Pics from Club Lotus Castle Combe Trackday 23rd May 09

[niallf]

Lots of pics here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14095101@N ... 604021827/
If anyone wants one in RAW format, or if anyone wants me to remove any, let me know.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

What a fantastic set of pictures.
Looks like the weather was just right for the day: looks like you enjoyed yourself.
Is the owner of the BDA Elan on here, looks great.
Tons of thanks
John

[niallf]

Weather was perfect, my head is very red today! Niall

[Elanintheforest]

Thanks Niall for putting the pictures up...first time I'd missed Castle Coombe for many years, and due to work. Must get another job, or become a (poor) gentleman of leisure!

I really like the study of the green S1. There aren't many cars that make a Fiat 500 look big!
Mark

[miked]

John,

He said he was at one time and called himself "two sheds" (I think). He said it was kicking out 249 BHP. Most will recognise it as Gordon's old car with the EMA reg.

It certainly went well and looked like it has many 10k's lavished on it. Lots & lots of nice Elans there but this was a bit of a beast machine. It was mint seeing the Elans coming around that big long right hand past the pits.

PS I was there in my Elise. Cracking day! Good pic's

Mike

[2sheds]

Thanks for the comments about my BDG Elan. Really enjoyed Saturdays event, the weather for it was perfect. I think my Elan went down well from the amount of positive comments I got and surprised a few of the newer cars. Although heavily modified I hope I have managed to keep the delicate looks and period spirit of the original car. Certainly to drive its a bit of an beast but still retains that elan feel which I set out to keep.

There is a good photo of the front 3/4 of my Elan in the holding area in that selection, very well taken Niallf, thanks.

Here is one photo of my son driving it at Quarry corner, any other photos would be greatly appreciated.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi Mike & 2sheds

nice to hear from you both, especially that the day was so much fun.
That is one enviable piece of kit.
249bhp just the thought makes me go weak at the knees; must be very scary in the wet
What does the rest of the power train consist of in order to cope with all that?
Have you timed the 0 - 60 mph in it?
Those are the best wheel arch flares that I've ever seen on an Elan.
They should go to the top of the list in the recent wheel arch thread

Cheers
John

[gjz30075]

+1 on the flairs/flares! They look great. 2sheds, are those wheels 14"? And what brand?
Thanks,

Greg Z
'72 Sprint

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

+1 on the flairs/flares! They look great. 2sheds, are those wheels 14"? And what brand?
Thanks,

Greg Z
'72 Sprint

Oh yes, I'd noticed those as well & they appear to be bolt on
Cheers
John

[Elanintheforest]

I'd be very interested in more details as well, Mr Two Sheds!

I'm currently having a BDG / BDA built, with ally block and taken out to 2.1 litres. I'm going for torque rather than outright power, so a pair of 45s, fairly mild L2 cams with a 200bhp target. I've been flip-flopping between putting it in a S4 dhc which is in the barn awaiting it's fate, or creating an RS1600 Escort. The advantage of the Escort route is that everything is available and it all fits. The disadvantage is the price of a decent Mexico as a donor! I have a 1700 AX block BDA in a Plus 2, fitted in '71, and that had to have a bump let into the bonnet to clear the cam wheels...how did you avoid this with your Sprint?

It obvioiusly has to have a special exhaust manifold made up...mine was made by Mike-the-Pipe, also in 71....where did you get yours made? I don't think Mike is around any more. Any further hints and tips would be appriciated. The engine is in it's final build phase now, and I have to decide which sump to put on...big wing or Elan. You could help change the course of history!

Mark

[2sheds]

D.J Pelly:
To be honest its never been driven in the wet, its only done 600 miles since completion, the AP Racing sintered clutch is so fierce that driving in the wet would concern me to say the least. The gearbox is from a twincam sierra (MT75) supplied by spyder, although the gear ratios are all over the place, the rev drop from 3rd to 4th is massive, which leaves 5th pretty much redundnant with the 3.62 sierra LSD. It registered on Interpros rolling road at 184mph @ 8000rpm (it will rev to 8800rpm), i'm sure the front end lift would provide an issue before then. The drive shafts are modified sierra units supplied by spyder again. Were not sure of the 0-60 time but at a guess i'd say around the 4 second mark. Thanks for the comments about the arches I spent a very long time on each one, I did spend a while trying to think of a method of reversing the mould but in the end I made four separate ones.

gjz30075:
They are a 14'' Minator wheel. The hub is from a standard 4 stud Sierra, in a fabricated upright.

Elanintheforest:
The engine produced 120ftlb @ 3000rpm, 176ftlb @ 6150rpm and 249bhp @ 8050rpm giving the car a very useful band of power. I'm sure that with a 2.1 on 45's will give 200bhp with no problem. The engine is on standard height mounts and still clears the bonnet and heatproofing by about 5mm. The manifold and exhaust was made by maniflow in Salisbury who made me a custom system similar to the standard arrangment excpet for a bigger diameter and an extra bullet silencer in the middle. It still read 102.5dbs on the day so that is why I had that ugly Merlin silncer on the back. I did have to get the manifold ceramic coated as the glass fibre exhaust wrap was too thick and was rubbing and started to look messy. To some purists eyes fitting a non standard engine into the elan is the wrong thing to do, but I look at it as a period upgrade posibility.

Tony

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Tony,

thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. When I realised that the wheels were bolt on I did have some suspicions that there would be Sierra stuff in there. hence the wink.
I assume that Spyder supplied you with one of their Zetec space frames to take the Diff'?
So your rear suspension is in principle similar to the original & not the Spyder RS; that's interesting.
I bought the Spyder RS but having fitted it to the chassis I decided that I just did not like the extreme difference in wishbone lengths
so off it came & TTR shocks / springs were fitted in my Zetec Elan; it retained the Elan set up at the back but the drive train was strengthened with TTR bits.
Mine has a meager 185 bhp & I feel very uneasy if I get caught out in the wet.
Each to his own but a big thumbs up from me, You have an incredible little car there; pure adrenelin

When Mark builds his BDG S4 we'll have to start a "big balls" section

Cheers
John

[steveww]

Great pictures but you missed me

I had a great time trashing around the track but I had to leave early due to another commitment in the evening so I missed the free sessions in the afternoon. I was very pleased with how well my Elan behaved on the track, the suspension changes have worked. I gave a few of those Elise something to think about

I could not keep up with the BDG powered Elan though

I will post up some of my pictures soon.

[steveww]

In action chasing those Elise boys.

[ardee_selby]

D.J Pelly:
To be honest its never been driven in the wet, its only done 600 miles since completion, the AP Racing sintered clutch is so fierce that driving in the wet would concern me to say the least. The gearbox is from a twincam sierra (MT75) supplied by spyder, although the gear ratios are all over the place, the rev drop from 3rd to 4th is massive, which leaves 5th pretty much redundnant with the 3.62 sierra LSD. It registered on Interpros rolling road at 184mph @ 8000rpm (it will rev to 8800rpm), i'm sure the front end lift would provide an issue before then. The drive shafts are modified sierra units supplied by spyder again. Were not sure of the 0-60 time but at a guess i'd say around the 4 second mark. Thanks for the comments about the arches I spent a very long time on each one, I did spend a while trying to think of a method of reversing the mould but in the end I made four separate ones.

gjz30075:
They are a 14'' Minator wheel. The hub is from a standard 4 stud Sierra, in a fabricated upright.

Elanintheforest:
The engine produced 120ftlb @ 3000rpm, 176ftlb @ 6150rpm and 249bhp @ 8050rpm giving the car a very useful band of power. I'm sure that with a 2.1 on 45's will give 200bhp with no problem. The engine is on standard height mounts and still clears the bonnet and heatproofing by about 5mm. The manifold and exhaust was made by maniflow in Salisbury who made me a custom system similar to the standard arrangment excpet for a bigger diameter and an extra bullet silencer in the middle. It still read 102.5dbs on the day so that is why I had that ugly Merlin silncer on the back. I did have to get the manifold ceramic coated as the glass fibre exhaust wrap was too thick and was rubbing and started to look messy. To some purists eyes fitting a non standard engine into the elan is the wrong thing to do, but I look at it as a period upgrade posibility.

Tony

Don't think these links have been posted before ( I must have missed them if they were)

5 speed is now 6...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_0REH-xVU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3aTwiwa ... re=related