Trip with the SportCross to Canada - my.IS

soareyes · 09-06-2007, 03:30 PM

Since the SportCross forum doesn't get much traffic, and I'm on a posting binge today (4 posts in one day!), I thought I'd post some pics of my recent trip from S. California to Canada and back. I've mentioned before that I have a Lotus 7 clone. Some fellow 7 owners and I had planned this trip for over a year. We planned a route that would keep us on twisty back roads most of the way. Unfortunately, my car developed a problem I couldn't fix in time for the trip, so I decided to go anyway and take the SportCross and act as a support vehicle. It turns out the SportCross did great on the twisties and I was able to keep up with the pack most of the time. My photo skills are lousy, my camera is mediocre, and the car was filthy within a few days, but here goes -

The pack of 7's near Mt. St. Helens:

The SportCross and a few of the 7's near Crater Lake:

In Canada on the way to Whistler:

In the Redwood Forest:

Overall we drove nearly 4500 miles in 16 days, and one of us was very comfortable the whole way!

Stan

**Squareback** · 09-06-2007, 03:35 PM

Very cool! What do you mean not much traffic?

This place has the most SportCross traffic on the internet.

Stan I bought a rear strut bar, it is coming in the mail, so I hope to install it soon and let you know how it works.

soareyes · 09-06-2007, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squareback

Stan I bought a rear strut bar, it is coming in the mail, so I hope to install it soon and let you know how it works.

Definitely let me know! That is one of the last mods I would consider doing.

On the trip, the 7's always attracted a lot of attention whenever we stopped anywhere, but every once in a while someone would get excited by the SportCross. Even a few IS300 sedan owners would say they didn't know there was a wagon available (well, not anymore!).

Stan

**Squareback** · 09-06-2007, 04:55 PM

Will do. I still have my Eibachs/Illuminas in the box in my garage.

I was going to get them installed this month, but I just had to replace all my brake rotors and pad and that was not cheap. I posted in Stop, Drop, and Roll, but alas nobody has responded, sniff sniff.

Mckenzie · 09-06-2007, 11:47 PM

Wow! That looks like a fun trip...its too bad you could not get your Lotus going but I'm sure it was equally fun driving through the twisties in the IS. I have done many BC road trips in fun cars and have to say the mountains are a blast to drive through.

I just did an 1800 mile journey in less than 72 hours by myself from Kansas City to Calgary so I was able to have some fun with the IS on the highway....great car to drive for sure.

I really want to do the west coast one day though down through the redwood forest...that pic is pretty cool.

**Squareback** · 09-07-2007, 07:28 AM

The scenery really is amazing.

I just did the math and that is 280 miles a day! With country roads, and open cockpit cars, was it 8 hours in the car a day?

soareyes · 09-07-2007, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squareback

The scenery really is amazing.

I just did the math and that is 280 miles a day! With country roads, and open cockpit cars, was it 8 hours in the car a day?

Yes, we figured about 300 miles a day average, but my total includes two 500 mile days to get from my house to the meeting point near Sacramento and home again. We had two free days, one in Portland, Oregon, and one in Victoria, BC. Since we stuck to little traveled (and little patrolled!) back roads we were able to keep speeds up. Several times I found myself over 100 mph just to keep up with the group. Amazingly, none of us got any tickets. We had to slow down to posted limits on the coast coming home due to much heavier traffic. The last few days, this was a common site:

About half the cars had removable tops for weather protection and the others didn't, but we only had one day of steady rain the whole trip (in Oregon). The guys who didn't have tops were prepared with motorcycle-type rain gear, but as long as you keep moving the rain tends to blow over you!

Temperatures ranged from over 100 in California's central valley to just above freezing in the mornings at the higher elevations in Canada. Needless to say, most of the guys looked pretty tired and in need of a shower by the end of each day.

Stan