21 replies to this topic

[Brian Walton]

Hi there from the bottom of the other side of the world.

I noticed within your archives that mention was made with reference to Lotus Elans and rallying way back in the mid 60's. I have owned, indeed still own, the only works prepared Lotus Elan S3 coupe built to rally specifications. It was LO1 BRG (British Racing Green) in colour whilst at the works. It had the four additional Cibie ocsars mounted across the front of the body between the popups and had a BRM prepared Twin Cam within. When it left the factory in April 68 (after being used by Team Lotus as a hack) it may have taken on either a yellow or blue colour. It was entered twice in the RAC. Once in 66 (prohibited by Mr Colin Chapman) and the second time in 68 (this was the RAC that was cancelled due to foot and mouth). The name David Wragg seems to come up as a possible owner of the car after it left the factory but alas I'm still researching.

Does anybody remember a smart looking Lotus Elan Coupe that was raced/ hill climbed in the Midlands between 68-71 that fits the description above. It would have been unique. I'm trying to obtain some photos taken at that time.

Thanks for your help.

Brian

[RS2000]

The cancelled "Foot and Mouth" RAC was 1967. I don't think an Elan ever appeared on an RAC Rally entry list - Chapman's prohibition kicking in before an entry was submitted. A private Elan did appear on the 66 Gulf London Rally, with fairly predictable result for such a car on a rough forest event

[Brian Walton]

Thanks for that RS2000 and the info on the foot and mouth.

Where should I look to see if it was entered as a private entrant in 1968.

many thanks

Brian

[EDWARD FITZGERALD]

I recall an article in CCC in the early 70s on a rally elan , it may havre been used on tarmac events in europe . Mike Nugent from Cookstown N Ireland drove his 26R in a singkle venue event in N Ireland

[David Birchall]

Ian Walker ran a rally Elan in addition to the two 'Gold Bug' Elans" I believe-it was painted yellow I am told.

[Brian Walton]

Ian Walker was running his 26R Elan (light blue) in a number of rallies before my Rally Elan was built in August 66. Maybe his succeess prompted Roy Badcock and Peter Warr to put together my car and have a punt with Mr Chapman.

You can see more plus the letter from the Lotus factory giving more details if you go to this link:

http://www.lotuselan...ally_elan.shtml

With thanks

Brian

[Ted Walker]

Do you know the UK registration Number ????

[Brian Walton]

It was PEA 479F

Thanks

Brian

[elansprint72]

Hello Brian, good to have another Elan.Net member over here.

I'm amazed by the collective knowledge on this forum, I'm sure you will get some answers- though none from me.

[RS2000]

An Elan never appeared on the entry list for the RAC Rally.
Ian Walker's yellow Elan at the Heathrow start of the 1966 Gulf London Rally (and which I'm fairly sure retired on the 43 mile stage called "Allerdale" that year in the Yorkshire forests - the first batch of stages after the long run up from London with no stages - when the entire rear end sort of fell apart) :

Edited by RS2000, 28 June 2009 - 21:26.

[Brian Walton]

Ah them were the days when four Cibie Oscars on your Cortina meant respect at the local pub and petrol was 1/10d a gallon!

You could have paid for a decent small semi in the South East of England at that time for the price of the 26R!

Thanks for the picture. Very interesting. Keep them coming.

Brian

[Ted Walker]

all i have printed on Rally elans are 900HEW, LVB27C,FTB98J, DFR475C, 5151UN, 73UNK,

[Brian Walton]

Thanks for the information on the registration numbers. Alas mine is not in your file. On looking through some old "stuff" I found the following copy that may put some additional light on my Elan.

This is a brief story of a unique experimental "works" Lotus rally Elan.

1966 was an important rallying year for the Elan.

Ian Walker racing was receiving rallying success in their factory loaned type 26R Elan registration LRO 8C. They came 3rd in the Three Counties, did well in a National event in Wales (retired due to broken drive shaft) and came a very fine 6th in the Rallye Stuttgart Charbonniere. Ian Walker even approached Colin Chapman and felt that the Elan would run well in rallies like the Alpine and the Tulip. Colin Chapman did not have the same enthusiam for rallying and could not be persuaded to become involved.

In August 1966, Lotus Components under the management of Works Manager, Mr Roy Badcock, thought that a special "works" rally car should be built as an experimental unit to be shown to the top management for appraisal and possible production. This experimental unit was to include many additional features that the 26R had successfully used plus have the benifits and strengths of the Elan S3 coupe body. The 26R production run had just finished and I'm sure there were a few bits left in the parts bin. According to a letter from Roy Badcock dated 20th March 1979 the following additions to unit number 36/6086 (my car) were completed by Lotus Components.

Unit number 6086 was taken off the Lotus cars production line in August 1966 and sent to Lotus Components.

A BRM modified Lotus Twin Canm engine was fitted with a close ratio gearbox and a 3.77 to 1 rear axle. Racing suspension fitted with large section wheels but not too wide to nessectate larger wheel arches.

The car was built specifically as a "experimental rally car"

The following additioanl features have been discovered by me since the start of its long restoration. It was taken to Lotus Components and mated to a strengthened chassis. A strengtherned side ladder panels were fibreglassed into the car. Dual braking with a balance bar were fitted to the vehicles braking system. A 3/8 inch rear anti roll bar put in place and sections of the rear wheel arches were carved to accommodate the roll bar movement. The steering rack had solid blocks for it to be affixed to the chassis. A magnesium bell housing was fitted. The dash was redesigned to accomodate 4 dials plus the usual speed and rev gauges. The pedal assembly is ex F3 to allow for the use of the balance bar. Four additional body holes were placed between the popup lights to the front of the car so as these would accomodate the 7 inch Cibie oscar rally lights. 15 rellays were found within the wiring system. A unique hand brake system was put in by the factory. A factory fitted smaller steering wheel was fitted. The exhaust was routed out to the rear left of the car to avoid bottoming. A special steel protection sheld was riveted to the underside of the body where the petrol tank was placed to protect the unit. Raised rear suspension was used via heavier springs. Magnesium minilite wheels finished off the package. The car was painted by Lotus components LO1 (British Racing Green).

It was hoped that the car was to be driven by Terry Hunter and Brian Culcheth under the sponsership of a London Newspaper in the Novemeber 66 RAC rally of Great Britain. This did not occur.

So what happened. It was shown to Colin Chapman with the same responce he gave to Mr Ian Walker. The Elan and rallying did not go together as far as ACBC was concerned. This was not the case as illustated the following year when almost a bog standard type 36 came second in the May 1967 Tulip rally driven by 31 year old accountant Mr David Friswell.

So what happened to my experimenatl rally Elan after it had been rejected by Mr Chapman? It was driven to Team Lotus, Jim Clark's Grand Prix Team as a team hack. Gordon Palmer from Team Lotus recalls taking it down to Brands Hatch. Eventaully it was sold to Wood Lane Garage, Stanmington, Sheffield in 1968. It was registered PEA 479F on April 1st 1968. I believe a David Wragg purchased the car at that point. The car evenually was hillclimed and drifted into being a road car in the early seventies after the rally lights and holes had been hidden. So there you have it a brief story of an experimental "works" rally Elan coupe, prepared for the Round Britain RAC rally in the sixties and never competed. It must have looked quite stunning with its 4 additionnal cibies sitting between it popups and all dressed up in BRG.

I hope the above will be of interest.

Brian

[elansprint72]

Page 155 of my copy of "Lotus: The Sports, GT and Touring Cars" by Chris Harvey, shows a photo of LGX 5D, (which has two round spot-lamps fitted into the sides of the grille opening, LHD, soft top, colour "dark").
The caption reads: "The Gold Bug Elans did not confine themselves to the race track in competition. David Friswell and Alan Taylor won their class by a good margin in their Ian Walker-prepared car in the Tulip Rally in May 1966......"


I have to say this car does not look like a "Gold Bug" but IWR were selling their tuned version of the Elan at this time (I think, not sure about the dates), so it might have been one of those.

Book published 1980.

Edited by elansprint72, 05 March 2013 - 08:12.

[Brian Walton]

I have spoken to David Friswell years ago about his success in his Elan. There is a picture of him next to his car outside the Lotus factory in the Eastern Daily Press. It was a fairly standard S3 with additional lights.

Brian

[Brian Walton]

David Friswell success in his Elan was obtained in 67. I think the following Tulip results show where he came:

Tulpenrallye, 27 april - 2 may 1967
1 Vic Elford – David Stone GB Porsche 911 S
2 Timo Makinen – Paul Easter SF/GB BMC Mini Cooper S
3 Rauno Aaltonen – Henry Liddon SF/GB BMC Mini Cooper S
4 Björn Waldegård – Lars Helmér S Porsche 911
5 Julien Vernaeve – Mike Wood B/GB BMC Mini Cooper S
6 Wilfried Gass – Gerd Frey D Porsche 911
7 David Friswell - Chris Nash GB Lotus Elan
8 Alfred Krause - Jean Brecheisen F Renault R8 Gordini 1300
9 Rob Slotemaker - Rob Gorris NL BMW 2000 Ti
10 Peter Harper - David Pollard GB Sunbeam Imp


Brian

[elansprint72]

David Friswell success in his Elan was obtained in 67. I think the following Tulip results show where he came:

Tulpenrallye, 27 april - 2 may 1967
1 Vic Elford – David Stone GB Porsche 911 S
2 Timo Makinen – Paul Easter SF/GB BMC Mini Cooper S
3 Rauno Aaltonen – Henry Liddon SF/GB BMC Mini Cooper S
4 Björn Waldegård – Lars Helmér S Porsche 911
5 Julien Vernaeve – Mike Wood B/GB BMC Mini Cooper S
6 Wilfried Gass – Gerd Frey D Porsche 911
7 David Friswell - Chris Nash GB Lotus Elan
8 Alfred Krause - Jean Brecheisen F Renault R8 Gordini 1300
9 Rob Slotemaker - Rob Gorris NL BMW 2000 Ti
10 Peter Harper - David Pollard GB Sunbeam Imp


Brian

Brian,
That is exactly why I always treat books written some years after the event with a degree of suspicion!

Edited by elansprint72, 29 June 2009 - 21:09.

[RS2000]

Was the car the "works" rally car was based on homologated in 1966 in the new (1.1.66.) Appendix J ? It could not otherwise have entered the 1966 RAC Rally (but could have entered the cancelled 67 event - athough it didn't - and certain other Internationals that ran a Gp6 class).
Gp3 was 500 off for 1966. Gp4?

[RTH]

Ah them were the days when four Cibie Oscars on your Cortina meant respect at the local pub and petrol was 1/10d a gallon!

You could have paid for a decent small semi in the South East of England at that time for the price of the 26R!

Thanks for the picture. Very interesting. Keep them coming.

Brian

...........Indeed !........Where did it all go wrong !

[Carles Bosch]

1966 was an important rallying year for the Elan.

... and came a very fine 6th in the Rallye Stuttgart Charbonniere.


Brian,

only with the goal of accuracy, this isn't exactly true: maybe they finished 6th in his class or group, but not 6th o/a. The top-9 final placings were as follows:

1, Jean-Pierre Hanrioud / Jean-Claude Peray, Alpine A110 1300
2, Jean Vinatier / François Hoffmann, Alpine A110 1300?
3, Jean-François Piot / Jean-François Jacob, Renault 8 Gordini
4, Henri Gréder / Marie-Claude Beaumont, Ford Mustang
5, Guy Verrier / Jean-Claude Syda, Citroën DS 21
6, Mauro Bianchi / Jean-Claude Perramond, Alpine A110 1300?
7, Georges Theiler / Erich Bechtel, BMC Cooper
8, Jean-Claude Andruet / Maurice Gélin, Renault 8 Gordini
9, Dieter Lambart / Peter Erb, Opel Kadett 1100 SR Coupé


Carles.

[bradbury west]

Eventaully it was sold to Wood Lane Garage, Stanmington, Sheffield in 1968. It was registered PEA 479F on April 1st 1968. I believe a David Wragg purchased the car at that point. Brian

For info. David Wragg owned Wood Lane garage. He was a very successful clubmans racer in a Lotus 7 then U2 mainly on the Northern circuits in the early and mid 60s. IIRC he moved to F3 but had a very big acident in 67/68ish.
Roger Lund

[Gregor Marshall]

This all makes the stroy of Dad rallying an Elan even more intriguing but I still don't think it did happen but maybe I'll never know!!