S.M.A.R.T Elan

PostPost by: ardee_selby » Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:37 pm

"Special Elan LOG 21 Connections: 1. Sir John Whitmore was the driver of the SMART (Stirling Moss Automobile
Racing Team) Elan as modified by aerodynmicist Frank Costin"


The above was in thread from 10 years ago (elan-archive-f16/log-update-t5209.html)

Any information available? Pictures? etc etc or any reference material elsewhere.

Cheers - rd
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PostPost by: elancoupe » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:18 pm

From the Autosport forum:

S.M.A.R.T. (Stirling Moss Automobile Racing Team), London W.1.

"S.M.A.R.T. was formed by Stirling Moss in March 1963. He bought a Lotus Elan, which was modified considerably and had a hard top fitted. The car entered for various GT events and driven successfully by Sir John Whitmore throughout that season. It won every event it entered except two, when it shed a wheel on both occasions. The Elan was sold after Valerie Pirie had driven it in club events during the early part of 1964, with some success. At the same time S.M.A.R.T. acquired a Cortina GT which was entered in several rallies and driven by Valerie Pirie, usually with Daphne Freeman and Sue Knights. At the beginning of the 1964 season a Porsche 904 GTS was bought and raced successfully in GT events. It was driven by Innes Ireland, Trevor Taylor, Sir John Whitmore, David Hobbs, Hugh Dibley, and the late 'Lucky' Casner. S.M.A.R.T. also entered Hugh Dibley in a Brabham Repco in British races, in which he broke several sports car lap records, including setting up the first 100 mph lap at Goodwood. At the close of the 1964 season S.M.A.R.T. also entered into negotiations with the Standard-Triumph Motor Company and a competition Triumph Spitfire was added to the team and entered for various international rallies for Valerie Pirie to drive. In 1965 S.M.A.R.T. were fielding a Lola 5-litre sports car driven by Hugh Dibley, and one Formula 3 car, a Brabham Ford driven by Charles Chrichton-Stuart. For the start of the 1966 season, the team had a B.R.P. - B.R.M. (one of the ex-British Racing Partnership cars) in the South African Grand Prix for Richie Ginther to drive.

Colours and markings:
The main colour is Light Borneo Green (ICI paint reference P031-4390). Monoposto cars have a dark green nose band. Sports cars have a dark green nose band which forms itself into a narrowing stripe in the centre of the bonnet. Wheels-- Dark Green"



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F
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PostPost by: Old English White » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:18 pm

I have a copy of this:
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Christian. :mrgreen:

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PostPost by: elancoupe » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:22 pm

Here is a partial quote from Whitmore in reference to Stirling Moss : "As a way of staying involved in the sport, he bought a Lotus Elan, formed the Stirling Moss Automobile Racing Team and, to my great surprise, chose me as his number one driver. I drove the car in eight races in 1962, winning four of them; in the other four, a rear wheel fell off while I was in the lead."
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:23 pm

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Last edited by garyeanderson on Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:38 pm

Wow! that was quick...thanks guys.

Later...a few more questions

Cheers - rd
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PostPost by: elansprint71 » Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:47 pm

ardee_selby wrote:"Special Elan LOG 21 Connections: 1. Sir John Whitmore was the driver of the SMART (Stirling Moss Automobile
Racing Team) Elan as modified by aerodynmicist Frank Costin"


The above was in thread from 10 years ago (elan-archive-f16/log-update-t5209.html)

Any information available? Pictures? etc etc or any reference material elsewhere.

Cheers - rd

The car (or at least the rather bizarre roof) disappeared not long after it surfaced.

How many colours did SMART race the Elan under? Pea Green, Gold (evidently; judging by the magazine cover (although that was news to me)... and...

Not sure that I follow the gist of Gary's post; where/when was "there"... and the number of "early" Lotus cars gathered seems pretty puny by Euro standards.
Edit: and I follow it even less now that he has removed the words and inserted a photo of me; unfortunately my banjo was just out of the shot. :D
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PostPost by: trw99 » Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:26 am

Pete

Re the SMART Elan colour, I believe it was always (Borneo?) green and the car on the cover colour is a product of poor colour reproduction.

Also, am I right in thinking that Frank Costin was responsible for the Elan nose modifications, but that Ogle did the rather ugly looking hard top?

Tim
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PostPost by: Elanintheforest » Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:16 pm

Quite a modest Tow Car, but I believe that there were a couple of 'fastback' Lotus Cortinas done in the same colour.

Mark
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Moss Smart Cortina and Elan.jpg and
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:26 pm

Thanks for the leads. Have tracked down the article (to go with Christian's front cover)
1.0 Here, the colour is referred to as "SMART Green" being the "unmistakeable trademark"! (as per Mark's photo)
2.0 From same Autosport reference:
" As I recall he got Sir John Whitmore to drive for him and also perhaps strangely his secretary Valerie Pirie.
He bought a Lotus Elan in a kit (an S1) and had Frank Costin design and craft a low drag nose and a hardtop which has to be said was so ugly and they went international racing , also they had a Cortina GT for rallying, preparing the cars in a London mews garage. Now after the initial flurry of publicity and largely unsatisfactory events in 1963 the project seemed to slip out of public gaze. I wonder what the real story behind it all was, what Stirling's long term ambitions at the time were ? why it did not last and above all what happened to that very strange looking Elan ! What of Valerie Pirie? Why did it disappear? "
3.0 Article also refers to the "specially made...lightweight bodyshell". Seems it wasn't just an S1 in component form they bought and took it from there...
4.0 I've read (somewhere..) that Williams & Pritchard made both the hardtop & nose. But what of the nose? SM, apparently, didn't like it and it was dropped. Haven't found picture of it, whatever it was.
5.0 From our own archive: "The Stirling Moss Automobile Racing Team (SMART) had an early Elan painted in bile green, that lurched its way round the circuits. Chunky himself pointed out that the Elan was designed purely as a road car, with no thought of circuit use. Eventually the pressure on Lotus produced the 26R, which sorted out many of the problems in racing a pure road car, but possibly too late for SM -- or the Elan's reputation.
5.0 Any info on the races it took part in? Where? when? Up against?

Cheers - rd
Attachments
S.M.A.R.T. Pt.1.jpg and
S.M.A.R.T. Pt.2.jpg and
S.M.A.R.T. Pt.3.jpg and
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:54 pm

And, to complete the overall picture...

Cheers - rd
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S.M.A.R.T. Pt.4.jpg and
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:22 pm

From: http://www.williamsandpritchardregister ... alogue.htm

"1964 Lotus/SMART Stirling Moss Racing Elan - special fibreglass nose and alloy hardtop - revisions by Frank Costin"

I knew I'd seen it somewhere re: "Credited Bodywork Designers"

Cheers - Richard

Note: also includes:
1.0 - 1965 Lotus / Ian Walker Racing:Touring Elan:special alloy body (Keeble style front) Ian Walker
2.0 - 1965 Lotus / Ian Walker Racing:Racing Elan:special alloy body (SLR style front) Ian Walker
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:27 pm

ardee_selby wrote: 5.0 Any info on the races it took part in? Where? when? Up against? Cheers - rd


Have found this...a merest glimpse of it at Sebring 12 Hours in '64.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPPjTQpXibk 1964 12 hours Sebring.

Results from here: http://www.wspr-racing.com/wspr/results ... s1964.html

Pos: 58th. R.No:57. Driver & Nationality:Hugh Dibley (GB) & R. G. Rossler (GB) - DND. Result: 39th lap Accident damage

Also found pictures of the car with the Costin nose treatment.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7548815@N08/448802605/

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1 ... 21-057.jpg

Cheers - Richard
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PostPost by: Old English White » Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:28 am

For the color of the car, I can suggest to search on the Ford Cortina color chart:
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PostPost by: trw99 » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:09 pm

Hi Christian

I can not remember that colour ever being a Ford production spec. I'm sure Mark will put us right soon!

Tim
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