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Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 11:57 am
by Donels
I am reading Tony Rudd's autobiography and came across the origin of the Sprint and +2 S130 which may be of interest, see below relevant pages. The book is a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in 50's and 60's racing and Lotus history 1970 onwards.

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Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 1:34 pm
by mark030358
Going to add that to my collection :D

Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 3:15 pm
by Andrewelan
a great read...but an expensive book.

Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 6:29 am
by reb53
Andrewelan wrote:a great read...but an expensive book.


Ain't that the truth.
A quick search has prices ranging from about GBP50 to GBP500 ( ! ).
I see this a lot as I search for books that interest me and I wonder if sellers actually go on line to see what others are selling the same book for so as to not waste their time with ludicrous prices.

The other, admittedly less charitable, thought I have is if some "book shops" aren't just a device to launder money....

Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 7:21 am
by 69S4
I always thought that sky high prices for normal books (as opposed to first editions / rare collectables etc) were because the seller didn't actually have the book available but wanted to keep the listing live so they don't have to start from scratch when one comes their way. On the other hand, seeing how the prices vary for the 13 copies available secondhand on AbeBooks, maybe they are just 'stretching' their market -

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Sear ... &kn=&isbn=

I'll probably wait until one turns up in my local Oxfam for £3.99 :lol:

Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 7:46 am
by Andy8421
I have a copy of the book, and it is a good read. Probably a bit like life, most of the interesting stuff is early on - by the time Tony has climbed the greasy management pole, it gets a bit boring. His apprenticeship at "Royce's" is fascinating, and his early days at BRM and Lotus are also a great read. By the time he gets to the development work on the Corvette LT5 engine, I am afraid I have rather lost interest.

One point from the pages copied earlier in the thread is his comment about rotoflex being the top of the warranty claim list. A number of threads recently have discussed the merits of rotoflex vs CV vs UJ, all with the belief that modern rotoflex aren't as good as they used to be. Given Tony's comments, it would seem they weren't much better back in the day.

Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 8:02 am
by reb53
Andy8421 wrote: Given Tony's comments, it would seem they weren't much better back in the day.


They weren’t using the interleaved ones in those days.
Mine seem to last for tens of thousands of miles, can’t remember when I last needed to change one.
I’ve never understood what people do to theirs that they need such regular replacement.
Brian Buckland seems to agree.

Re: Origin of the Sprint and +2 S130

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2020 8:20 am
by rgh0
reb53 wrote:
Andy8421 wrote: Given Tony's comments, it would seem they weren't much better back in the day.


They weren’t using the interleaved ones in those days.
Mine seem to last for tens of thousands of miles, can’t remember when I last needed to change one.
I’ve never understood what people do to theirs that they need such regular replacement.
Brian Buckland seems to agree.


Probably relates to using the full travel on the accelerator pedal when leaving the stop lights at the same time as dropping the clutch with modern sticky tyres on a grippy smooth road surface :lol:

In Australia not a lot of smooth grippy road surface as a hard stone / tar mix is typically used to accomodate our high ambient temperatures and truck axle loads in NZ and UK and Nothern America it is somewhat different with smoother softer finer stone mixes but similar in Texas in my experience

cheers
Rohan