Why:
Okay, what's with the name, MidLana? "Mid" because it's mid-engine, and "Lana" because it's our granddaughter's name. I like the sound of it, and it's unique on the Interweb, so there you go.

Designing and building Kimini taught me a lot... no, I take that back - it taught me A LOT! Kimini is very good at what she does, as nearly a "real car" as I'll probably ever build; a coupe, fairly quiet inside, keeping out the wind, dust, and rain, but it came at a high price in terms of work, weight, time, and money. I learned the importance of keeping things simple and easy to maintain. However, THE main thing I want to avoid in the next project is the composite work. Uh! So much work, hundreds of hours, and very expensive, messy, and hazardous. And that wasn't the worst of it. It was the surprising realization that now Kimini is done, I'm afraid to expose her to the harsh environment of the race track.

Yes, that's right, I can't help but hold back, scared to damage the oh-so-expensive composite, worried about the time and money it takes to fix it. I thought, if I did it again, it would be simpler, easier and faster to build, easier to maintain, and cheaper and lighter. This car is to be a second attempt at what I wanted in the first place, a low-cost trackday car - one that I don't have to worry about. Kimini is almost too good at what she does, but it's due to the expensive composite body shell. Yes it keeps out the dust, wind, and rain, but I worry too much about damaging it. I know people will say, "Eh, get over it and just go out there and drive it hard." Yeah well I don't see them around offering money and their time when it breaks! Then there's the hot Southern California summers, where having a car with sliding windows and no air conditioning means it gets very uncomfortable, enough that I don't drive it. That wasn't the intent at all.

Round two means building something more "sturdy" for the track, where it'll be designed such that if a rock get's kicked up and hits it, I can honestly shrug my shoulders and most importantly, it'll require little to no repair if it does happen. I want it dead-reliable like Kimini, where I pull off the track and go get a drink, rather than lifting the hood to see "what's wrong now?" like many other car owners do.

So this means the next car will minimize composite use and have no roof or doors. Not as refined, more elemental, and even simpler. In other words, easier and faster to build and not as expensive. Sound like something you'd be interested in? That's the whole idea... And no, it's not an Atom copy; in fact the Atom will servo as a target, much as the Elise did for Kimini!