Racers out there?

[masermartin]

So how many of you all actually are out there on the front lines with your Elans?

I am looking to get an Elan (probably a + 2) and would eventually want to be involved in some autocrossing, just want to hear any pros and cons you all may have to offer.

[steveww]

I do a few track days and some hill climb and sprints with my S4 as time and budget allows. All at a very basic level so the car only has some simple mods.

Really depends where you intend to use your car the most road or track?

My car is mainly used on the road so as I said just some basic mods to help out on the track. However the Elan is a great handling car and pretty quick so the opportunity for fun is great

[rgh0]

I have been competing in my S4 Elan for 25 years now in sprints, hillclimbs, club racing and now historic racing. The basic car is quick and can be made a lot quicker for the track with relatively simple modifications. It only really gets expensive when you start chasing big horsepower out of the twincam.

A Plus 2 is a better handling car than an Elan but heavier. It is competitive on a track where the speed is carried through corners but looses out to an Elan on tracks with lots of stop go type corners.

Rohan

[type26owner]

Where are you located? The folks at GGLC are very active with auto-x and trackdays about five times a year. So if you're located in the Northern California area come on by and bring your helmet.

I owned an 87 SI Biturbo for many years too. If you enjoyed that struggle Elan ownership will be like you went to heaven. Clocked 200K miles on mine!.

[Dag-Henning]

I run my S1 in historic racing in Norway. As a fact, we are 4 Elans in the series ; 2 S1s, and 2 S3s. The rather "frustrating" part of it is that we are trying to run acc. to FIA app.K ; the two "period F" cars run Dunlop Racing CR 65 ( both being "narrow" bodies, we run on 4.50M13 ) , where as the two "period G" cars run Yokos or equal........
Besides that, we are having great fun in lovely cars !! My car started out as a std. road-car, being slowly converted to a racing car. I thought initially I would be able to combine the two, - but that turned out to be wrong.....Now, it is stiff, uncomfortable and noicy. The box whines along with the diff, and the wish to take it for a drive with my wife, is since long gone.......( - not because of the wife, I have to say.. !)
But it is a great car for racing, - discovering that the gearbox is the weak part, - the other "internals" incl. the twink being almost bulletproof!
One day, I might bring it back again to "std." , but not yet.........
All the best,
Dag

[masermartin]

Great replies, thanks!

Question for "type26owner"...are you saying you put 200K miles on a Biturbo or an Elan?

200K miles on a Biturbo sounds like it would be a record for sure!

[masermartin]

BTW I live in greater Atlanta, GA.

Also, one more thing. I am still in search for a plus 2. If anyone knows of someone who is willing to trade a 1987 Maserati Biturbo for an Elan (Plus 2 prefferably), please let me know.

[type26owner]

Put 200k miles on Biturbo. The last 50k miles my wife put on there as her commute car. Kinda miss the screaming the turbos made when spooling up. What I don't miss is all the technical problems I had to resolve as the customer and the extremely high level of maintenance. The electrics were a corrosion nightmare! On the Elan there's a full wiring diagram and it's simple. On the Biturbo if stuff went into the mystery black/red box you were just screwed. There was no documentation just a hole that represented the box in wiring diagrams.

[1964 S1]

If I include myself after embarassingly admitting to actually drag racing my two Elans on numerous occasions I count a total of five racers in our midsts? Surely there are others, , , at Least on the streets!

[jrwiseman]

There are some other racers out there, apparently some are shy about their racing A few Elans are out there doing battle in SCCA Solo2 [autocross]. Looks like the Elan can compete in ASP, DP [new for 2006], AP, DM/EM for next year. Of course you can run in a stock class also [BS]. Here is a link to a few pictures of cars that have completed recently.

http://mac7500.ads-oh.atg.titan.com/~wiseman/Web%20Pages/SoloElans/Solo2Elans.html

have fun
John

[1964 S1]

...too shy to admit they race an Elan, here? on this web page?

[jrwiseman]

...too shy to admit they race an Elan, here? on this web page?

Hard to believe, I know

have fun
John

[1964 S1]

5?

[masermartin]

Nice link to the photos by the way.

Looked like a few of those had a wide body kit on them. Is that right?

[lotus026]

I've also been racing my '65 Elan S2 for 8 or 9 years, mostly I do hillclimbs and a couple track days a year; but also the occasional vintage race. Mostly my car is a street car, but I do drive it to all events I do (sometimes better than 1,000 miles in a weekend!) and the race numbers have been on the doors full time since I first vintage raced it. I'm in Oregon, in the NW USA.
Dave
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