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Richard Jenvey and his Gp5 Esprit info ?


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#1 arttidesco

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 11:28

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Probably showing my naivety at the end of the 70's, but I remember getting quite excited, that at last there was something British on the horizon to challenge BMW for 2 litre Group 5 honours, when I first heard about Richard Jenvey's Gp 5 Lotus Esprit.

I wonder if anyone has any record or knows what chassis was beneath the Esprit's shell ?

Also am I correct in thinking Richard had a successful mod sports record, if champion what years (?), with an Elan ?

Relevant answers may be credited and used in a forth coming blog.

Thanking you in anticipation of your responses.

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#2 Giraffe

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 12:03

I do know that Lawrie Hickman shared the car with Richard for a few Gp 5 races in the 1980 season, so I will ask him.

#3 Norman Jones

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 12:14

As it was Gp5 the chassis would have to be Lotus as per production model

Richard Jenvey and Laurie Hickman did indeed drive it at the Silverstone 6 hours in 1981 under he banner of Morfe Racing.

Did Jim Evans also have one in Gp5 spec or was this in Donnington GT spec?

#4 alansart

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 12:17

Probably showing my naivety at the end of the 70's, but I remember getting quite excited, that at last there was something British on the horizon to challenge BMW for 2 litre Group 5 honours, when I first heard about Richard Jenvey's Gp 5 Lotus Esprit.

I wonder if anyone has any record or knows what chassis was beneath the Esprit's shell ?

Also am I correct in thinking Richard had a successful mod sports record, if champion what years (?), with an Elan ?

Relevant answers may be credited and used in a forth coming blog.

Thanking you in anticipation of your responses.


Why not ask him as it looks as though he's still in the racing business.

http://www.jenvey.co...jenvey-dynamics


#5 arttidesco

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 13:48

Why not ask him as it looks as though he's still in the racing business.

http://www.jenvey.co...jenvey-dynamics


Thanks I'll give it a go Alan, but I have not had much luck getting responses from professional websites regarding racing matters, though there have been a few pleasant exceptions :smoking:

Norman may I refer to you to this linked comment regarding the Max Payne Gr 5 Elan, IIRC apart from the silhouette in Gr 5 everything was free so long as the motor was from the correct manufacturer and the layout of the engine / gearbox remained, more or less, the same in relation to the axles.

Any help more than welcome Tony :up:

Edited by arttidesco, 08 June 2012 - 23:25.


#6 Giraffe

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 14:21

Norman may I refer to you to this linked comment regarding the Max Payne Gr 5 Elan, IIRC apart from the silhouette in Gr 5 everything was free so long as the motor was from the correct manufacturer and the layout of the engine / gearbox remained, more or less, the same in relation to the axles.

Any help more than welcome Tony :up:


Lawrie Hickman, Richard Jenvey, Max Payne & the Ashmores were all involved together at one stage or another with the Elans & Esprit that eventually led to the Ceekar project.
I have e-mailed Lawrie for his views. :wave:

Edited by Giraffe, 08 June 2012 - 14:22.


#7 arttidesco

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 14:33

I have e-mailed Lawrie for his views. :wave:


:up: :smoking:


#8 fausto

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Posted 08 June 2012 - 22:29

As it was Gp5 the chassis would have to be Lotus as per production model

Richard Jenvey and Laurie Hickman did indeed drive it at the Silverstone 6 hours in 1981 under he banner of Morfe Racing.

Did Jim Evans also have one in Gp5 spec or was this in Donnington GT spec?


Norman, no, Group 5 rules allowed different chassis from the original one. Infact Zakspeed Capris had a tubeframe one while Harald Ertl Lotus Europa relied on a monocoque, some said from a Toj Gp.6 (or derived from it) :)

#9 Simon Hadfield

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Posted 09 June 2012 - 10:27

Norman, no, Group 5 rules allowed different chassis from the original one. Infact Zakspeed Capris had a tubeframe one while Harald Ertl Lotus Europa relied on a monocoque, some said from a Toj Gp.6 (or derived from it) :)


Absolutely a Toj, and not just the monocoque but an entire rolling chassis - they simply made a steroidal Europa body, dropped in the turbo motor and whoosh - Group 5 Lotus Europa. Some years ago I nearly bought it and it seemed to have been pretty much unmolested.

#10 Giraffe

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Posted 09 June 2012 - 10:40

Infact Zakspeed Capris had a tubeframe one :)


Posted Image
By giraffe138 at 2012-06-09
Posted Image
By giraffe138 at 2012-06-09
Posted Image
By giraffe138 at 2012-06-09

Photos courtesy of Lawrie Hickman.

#11 Giraffe

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Posted 09 June 2012 - 11:23

Norman may I refer to you to this linked comment regarding the Max Payne Gr 5 Elan, IIRC apart from the silhouette in Gr 5 everything was free so long as the motor was from the correct manufacturer and the layout of the engine / gearbox remained, more or less, the same in relation to the axles.

Any help more than welcome Tony :up:


Posted Image
By giraffe138 at 2012-06-09

Photo courtesy of Lawrie Hickman.

#12 arttidesco

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Posted 09 June 2012 - 14:50

Thanks for comments Simon, I'd love to have seen that Toj Europa in action !

Please pass on my thanks to Lawrie for the pics Tony :up:

#13 Giraffe

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 10:19

Lawrie tells me he raced the Esprit at Silverstone, the Nurburgring and Dijon. Richard Jenvey built the car from scratch and it had a normally aspirated Lotus powerplant and was thus somewhat underpowered. However, he tells me it was a fabulous car to drive, and is still owned by Richard to this day. Now retired, Richard has been recently contemplating it's restoration for use in some form of competitive motorsport.
Richard had previously been successful in Modsports racing a Midget or Sprite (not an Elan) which he turbocharged.

#14 fatbaldbloke

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 12:08

When Competition 43 released a resin model kit of this car a decade or so ago I contacted Richard Jenvey directly and seem to recall that he was reasonably helpful.

#15 Jesper O. Hansen

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 15:32

I know that Jenvey raced the Esprit in selected European endurance races and the odd round of the Deutsche Rennsport championship, but did he contest any domestic British races?

Jesper

#16 EDWARD FITZGERALD

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 12:14

I know that Jenvey raced the Esprit in selected European endurance races and the odd round of the Deutsche Rennsport championship, but did he contest any domestic British races?

Jesper


Jeff Bloxham the snapper , built a model of this for PIT ROAD magazine , long gone I am sorry to say , IIRC 1/20 or 1/24 scale back about 1980 or 81

#17 arttidesco

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 14:13

I know that Jenvey raced the Esprit in selected European endurance races and the odd round of the Deutsche Rennsport championship, but did he contest any domestic British races?

Jesper


Thanks for all the further comments Tony/Lawrie and fbb. :up:

I can't find any evidence of the Lotus taking part in domestic races, Richard did race a TOJ in Thundersports, I'll confirm any additional races for the Lotus when I make contact with him.

#18 Giraffe

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 14:29

Thanks for all the further comments Tony/Lawrie and fbb. :up:

I can't find any evidence of the Lotus taking part in domestic races, Richard did race a TOJ in Thundersports, I'll confirm any additional races for the Lotus when I make contact with him.


I know Lawrie is in regular contact with Richard as they don't live very far apart. I can probably get contact details for you if you don't already have them, Ralf?

Edited by Giraffe, 13 June 2012 - 14:29.


#19 Norman Jones

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 14:32


An interesting thread I do remember this car in period. As for confusion over the original chassis having to be retained I was thinking of Steve O Rourkes EMKA Gp 5 BMW M1 car which started life as a Gp 4 Procar.

I remember the Zakspeed Gp 5 Capris at Donnington in 1979? and yes very little of these started life in a Hailwood factory

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#20 Giraffe

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 14:45

An interesting thread I do remember this car in period. As for confusion over the original chassis having to be retained I was thinking of Steve O Rourkes EMKA Gp 5 BMW M1 car which started life as a Gp 4 Procar.


A BMW M1 running in Gp5

Posted Image
By giraffe138 at 2012-06-13

Photo courtesy of Lawrie Hickman.

#21 Jesper O. Hansen

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 19:08

A BMW M1 running in Gp5

Posted Image
By giraffe138 at 2012-06-13

Photo courtesy of Lawrie Hickman.


..but looking awfully much like a group 4 version.

Jesper

#22 La Sarthe

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Posted 14 June 2012 - 12:16

I seem to recall that the 'Group 4' M1s were initially run in Group 5 because of delays in homologation for the basic car.

The other Group 5 rule I remember is that the car had to use the same window shapes and layout as on the original car. Both Porsche (or at least the Kremers) and later BMW got round this by retaining the original rear window but fitting a second, more streamlined affair over the top, giving a better (lower drag) roof profile.

#23 Jesper O. Hansen

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Posted 14 June 2012 - 16:36

I seem to recall that the 'Group 4' M1s were initially run in Group 5 because of delays in homologation for the basic car.

The other Group 5 rule I remember is that the car had to use the same window shapes and layout as on the original car. Both Porsche (or at least the Kremers) and later BMW got round this by retaining the original rear window but fitting a second, more streamlined affair over the top, giving a better (lower drag) roof profile.


For a car to be eligebel for Group 5 it already had to be homologated in Groups 1-4. IMSA had a more laxed approach to this which meant that March could race their silhouette M1 at Le Mans by 1979, while a proper group 4 or 5 M1 effectively had to wait till the 1981 season. The German ONS though homologated the BMW M1 nationally in early 1979 (thanks to Frank de Jong for that bit of info).

Concerning the outline of the body of a Group 5 car the roof, A- and B-pillars had to be original.

Jesper

#24 simonlewisbooks

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Posted 14 June 2012 - 20:04

Silverstone 1982 - 30 years ago - the dawn of Group C...
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copyright Simon Lewis Transport Books

#25 arttidesco

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Posted 14 June 2012 - 20:34

I know Lawrie is in regular contact with Richard as they don't live very far apart. I can probably get contact details for you if you don't already have them, Ralf?


Richard has been in touch Tony, thanks for the offer :wave:

According to Richard Gp5 rules said the chassis could be lightened 'to any degree' so long as some recognisable vestige of the original remained, which to Harald Ertl with the Europa meant his Toj "also carried around a small piece of Europa chassis".

#26 arttidesco

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Posted 14 June 2012 - 20:39

Silverstone 1982 - 30 years ago - the dawn of Group C...
Posted Image
copyright Simon Lewis Transport Books


Or even the end of Group 5 :wave:

#27 simonlewisbooks

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Posted 15 June 2012 - 08:41

Or even the end of Group 5 :wave:

True. And with all transitional moments in motor sport history, when the old-order-chengeth, all the more interesting to look back on.

#28 arttidesco

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Posted 15 June 2012 - 22:00

True. And with all transitional moments in motor sport history, when the old-order-chengeth, all the more interesting to look back on.


Indeed during my enquiries I have found out about a vehicle that was 80% complete before the Group C regs were finalised and then had to be abandoned due to an unexpected tightening of one aspect of the regulations when they were finalised.

#29 simonlewisbooks

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Posted 18 June 2012 - 10:07

Indeed during my enquiries I have found out about a vehicle that was 80% complete before the Group C regs were finalised and then had to be abandoned due to an unexpected tightening of one aspect of the regulations when they were finalised.


The original C100 was much the same I recall, even though everyone acknowledged it was 'the future' and the first intended Gp C car on the grid in 1981. Or maybe the T600 was? That may also have fallen foul of the finalized rules about ground effect tunnels (?) resulting in the truly oddball T610.

Logic says write the rules around the cars that are already out there from makers who are showing faith. But then 'Logic' and 'FISA' never seemed to coexist. T'was ever thus.

#30 Tony Kingston

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Posted 18 June 2012 - 10:15

Richard had previously been successful in Modsports racing a Midget or Sprite (not an Elan) which he turbocharged.

IIRC the Midget was supercharged rather than turbocharged.


#31 arttidesco

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Posted 23 June 2012 - 06:00

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread, here is the blog link, Jumping Coffee Cups !

#32 kurtiejjj

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Posted 24 June 2012 - 13:23

I contacted Richard Jenvey about this car some years ago while I was researching many group 5 cars. As stated earlier in the topic he still has the car and was thinking about restoring it. I probably have more information, but I need to look up the emails :smoking:

There is btw another group 5 Esprit but it never ran properly run by MacInnes / Ian Marshall, but I think it never did really start at an official group 5 event..

@arttidesco: Nice bit of writing btw on your blog!

Edited by kurtiejjj, 24 June 2012 - 13:25.


#33 race308

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Posted 26 February 2014 - 17:44

HI   I now own the Ian Marshall Lotus Esprit and would love to know anything about the car in the UK  Its had a hard life here in the US and is in need of resto but it will be on the track again   Thanks jim



#34 fausto

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Posted 26 February 2014 - 22:37

An interesting thread I do remember this car in period. As for confusion over the original chassis having to be retained I was thinking of Steve O Rourkes EMKA Gp 5 BMW M1 car which started life as a Gp 4 Procar.

I remember the Zakspeed Gp 5 Capris at Donnington in 1979? and yes very little of these started life in a Hailwood factory

 

IIRC Steve O'Rourke/EMKA Group5 M1 was one of Ron Dennis/Project4 Procar cars



#35 ErleMin

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 15:16

Richard's son Mike was telling me that he was intending to restore the Esprit (but it may well have been a joint project because they work closely together) but i forgot to ask progress when I saw them on their NEC Show stand. May not have been much because there is another generation added to the Jenvey family recently. So, as far as I can recall they are at the stage of looking for the Hewland (LG?) gearbox for it which was missing.



#36 km1164

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Posted 22 March 2014 - 23:08

The Esprit is being restored the prep man rang me  5 weeks ago  for my FG gearbox i have in rebuild :cool: