Racing Elan photos.

[Robbie693]

3rd pic is particularly nice. Even the Mini towers over the Elans - Thanks for posting Pete.

Last one is just painful!

Robbie

[trw99]

Thanks Pete, excellent images.

I note that a number of the Elans are using wide interior mirrors. I assume these provide a panoramic rearward view? I've not seen them before now.

Tim

[elansprint71]

Thanks Pete, excellent images.

I note that a number of the Elans are using wide interior mirrors. I assume these provide a panoramic rearward view? I've not seen them before now.

Tim

Cheers Tim- I had not noticed the mirrors. Looking back at sports-car racing in the 60s and 70s one thing which has struck me is that very few cars had side mirrors, yet look at the ??? cars at Goodwood, for example, and all of them now do have them. Is it a change in regulations, or change in capability of the amateur drivers?

Anyone going to Donington next week-end for The Masters? If so, give me a shout- especially anyone who is driving!

http://www.donington-park.co.uk/events/car/2012/10/13/masters-historic-racing-championship-finals/

[elansprint71]

Here are a few more from the recent Elan 50 race at Donington, featuring forum member David Holroyd.

[dougweall]

Nice photo's Pete, I didn't notice on the day the blue tape around the doors, was David looking for more speed ?

If I had seen it I would have asked his mechanic what it was all about as I was stood on the pit wall talking to him. Damn.

Doug.

[elansprint71]

Nice photo's Pete, I didn't notice on the day the blue tape around the doors, was David looking for more speed ?

If I had seen it I would have asked his mechanic what it was all about as I was stood on the pit wall talking to him. Damn.

Doug.

You've heard of the Gurney Flap and the Hickman Flange? This is the Holroyd Strip.
The one across the roof is the Jim Clark Strip.

[gino1]

Love the Elan in Gulf livery... i'm still deciding the colours of my S2 i'm restoring...i'm nearly totally convinced

Some of the pics show some Elans with more camber on the front wheels than normal, is this just an optical illusion ??

Gino
Milano
Italy

[elansprint71]

Love the Elan in Gulf livery... i'm still deciding the colours of my S2 i'm restoring...i'm nearly totally convinced

Some of the pics show some Elans with more camber on the front wheels than normal, is this just an optical illusion ??

Gino
Milano
Italy

Only one colour to paint an S2- gold with a metallic green stripe.
Edit: It's got the wrong badge on too!

Incidentally those two dark green stripes were black, back in the day!

I think that most of the Elans racing have adjustable camber; most also use the "bent" 26/R lower front wishbones. Perhaps some of the racers on the forum could comment?

[cabc26b]

Tim wrote

I note that a number of the Elans are using wide interior mirrors. I assume these provide a panoramic rearward view? I've not seen them before now.

I ran with one of these - very helpful in making up what for what you lose with the fia roll cage and hardtop with obligatory weight saving plastic rear screen.

Pete , nice pictures , especially the marcos into elan shot , I'll have to ask Andrew what he has in the nose of this car that makes its so hard...

George

[rgh0]

Modern track radials such as Yoko A-048R like a fair bit of negative camber for maximum grip ( "lots of neggy" in the pits slang!). In Australia the historic classes using modern tyres have a limit on the amount of neggy to stop people using excessive amounts and changing the appearance of the cars from what they orginally looked like.

cheers
Rohan

[toomspj]

I run standard wishbones on my roadsports car in HSCC. I run about 2 deg of neg camber which is largely achieved by simply lowering the suspension to the minimum allowed.

As Rohan says the Yokohamas like lots of neg camber which is frowned on in historic racing. So next best thing is to run plenty of castor (which adds camber to the outside wheel when turning) .

Paul

[rgh0]

Hi Paul
Same problem same solution

cheers
Rohan

[gino1]

Hi Paul,

Can you explain how to adjust the castor angle ?

Thanks
Gino

[toomspj]

Assuming you have standard suspension, basically you need to move the top ball joint back and the lower trunnion forward. There are a variety of ways of doing it - reweld the chassis pivots, use spacers, or move the wishbones on the bushes (need hard bushes to do that one). Three things get in the way - the first is that the wishbones will interfere with the chassis, the second is that you run out of threads on the pivots, the third is that the trunnions are side-loaded unless you put a little twist in the wishbones.

All achievable (4 deg is easy, 7 deg is at my limit) but it requires a little bit of cunning to make it work well (unless you just reweld the chassis!). I do it with a mix of spacers and repositioning the wishbones on the bushes. I wonder how Rohan does it....?

Paul

[gino1]

Hi ,
Can anyone give me the correct colours for the Gulf livery ?

Thanks
Gino