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Re: Team Lotus wins!

To: rodbean@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: Team Lotus wins!
From: Mike Causer <mikec@dial.drakken.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 23:59:09 +0100
rodbean@earthlink.net wrote:

> Oh sorry to hear that you didn't get to drive.  Well, the team's the thing in 
>an
> enduro.  That's really quite amazing that a Six (Ford flathead four?) went 
>that
> distance.  Somebody must have done his homework in building the engine.

There were four cars because this was a team relay race.  One was an 1172, but I
don't know what the engines were in the others.   My own Six didn't take part
because it's hanging from the garage rafters :-(


> > no troubles.   No accidents, not even a spin.  That helped a lot with
> > our finishing position because many teams lost cars.
> 
> I hope you don't mean that they lost cars forever... as in crash into a ball.

There was a "Clubmans" car that had crunched every corner.....



> > BTW, there was a team entirely Elans (type 26, 36, 45),  another of Lotus
> > Sevens, including a couple of S4s, several teams of Caterhams, and a single
> > Esprit V8, but I don't know what team he was in.   

> How did the Elans do?  

I'm not sure, they were named the "Betty Swollocks Sextet", with Nick Adams, an
engineer at Lotus, as the one driver I know in the team.  I think they were 
6th overall, but I don't have a copy of the results.    I expect a good write-up
in _Autosport_ tommorow, because Marcus Pye, the UK editor, was a member of the
team that won on scratch.


Hmmm,  looking at the handicap times, the quickest Six was expected to get 
round 
in 1:30, and the Elans were all 1:28 or 1:29!    That that must be a damn quick 
Six because those Elans were all fully stripped-out race-spec.  In fact, in
the rain, I think our fastest lap was around 1:45.


>  You know, that is a great idea, having teams of like
> vintage cars.  What a pleasure it would be to drive an Elan as part of a team 
>of
> Elans against teams made up of different cars.  Did the cars have to be 
>stock?  If
> not, how modified could they be?

I think they are to mid-1960's rules.  Basically, the body has to look standard,
and everything else has to be production-based.  You are not allowed to slip
a single-seater chassis under the old body.   

Hey, next year there's talk that it will be for 12 hours at Silverstone in June.
If you fancy a ride let me know & I can certainly put you in touch with the 
Elan guys.

And if the lottery comes up maybe I'll be entering in my Six ....


Mike


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