Surprisingly, I don't recall dreaming anything that night, but I awoke once again with the sun at about 6:30 and made ready for a trip into Plymouth, about 20 minutes away, to see what I could find. I passed a standard small town hardware store, which of course was closed, but came upon one of those gas stations with convenience store attached. A scan of the wall of basic hardware bits, but no hose clamps. But there was coolant! As I paid for it, the young woman behind the counter said 'you're lucky, we just lowered the price on that by a dollar!' Yes, I thought, that's me... lucky! I continued out toward the main county highway and pulled into another gas/convenience store. Once again, the hardware display lacked hose clamps. I asked the young man behind the register where I might find such a thing and he suggested the 'Fleet/Farm' store out by the highway, but thought it didn't open until 9am. He explained that I needed to 'go through that stop and go light there, pass through another stop and go light, then turn left at the next stop and go light.' I resisted asking if a stop and go light was any different than your basic stoplight.

The Fleet/Farm had its own gas/convenience store out front, which I wheeled into figuring I'd at least get a coffee while waiting for the big store to open. A look at their hardware display and there it was: a hose clamp! On my way out, a small contingent pulled into the parking lot - an Elan under its own power, top down, driver with stocking cap firmly on head, another on a trailer, and another closed trailer, most certainly containing another Lotus.

I made my way back to the course, anxiously winding my way back to the camping area while the first group was out warming up. I dove right in to re-clamping the lower hose and poured half of one container of coolant into the radiator. I had another almost empty jug of coolant along with me for topping up, which I took to the restrooms to fill with water. Half that jug then into the radiator, then mix the two halfs together into one jug, and top off. I crossed my fingers, set the choke, and turned the key. The motor turned over and sounded pretty much as usual and I relaxed a bit. As I was scheduled to be on the rack for touring, I figured I'd best take the car out on the road and wind it up to see if it would be okay at speed as well. I left the course and turned back toward Elkhart Lake. Looking at the opposite lane, a couple hundred yards from the gate, I could see a 30 yard long wash of what was certainly the coolant so efficiently pumped out of my engine last night on the way home.

Not far from the entrance to Road America, I came across a wash of coolant left by some poor soul who had obviously lost a radiator hose. I sincerely hoped that the fellow was able to find what he needed to effect repairs and get his car going again for the day's activities !

Pretty soon I was back in the swing of things, parking the Seven, now with its full windscreen and doors, in front of William's book display. As I wandered the paddock, I noticed a group of Lotus cars gathering down by the grand stands by turn five, so I decided I'd best take the Seven down there for a look see. A handful of older Lotus cars were there, including a couple of Elans, Europas and the completely restored Seven I'd seen the previous day.Other than the handful of older Lotus, there were many newer M100 Elans, Esprits, and Elises.

There was also a Lotus Six, which I had never seen other than in photos. A perfectly restored example, built up, apparently, from a total wreck by Paul Quiniff. This Six has been around the Lotus circuit for a of couple years now and has a wonderful restoration story along with it that I hope to include on this web site eventually.