Big Lotus Elan crash Brands hatch 2011

[types26/36]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo3Zl5E9 ... r_embedded

[cabc26b]

That is soo typical. Some knuckle-head in his mom's station wagon ( estate car) loses it and takes out a couple of innocents ...



George

( yes i know its a Scimitar)

[elansprint71]

I believe that the orange Scimitar is run by a local classic Car restoration company.

[paddy]

I believe that the orange Scimitar is run by a local classic Car restoration company.

It's a bit of a desperate way to generate business

I'm impressed that he was still able to drive the car with only 1 rear wheel.

Paddy

[rgh0]

I have lost both a front and real wheel in the elan on the track at different times due to suepnsion and axle failures - amazing how well if drives on only 3 wheels pointing in the right direction

The rear of an Elan comes off cleanly it looks - a friend had something simillar happen to his Elan on the track a few years ago

cheers
Rohan

[archigator]

Quite a testiment to the efficacy of that fuel cell! Back in the day, there would have been fuel all over the place. Impressive!

Sad to see an Elan take such a hit... I assume no one was hurt badly.

Gary
'71Sprint FHC
Miami, Florida

[rgh0]

People reentering the track out of control rather than shutting down and getting it under control once they leave the black stuff is a real hazard in amateur historic racing.

A friend in our class had to put his Corvette into the wall at Philip Island and write it off to avoid a car coming back onto the track out of control and as he risked killing the driver if he hit it. Luckily he was unhurt (except to the hip pocket) and he had a spare if not so fast and well prepared Corvette to come back racing in without any major delay.

regards
Rohan

[ardee_selby]

21 years ago I had a "fun" day at Brands that was a mix of being driven in, and driving, XR3's followed by some laps in a Formula First.

I saw a similar scenario on the same part of the track.

Difference was, instead of a Scimitar, it was an XR3 on the "demonstration laps with a pro-driver at the wheel" and, instead of an Elan, it was some poor s*d's first venture out in a Formula First.

Fortunately the FF was only lightly clipped at the rear, but was sufficient to shake the driver up a bit!

It made me very wary. Felt so vulnerable in the FF, but as I got black flagged anyway it cut the excitement short!

Cheers - Richard

[andyelan]

Hi Everyone

Don't know too much about this incident but considering that both the Caterham and the Elan should have been considerably quicker than the Scimitar, my guess is they were about to lap him. If that were the case, then I'll bet it makes thing even harder to take.

Reminds me of an incident at last years Donnington Park "See Red" event . In the pre '60 sports car race, a Lotus Elite was the absolute class of the field and just walked away from everything else. That was untill he came to try an lap the last place Aston DB2 which promptly lost it and took the back off the Elite much like this Elan. I met the Elite driver afterwards in the paddok, he was not happy.

Andy

[Spyder fan]

Ouch!
I've been in the Kitty Litter at Paddock Hill Bend in my +2, it's almost a rite of passage for track enthusiasts BUT I certainly didn't come out of it under my own power, I was swamped right up to the chassis in gravel and my biggest fear was that some poor sod was going to follow me in after being unsighted by my rather embarrasing excursion, no harm to my car and the only pain was the walk of shame from the paddock to go and explain myself to the Clerk of the course before being let out on track again.

Some have mentioned the lack of driving standards and the BTCC style close contact racing style that seems to have filtered over into other formulae, I hope the Scimitar driver got a good official dressing down for that avoidable incident, but I wonder if the gravel trap was doing it's job that day?

It was strangely mesmerising watching the clip, I had to repeat it twice..... I bet the crowds loved it

[bigvalvehead]

Anyone know who the unfortunate elan owner is?

I can help with a new rear end clip.

[pharriso]

I am sorry to use such bad language but the guy driving the Scimitar is an absolute Ass. He kept the power on while he was on the gravel / grass so he would not get bogged down (which is what the gravel is designed to do) & then power on oversteers right across the track & wipes out 2 innocent parties.

He should be banned for a year, the accident was totally avoidable & if the elan were mine I would have punched the guy.

[pharriso]

The damage done to the elan is remarkably similar to that at a SVRA race at Watkins Glen last autumn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqQLKTu-aVY at the dreaded Esses... however here the elan caused the crash by spinning & an unfortunate 911 tagged the rear of the car.

The fuel cell landed in the middle of the track but spilled all over the track. The elan kept running for a while...

Our car (an Alfa Romeo Guilia) pootles by at 2:00.

[Superleggera64]

People re-entering the track out of control instead of shutting down are a real danger in amateur racing and should be banned. The obviously unskilled driver of the scimitar hardly appears ashamed, he's posted it on his company website:

https://www.facebook.com/dePoel1?ref=ts

Do they not discipline these idiots?

[john.p.clegg]

Have just dropped Matthew Sanders (CEO of De Poel) a quick line letting him know what I think of him and his driving skills...

John