Strangest Elan?

[lance54]

The two 26R Elans raced by Bill Young.

26-R-28 in late 1964 C-Prod.

26-S2-30 in 1965 C-Prod. and 1966 B-Prod.

[benymazz]

I figured I'd throw in some more Elan C Production action, East Coast edition. This is my Elan, as raced by my father, Bill Morris, in CP. I have the following records of it racing, all in regionals:

September 1968 - Lime Rock - 3rd
October 1968 - Watkins Glen - 2nd
April 1969 - Lime Rock- 2nd
May 1969 - Bridgehampton - 1st
September 1969 - Lime Rock - 2nd
October 1969 - Watkins Glen - 2nd

[lance54]

Great photos. How wonderful to have kept the Elan in the family.

Gotta ask about the Zonker?

[benymazz]

Gotta ask about the Zonker?

The "Screaming Yellow Zonker" was a SCCA B sports racer that my dad built. I believe it was a LeGrand Mk IVb chassis/body, but with a fair bit of modification to the suspension. It was powered by a Twin Cam with Tecalemit-Jackson fuel injection mated to a Hewland FT200 gearbox. He raced it extensively from 1970 to 1974 in both SCCA races and hillclimbs (ditching the fuel injection after the first season as it was nothing but problems), and had fairly good success. Northeastern division national champion, 1971. That car was at the SCCA runoffs at Road Atlanta from 1971 to 1974, usually placing between 7th and 10th. I haven't been able to confirm but based on some pictures I think the car was crashed around 1974-1975, B/SR was dying out, and my dad moved on to racing a Marcos GT in DSR (1974-1976) and eventually a Civic in SSC (1976-1980). The Zonker lived on in hillclimbs but was badly beat up and my dad sold the rolling chassis around 1979. He kept the engine and transmission though, and that block is now in my Elan.

Last I know of, this car had made its way to the west coast and was being raced there in a white and blue color scheme in the late 90s. That was based on a printout of an email that my dad got from the then-owner, who was trying to put together the car's history. I haven't been able to track it down in the last couple years.

-Ben

[Pete6e]

What an interesting post about the Dave Vehger series of developments - demonstrating the Colin Chapman ethos of continual development and utilising all the rules to advantage. Very inspirational (although my current 1967 S3 FHC will remain a road car).