Frank is driving a station wagon these days.

Gotta be a hot Benz, right?

EDIT: Ah yes... I checked his YT channel.

Be sure to watch starting at 10:50 in this video where he begins telling his passenger the lie that the firetruck caused him to crash his Lotus. If you slow the video down, you can clearly see that's not what occurred.

Ol' Frank was coming into that blind curve too hot, near the center line himself, panicked, applied the brakes while in side G-load on that lousy surface, and lost it.

<iframe width="953" height="536" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2sYXKNhyP9U" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Look at all that space between his right front and the edge of the road. And while the truck is certainly not "straddling the center line" at this point and could have been over or close to it a second or two before, Frank's narrative doesn't pass the smell test.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1585642609.jpg

Heh heh. He did himself in with bad driving. If he had been going a reasonable speed, he wouldn't have lost it; there's plenty of room to get by that truck. He even lies by saying, "I tucked in as close to the wall as I could." Again, it's clear from the video he had already lost control of the car at that point. He didn't "tuck" anything. He was just holding on until the car came to a stop.

It's obvious he made this video to tell "his side" of the story. Too funny.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1585643014.jpg

I wonder why people need to video themselves doing stuff like this. Ego, I suppose. But why would you want to document yourself breaking the law/speed limit? Why create evidence against yourself, and then publicize it?

BTW, there's a camera shot (around 11:25) from the left front looking rearward that gives an idea of how close Frank was to the centerline (and how the forest service truck was not). Looks like both vehicles were in their respective lanes, but I agree that the red Lotus came in a little hot, drifted wide towards (but not over) the double-yellow, and then spotted the oncoming large vehicle and panic-lifted, thereby causing his tail to loop around. Trailing throttle oversteer.

Gentlemen, as a member of a Laurel Canyon neighborhood group, I wanted to share that the natives are upset enough about all the "drag racing" going on Mul now that there is so little traffic. I am guilty myself (not of drag racing) of taking the racecourse at a faster than usual clip. But the police have been alerted and I understand will be patrolling more hoping to catch speeders. Just a friendly heads up.

No sense in letting a good road go to waste. I recall the racecourse the weekend following the 1994 quake. It was empty.

So the police are self-quarantining at the racecourse under the guise of traffic control. That's a first!

Kidding but everyone needs to stay safe out there no matter behind the wheel or the television.

I agree... balloon knotted and lifted.

"drifted wide towards (but not over) the double-yellow, and then spotted the oncoming large vehicle and panic-lifted, thereby causing his tail to loop around. Trailing throttle oversteer."

I also imagine the Kelsey-Hayes ABS was non operational with the modifications he had done to the car. At best it was not calibrated for the extra steam roller width, stagger, offset, weight drop. The yaw sensor should have pulled that in all day every day with little to no smoke in my opinion.

In the end he was out having some fun and it could happen to anyone.. including Frank.

Frank, (think that was his name) use to host his own website, was very active on Lotus Talk, etc...
got to meet him once, very interesting guy and it was a very interesting car.
Compound supercharger/turbo charger.
But as talented as he is/was, there was a double dose of PT Barnum about him.

General consensus on the Lotus forms pretty much matches the general consensus here.

More than likely, the forest truck caught him by surprise, but never crossed the divider line.

Soon after the accident, if I remember correctly, his sailboat caught on fire and burned to the, hmm, water.
Then his web site closed down.
Not sure if he is laying low, or his stories caught up with him, or he just has moved on to the next adventure.
Kind of too bad. Was usually an entertaining read.

BTW, I don't mean to sound holier-than-thou. I've driven quickly on backroads. I've come into corners a little bit hotter than intended. Fortunately I've never had the misfortune of doing so while another vehicle/cyclist was coming the other way. But that possibility is also the reason why I don't drive 10/10ths on canyon roads.

Good to know. Drove through last weekend and its hard to believe anybody could drive the posted limits, much less try to speed. Kept coming around blind curves and finding cyclists 2 and 3 side by side across the road. I used to ride a lot as a younger guy, but some of these folks don't seem willing to use common safety sense. Could be pretty bad if somebody does drive like an idiot up there. Otherwise it was a nice day and plenty of folks were out having a relaxed (& appropriately socially distanced) drive or bike ride. A few bad apples...

^^^^ Yeah, todays cyclists, dressed for the Tour De France and on $2000 bikes like to ride 4 abreast so they can brownose. No one in his right mind would drive this road at 10/10, a walk down to Fryman will tell the tale of those that went off.

LT1 Small Block
 

Yes, the 1969 Camaro Z28 came with a 302 Cubic Inch Engine.
I believe that this was the first time Detroit made a Production Car that had more than One Horsepower per Cubic Inch and it was a true Screamer.
This Motor would Rev to the Sky with unbelievable speed.

I had a friend in High School named Carlisle Monke that had a Dark Forest Green Metallic 1969 Z28, it had white Circles on the doors and hood like it was made for racing and my goodness it was fast as heck.

That's why I'm using the same Solid Lifter Camshaft and Double-Hump Heads that was used in that Production Car. Basically the same Engine but with a 5.7 Liter (350 Cubic Inch) instead of the 5 Liter (302 Cubic Inch) Engine.

I have driven this Engine about 50 miles before putting it away for long storage.
It was in my SCCA A Sedan Camaro while I was breaking it in.
One day while driving down Coldwater on the City side, while noticing the motor had about 50 miles on it, I decided to give it full Throttle.

I was going downhill slightly when I floored it.
OMG!!!
The car lit up those 10" wide Tires and pitched sideways hard.
I had to cross it up to keep it on the Road. Talk about a thrill, lol.

I was satisfied that it was a competitive Motor.
I had to sell the Camaro after a horrible incident on Mulholland involving LAPD but kept the built Engine and put back the Spare Motor thatI had for the Car.
That's why the 350 LT1 is still in the Garage. Waiting.

How do you know if you're driving 10/10ths if you're not driving 11/10ths just before you lose it? No one can drive 10/10ths consistently unless they have gotten a LOT of time in on whatever road or track they are on under the conditions of that particular time.

IOW, lap times within the hour. Theoretically you would have to 'save' it on every corner to establish where 10/10ths is for one turn at a time and then put together a lap of every turn at 10/10ths. You can possibly do that on a closed course doing as many laps as you can in an hour's time.

If you haven't continually kissed 10.1/10ths the entire lap, you are not at 10/10ths. No 2 drivers in different cars are ever going to be equal so that metric doesn't exist. You are on your own and that is a big disadvantage in itself.

At the moment, there is one Lewis Hamilton and he may be close to, or at 10/10ths 100% of his qualifying lap. If he goes 10.1/10ths he is slower.

One of stupidest terms I've heard.

Banning do you know whatever happened to the Monke Boys? I remember Carlisle and the car well, Kevin, his little brother was my best friend in elementary school.

Benedict Canyon Entrance
 

I received an email from the Benedict Canyon Association asking for donations of Cactus and Succulents for the beautification of the Area at Mulholland and Benedict Canyon.
So I cut some of my Cactus Collection and delivered it this afternoon to their location.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1585781483.jpg


For those of you familiar with Mulholland, you may have noticed that for the last couple of years someone has been doing Doughnuts, lots of Doughnuts at Benedict and Mulholland.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1585781683.jpg

Perhaps it's a coincidence but in the youtube video that we made about Mulholland Racing I talk about doing Doughnuts in that exact location in the 70's and 80's.
I'm glad someone is having fun laying down Rubber in the same spot.
Inspiration comes in many forms.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1585781965.jpg

I think there is a huge difference between driving at the cars limits and at the drivers, obviously. The sweet would be where those two converge on a racetrack.

On the street, I drive my car probably at 3/10ths, if that. Too many variables and crashing by myself not even causing any harm to anyone else would be horrible. But like Zeke says, unless you have driven past the limit how do you know? Mine is total guess, but it would be safe to ask if I am driving Miss Daisy most of the time.

10/10ths
 

I believe when One uses the term 11/10ths it means that you are driving over your estimated limit. Obviously the quantity 11/10ths is not a real number or degree of ability for that matter. You are correct that is not actual but imagined and exagerated.

To drive at your limit would be 10/10ths. Anything over your ability or limit would likely result in a horrific Crash with very few exceptions.
So it is a kind of Slang that some use to describe their brush with Death or imagined brush with Death at Speed.

Perhaps the term 11/10ths should be replaced with something more accurate, akin to driving faster than your estimated Maximum Speed or ability.

I have experienced that 11/10ths feeling only twice in my life.
Once at Night while racing Charley and once at Sunset racing Johnny Rozner. Both times driving East from the Racecourse towards Beverly Glen.
I am very lucky to be here writing this.

Kevin and Carlisle
 

Carlisle and I were Best Friends in Junior High and High School.
He dated my ex-girlfriend at Uni High which created some friction between us.
Three years later we were both engaged to the same girl without knowing it.
It was a Nightmare but we got thru it and became Best Friends again.

Lots of stories here concerning Carlisle. I knew Keven also but he was younger and we just knew each other thru Carlisle.
They lived on Linda Flora in Bel Air. Two doors down lived Jim O'Reilly, also a good friend of mine and Carlisle's. We had many good times together.

Unfortunately Kevin passed away from a rare Blood Disease in the 80's.
Carlisle also passed away not long after from a similar problem.

Strange because they were both adopted and were not blood related.
I miss Carlisle as you also miss Kevin.

1331 Linda Flora Dr, I remember because it was the address I gave whenever the cops stopped me on my mini bike. Jimmy O'Reilly's dad was a WW2 pilot and had a 50 cal mounted above the fireplace. I lived on Orum and knew all the kids in the neighborhood, Stevie Berry, Jan's brother shot me in the leg with a BB gun, still have the scar. Didn't Carlisle have a thing with Jimmy O's sister?
BTW Jan Berry, of Jan and Dean, his dad was a Chevy mucky muck, always had a new Vette to drive, we all stopped playing, mouths open whenever he drove by.

Funny, I don't see 11/10ths used anywhere in this thread until I analyzed 10/10ths.

Carlisle Monke
 

Yes, Jim's dad was a real personification of a WWII American Serviceman. A real Salty Dog, meant respectfully of course. I liked and respected him.

And Carlisle had a thing with several sisters, (sorry, sick joke between Carlisle and myself). He was very charming with the Ladies. A lot of personality. Funny also.