London - Dakar Rally 2005

[Allison]

We are taking our 1967 Lotus Elan on the World Cup Rally fro London to Dakar
nest year.

It did the Targa Tunisia last year and the World Cup London Athens via
Albania 2 years ago so now we are thinking of something more serious. World Rally
Championship it is not as you have to take everything with you and there are
only communal repair teams. So I`m after ideas.

Ground clearance - it already has plus 2 wind up suspension and larger tyres.
Any other ideas?

Sand in engine - we do what the tank regiments do, clean the filter eveyday
and replace frequently, but if anyone knows better.

Anyone ever driven this route in anything?

Cheers

Allison

[lotuselan2]

Allison
Think about the DRIVERS as well as the car! Breathing sand at 40 deg C is
not the best for such a long run. You need clean moving air in the cabin or
you won't make it to Dakar. An amazing adventure in any case.

A BDR for some power through the sand would help.

Ken
'69 +2 with BDR


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.***
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 10:36 AM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] London - Dakar Rally 2005


We are taking our 1967 Lotus Elan on the World Cup Rally fro London to
Dakar
nest year.

It did the Targa Tunisia last year and the World Cup London Athens via
Albania 2 years ago so now we are thinking of something more serious.
World Rally
Championship it is not as you have to take everything with you and there
are
only communal repair teams. So I`m after ideas.

Ground clearance - it already has plus 2 wind up suspension and larger
tyres.
Any other ideas?

Sand in engine - we do what the tank regiments do, clean the filter
eveyday
and replace frequently, but if anyone knows better.

Anyone ever driven this route in anything?

Cheers

Allison











----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--






***@***.***

[Allison]

Dear Ken

Thanks for your email and I take your point after Tunisia. Have you
experience of desert driving?

What is BDR

Take care Allison

[Rob_LaMoreaux]

Allison,

The BDR is a version of the Cosworth BD series of 4 cylinder engine that
were based on the Ford blocks that the TwinCam was based on. I believe the
BDR is aluminum block and that it is one of the 2.0L variants.

So it is about a 180-220bhp race engine in a lightweight car.

Rob LaMoreaux
Ann Arbor, MI USA
(734)-971-5583
Cell (734)-604-9280
Email: ***@***.*** ***@***.***
Too many Hobbies.... Too Little Time
1969 Lotus Elan....It's not a restoration, it's a never-ending adventure.

[MikeC]

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:17:02 -0500 rob_lamoreaux wrote:


Not quite. The Twincam used the 1500 non-crossflow block. The BD
series started with the 1600 cross-flow block, but moved to purpose-made
aluminium blocks later as you say.

The practical effect of this is that you cannot easily put a Cosworth
head on a Lotus block, although Lotus head on the 1600 block is a well
understood conversion.


Mike
--
Mike Causer Email - mailto:***@***.***
GPG KeyID 1C2DDA07 WWW - http://www.mikecauser.org
Flood the fen again! - Wicken Fen enlargement - http://www.wicken.org.uk

[lotuselan2]

I responded to Allison directly, but here is some info about my motor and
the BD motors in general.

Mine is 1700 cc with the Ford crossflow block. I have the Bean setup for
190 HP with 45 mm Delorrto's and cams to match. I do NOT have the billet
crank and Carillo rods needed to spin 9K RPM which is where you get the 190
HP. With a blue printed stock crank I can spin 7400 RPM + now an then; but
I have all of the torque of the 190 HP motor up to that RPM.

The two liter Ali blocks in the Ford World Ralley cars probably cranked a
very reliable 240-260 HP for four straight days in all kinds of conditions.

Brian Hart built some ultimate versions of the motor. There is also a USAC
Midget version of the motor that cranks some incredible power.

Also this motor was the original basis of Formula Atlantic, before Toyota
bought there way in. The BDA is the Atlantic motor. They were controlled
at 1600 cc and fuel injected (or carbs?). They got a not so reliable
215-225 HP at 9500 RPM or so. Getting that power required very peaky cams
which wore the cam follower housing. One common failure was that the
"buckets" would wear the housing above the head and eventually get cocked
and lock up. That would result in a BIG explosion with all the nice Ali
bits ending up in the rubbish bin. They also used "slipper" pistons, very
short skirts and maybe even a single compression ring. Race motors were
good for about 300 miles between rebuilds, usually 2-3 race weekends. With
rigorous maintenance teams could run a season with 2 motors.

I am very bullish about putting a BDR motor in an Elan or Plus 2, even
better. But I will pass on the very good advice I got before buying my
motor. DO NOT BUY A FORMUAL ATLANTIC RACE MOTOR AND DETUNE IT FOR STREET.
Start from scratch or find a RS1600 Escort motor to begin with. Cosworth
still stocks parts, but they will try to convince you to buy a YB motor or
something else newer than that that does not fit.

Conversion to a BDR from a TC is simple. An easy cut of the hood to fit the
cam pulleys and other "adjustments".

The BDR is such a pleasure to drive and work on compared to the TC in my
former Europa.

Ken
'69 +2 with BDR
-----Original Message-----
From: rob_lamoreaux [mailto:***@***.***
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 9:17 AM
To: ***@***.***; ***@***.***
Subject: RE: [LotusElan.net] London - Dakar Rally 2005



Allison,

The BDR is a version of the Cosworth BD series of 4 cylinder engine that
were based on the Ford blocks that the TwinCam was based on. I believe the
BDR is aluminum block and that it is one of the 2.0L variants.

So it is about a 180-220bhp race engine in a lightweight car.

Rob LaMoreaux
Ann Arbor, MI USA
(734)-971-5583
Cell (734)-604-9280
Email: ***@***.*** ***@***.***
Too many Hobbies.... Too Little Time
1969 Lotus Elan....It's not a restoration, it's a never-ending adventure.














----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--






***@***.***