CHANGES BEGIN
Driving on Thursday morning was certainly the best way to forget a bad Dyno-Tune and really enjoy yesterday’s results. This was however short lived as I had a flight back to Auckland but before I left the team; Robert, Mark and Warren were tearing apart the front of my car!
I simply went back to my Hotel, had a well deserved Stella Moment and headed back to Auckland.
Month: March 2010
Wednesday 17 March 2010
DYNO TUNE
The whole world of Dyno Tuning is a total mystery to me. What I do know now is that you have to really do your homework when selecting a person to let loose on your engine. When my motor was installed and started, the obvious next step was to send it off to be Dyno Tuned. Now six months later a phone call from Mark at McGregor Motorsports told me that he recently changed Dyno Tune companies with remarkable results. Obviously we were all not that thrilled in both the extra money involved and why there is such a difference between the two companies.
I am always looking toward the positive and confirmed with Mark that I would happily invest in another Dyno Tune with one condition – I wanted to see a marked difference in performance. I was certainly not disappointed and suddenly I had an entirely different motor from one day before!
The Dyno Tuning was done by;
SPEC PERFORMANCE
417 St Asaph Street
City Centre
Christchurch
http://specperformance.co.nz/
I have left the Dyno Tune print outs at McGregor Motorsports for local 7 owners to view and discuss with Mark and Robert. The gains were considerable and certainly well worth the investment.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
McGREGOR MOTORSPORT
It was great to drive into Christchurch arriving at McGregor Motorsport in time for a cup of tea. I must mention that an incredible amount of tea is consumed by the team at McGregor’s and the seemingly endless amount of folks wandering in for a multitude of questions, parts, and advice. Robert and Mark are never too busy to neglect all visitors which make this a real haven for Lotus owners. For me it was great to see the latest McGregor V8 during the last week of its build.
Monday 15 March 2010
BACK TO CHRISTCHURCH
Given that I rushed the car away from Robert and Mark last year I decided to drive the car back to McGregor Motorsport in Christchurch for several reasons. Firstly after driving over 4,000km’s I had learnt a great deal about the car and it always planned to make a few upgrades. The muffler was a must change, I always favored the entire black look and a slimmer design. It was also a chance for me to share the MACH SR7 with potential 7 builders; this is good for all involved. McGregor’s already had some new design components they wanted to test on my car which is again valuable R&D that we will all benefit from. I am a valued customer of Wild Bean for several reasons which I have mentioned before; high octane gas, variety of food/coffee and a place to sit where you can keep an eye on your car.
Driving on Highway 1 takes me right past Bulls where Aaron “nz_climber” from the Lotus Forum and building a McGregor lives. We arranged to meet so Aaron could drive my MACH SR7 with a very happy passenger.
This time I decided to make the drive without a night in Wellington. The plan was to arrive at the Interisland Terminal around 10:00pm and grab a few hours sleep before the 2:25am crossing. Like all plans there are assumptions that prove to be entirely wrong. I assumed there would be a place to sleep while your car was in line! Wrong, in fact the passenger terminal was not close and I was in a line of cars with not even a port-a-loo available! Plan B was now in action so I put the roof on and snuggled up for three hours sleep inside the MACH SR7. The ferry was not that much better, cheap early morning tickets and not like the lovely afternoon crossing I had last September.
Thursday 11 March 2010
TAURANGA DRIVE
It takes little to convince me that jumping into my MACH SR7 and head out of Auckland is a good idea. This is quickly sealed with a couple of beers and or wine tasting options along the way. The Karangahake Gorge has always been a favorite drive; mind you I had not driven it for more than 20 years so I just hoped the pub was still open! It was and an obligatory 7oz glass of local ale with locals was another easy choice to make!
I am sure that over the next few years my MACH SR7 will become a poster car for a winery given that I thoroughly enjoy visiting as many as I can when I am back in New Zealand. Morton Estate Wines is a must stop venue, actually the wine is delightful and certainly matched by its iconic location.
Minimal trunk space did not stop a purchase of several bottles of Morton’s wine. I get a great deal of pleasure in sharing the MACH SR7 experience, kids just love this open air driving and the smiles show this total enjoyment. Actually my brother is a big kid who smiles as much as his passenger too!
New Zealand roads are really shocking and with the tax year about to click over the rush to dig/destroy/re-seal seems almost an epidemic. We were unfortunate to drive through the famous LIME on the road and not a happy experience. Looking carefully you will see the bird hanging on the muffler was not thrilled about its fate either.
Another stop on the way home was Cambridge and meet Simon “SimJen” from the Lotus Forum. Again it is great to meet Forum members, look at our cars, test drives and of course general seven chatter sessions.
Monday 8 March 2010
CAR ALARM
The previous week I let my fingers do the driving and telephoned my way through the yellow pages of companies who installed car alarms. The majority of the companies had no idea what a Lotus 7 Replica was and strutted into their rehearsed sales pitch about breaking windows, forcing locks etc! I calmly sipped coffee and said I will get back to you – yeah right! A super friendly and later discovered to be an incredibly competent person, Andy answered at Warlocks. I began with “I have a Lotus 7 Replica” and before I could go any further he was asking what model and the cars history. As it turned out Andy’s brother has a 7 so I just asked what system I should have. Immediately he said the ZX Mini Series Immobiliser – http://www.warlocks.co.nz/WARZXMINI.htm
I was convinced and arranged to have it installed ASAP. The on-site procedure taking about an hour and a half became the best $285.00 I have spent!
In Auckland and you drive a 7 I would simply advise you to phone Andy direct on 021 386548.
Sunday 7 March 2010
SHOW AND TELL
Everyone who is a member of New Zealand’s Lotus 7 & Clubman Forums, if not you should follow this link http://www.lotus7.co.nz/forum/ and join, looks forward to putting a face to the names. So thanks to Stephen, AKA KiwiBirkin, for making it possible to meet and exchange information over a cold beer on a warm Sunday afternoon…thanks Stephen. Meeting with Cliff “BigRed”, Wayne “Wayno”, Liz “Liz” and Mark “Markp” was excellent. Cliff and Wayne arrived and soon were parked viewing each others cars.
Cliff was eager to test my MACH SR7 with Mark firstly as passenger then a quick swap of seats and around the block they set off again.
Over a beer we all debated/ discussed the world of Lotus 7’s and with Mark deep into the build process it was great to compare notes during a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday afternoon.
