Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello,

Just joined and my story is as follows;

In 1988 I bought a 1972 Elan Sprint Coupe (with foliage and various plant life growing in it) with the intention to rebuild when time and funds allowed.

Fast forward to today, my youngest son (20) is about to embark on a rebuild project based on a pile of bits that ?Dad bought in the late 80?s before I was born? - yes the Elan got as far as disassembly and no further!

So as his 21st birthday present I?m going to help fund the rebuild and our quandary is whether we stick to a completely standard car or go down the 26R route? Will a colour change have a big impact it also?

With either option we?d like to be able to compete in it and wondered if we change the specification to 26R, would that preclude us from the usual historic racing series? Equally I?m not sure if there?s a series for the standard car to compete in either?

All feedback welcome (we are based in the UK)

I know nothing about what sort of racing you might be eligible for but I suppose modification for hill climbs would be relatively easy to achieve. It would be a shame to modify what I'm guessing is probably quite an original car. Perhaps consider selling it and buying a car of the year needed to qualify for the type of racing you want to do?

Just my 2p

Thanks - we thought about selling but as its been with us for so long it seemed a shame to follow this path.

The chassis was completely rotted out and was binned many years ago. The shell had received a major impact both front and rear and had been badly repaired - so that is no longer with us as well - though we have the doors and all the ancillary panels.

It is likely we would want to undertake historic circuit racing as opposed to hill climbs - Goodwood and so forth for 1970s cars or the older classes that include the 26R.

I'm leaning towards keeping it as a 1972 Sprint Coupe that has been kitted out (in period) for racing.

Fergus & Conor Ryan

YNR2K wrote:It is likely we would want to undertake historic circuit racing as opposed to hill climbs - Goodwood and so forth for 1970s cars or the older classes that include the 26R.

I'm leaning towards keeping it as a 1972 Sprint Coupe that has been kitted out (in period) for racing.

Fergus & Conor Ryan

It's a bold project, but the body and other panels of a Sprint are nothing like on a 26R and wouldn't be accepted by that community. Goodwood doesn't do 1970 racing but other circuits clearly do and you should chat to forum members who participate in them, looking in the Racing section to identify them.

As there is so little of your car left you have carte blanche to do what you like with it's remains and won't offend anyone on this site! Best of luck.

Fergus & Connor,

I can't advise with respect to your specific question. However, the best advice I have received was "don't throw anything away". The reason this advice has been so useful is that these useless old parts can be used as reference for the bits you buy that don't fit, and as patterns for parts you have to make.

Richard Hawkins

Welcome Fergus & Conor!

The only advice that I can give is to HAVE FUN!

And with the open possibilities of this project, I think you'll have the times of your lives. Enjoy!

You can really build the car up to suit your personal preference and race series you want to compete in as most European historic racing allows "replicas" to be built and raced and given you need to start with a new body and chassis it will cost not much more to build a replica 26R from your starting point than it will to produce a race ready 72 sprint coupe to race.

But do it for fun and enjoy the challenges. To be at the pointy end of the grid takes a lot of money and time plus good driving skills but the racing fun is a good or better down the back half of the field and it is certainly a hell of a lot cheaper

cheers
Rohan

Welcome. Always good to discover another Sprint.

I believe I am right in saying that in the UK, to race against genuine 26Rs with a 'GTS', the original car has to be in-period too. Dave Hughes will know better than me. For that reason Elan 1600 and Series 2 Elans are often converted to 'GTS' spec. (GTS is, in effect, a cooking Elan bought up to 26R spec).

However, there are other classes of classic racing that a 1971 Sprint can compete in (Gentlemen Racers for one?). You need really to investigate further with the racing authorities, before making a decision about which route you take.

As an aside, YNR 2K was used in 'The Classic Lotus Elan' video as a test car by Paul Matty. A Leicestershire registration, the chances are that both that and your car were provided by the Roger Clark dealership in Narborough.

Tim

Welcome.
You can do sprinting at Goodwood and track days ( Club Lotus are there on 29th April - come along and kick some tyres, I'll be in a JPS Exige) in any car.
I'm converting a S2 to a GTS. Most historic racing requires you to have a car of an age raced in period, the 26R was a S1 or S2, but as mentioned, other classes are available.
Depends what you want from the car. It's yours to do what you want with but a relatively complete original car is rare and keeping it that way has it's merits.

Welcome.

I raced in the HSCC 'historic roadsports' series for a couple of seasons in my S3. Decent bunch of guys and good fun. There is a sister series, '70's roadsports' that your car would be eligible for. The HSCC website has all the details.

Do not underestimate the time, effort or cost to be competitive. Even though the above series are aimed at a more relaxed club racer and require a car to be road legal, the cars are highly prepared and require frequent and expensive support to stand a chance. With an incident free season, an annual engine rebuild, multiple sets of tyres, entry fees, hotels etc easily took the cost above ?10K and that was a few years ago.

Racing in a series where a GTS would be eligible would be significantly more expensive.

Don't let me put you off - it is certainly great fun, but I would suggest you attend a few races of the series you are interested, speak to a few of the drivers, and get a feel for the competition and standard of preparation before you commit yourself.

No intent to offend but if you have no bodyshell or chassis there's not really enough of the car to be attached to surely?

A new chassis will be ?2k by the time you sort out peripherals, a brand d new body and panels what ?4k a paint job ?6k at least and there'll be lots of other costs too (more so if adding go faster bits). Before factoring your labour so you'll be into ?20k quite easily and it'll be 2 years before it's ready.

IMHO sell the remainder of the Sprint, assuming you have engine box interior etc you'll get at least ?10000 for it and probably more. Add the ?20k you'll spend on the rebuild and you'll have ?30k at least to spend on a running car eligible for race series you want anthat might already have some racing behind it, no waiting and you'll be behind the wheel this summer building up some memories and an attachment to it.

To create a replica 26R for European replica historic racing from a S1 or S2 "identity" all you need is a name plate a number and a barn find story to base it on. Not hard to do and what many of the replica racers are based on. Just my humble cynical opinion.

Then if you want to be at the pointy end of the grid you need at least $50k if you do the work yourself or twice that if you pay someone to build it for you plus some driver talent, training and race experience. if you build it right and don't abuse it when driving, actual running costs of the car for a years racing are relatively low as engine and gearbox should last a few years and you should only be replacing pads and tyres and doing routine servicing.

But like I said, its half the cost in the back half of the grid and probably twice the fun.

cheers
Rohan

keep it standard and buy this off me instead!

You can't leave it at that Jono, tell us more and how much

Cheers

elanfan1 wrote:You can't leave it at that Jono, tell us more and how much

Cheers

It was registered in Ipswich in 1965 and it's front-wheel drive. You can't sell an Elan and buy that!

And not because of Ipswich in 1965.