Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Yes both our cars run TTR bodyshells. We run full Safety Devices roll cages and large fuel tanks which accounts for most of the weight. However 20kg will certainly not make much difference!

In the video the car was on Avon tyres as used at the Spa 6hr.

Quart Meg Miles wrote:

JohnDanbyRacing wrote:

rgh0 wrote:mmmmm 170 hp at the back wheels ? I know how to get close to that at the back wheels in an 1600 cc S4 Seven where the exhaust routing is much better and the engine is not to FIA historic specs. But in an FIA legal 1600 cc engine in an Elan? I wish I knew. Also wish I was allowed your FIA minimum 580 kg in an Elan and that I weighed 60 kg also

How many hours engine life ? ....cant be many

If I saw that the first thing I would do is check the dyno calibration

cheers
Rohan

Hi Rohan,

Yes that's what I thought when we saw the figures, but we use the dyno a lot and we even had a car on it earlier in the day that produced within 2bhp of what it did on the engine dyno before it went in the car. Mileage wise we are doing 1200miles before a refresh, depends how hard you want to rev it to how long they last!

580kg is quite difficult to get down to, this car is 600kg with the large fuel tank. I also wish I weighed 60kg!!

I think you have just declared that your dyno is over-reading! Wot, no transmission losses?

I'm only 60 kg, can I drive it?

Yes of course there is transmission losses. The figure is including a percentage loss to work out a flywheel figure which has always proved accurate.

bigvalvehead wrote:Hi Pete
Genuine car but with new shell from TTR. Not super lightweight shell hence the 600kg.
Most of the really competitive cars are at 580kg with all fluids and some even need ballast!!
Cheers
Dave Hughes

So, a genuine identity, rather than a "genuine car"?

As Henry Ford (allegedly) said: "history is bunk".

IMHO Identity is the only thing that is genuine for a 50 year old car. There is no such thing as a "genuine car" just degrees of replacement from a little e.g. I don't think there will be an Elan running with original rubber bits by now. up to everything.being replaced when a car is rebuilt totally from an ID plate number

cheers
Rohan

ive had this hammer since i was an apprentice, only had one new head and three new handles

elan66 wrote:ive had this hammer since i was an apprentice, only had one new head and three new handles

Good analogy, unfortunately with replacing parts, damage etc. etc. there a very very few cars that are totally original!

Don`t worry JDR, Pete`s pedantry can sometimes seem a little abrasive to people who don`t know him, and come to think of it, to people, like me, who do.
Jim

It's no different from people, for example Cher, though in her case she could probably have recovered her costs by selling the spare parts as souvenirs.

jimj wrote:Don`t worry JDR, Pete`s pedantry can sometimes seem a little abrasive to people who don`t know him, and come to think of it, to people, like me, who do.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Wasn't taken as an abrasive comment at all it is a much talked about subject in historic racing!!

JohnDanbyRacing wrote:

jimj wrote:Don`t worry JDR, Pete`s pedantry can sometimes seem a little abrasive to people who don`t know him, and come to think of it, to people, like me, who do.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Wasn't taken as an abrasive comment at all it is a much talked about subject in historic racing!!

An interesting subject in itself, btw congratulations on what appears to be a very fit race car.

Engines for historic racing are built with the benefit of over 50 years development in the case of the Lotus twin cam, they will of course produce more bhp to the same "specification" as back in the day. Nothing wrong with that, things like safety have improved as well and nobody complains about that.

Spyder fan wrote:

JohnDanbyRacing wrote:

jimj wrote:Don`t worry JDR, Pete`s pedantry can sometimes seem a little abrasive to people who don`t know him, and come to think of it, to people, like me, who do.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Wasn't taken as an abrasive comment at all it is a much talked about subject in historic racing!!

An interesting subject in itself, btw congratulations on what appears to be a very fit race car.

Engines for historic racing are built with the benefit of over 50 years development in the case of the Lotus twin cam, they will of course produce more bhp to the same "specification" as back in the day. Nothing wrong with that, things like safety have improved as well and nobody complains about that.

Thanks very much, yes everything has improved over time and the cars are of fairly regular development on most areas.

most of the cars I am aware of have virtually no original parts left on them, however most of the original bits are still retained if only to prove what the car was originally.

On the matter of weight this is a quote from TTR's site
"On a back to back test at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, an Elan weighing 580 kg was nearly four seconds per lap quicker than a similar engined Elan weighing 660 kg!!"
Even 20kg would make a difference, from the recent Spa Six hour race here are some lap times from the race.

Wilson /Wolfe/Stirling 3:01.255
Eyarrs /Morris/Twyman 3:00.190
Tromans /Meadan/Hansen 2:59.822
Bond/Fell/Gormley 3:14.716

The Andy Wolfe and Grant Troman Elans are on the minimum weight.
The full results are here http://www.ris-timing.be/~circuit//6hsp ... ce_cla.pdf


Dave Hughes

jimj wrote:Don`t worry JDR, Pete`s pedantry can sometimes seem a little abrasive to people who don`t know him, and come to think of it, to people, like me, who do.
Jim

None taken.

bigvalvehead wrote:most of the cars I am aware of have virtually no original parts left on them, however most of the original bits are still retained if only to prove what the car was originally.

On the matter of weight this is a quote from TTR's site
"On a back to back test at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, an Elan weighing 580 kg was nearly four seconds per lap quicker than a similar engined Elan weighing 660 kg!!"
Even 20kg would make a difference, from the recent Spa Six hour race here are some lap times from the race.

Wilson /Wolfe/Stirling 3:01.255
Eyarrs /Morris/Twyman 3:00.190
Tromans /Meadan/Hansen 2:59.822
Bond/Fell/Gormley 3:14.716

The Andy Wolfe and Grant Troman Elans are on the minimum weight.
The full results are here http://www.ris-timing.be/~circuit//6hsp ... ce_cla.pdf


Dave Hughes

Dave,

I believe 20kg will make a difference if you are absolutely on the limit of what the car can do as in reality it is a very small percentage of the cars total weight. There is many variations between the cars the main difference being the nut behind the wheel! I have driven both of our Elan's which have 20kg between them and done exactly the same lap time on Snetterton 300 and unless I knew would never have been able to tell the difference.

However I would be more than happy to build an Elan at 580kg!