09/29/09 FINALLY! The car works and works very well. Karl did the driving (some 200 miles on track) while I was dealing with the challenges of the event and quickly proved my earlier assertion that Bikini had at least another 10 seconds in it by turning a 1:51.8 lap (versus 2:03-ish best that I could manage in the few laps that the car actually ran previously). It is a good illustration of the engine's flexibility since Karl did the entire track in third gear! He thinks there's another 5 seconds or so to be had but neither of us was willing to try it, what with the car being for sale and all. Below, the black trace is Karl's and red one is mine.

To say that Karl was impressed is an understatement. I think the direct quote was something like "This is absolutely the ULTIMATE track car among all I've ever driven! The engine is amazing!" (the next sentence was "Can't wait to drive the dp1!").. Coming from him that's saying a lot. An interesting consequence of having a car this fast is that even with the 2.5 mile track and very limited traffic he never actually got a clean lap - he was always passing someone and lapped some people several times in a session. Unfortunately the event was too hectic for us and we just forgot to mount the camera. I'm kicking myself now but so it goes. Working as well as it did, Bikini has also served its purpose as a demo vehicle of the Hartley engine since Karl has now decided to buy a dp1 :)

With all the issues finally sorted Bikini is ready for its eventual next owner - whoever he or she may be, they won't be disappointed.