Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Julian Balme's Coterie Press book on Ian Walker and his racing cars has just landed on my doorstep! 206 big pages, loads of photos, info on known survivors including the Elans: IWRGT1 the gold ally fastback, IWRGT2 the blue "Gordon Keeble" fastback, 26R33 one of the two gold bugs (the other is thought to be in Japan, it says) and the yellow works rally car 26-S2-33.

Now- anyone from Japan on here?

elansprint71 wrote:Julian Balme's Coterie Press book on Ian Walker and his racing cars has just landed on my doorstep! 206 big pages, loads of photos, info on known survivors including the Elans: IWRGT1 the gold ally fastback, IWRGT2 the blue "Gordon Keeble" fastback, 26R33 one of the two gold bugs (the other is thought to be in Japan, it says) and the yellow works rally car 26-S2-33.

Now- anyone from Japan on here?

January 1st 2013 - Julian Balme: Ian Waker Racing: The Man and His Cars.

Ref: http://ferraritestarossa.net/clublotus/

Cheers - Richard

Some time ago I purchased this
It show poor Lotus Elan after Mike Spence had a BIG SHUNT at Nurburgring (I can?t remember the year but I think 1967)
I also read that prior this race JACKIE STEWART HIMSELF drove the car in Paris!!!!
Have you heard about this???


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Thanks, that photo is in the IWR book, it is when Mike Spence rolled it up at the Nurburgring, as you say. That stopped the Le Mans trip!

Not heard about Paris, maybe that will be in the book- it will take me some time to absorb what is in there.
EDIT: I now have a copy of the Autosport report on the car's debut at Monlelhery, Paris in May 1964; JY Stewart drove it to fourth place and a class win in the race for GT cars over 1600cc and prototypes.

Cheers,
Pete.

ardee_selby wrote:
January 1st 2013 - Julian Balme: Ian Waker Racing: The Man and His Cars.

Ref: http://ferraritestarossa.net/clublotus/

Cheers - Richard

What a shame that the rest of the CL areas are not as active as this. Vicars and Tarts is as close as it gets up here!!!

[/img][/img][/img]Researching about Elans driven by Stewart I found this....nice discover
http://books.google.es/books?id=pdvEjBR ... &q&f=false
I did not know this book
I wonder if some of the victorious Elans were IWR ones
By the way....I don?t know if this is one of the Elans that raced at Paris with Stewart...

Hi all,
I know the guy who own gold bugs here in Japan.
The chassis number is 26R42.
http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/9901/index.html

Is this one of the two gold bugs?
In the mean time, The Ian Walker book on the market now?
Cheers,
Hiro
P.S Probably Frua Elan still here too.

Hi Hiro

There are a number of significant Elans that have made their way to Japan. As a matter of interest, is there a register or club that holds information on Japanese based Elans? If so, I would be interested in contacting them.

Thanks

Tim

LCRJ wrote:Hi all,
I know the guy who own gold bugs here in Japan.
The chassis number is 26R42.
http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/9901/index.html

Is this one of the two gold bugs?
In the mean time, The Ian Walker book on the market now?
Cheers,
Hiro
P.S Probably Frua Elan still here too.

Hiro,
Thanks for that, really interesting about the 2nd Gold Bug and the Frua car, I will send you a PM.
The Ian Walker book is available here:
http://www.coteriepress.com/IanWalkerTheManandHisCars?forumboardid=170&forumtopicid=173

It is a limited edition, so it is best to order now.

I would also be interested to know of a register of significant Elans in Japan.

Cheers,
Pete.

Here is an interesting snippet from this fascinating book: a new, fully-assembled standard S2 would have cost you ?1435 15s 1d from Ian Walker in 1965. At the same time they were selling the rebuilt alluminium fast-back prototype racing car for ?1220 and a completely rebuilt Gold Bug racing car for ?1550.

Thank you for your messages. It?s nice to hear from you. Yes, I know club of Classic Lotus here. However there are a few and not cover all Lotus Classic cars and I don?t think they have a register or information of all Japanese based Elans.
I think many classic Lotus Elan and fan here. But it?s almost secret, especially rare one.
In the past, my friend did ?Elan owners survey?. Maybe He still has some information. also I know a group that they hold an event called ?Lotus Elan meeting? other one ?Lotus Elan touring?.
As luck would have it, ?Lotus Elan meeting? will hold and cerebrate 50th anniversary on next weekend. I hope many Lotus Elan there and I will go if I have a time. Please let me know if you need more information.
Thank you,
Hiro

Thanks Hiro for your message; any information you could provide would be most welcome.

Here are a couple of photos I took at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in 2005.



Winner: Sean Walker with "Gold Bug 3" a replica built on a 26/R, so I'm told. The alluminium car came second, after an epic race.

I see that the blue IWR ally car went unsold at last month's H&H auction at the IWM. Can't find how much was bid.

I had seen photos of the blue one before : I may be biased, but it reminds me a tad too much of this :

nmauduit wrote:I had seen photos of the blue one before : I may be biased, but it reminds me a tad too much of this :

Ami 6.jpg

Hahaha! I see your point. The IWR car has better aspects.