Harry Drives His Sprint into Town

[Stevie-Heathie]

Nice video here of our friend Harry Metcalfe driving his Sprint dhc into Central London for the launch of the
Lotus Evija.

https://youtu.be/BvZWJ0oIYyI

Enjoy
Steve
PS Don?t know what he?s on about I?ve taken my S3 into Town plenty of times

[Giniw]

Nice little video indeed, thanks!

I?ve taken my S3 into Town plenty of times

[Stevie-Heathie]

Forgot to say he has another great video which he made a few years ago in which he does a review and road test of his Sprint - search under ?Harry?s Garage Elan?.

Must say I really enjoy his output.

Best
Steve

[Bombay Racing Green]

Very nice. Thanks for posting the link.

[JonB]

Great film - Now I want a Sprint. Oh dear..

[Giniw]

Forgot to say he has another great video which he made a few years ago in which he does a review and road test of his Sprint - search under ?Harry?s Garage Elan?.

Indeed, and I have seen it quite a few times already. Why do you think I have registered on here?

[Spyder fan]

Great film - Now I want a Sprint. Oh dear..

You could buy mine....... deep pockets required, but you wouldn't need to worry about overheating.

Serious enquiries only, offers in the region of ?40,000

[JonB]

Alan, does that not have a Zetec engine in it?

[Spyder fan]

No Jon,
It doesn?t have a Zetec.

It has a chain driven Twincam none of that belt driven last century stuff. It?s a Duratec...... Similar specifications to a Caterham R300 but with an Elan body

[Spyder fan]

Back on topic,
Harry?s video is very good, I know the feeling of trepidation driving into heavy London traffic in a small car like an Elan. I have driven both my cars +2 and Elan into central London on more than a few occasions and although I don?t have undue fear of overheating or other breakdown it doesn?t change me feeling very wary of other road users.

I did over 350 miles in the Elan on Wednesday last week, the bulk was motorways but at least 40 miles was spent in heavy North London stop start traffic.

Why did all the cars have to be yellow? I must have missed the reason

[JimE]

As someone who lives in London I have no choice but to sometimes drive my Elans and Europa in central London. I occasionally use to park my Europa by the Royal Horticultural Hall (featured in the video) when I took my Europa to work. The trick is to approach each drive as if you are in a conventional car and not hessitate. The Elan in particular is actually great for nipping in and out of traffic. Obviously, the most important thing is that your fan cuts in especially on the Europa which runs a little hotter than the other two. I do make an effort to drive when it's quieter but only because I can't stand sitting in traffic full stop. Today my ambient temperature guage, while out in the + 2, was reading 37 degrees! It's on days like this you yearn for air conditioning. Jim

[gjz30075]

Back on topic,
and although I don?t have undue fear of overheating or other breakdown it doesn?t change me feeling very wary of other road users.

Very true! After 41 years of ownership, I'm still the best defensive driver one could be, when out in the Elan.

[1owner69Elan]

I may be one of a small group of Americans (Yanks) that have driven their Elan in central London.

As noted on an earlier post I picked up my US export Elan on July 9, 1969 at the Hethel factory. After spending the night nearby the factory I figured that I would drive down to London and begin my sightseeing.

Little did I know that my timing was horrible. The traffic was horrendous as I attempted to drive from the northeast of London through town to the southwest. It was a hot day and my day-old Elan began to overheat with the temperature gauge winding all the way past 110 C. I would stop periodically to let it cool down. But, this was truly a nightmare as it literally took me 6 hours to get across London, being lost most of the time, in extreme anguish that I was destroying my brand new car through overheating.

I avoided one punch-up fight with a motorcyclist. Being unfamiliar with driving on the left side and making turns from a different lane, not to mention roundabouts, I managed to cut off a fellow on a motorcycle. Whereupon I heard the screech of tires and someone yelling at me "You bloody bas***d "!). After dumping his bike on the pavement, he came charging up to me on foot as I sat in my open top Elan. Awaiting a punch I started apologizing profusely. Hearing my American accent and seeing me sitting on the wrong side of the car (LHD), he stopped in his tracks, snorted "Yank!" , and turned around. Close call.

That night I found out that the supreme traffic snarl was due to the Queen's Garden Party. Who knew?

Here is a picture of the Queen's Lawn Party, July 10, 1969, that I indirectly was a part of:

queens-garden-party-july-10-1969.jpg (68.41 KiB) Viewed 2018 times

The surviving Elan (with original front number plate) now residing comfortably in California:

[reb53]

I watched this today and enjoyed it.
Was going to post the link until I realised, "late as usual..."

Interested in Harry's comments about differing body weights, is there info on this ?
I wouldn't have thought a bit more glass going into a body would add up to kilos and kilos of weight difference, but I stand to be corrected.

Anyone from here in the video ?

Ralph.
N.Z.
( and we should have won the cricket ! ).

[S3FHC]

Lovely video with a great range of examples from Lotus!

I noticed the Lamborghini Countach at the start of the video, is this the same gentleman and car borrowed by James May for a motoring programme when he bolted on the rather large tail spoiler?

Mark