Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Staying on Top
It's the middle of November and starting to get colder. Unfortunately I forgot to put the Lotus top on while it was still warm. This is a problem because the Elan has an "erector set" top which stretches across a frame which attaches to the body and the tucks in to the windshield. When it's cold it is very difficult to stretch the now cold top across the frame and make it fit into the windshield, so ....... I brought the top inside to warm it up! After a few hours I took it out to perform the stretching. This was one of those "be quick, but don't hurry" exercises in which, unfortunately, I hurried thus causing too much time to elapse and let the top cool down again. After much swearing and banging my head on stuff inside the car I got it done. This was all part of the "fun" of owning a 50 year old classic.
Labels: Lotus
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Lotus Memories
I received the following note from a couple of guys who raced a Lotus Elan 26R in the late 60's or so. What makes it interesting is that I worked as pit crew and sometimes mechanic on this car for the previous owner/driver of the car, Don Flores, who lived in Glens Falls, NY. We practiced together on Tuesdays at Lime Rock and I gave him his first tour of the Lime Rock course. His car was outrageously fast until he flipped it at St Jovite in Canada. I never heard from him after I left Mass. in late 1968. Here is the note
*What's In A Elan Racecar?*
**
By Charles Beyor
Chapman Report - September 1989
My partners Ed Loveday, Bob MacGibbon, Roy Hallet and I were racing an
Elan S2 in 1967. We had a good time, broke all the usual things
(doughnuts, connecting rods, hub carrier bearings, cam drives) and, save
that small annoyance were typically as fast as any 911S race car of
those days.
Our car (actually my street car at first) was more or less stock Elan
with Koni's and Bluestreaks (Old Goodyear racing tires... Ed).
In the Spring of '68 a real Lotus Components race car flipped end for
end 3 times up in Canada (St. Jovite, I think) and we bought the wreck
to salvage whatever hardware we could and incorporate in into our car.
Of course, you know about the wobbly-web wheels, the alloy A-frames and
the tunnelled headlights. But, those things were not the whole story.
On disassembly (the car had actually survived remarkably well, on entire
side came off from the headlight to tail light, but the driver's seat
stayed fastened to the floor, and the roll bar held. In general the
chassis and suspension were complete and intact.) we first got a good
look at the frame reinforcements. They were as follows:
1) Left front upright completely double plated with 1/8" steel.
2) Right front upright only partially double plated.
3) Motor mounts double plated.
4) Angle welded into chassis from the underside at the firewall (you
know, they all crack).
5) Large chassis holes covered with 1/4" plate as scattershield.
6) Reinforcing washers welded at chassis end of differential pushrods.
7) Rear uprights tied together with a flat plate.
It may sound curious that only the left upright was double plated, but
in those days sporty cars went mostly clockwise.
The suspension, of course, appeared to be made of many things which were
not standard. Of the entire lot the single most important one seemed to
be the substitution of GT-6 front axles for the usual Spitfire ones. The
rest were expensive and light, but didn't seem material to us to getting
the car around quickly. To the best of my memory they were as follows:
1) Front Shocks Armstrong adjustable
2) Rear Shocks Modified
3) Front Springs Slightly shorter, stiffer
4) Rear Springs Smaller diameter fit more tire
5) Front Spring Perch Adjustable
6) Front A-Arms Aluminum
7) Rear A-Arms Spherical Ends Inboard
8) Sway Bars Larger Front, small rear
9) Hubs Bronze pin drive
10) Brakes Alloy racing calipers
We guessed that the bronze hubs were supposed to carry the heat to the
wobbly web wheels and they, in turn, to offer a radiator surface to
dissipate the heat to the air.
The bodywork was reasonably stock save that the parking lights had been
cut open as brake ducts as the front, and a pair of large holes cut into
the trunk wall behind the differential to let air out and cool the gears.
We didn't get it officially from Lotus, but we always let the hood float
and inch or so up in the opening to vent engine air. This trick reduced
water temperature measurably and also seemed to help the oil pressure.
Now and then the hood would flex and pop out of the hole and sail up in
the air to land behind the car. There was one very irritated 911 driver
who always seemed to be behind who told Roy Hallet, who was driving the
car, that "If you throw that hood at me one more time I'm going to break
it over your head!"
There were a good many light weight parts throughout the car. The ones I
remember are radiator, bellhousing, transmission tailshaft and differential.
The car still had rubber doughnuts, rather than the then famed "racing"
halfshafts. we inquired about it and learned that there were differenced
of opinion about driveshafts and unsprung weight so that driveshafts
choice was owner's option.
For example Peter Pulver of Lotus East ran his Elan in over 95 races
with rubber doughnuts. He liked them. (He won quite regularly as I
remember.) By the way, not to do with this 26R, but Peter Pulver got
tire clearance on his car by re-molding the stock fender shape out of a
thin laminate of Delrin fabric which he lubricated with silicone so that
it would flex and stretch under bounce.
The much famed "BRM Stage 3" engine was a 2 valve twin cam with
connecting rods which would do justice to a fuel funny car and exquisite
forged pistons to match using one inch wrist pins to avoid flexing. The
cams though weren't too weird, being L-1s and the head was no more
cleaned up than you would do to gasket match a new header.
It did have a really neat header made of thinwall tube which all went
down aft of the motor mount.
The clutch was quite usual, the gearbox, of course, was Lotus close
ratio (was there ever any better?), the driveshaft stock, the
differential fitted with a limited slip and I do not remember that there
were "uprated" halfshafts then (though there might have been).
Wheels, of course, 6x13 magnesium racing wheels.
Our roll bar was a simple driver's side hairpin, I think that the Lotus
Components car had the same kind.
So what have I left out? Hmmmm - wet sump, removable chassis bar under
the oil pan, oil cooler... didn't even have a capacitive discharge ignition.
Oh yeah, fuel cell mounted between the rear uprights, with electric pump.
The 26R had been a B-Production car, and as such was blowing the doors
off the "big" cars. This was possible under the "approved option" rule
which the SCCA then used.
In '66 and '67 the GCR changed from "approved options" to "Allowable
modifications" largely due to the efforts of purpose built racing cars
shaped like TR3s and TR4s by one Mr. Tullius. Under the allowable mods
system the Elans were reclassified into C-Production.
As a C-Production car we couldn't use all that alloy stuff, so we
borrowed the reinforcing technology and the dinky springs and ended up
runngin 8.50 Bluestreaks inside of very stock fenders.
This is an interesting exercise because except for the alloy parts the
26R was thoughtfully made from a nearly standard Elan.
Reinforce the chassis and the suspension pickups, box the A-frames and
add GT-6 spindles and you're halfway there. Fit some good racing wheels
and your street car's iron calipers and stock hubs probably don't
compare too badly with bronze hubs and AR's (especially with the weights
of good tires these days using Kevlar fabrics). Coo the diff, vent the
engine bay, feed some air to the brakes and you're ready to add horsepower!
Ergo! Make you own 26R.
What's it like? Back then one sunny spring day our Elan was sitting on
the front row of the grid on the old race course at Thompson,
Connecticut. There was an L-88 Corvette on one side, and a 289 Cobra on
the other. A spectator urgently asked Ken Duclos, one of the great
Corvette racers of the 60's and a steward of the meet that day, "Hey!
What's that little car doing in the front row between all those big
cars?" Kenny turned derisively and looked at him and said, "Since when
are those things little cars?"
*What's In A Elan Racecar?*
**
By Charles Beyor
Chapman Report - September 1989
My partners Ed Loveday, Bob MacGibbon, Roy Hallet and I were racing an
Elan S2 in 1967. We had a good time, broke all the usual things
(doughnuts, connecting rods, hub carrier bearings, cam drives) and, save
that small annoyance were typically as fast as any 911S race car of
those days.
Our car (actually my street car at first) was more or less stock Elan
with Koni's and Bluestreaks (Old Goodyear racing tires... Ed).
In the Spring of '68 a real Lotus Components race car flipped end for
end 3 times up in Canada (St. Jovite, I think) and we bought the wreck
to salvage whatever hardware we could and incorporate in into our car.
Of course, you know about the wobbly-web wheels, the alloy A-frames and
the tunnelled headlights. But, those things were not the whole story.
On disassembly (the car had actually survived remarkably well, on entire
side came off from the headlight to tail light, but the driver's seat
stayed fastened to the floor, and the roll bar held. In general the
chassis and suspension were complete and intact.) we first got a good
look at the frame reinforcements. They were as follows:
1) Left front upright completely double plated with 1/8" steel.
2) Right front upright only partially double plated.
3) Motor mounts double plated.
4) Angle welded into chassis from the underside at the firewall (you
know, they all crack).
5) Large chassis holes covered with 1/4" plate as scattershield.
6) Reinforcing washers welded at chassis end of differential pushrods.
7) Rear uprights tied together with a flat plate.
It may sound curious that only the left upright was double plated, but
in those days sporty cars went mostly clockwise.
The suspension, of course, appeared to be made of many things which were
not standard. Of the entire lot the single most important one seemed to
be the substitution of GT-6 front axles for the usual Spitfire ones. The
rest were expensive and light, but didn't seem material to us to getting
the car around quickly. To the best of my memory they were as follows:
1) Front Shocks Armstrong adjustable
2) Rear Shocks Modified
3) Front Springs Slightly shorter, stiffer
4) Rear Springs Smaller diameter fit more tire
5) Front Spring Perch Adjustable
6) Front A-Arms Aluminum
7) Rear A-Arms Spherical Ends Inboard
8) Sway Bars Larger Front, small rear
9) Hubs Bronze pin drive
10) Brakes Alloy racing calipers
We guessed that the bronze hubs were supposed to carry the heat to the
wobbly web wheels and they, in turn, to offer a radiator surface to
dissipate the heat to the air.
The bodywork was reasonably stock save that the parking lights had been
cut open as brake ducts as the front, and a pair of large holes cut into
the trunk wall behind the differential to let air out and cool the gears.
We didn't get it officially from Lotus, but we always let the hood float
and inch or so up in the opening to vent engine air. This trick reduced
water temperature measurably and also seemed to help the oil pressure.
Now and then the hood would flex and pop out of the hole and sail up in
the air to land behind the car. There was one very irritated 911 driver
who always seemed to be behind who told Roy Hallet, who was driving the
car, that "If you throw that hood at me one more time I'm going to break
it over your head!"
There were a good many light weight parts throughout the car. The ones I
remember are radiator, bellhousing, transmission tailshaft and differential.
The car still had rubber doughnuts, rather than the then famed "racing"
halfshafts. we inquired about it and learned that there were differenced
of opinion about driveshafts and unsprung weight so that driveshafts
choice was owner's option.
For example Peter Pulver of Lotus East ran his Elan in over 95 races
with rubber doughnuts. He liked them. (He won quite regularly as I
remember.) By the way, not to do with this 26R, but Peter Pulver got
tire clearance on his car by re-molding the stock fender shape out of a
thin laminate of Delrin fabric which he lubricated with silicone so that
it would flex and stretch under bounce.
The much famed "BRM Stage 3" engine was a 2 valve twin cam with
connecting rods which would do justice to a fuel funny car and exquisite
forged pistons to match using one inch wrist pins to avoid flexing. The
cams though weren't too weird, being L-1s and the head was no more
cleaned up than you would do to gasket match a new header.
It did have a really neat header made of thinwall tube which all went
down aft of the motor mount.
The clutch was quite usual, the gearbox, of course, was Lotus close
ratio (was there ever any better?), the driveshaft stock, the
differential fitted with a limited slip and I do not remember that there
were "uprated" halfshafts then (though there might have been).
Wheels, of course, 6x13 magnesium racing wheels.
Our roll bar was a simple driver's side hairpin, I think that the Lotus
Components car had the same kind.
So what have I left out? Hmmmm - wet sump, removable chassis bar under
the oil pan, oil cooler... didn't even have a capacitive discharge ignition.
Oh yeah, fuel cell mounted between the rear uprights, with electric pump.
The 26R had been a B-Production car, and as such was blowing the doors
off the "big" cars. This was possible under the "approved option" rule
which the SCCA then used.
In '66 and '67 the GCR changed from "approved options" to "Allowable
modifications" largely due to the efforts of purpose built racing cars
shaped like TR3s and TR4s by one Mr. Tullius. Under the allowable mods
system the Elans were reclassified into C-Production.
As a C-Production car we couldn't use all that alloy stuff, so we
borrowed the reinforcing technology and the dinky springs and ended up
runngin 8.50 Bluestreaks inside of very stock fenders.
This is an interesting exercise because except for the alloy parts the
26R was thoughtfully made from a nearly standard Elan.
Reinforce the chassis and the suspension pickups, box the A-frames and
add GT-6 spindles and you're halfway there. Fit some good racing wheels
and your street car's iron calipers and stock hubs probably don't
compare too badly with bronze hubs and AR's (especially with the weights
of good tires these days using Kevlar fabrics). Coo the diff, vent the
engine bay, feed some air to the brakes and you're ready to add horsepower!
Ergo! Make you own 26R.
What's it like? Back then one sunny spring day our Elan was sitting on
the front row of the grid on the old race course at Thompson,
Connecticut. There was an L-88 Corvette on one side, and a 289 Cobra on
the other. A spectator urgently asked Ken Duclos, one of the great
Corvette racers of the 60's and a steward of the meet that day, "Hey!
What's that little car doing in the front row between all those big
cars?" Kenny turned derisively and looked at him and said, "Since when
are those things little cars?"
Thursday, November 11, 2010
First Post
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