiday break is when things got really serious for our Pikes Peak car. We used the downtime to get a lot done, including a full rebuild of our Drexler rear diff.
It’s been over 3 years since I put the Honda K24 into our Lotus Exige and it was the first car that I made an engine harness for. Although the harness was reliable and never gave me any issues, I felt that my harness building skills have improved much since then. What I really wanted to do was get rid of all of the unused wiring and the mess under the dash.
Fuel starvation is a well known problem with this platform. It’s mostly noticeable on long left hand corners because the fuel pick up is on the left side of the tank. It’s typically not an issue if I keep the fuel tank full, but every time our got down to about 70%, it would starve. This can cause a lean condition and be harmful to the engine, especially with forced induction.
Over the years, my good friend Nick Cahill (who happens to be an award-winning filmmaker and national geographic cover photographer) has helped me tell stories through video about my passion for motorsport (which he also shares) and the Honda S2000 race-car I built from the ground up. Last October, I had a nasty rollover crash at Sonoma and while I was able to walk away unharmed; the car was a total-loss. This season, I debuted a BMW E36 M3 which has presented a new set of challenges. That's when Nick and I got together to brainstorm the idea of creating a short-film about this next chapter, and more importantly; the incredible people and companies who make everything possible. Watch it here:
The Exige S is known for heat soaking and extremely high IATs (intake air temps). The stock intercooler is mounted on top of the hot engine and doesn’t get nearly enough airflow through the small roof scoop. It also doesn’t help that the hot air from the radiator exits in front of the windshield and makes its way into the roof. There are some things you can do to help like a larger intercooler, additional ducting from the side scoops, larger roof scoops, or adding fans to the intercooler…
This past Monday, June 24, we decided to take a team day-off to go to the track with Golden Gate Lotus Club. In addition to drives, meets, and fun outings, GGLC hosts great track & autocross events. Only three run groups, so you get SEVEN sessions! Not to mention, they always offer snacks, coffee, fruits, and sometimes even lunch!
As a Lotus mechanic for the last 9 years and recently becoming a first-time owner, we were able to attend one of the days of the annual West Coast Lotus Meet this year! On Thursday, May 16, 2019, We participated in the trackday portion of the event, which was held at Thunderhill West, and hosted by Golden Gate Lotus Club.
“Heidi” left for Round 2 of NorCal Super Touring Championship a day earlier than usual because Tom was in Japan - which meant that Graham assumed driving duties for this particular race weekend. We were excited because Jon had rebuilt the engine with brand new rod bearings, a new oil pump, and added an accusump system to help mitigate the low oil pressure issues we ran into at Sonoma in March. Shout-out to Jim from MMI Vehicle Systems and West Coast Ravenol for the fresh parts and fluids! On Thursday evening, Liam and Graham stopped by the shop to pick up the car and then they were off to Thunderhill.
It’s no secret that Reverie makes high quality (wind tunnel tested) aero parts for the Eliges and I’ve always liked their front splitter design. Although Reverie’s mounting solution works great and is solid, I decided to attach the splitter directly to the chassis, and not to the front clam. My reason for this is so that I can easily remove the front clam without having to remove the splitter first. This did require cutting the front lower portion of it so that it could just rest on top of the splitter…
After our successful test day at Sonoma on Friday March 1st, Graham and I brought “Heidi” down to SS Customs in Redwood City, CA that very same evening for the installation of this year’s livery. I was thrilled to once again partner with Adam and Scott from Skepple on the design, and my longtime friend, Shareef, from SSC on the print/install. The plan was that they would finish the car in time for the season opener, and boy...did they deliver!
Following my crash at Sonoma last October I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to do next. I knew I wanted to continue racing with NASA in Super Touring because the ST4 class is growing steadily and we have great camaraderie amongst the competitors in the field. For a brief moment, I actually considered building another S2000 but realized after 9 years with the platform that it was time to move on and do something new. As such, in November we began tearing down what was left of “Irene” and selling any remaining/usable parts.
When we first acquired the Exige, Victoria and I had multiple conversations about what we wanted to do with it. Our original plan was to keep it street-legal, and just use it for canyon driving and the occasional HPDE events. I knew that it would have a much higher resale value if it was kept street-legal. Plus, being that this is our first Lotus, we liked the idea of being able to take it out every now and then. We also wanted to take it on long road trips and enjoy some of the fun back roads we have here in California. …Well, that idea didn’t last too long.
My first encounter with Lotus cars was when I was 18 years old and I signed up first my autocross in my 1996 Acura Integra with the Golden Gate Lotus Club (GGLC). I always thought they were “cool” looking and after going on a couple ride-alongs, I could already tell how fun it would be to drive one. ...
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