Grand Prix Legends Lives!

[Westfield 129]

That may be true, but I live in the middle of the So California vinyards, the canyons, the beach and the roads.

The intent of the post was not about who's roads are better, but rather to get away from the F'ing computer, and enjoy driving. But since you brought it up...

BMW does its final suspension tuning here, on the local canyon roads, for all their cars, even the ones that they sell only in Europe. Their technical and design centers are located a couple of miles from my home.

If you google earth the area, you will find that the local canyon roads have been named "Mulholland International Raceway". Pull back, and you will see what we have here, year 'round, to play on.

Also, It is a whole lot easier to license a Westfield (or a Caterham, Noble, Rossion, GT40) here than it is there. No emissions requirements, for starters. No MoT. Kit cars here are exempt from emissions testing or other requirements. No new kit pre registration inspections other than a quick look at the lights. No need to put frog eyes on my XI prior to licensing. Our insurance for collector cars is far less expensive, as is the fuel. Pay your yearly fees, drive. Also, a personal license plate costs $40.

Three excellent race tracks within an hour and a half drive from my home. Laguna Seca just up the coast about 5 hrs of lovely road away.

There really is a whole lot to like (or envy) about California, besides the weather. Especially if you like cars, bikes and aircraft.

And... No rust. We outlawed it decades ago.

While there are excellent wineries in France, and great roads in Scotland and Wales, the local roads here are, well. local. Laguna Seca is one of the finest race tracks in the world, and it's only about 5 hours away. I drive my racer there, race and drive home. Over a weekend. No tow car, no trailer. Old School.

I don't know what you don't like about California. It is a car guy paradise compared to the constricting licensing regulations of the UK.

It was 76F today, and sunny. Rain maybe this weekend. Maybe.

Sure, the ground shakes from time to time, and there is the occasional wild fire, but, well, it's 76 tomorrow, and I need to go to Santa Monica. Maybe the canyons to the beach. I'll take the XI.

[erictharg]

Jan you take me too seriously!
There's nothing I don't like about California. I lived in the US for 4 years (IL & GA) and enjoyed it immensely. I just can't let you think you have it all so good! My travels usually take me to Peoria, but if I'm every at our Solar facility in San Diego I'll make sure to give you a call and hopefully meet up.
But there's the computer again - I've never driven Laguna Seca for real, and maybe never will, but I've taken a Porsche 906 around it in GT Legends. Not a patch on the real thing, but better than nothing. Carry on!

[Westfield 129]

If you do get to San Diego, I am about 150 miles up the coast (3 hours if you avoid the early morning and afternoon rush), in Thousand Oaks. Horse country. Get here soon, and we can try the Westfields (yes, I have two for the moment, including that brand new RHD car I just built), or scorch the roads with the R5Turbo Renault or maybe a 500 HP Rossion Q1. Weather is usually good, and I generally have something interesting in the driveway. Good local food as well. If you like groups, there are two other XI pilots in the neighborhood, and a clutch of Caterhams. I might even be able to get out a GT40 as well.

One of the racing games has a number of 80s Group 4 and Group B rally cars, including the Renault R5Turbo. The sound of the Renault for that particular game came from my car, which was mic'd inside and out for a two day taping/lapping session of driving very fast around an airport course here in So Cal. Fun. Paid well, too. (About time my car paid me for a change) I don't know which game it was, but Warner Bros. Studios handled the taping. My old Turbo has a straight through factory rally exhaust, and a definite turbo whistle undertone, which they worked hard to capture. They even mic'd the interior of the engine compartment to capture the sound of the valve train and the induction.

The local sim that I have available to me is a full motion type. You know, bump over the curbs, feedback in the steering and brakes, seat tips back on acceleration. Still, nothing like the real car, and I am actually faster at the track in the real version of the race car than I am in the virtual one. While I do play from time to time, it is never as much fun as the real car. I have more fun driving home in the XI than I do trying to drive a simulated production racer around a virtual Laguna Seca. Anyway, what's the point? At least when I am at Laguna Seca, I can sample one of the local restaurants. The sim doesn't help with that at all. No local ambiance.

Try Road Atlanta. Nice long straight, lots of blind entries. Very fast. One of my favorite tracks to drive. I have tested several Panoz cars there over the years. Don't be afraid to use the curbs.

[erictharg]

I always wanted to drive Road Atlanta. I didn't race when we lived in the US but we were just south of Atlanta so I went there a couple of time to watch the racing (rode there on my'73 Tiger 750). Glad you reminded me to download it.
Just got my Maniflow big bore LCB. Looking at it I guess you need to take as much of the straight pipe out from the vertical runs after the 1&4 "Y" as you can (to move the bends up maybe 6 or 7 "), then add that to the down side of the bends before the collector. If I line it all up on the head after cutting it looks as if it will pick up the exit hole in the panel nicely.

[Westfield 129]

If you check out my header in the Yahoo site (The Last XI album), you can see that I cut it just below the Y, and the LCB at the same point. I then switched the pipes left to right, shortening one about 2" or so. This left the total length at around 26", which is about perfect. Then, the collector was welded in place. My pictures show the header after cutting, and then welded. The finished product, with ceramic chrome coating, looks pretty good. It all goes in and out of the engine compartment easily.

I used to do this cutting the header in several places. This last time, I really looked at the problem, and made only two cuts, with an adjustment to one of the pipes. It went together perfectly. My pictures of the uncoated pipe show exactly where the cuts were made, and then TIG welded together.

If you take the time to look at the header, you can get away with making only three cuts, and not disturbing the general header layout.

Just make sure that you install a Marmon clamp/flange or a three bolt flange. I suggest the Marmon type, as it allows rotation of the muffler pipe, and easy alignment. Just don't use a slip fit, as they all leak. I have had a bad case of CO poisoning from an XI. It is not fun. I believe that CO is one of the main problems with the XI in that many drivers complain that the car is "tiring to drive". That's the CO. While this is more a problem with LHD cars, make sure that you have a good, positive attachment flange between the header and the muffler pipe.