Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi Patrick,

Great to hear from you. The 26r restorations coming along slowly because of business time constraints, weddings and recently a new borne baby. to help it along I've got a guy who used to work on Colin Bond's race team working 1 day a week to move it along, chassis is now assembled and not coming apart gain, bump steered, toe caster, camber etc all done, next is fitting of rebuilt diff, gearbox and engine before popping shell on. The shell's all prepared waiting for us to trial on chassis and drill holes, make mountings, check clearances, fit cages, drill chassis, dry sump tanks etc before painting. I've attached an early shot of chassis from initial trial assembly, I'm out again tomorrow to have an afternoon on it.

Fortunately JG's competitiveness was a blessing in disguise, as bought the car should not have been racing, the front turrets were twisted and cracked severely, shock absorbers not seated in mounts, front springs jammed in turrets, steering arms and front uprights bent, and 2 of 4 pistons cracked at ring glands, clearly never repaired properly, if he'd been a hard campaigner I suspect there would have been another big accident. All history now as its being completely rebuilt as I've done with al my cars.

I've tried a few times to coordinate seeing Ann, got close once when she said she was going to at a hill climb and was happy to meet up, only thing is she let me know a day before!!! hopefully we will meet up before the rebuild's done, if not then when I take the car up to QLD for Bill, Jim Bertram and Ann to see as I'd love to have photo's of them all reunited with the car in its pristine state.

I'll let you know well in advance of it returning to QLD for a visit, ideally it will be complete for Elan 50th birthday celebrations, I figure best way to meet Ann is via a club function, so if you;re aware of something she'll be attending please please please let em know!!! My email is [email protected]

Cheers

V

Beautiful already, Vaughan - nothing like a nice, shiny, new Elan!

As I recall, the glass on that car was 3/4" thick in places, so it will probably end up 80kg lighter! BTW, seeing the cut-out in the valence reminds me of a story JG told me, maybe myth, but Ann could probably verify - apparently the car was built specifically for an endurance race (Surfers Paradise, maybe?) and the rules stipulated that the car must have a working heater; so they stuck the sump in the passenger's footwell, poking up through the hole. It certainly sounds Chapmanesque.

I'll keep my ear to the ground re: Ann and any upcoming events and let you know.

Cheers

Patrick

Thanks Patrick,

al of 3/4", the shell was that thick you can stand on the bonnet and not deflect it, same for basically the whole front end..., think it was the shell that was supporting the bent and cracked front turrets actually, as seems they stuck the shell together around the chassis, it could only be separated with an angle grinder. Whereas the roof and other panels are in cases lighter than the TTR shell.

As for the cutout, thats where the dry sump tanks sits and yes it would generate a whole lot of heat, and the heater plenum/assembly is not present in either shell. I suspect it was also down to the work the pumps would have to do to have tank in rear as often case now for weight distribution, and no doubt with in Chapman's mind set cheaper as lines etc shorter and lighter.

Cheers

V

Vaughan,

I was wondering how the progress is going on your S2 26R?

Any latest pics?

Andrew M
Perth

Vaughan,
Could you remind me what the build number of your 26/R was? I have a couple of gaps in my records.

Hi Vaughan,

Coming to Sydney for a few days - are you around? Can't seem to PM you at the moment.

Cheers

Patrick