Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Had the chance to drive a left hand drive S4 last week & was surprised at how close the pedals are together.
In my own RHD S4 I have no trouble at all with my size 8 1/2 shoes but in the LHD car it was a bit scary with the clutch & throttle pedals so close together.
I've not done any measuring up but does anybody else have LHD experience? Could it be possible that the left side foot well is narrower than the right one?

d.j., yes indeed it is a tight fit...when i first bought my sprint i constantly brushed the brake pedal when applying the gas... that was until i developed the habit of driving with a crooked foot on the accelerator...kind of like constantly heel toeing....anyone else doing this....i wear a size 9 1/2 and it is very tight ...all part of the lotus expireance i keep telling myself

LHD. I have to wear shoes that are relatively narrow - my wider shoes won't fit! (8-1/2). But then heel and toeing goes fantastic, better than on any other car! (like a racer I presume!)
Gordon

Try size 13 (US)! I drive in the narrowest tennis shoes I own - running shoes are too wide, and even the tennis shoes pose a risk of getting the throttle and brake at the same time. I use the crooked foot also. To heel and toe, I put my foot on the brake and try to catch the edge of the throttle with the outside of my heel - no room to do anything else. Maybe rock climbing shoes or ballet slippers would work better.

Hello Gents,

I'm a UK 11 and have trouble in my LHD Sprint. I hate to imagine driving a RHD with even less space. I do the majority of my driving in bare feet. Feels a lot less clumsy and I can feel if my foot is touching the brake pedal while i'm pushing on the accelerator. It's hitting winter here in Oz so I will have to make sure the heater is pumping out plenty of warm air

Cya,
Steve.

Steve

I didnt think you guys in Sydney even knew where the heater knob was on an Elan. It never gets cold enough up there to even bothing looking.

Rohan

Hello fellow wide footers, I've found moccasins and stylish soleless bedroom slippers to be excellent driving shoes. I may look into that ballet shoe idea.

Rohan
My sister lives in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and visiting her can get rather chilly . There is also an ongoing joke with some friends about strapping snowboards to the roll bar and taking the Elan to the ski fields But somehow I don't think either would compare with cold in my Elans homeland.

Also I got my LHDs and RHDs mixed up in my earlier post. Oops

Steve.

Hi all,
I also got the brake pedal and the clutch pedal mixed up in my initial mail.
However it seems that everyybody understood what I meant.
It appears that there must actually be less space for the pedals in the left side footwell, could it be that the space is needed for the clutch release mechanism on the bell housing?
As I wrote before, I have no problems driving my RHD S4.
Thanks for all of your comments.
John

I bent the clutch and brake pedals a bit farther to the left to accommodate my size 10 and 71/2 foot --[feet?] ed

Thanks,
I new there would be a solution. I'll pass the pedal bending idea on to the owner.
john

I did some measuring on my LHD Federal car and the best I can tell is the right hand foot well is about a 1/4" narrower at the pedal plane than the left hand foot well. Insignificant really and most likely equal, since I have carpeting so the measurements are not that precise.

Greg Z.
'72 Sprint, size 7 shoe and still have problems. Next project: bend pedals.

It's not a difficult task to move the clutch pedal over two inches or more. This means you can move your brake foot over. You need
about two feet of tubing with an outside diameter of 3/4 inch and a short piece of one inch outside diameter with a 3/4 inch inside diameter the short piece length is however far you want to move the clutch pedal.

Remove the old pedal system. Cut off the clutch pedal. Weld it to the short piece. It then slides on the 3/4 inch tubing, weld or run a bolt through it to attach it to the 3/4 tubing. You will also need to weld on the clutch end piece. Tools needed were a hacksaw and a grinder. About six hours of labor but well worth it.

garytvr wrote:You need about two feet of tubing with an outside diameter of 3/4 inch

two feet????