Articles

Broken Gear Case, plug hitting trailer not an uncommon problem

The Ford Gearbox – some words of caution

By Greg Bray

Be careful when driving your Lotus 7 up onto your trailer. Making sure that the rear cross bar of the trailer is low enough to clear the gearbox drain plug, so it doesn’t hit the bar. Because the plug will and does break the casing, because it’s thinner than you think.

Ford Gearboxes used in Elans and ‘7’ run all the intermediate gears steel on steel with oil ways on the main shaft. They can only take the oil level so low before the gear seizes on the shaft which I’ve had a number of times. The car only wants to drive in one gear, and move forward in neutral.

Other gearbox manufacturers either have a bronze bush or a caged needle roller bearing and therefore can take the low oil without seizes. Fords are the only manufacturer that I know that did it on the cheap without bearings in gears.

Peking to Paris 2019

The End of the Road

By Giles Cooper.

When all is said and done, the Peking to Paris Enduro motor challenge can be broken down into 3 sections:

1) Days 1 – 18: Rough roads of China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan
2) Days 19 – 26: The long slog across Russia
3) Days 27 – 36: Europe.

Days 1-18 are by far the toughest, and it is here that the event is won or lost. A serious breakdown or other delay in this section, and you will never catch up time lost here once you get to Europe.

Days 19-26 are just one long day after another across Russia. You still need a good reliable car, but the (slightly) smoother roads mean that you are not beating the car to pieces quite as much any longer. Finally, the run across Europe is relatively easy, as long as you still have a good car. The biggest issue is often the busy traffic!

So after over 2 years of preparation, how did Gidget perform on the rally itself? The results speak for themselves:–

• 29th overall (out of 72 cars in Classic)
• 16th in our class (over 2 litre)
• 7th outright overall in ALL timed tests
• 5th outright in the European Cup (from Finland onwards)
• And, most importantly, she made it to Paris without being towed or trucked.

After starting at the Great Wall north of Beijing on 2nd June, it was 2 long days, mostly on excellent roads, heading towards Mongolia. Once in Mongolia, the route got a lot tougher as we headed to Ulaan Bataar, but we made it there without too much mechanical drama, although we realized that we had too much weight on board with all our spares, and if we were ever going to make it to Paris, we would need to jettison some of our heavy spares.

The next 5 days after Ulaan Bataar were simply incredible. 5 nights of camping, and on several of the days we didn’t see any tarmac roads at all, and even required fuel to be delivered to the camps by tanker because we passed no fuel stations during the day! This required us to be able to travel all day without refueling, which, with our 30 litre auxiliary tank added to our 45 litre main tank, was achieved. However the rough roads took their toll in other ways – on day 6, out from Ulaan Bataar, we hit some very rough roads, which eventually broke our right rear leaf spring. Luckily one of the sweep mechanics was nearby, and we got it fixed well enough so we could limp into camp, where one of our spare main springs (which we had mounted in place of our bumpers) was fitted during the evening.

Day 9 saw some terrible weather as we climbed rocky mountain trails to almost 3000 metres, the combination causing many cars major problems. We only made it to the top of the mountain by traversing backwards and forwards across the side of the hill, as we simply didn’t have enough power to go straight up the hill. But many other cars who were going to eventually beat us in the overall results, did have to be towed up the hill. We are proud to say that, unlike many others, Gidget was never towed or trucked once during the entire event. She covered it all under her own steam. However, the traversing meant that we were off the already rocky trail, and were picking a path between larger rocks, all the time unable to slow down too much in case we didn’t make it to the top. But we made it to camp, which that night was beside the shores of the scenic Achit Lake, only to find there were millions of flying insects sharing our campsite. Fortunately they were not the biting kind, just extremely annoying!

After a very long border crossing out of Mongolia into Russia, with many broken cars having to be pushed or towed across, we drove a surprisingly scenic road through the Altai mountains. However, the last 60km into camp were again off road, and very rough and rocky, and not long after the start of the dirt, we broke yet another rear leaf spring. Fortunately Ashton had learned how to fix it from our previous breakage, and once duly rigged, we limped to camp that way, thus incurring considerable time penalties, but ensuring that we kept going. Once in camp, our second spare leaf was fitted by the mechanics. We no longer had any spare springs, so we had to drive with care until we could get something better made up.

The long 550km Day 11 saw us battling clouds of hatching butterflies in the forests, and coping with big crowds of enthusiastic people every time we stopped. At the end of the day, we had to get a local welder to fix some cracks that had appeared in the rear chassis, and for the next couple of days we drove in “preservation” mode, avoiding most of the rough special stages despite incurring big penalties. The target was now very definitely “to reach Paris at all costs”. This approach was being taken by an increasing number of competitors as their cars continued to show signs of wear and tear from the extreme conditions being encountered every day.

We finally made it into Novosibirsk on Day 14, and a (misleadingly named) Rest Day, which would allow us time to fix the rear springs and some of the other issues encountered. New main leaves were manufactured using a much thicker leaf (from a truck?) cut to length, and then the eyes from our current springs were cut off and welded and riveted onto the ends of these new leaves. Fingers crossed, but they certainly gave us a little more ride height, reducing the rubbing of the tyres on the inner guards every time we hit a bump. While in the workshop, we also straightened out our 6mm undertray with a sledge hammer, replaced a head light we had lost somewhere on the road (with a unit from a Lada), and re-tapped the gearbox steady bolts which had also come loose.

Day 15 saw the weather turn very wet and cold, and after a stop in a village to help the locals celebrate the start of Spring, we were set loose on a VERY wet, muddy, and slippery timed stage, and advised by the organisers “to be careful”. Unfortunately the wet mud got into the electrics, requiring repeated stops to dry them out, but we eventually made it to the time control. With both us and the car filthy and wet, we then crossed the border into Kazakhstan, eventually reaching Astana where Gidget (and us) got washed, and we fitted a rubber glove over the distributor to help keep future moisture out, perhaps a day or two too late!

Shortly after leaving Astana, we had clutch problems, and after trying to adjust it, realized the issue was more serious, and despite having fitted a new assembly prior to the start, the abrasive mud from 2 days ago had basically destroyed the throw out bearing, leaving Ashton unable to de-clutch. 12 or so other cars had similar issues after the same muddy stage, and this necessitated push starts, extreme measures when driving in traffic, and extensive overseas phone calls to locate spare parts and eventually get them hand delivered to Ufa, the next Rest Day 3 days away. In the meantime we avoided some of the rougher timed stages, and generally drove as required to enable us to reach Ufa intact.

Finally we reached Ufa, and many cars underwent extensive repairs after the last 18 days of stunning yet destructive roads across some of the most desolate scenery in the world. Upon removal, there was little left of our throw-out bearing, and Ashton toiled all day to get the replacement parts installed. On the way home from the workshop, an electrical problem left him briefly stranded, but seemed to resolve itself, and was forgotten. We had Russia to cross – 4 days of non stop long distance driving to St Petersburg.

Shortly after leaving Ufa, the electrical issue resurfaced, and this time did not correct itself. Unable to locate our bag containing circuit testers, we were struggling to resolve the problem until Doug & Mike McWilliams stopped to help and eventually found the (original Lucas) ignition switch was at fault! Since this was not actually required due to our revised wiring, we short circuited around it and eventually were on our way, albeit once again behind time. This was compounded by a navigational error when we went 50km east instead of west, but eventually we got back on track both location and time wise, and completed a lap of the Kazan Ring race track for one of the stages.

The remaining days to our final rest day in St Petersburg were long (600km) sections, and enroute our starter motor also decided to pack up – another gremlin from that very muddy stage, but probably compounded by the clutchless starts made using the starter motor to get us moving. Ashton managed to fix this in St Petersburg, and the following day we finally headed into Finland and Europe proper. Delightful scenery, and incredible forest stages. They know how to enjoy their motorsport in Finland!

An easy day was then spent mostly on the ferry across to Estonia, before we headed down through the Baltic States, with several special stages on local tracks, where Ashton was able to have some fun now he had both a clutch and a starter motor! Three days through Poland, with ongoing special stages, plus, when we were stopped by a local policeman for going a little too fast through his village, he made the comment that “He had never stopped an Australian car for speeding before”, and after a few apologies and promises to never speed again, we were allowed to leave with our wallets intact!

Eventually into Germany, and the traffic on our route was insane, which, when added to the increasing summer temperatures, made for some trying days. A visit to Wolfsburg was interspersed with visits to circuits for timed tests, and in between we had to fix both another electrical problem (when the distributor points stopped opening) and then a loose banjo on the bottom of a carb that pumped fuel out extensively before we fixed it.

Then it was on into Belgium, with spirited and complicated Tulip map runs through the scenic back roads of the Flanders Fields, all the time urged on by increasingly large crowds who come out to cheer us on. On reaching Ypres on our last night on the road, not only were the crowds in the car park beside the Cathedral enormous, but we were also welcomed by Phillipe Deckers from the Belgian Austin Healey Club. The atmosphere was certainly becoming more relaxed as we neared Paris, and the realization was finally setting in that we may just reach the end successfully.

Day 36, our last day, saw an almost parade drive in through France to Paris, however Paris kept one last test for us all – heavy traffic and high temperatures meant that both crews and cars suffered, and the delays getting into Place Vendôme put a bit of a damper on the finish. However, we got there fairly early, and some 20 or more family and friends were there to greet us both, although to be honest everything was somewhat of a blur as we struggled to just “stop” after 36 continuous days of competition across some of the roughest terrain in the world, plus of course, over 2 years of non stop car preparation to get us to the start line. We, and Gidget, had made it to Paris.

The cars were collected by truck that evening while we were at our Prizegiving dinner, and were shipped back to their various destinations around the world, with ours arriving in Australia in early September. After some 10 days of delays we picked her up from the port where, surprisingly (considering a totally flat battery after the shippers had left ignition switches on), she started almost straight away (with a little help from an extra battery), and was able to be driven home.

An Austin Healey had made it from Paris to Peking, despite many people’s doubts. The Great Adventure was over. But the memories will last a lifetime.

[Show slideshow]

Europa Aerodynamics

Story and photos by Barry Ellis.

MY WIND TUNNEL

I had my first Europa Series 2 in the 70s and lived in country Vic with no speed restrictions on the open roads. It had a Kent race engine in it. I quickly realised that at around 120mph there was a dangerous amount of lift at the front. A friend of mine also had a Europa that he had put a Mazda 13B rotary into. He also said that by 120mph it was feeling a bit dangerous. Reference from the American car magazine (I think Road & Track) where they included wind tunnel test results in their road tests, confirmed that the Series 2 and Twin Cam Europas both had significant front lift at speed. I seem to have lost the magazines, so can’t quote their results. But on reflection, at the time of original supply, it was claimed that the Europa had the least drag of any production car in the world. Low drag and limited downforce. Mine with a Kent engine recorded 42 miles per gallon. Much better than any other car I’ve had.

I purchased my second Europa in 2004. As I wanted to race it, I realised that I would have to resolve the front lift problem. I was in Perth then & spoke to a local who told me that he had seen a Europa in the early 70s coming over the hill at the race track, and into the normal stiff Westerly wind, lift at the front, and do a complete summersault.

This was my 8th Lotus, so I’d had lots of experience in fibre glassing stuff. So I got started. I modified the front air inlet and radiator outlet. Then changed the front shape to include a spoiler and air dam. Added front diffusers to duct air into the front wheel arches for brake cooling. Added low side straight edges with air inlets at the back, much the same as the standard Esprit set up. Then covered the underside flat. Then diffusers across the lower back. And, last, a small Gurney Flap to the existing rear edge of the engine cover. In the design of all these modifications I referred to Competition Car Aerodynamics by Simon McBeath (2006).

Then the Wind Tunnel tests. I can’t help being a structural engineer. I drilled four small holes in the body vertically above the inside centre of the wheels. People at the race track often asked what the small holes were for. Then made rods that I connected to the suspension just inside of the wheels. I had marked the rods so that I could see/measure the relationship between the rod and the car body.

Then with myself and a passenger on board, he photographed the rod protrusions with the car stationary and on level ground. I then drove the car at the legal maximum speed of 110kph in both directions on a nearby straight, flat road. My passenger then photographed the rod protrusions again at that speed. Using the photos I calculated the body vertical movement at the test speed. And, yes I had downforce at both front and rear. It was 3mm at all corners. I then set up the car on wheel scales and loaded the car above the axles front and rear to get the same 3mm deflection. It was 110kg at the front and 45kg at the rear. Then by calculation I could ascertain downforces at any speed I was interested in. At the Perth race track I could attain about 260kmh.

I have a heart issue and couldn’t continue racing, but with a Mazda 12A PP in the car I was doing laps in the 66sec. This compared to a couple of 47s that raced there in the early 70s, much, much less weight, wider, proper racing tyres, best times in the 63sec.

Lotus Exige review

MY20 Lotus Exige 410 Sport

Story and pictures by Justin Goosen.

After 4 months of ownership, what’s the verdict?

Perhaps some back story to give perspective, keep in mind I’m not a professional journalist so this is my opinion on what it’s like to own a Lotus Exige. This is the third Lotus I have owned in a relatively short time period. First was a Silver Elise S2, second was a Red MY17 Elise 220 Sport and now the Exige 410. Stick in a Porsche Cayman somewhere in the middle for good measure, but that’s a story for another time.

Let us start with some of the fun stuff and have a look at a few of the Exige 410 key specifications & performance figures –
• Engine 3456cc (3.5L) Supercharged V6
• Power 305kW (410Hp) @ 7000rpm
• Torque 420Nm @ 3000-7000rpm
• Acceleration 3.4 s (0-100km/h)
• Tare Mass 1083 kg
• Power to Weight Ratio 281.6 kW/t

The performance figures are impressive but that is only part of what makes the Exige great. There’s also the fully adjustable Nitro suspension, Eibach adjustable anti-roll bars, lightweight forged alloy wheels, AP Racing high performance brakes and plenty of factory fitted carbon fibre bits which save weight and look fantastic. Other standard features include Cornering Brake Control (CBC), ABS and Lotus Dynamic Performance Management which includes the Traction Control and driving modes (Sport/Race).

Numbers are important but need to be understood to be appreciated, for example the torque figure (420Nm) is good but the way the engine delivers the torque from low in the rev range (3000rpm) makes all the difference. Couple that engine through a 6 speed manual transmission to a vehicle which only weighs 1100kg makes for some real fun. In order to quantify the power to weight ratio of 281.6 kW/t you would need to compare it to some serious vehicles, as an example if you had $350k plus to spend the Porsche 911 GT2 (997) power to weight ratio is 283 kW/t and 0-100km/h takes 3.7 seconds, let’s not talk about cost of ownership.

The new Exige is not cheap, priced from around $180k, now that’s A LOT of money but I think all vehicles are overpriced! In today’s age of electronics (control systems) and technology, vehicles have become too refined, too subdued, almost ‘too good’ if you will. The result is a loss of character, feeling and being connected to the machine. Lotus is renowned for their handling, analogue controls, mechanical steering and paired back approach to building vehicles, add a 400hp engine to the recipe and you get a wild beast that literally ‘snorts’ as you change gears at the rev limiter. Point the steering wheel, press the throttle pedal to the floor and hang on… Is it worth it? HELL YES!

So nothing could be perfect right? If I had to find faults with the vehicle, the glass between the cockpit and engine bay gets really hot and transfers the heat into the cabin so AC will be used regularly. Very limited space between the drive and passenger, the side mirrors are horrible, the internal controls (indicator/wiper) stalks are cheap, fixings (bolts/clips) that hold things together are crap. Do these things really matter? If they do, buy yourself a Porsche/BMW/Audi/Merc and enjoy your regular, boring, fanny pack mode of transportation ha ha.

So what is the Lotus then? “it’s a go cart for the road”, “it’s the most fun you can have on four wheels”, “it’s the thing you don’t need but damn you really want”.

[Show slideshow]

50 Years with a Lotus Seven

By John Barram.

In 1963 Lotus won their first Formula One world title then won again in 1965 and 1968. In the mid 60s as a high school boy my head was already filled with thoughts about “proper” English sports cars, driven with string-backed driving gloves.

Then among these MGs and Triumphs appeared the Lotus Seven. It hardly seemed fair! Here was a car only a few steps removed from their dominating race cars, that would blow the socks off anything else on the road, and it was road legal. I fell in love.

By 1970 I was ready to step up from my Austin Healy Sprite, when a Lotus Seven came up for sale in Brisbane. What was a young man supposed to do? So, with very little bargaining I bought my 1962 Lotus Seven.

This was to be the real Sports Car experience. Drive the car to work during the week and do car club motor sport at the weekend. I was soon into Motorkhanas, Sprints and Hillclimbs and even did a couple of trips to Sydney in the Seven. By 1975 I was looking for a bigger challenge in the Seven so decided to run it in the race meetings at Lakeside and Surfers Paradise. I did not mind being at the back of the field against dedicated racing sports cars and I usually managed to keep one or two cars behind me.

That was a lot of fun but a suspension failure at Lakeside put me into the fence and made a big mess of the front of my car. The wonderful Penny was already a part of my life and a month later we were married.

While I soon stripped the car and had the frame repaired, the project became a full restoration job and was put on hold. The plan became to fit the car with a big horsepower twin cam Lotus motor and paint it bright yellow as a fast and showy road car. The Lotus Seven was no longer a race car. This remained the dream while energy and time went into the house and then children.

In 1979/80 I raced a competitive ASP Clubman race car before sanity prevailed and I sold it to my brother and focussed on the family. Years passed.

By the mid nineties I was back onto the Seven in earnest. The goal now was to rebuild it as close as possible to a Super Seven of its era and use it for Sunday drives. Yellow was replaced by British racing green. The engine went back to the specs for a car from the sixties. Even the suspension was set up with springs and shocks for road use and the car was re-registered in 2000.

We enjoyed Sunday morning drives in the mountains and had some success as a concours car. However, it wasn’t many years before I was tempted to run in the Historic Noosa Hillclimb. Then it was Speed on Tweed and then it was doing Regularity drives at Historic Race meetings.

Meanwhile, I was getting less enthusiastic about driving the Seven in modern traffic. So we bought a ‘97 Elise as a Sunday drive car and there was even less reason to drive the Seven on the road. About this time I was introduced to open wheeler race cars and soon had a Cheetah F3 car from the seventies and was back in racing while the Seven gathered dust. However, a crash in the Cheetah and a slow restoration of that car brought the Seven to the fore again. It is now Log Booked for Historic Racing and I am enjoying racing it against other sports cars of the period.

In 50 years a lot has changed but the Seven is still with me. I suspect my first race car will also be my last race car but that will not be for some years yet!

[Show slideshow]

Bathurst Track Day 2020

LCA Bathurst Track Day 2020 from an LCQ Perspective.

Cam Anderson
“From much apprehension and nervousness at 7.45am on Wednesday morning to the greatest grin on my face in a long time at 4.30pm, this was 100 minutes of sheer unadulterated explosive fun. The only downside is waiting 365 days before I can do it again! I’ll be there!”

Des Hill
“Preparation, preparation, preparation, note to oneself… when checking everything to the enth degree, make sure your car has fuel before lining up in pit lane. But then again the car was lighter.”

Luke & Margaret Lindemann
“Got disillusioned with being spanked in my M3 F80 by Lotus Elises at Stokell track days in 2019. Tony Seymour threw his keys to Paul Stokell and Paul took me for two very fast laps of Morgan Park. A month later we purchased our new Exige 410 in November 2019. Thanks Tony and Paul!

First time with it on track was at Bathurst, stock standard and achieved a best of 2:39.22. The car was an absolute joy to drive. Met some lovely people and looking forward to doing more Qld track days this year. A big thanks also to Chad and Mark (Lotus Cars Qld) for their support over the weekend.”

Rob Parer
“This was my second year at LCA Bathurst Track Day and I loved it even more! Dinner on pit lane, petrol head enthusiasts from all over the country and driving around breathtaking corners on a rare piece of road. Life is grand.”

Garry Pitt
“Another great opportunity to drive the Mount Panorama track, this is the 3rd year that Simply Sports Cars / Lotus Cars Australia have secured a day following the 12hr event and while I could wax lyrical about how great, challenging, exciting etc the track is, and it is! (I’m sure others will cover that in this edition of the mag) I did want to say that the event had a genuine customer experience feel about it this year, particularly around the dinner function, but the entire event was expertly run and incredibly smooth.

Lotus Cars Australia have lifted their game for this event and it had a high end feel to it you would expect from a super car manufacturer. The speeches and videos, including a message from Lotus CEO were nice touches. The brand does seem to be lifting itself from a track/enthusiast car to genuine contender to Porsche et al as an overall sports car, weekend GT car with all the customer experience trimmings. Roll on Bathurst 2021, because yes, the track is awesome to drive!”

Steve Blackie
“Seeing and driving it for the first time, TV just doesn’t do it justice, it so much better.”

Tony Seymour
“Well the SSC Bathurst trip was a bit like asking what you’d do to spend a day in heaven. Would it be 12hrs to get there (with a forgettable stop in Scone) and 13 hrs (with thundering rain all the way) to get back?.

That’s ridiculous and I would’ve done it twice. I was also asked by a customer today if there was anyway he could get to Bathurst in his Commodore and I suggested he enter it in the V8 Supercar series … or buy a Lotus.”

John Mactaggart
“Dinner in pit lane was fantastic and helped ease the nervous anticipation of what the next day will unveil. The organisers did a superb job and the day went with incident. Diving the track with spirited friendly competition with other drivers is a bucket list thing.

In the hire car leisurely driving back to Sydney in time to catch the last flight back to Brisbane, it was great time to reflect on what I had experienced in the last 24 hours and what I will do next year.”

David Yule
“The question: “Is it more difficult to get to and from Bathurst in a Lotus Elise or drive the Mt Panorama Circuit?” On the way to Bathurst had a slow leak puncture. The puncture repair could not reinstate the AD08R. There were no AD08R available in Bathurst. Had to run alternative tyres on rear axle!! On my return to Brisbane wet, wet, wet.

Mt Panorama: fine weather, compromised Elise but the most exhilarating 100 minutes of my driving career!

Certainly not the quickest Elise on the track, but the quickest I have ever been. Burnt lots of fuel and adrenaline. See you next year – definitely.”

Chris Johansen
“Better than Nurburgring! (my last track day drive) by far! Much safer and better run. Also great to see so many Lotus doing what they are built for. No shortage of track time and a memorable meal in pit lane as well. Pity my enthusiasm cost so much however, fibreglass doesn’t match the durability of concrete over Skyline, damn!”

Evan Molloy
“Bathurst! What a place! What an experience! This is what our amazing cars are truly made for. Every part of the track is challenging and so rewarding. I found myself shouting with excitement as I crossed the line. Pushing through the chase at over 200 and smashing the loud pedal out of the dipper we’re definitely the highlights on track for me. Off track the atmosphere and comradery with fellow lotus owners made the experience extra special.

I can’t wait for Bathurst 2021!”

Geoff Noble
“Challenge accepted! That’s Mt Panorama in a nutshell – always plenty to learn, and the anticipation of being able to come back next year and put those lessons into practice. From the adventures of the convoy down with Garry, Martin, Evan and Tony (half the fun is being with your mates!) to the welcome dinner and then on to the main event – cutting laps at Bathurst!

It is such a privilege to be able to use this iconic venue. Get it in the diary for next year, you just have to do it!”

Alex Molocznyk
“The team at SSC/Lotus Cars Australia have excelled themselves again. Possibly the best track day ever. Combined with the wonderful Lotus community and a great road trip for me it was an outstanding success.
Despite being slowest in the timed group (due to lots of legitimate excuses) I still managed a significant pb. over the previous year and can now confidently do the kink into the Chase flat out thanks to Paul Stokell’s tuition.

On the drive to Bathurst the countryside was parched and brown with huge dust storms around Dunedoo. It looked like the start of the great American Dust Bowl and i was thinking I will have to change my air filter in Bathurst.

The owner of a bakery said they’ve had the dust storms for months and had to completely shut down the week before because dirt was coming through the shop.

Driving back to Brisbane three days later it rained all the way from Lithgow and the countryside was transformed into emerald green as far as they eye could see. Previously empty dams were filling and some had ducks swimming in them.

Every time I stopped I asked the locals how they were enjoying the rain and the first responses were always huge grins particularly at the Dunedoo bakery.

All round a memorable trip with a great ending.”

Cosette Woolley
“New Lotus owner. First track day at the iconic, Bathurst track. It was awesome!”

Martin O’Brien
“What’s not to love. My childhood dream come to life – driving my iconic car on this iconic track. Not to mention the great organisation and company. If you get the chance, just do it.”

[Show slideshow]

Ashton Roskill’s Eleven Rebuild

By Alister Rees.

As a follow-on from the article in the April edition regarding the Automotive Craftsmen Shed Tour and Ashton Roskill’s Eleven, we plan to give monthly progress reports detailing the repair journey of this classic piece of Lotus history.

Part 1

The story started when we were contacted by Ashton in March 2019 and he sent some initial photos of the damaged car. We requested further photos from different angles and after studying a myriad of different shots, we were able to arrive at an initial estimate based on the information gleaned from these photos. From our understanding the damage was mostly isolated to the front end. The fabrication of a new front clam was the focus of this repair.

We then began a drawn-out procedure communicating with an assessor in Sydney who unfortunately appeared to have little knowledge of Lotus of any type, especially not a thoroughbred from the fifties.

After several months of challenging discussions and delays the Eleven finally arrived at our workshop in late October 2019. With the move to Queensland a new assessor was then appointed by Shannons, and we were able to move forward with a proper physical assessment of the damage.

Once we were able to get the vehicle in the air for a full inspection it became apparent there was other damage not able to be photographed while on the ground.

The final assessment included: Twisted chassis (front and rear), under-body skin damage, front and rear shocker damage, damaged wheel bearings, bent swing arm, buckled wheels and intake manifold gasket damage. All this adding significantly to the original estimate.

Ashton was able to recommend a parts supplier in the UK and we duly contacted Mike Brotherwood with a parts list. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Tony Galletly who has been a great help in many areas and has a wealth of knowledge after his Eleven restoration.

Once we received the parts quote from Mike, we were able to submit our firm quotation to Shannons. Final approval was duly received on 28 November 2019. We commenced work on 2 December, placed the parts order and started stripping the car.

First task was to dismantle all the damaged components. After drilling out 680 rivets to remove the floor trays and sill panels, the bare bones of this iconic design were exposed. The simplicity of this car is an amazing sight. After the outer body had been removed, next up was the mechanical.

Documenting each part and its orientation, gave us the understanding we need to see the car through the eyes of its creators. Knowing how the designer intended the car to be, ensures Ashton’s Eleven will be repaired correctly and retain its originality. With the vehicle stripped down to the bare minimum for transport, it was time to re-align the chassis.

We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Nick Contarino at Exclusive Auto Centre for the use of his state-of-the-art Car Bench chassis alignment system, to restore the Eleven’s frame to the original dimensions and alignment.

Before founding Automotive Craftsmen, Adam served his apprenticeship at Exclusive Auto Centre, and was awarded Apprentice of the year for Queensland in 2014. He was also runner-up in the National World Skills Competition held in Perth the same year. Luke also spent approximately two years at Exclusive Auto Centre repairing Ferrari and Lotus, (including composite repairs), after completing a panel beating and spray-painting apprenticeship in Sydney.

[Show slideshow]

Part 2

This month considerable progress has been made on the manufacture of the new front clam for Ashton Roskill’s Series One Eleven.

The reason a new front clam is being manufactured, is that it was not economically viable to repair the original to an acceptable level.

Part of the Automotive Craftsmen philosophy is “nothing is impossible to repair” however, economic reality must prevail, and sometimes it is more viable to build a new part.

Working with aluminium presents some unique challenges compared to steel, particularly 50-year-old aluminium that has been repaired before.

It is safe to say that with these classic hand-built cars from the sixties, most have had a few hits in their life, and if the previous repairs have been carried out by someone without an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the material, this can present some challenges when the vehicle is involved in another shunt in the same area.

This was the case with Ashton’s car, as earlier in its life it had a new section replaced from the leading edge to just behind the headlights. (The weld line can be seen just above the badge in Photo No.1).

The quality of the weld leaves a little to be desired, and when these welds were dressed, quite a bit of material was removed in the surrounding area and the skin is very thin. After a detailed inspection there were several other areas where weld lines were beginning to fracture.

Another problem with this new front section that had been fitted, was the wing shapes were not symmetrical and the headlight pods were not correctly aligned. All these issues made the decision to make a new clam the only real option. All that remained was to sell this concept to the insurance assessor, which I am pleased to say we accomplished.

Traditionally, coachbuilding has been done over a timber buck or wire frame, however it is not always viable to make a timber buck for a one-off repair, and the coachbuilder has other options to choose from.

In this case Adam elected to repair the damaged clam, and use this as the buck, which gives the added advantage that Ashton has the option to use the repaired clam for track events.

The most severe damage was to the RH front corner. To re-instate this, required many hours of working and unfolding the aluminium to carefully massage it back to shape. The LH side also sustained damage around the headlight area, and while not as serious, still required considerable time and skill to hand form the 50-year-old aluminium. The damaged areas were now restored to the point where the aluminium was back to a neutral state.(Photo No.2)

To ensure the correct profile and shape were achieved, considerable research had been carried out using photographs from magazines and the internet to find the correct shape so this classic could be returned to the original design.

An obvious essential skill of a good coachbuilder is an excellent eye for line and detail, (far better than we mere mortals) and this is critical when working with compound curves and converging lines.

Once the original clam was repaired (75 hours) a decision was made to use the LH side to make the patterns and profiles, as it was considered identical to the original shape. Using traditional templating methods mixed with some modern materials, we were then able to copy the exact surface dimensions, panel lengths and join locations. This method is called the flexible shape pattern. As an added feature, the same templates and patterns can then be reversed and used on the opposite side. This gives the ability to create a symmetrical part. (Photo No. 3 & 4)

From these patterns, 18 pieces of 5005 aluminium were then cut to size. (Photo No. 7)

Using the traditional wooden stump, blocking hammers and the English wheel, many hours were then spent forming each piece. Gauging the shape by hand and eye, then fitting each individual section to the templates.
With all 18 parts fabricated and defined, the next task is matching the sections with each other. Taking 2 sections at a time, blending the shape into one another and fusion welding them into a single part. This weld line is then worked on the wheel to form a continuous even profile and trial fitted to the buck to check the form. A total of six pieces were then welded to form the new left front wing. (Photo No. 11)

Now sharp, precise and symmetrical, the iconic Series 1 Lotus Eleven shape was recognisable. The same process was then repeated for the right wing.

The next stage was to refine the shape of the centre bonnet skin. At first glance this would appear to be a relatively simple shape but was in fact the most difficult section to manufacture. Having such a subtle amount of shape at the rear then transitioning gradually to a full shape towards the nose of the car, provided a real challenge to achieve a consistent and even surface. For five full days, yes that’s FIVE, Adam and Luke shaped this bonnet together on the wheel in complete synchronization. With all the skills, attention to detail and patience, it still required 3 skins to be shaped to get the finished product that you see here. (Photo No. 5 & 6)

Perfection is never achieved without effort, and with such a highly polished finish the smallest ripple would be visible.

Now was the time to join the left and right wings to the centre bonnet skin. This is the stage that will make or break the front clam fabrication. Using the 3D templates and marking out the exact trimming point, Adam slowly made the surgically accurate cuts that will be the final join of this month-long endeavour for perfection. With a final check of all profiles and dimensions, the tack welding and fusion process starts. If any stage of the process is skipped or miscalculated, this will have serious consequences on the finished product. After the three major parts are fused into one, it is very gratifying to see the end result with all major reference points aligning. (Photo No. 12)

Total labour to fabricate new front clam to this stage — 312 hours

Part 3 – New Front Clam

Progress has been slower than anticipated, due to restrictions around the Covid 19 challenge that has affected most businesses in Australia.

In the June edition we finished at the stage where the three main sections of the new front clam were tack welded and fused into one piece with all major reference points aligning.

As this front clam is going to be file finished and polished, the two main welds that join the front wings to the bonnet are critical in their execution. Each of these weld runs is 1.4 metres long and must be performed in one continuous operation (photos 1 & 2). Any variation in pace will cause a blow hole if too slow, or a shallow weld if the pace increases slightly. Shallow welds are a serious problem, as over time these will crack from the continual vibration.

NOTE — to put this in context, this is two pieces of 1.6mm thick aluminium, edge to edge !

When these welds are completed, the clam is flipped over and the same process is repeated on the inside.
To add to the challenge, the new body has been shaped freehand over one side of the original body, (as mentioned in the June edition) as we are working without a buck. This can cause slight variations in the joins that need to be corrected in the file finishing stage, adding more tedious checks and test fitting over the chassis to ensure both the shape of the new front clam and the alignment with the car are correct (photo 3).

As the part is now too large to fit through the English wheel, these welds must now be dressed and blended out by hand using a variety of hammers and dollies, to bring the welded area to the same thickness as the surrounding metal. (At last count Adam has 43 hammers and 57 different shape dollies.)

With these final welds now blended in, the next step before file finishing can begin, is to fabricate a temporary brace to be tack welded across the rear edge to give some rigidity to the panel during the file finish process (photo 4). Once this is completed this brace will be removed (too heavy) and a 4mm stainless wire edge will be rolled in (to add lightness).

It is now time to start the file finish process which will initially be done on the centre section out to the centreline of the front wings. This area needs to be completed before the grille opening section can be fitted.
At this point I would like to give the reader an explanation of the file finishing procedure and why it is necessary.

The file finish process was used extensively in the “old days” to achieve a quality finish along with lead wiping on steel panels that were then painted. However, with the advent of polyester fillers in the 1960s, and under increasing pressure from insurance companies to drive down costs, file finishing became a dying art, now practiced by only a limited number of skilled craftsmen, when specified by discerning clients.

Now back to aluminium — An off-the-wheel finish is satisfactory if the body is to be painted, as any minor blemishes left by the wheel are faired with polyester filler before priming. However, as this car must retain its exposed aluminium finish, fillers of any kind cannot be used, so the file finishing is necessary to achieve the polished surface.

File finishing is essentially the process of refining the shape. This means adjusting the profile by hand, using specialist hammers and dollies to flatten any minute highs, stretching low points around join lines and correcting the overall curvature of the panel.

First a guide coat is sprayed on the surface (fast drying etch primer), then using a body file with light pressure across the surface, the guide coat is removed from the high areas and is left on the low areas, giving the “guide” to where the metal must be raised or lowered. (photo 5).

The highs are carefully massaged using a body-spoon. Then the low areas are stretched using a slapping file while holding the correct shape forged dolly tool under the skin.

A final check spray of guide coat is then applied, and the process repeated until a smooth flowing body shape is ready to be sanded. (photo 6)

The file is only used to highlight any highs or lows in the surface, NOT to remove metal, so that all minute blemishes in the surface are painstakingly removed by massaging the metal to a perfect form, rather than grinding and thinning out the material.

This is what defines a coachbuilding artisan from a panel beater (with all due respects to panel beaters of course) and will give the reader a clear understanding of why a polished aluminium body is a rare sight these days.

The skill sets required to achieve a true file finish for polished aluminium, requires a level of natural ability and skill that is very rare. The hand eye coordination, and the ability to “feel” the metal surface with the hand, is the reason the perfect file finish is so difficult to achieve.

Once this process was completed on the centre section, the next task was to fabricate the tubular grille frame and mounting points that hold the entire front clam onto the car. With the new frame fabricated, the grille opening skin was formed over the frame, creating the beautiful rounded edge of the Eleven’s distinctive front.

We then welded the grille opening skin into the front clam, (photo 7). The sub-assembly (consisting the tubular grille frame welded to the mounting points) was then fitted to the clam skin, and the front clam was trial fitted to the chassis for the first time. (photo 8)

Part 4 – The New Clam continued

In last month’s report we had arrived at the stage of the successful first trial fit of the bare skin to the chassis. The next stage is to fabricate the headlight buckets, then align and weld them into the correct position.

At first glance the buckets look simple enough – roll up a couple of cylinders, weld on a backing plate, no worries – job done.

1: The mounting rings were fabricated with a 6mm edge turned out at 90 degrees.

Life is not always that simple in Lotus land, so to make things exciting the bucket is tapered. Fortunately, we were able to make a flexible pattern from one side of the original clam, to give the required shape to cut the aluminium before rolling the tapered tubes.

The mounting rings were then fabricated with a 6mm edge turned out at 90 degrees to stiffen the mounting ring for the headlight assembly. (Photo 1). (Looks easy but is a time-consuming process). Most fabricators would simply use a piece of 3mm aluminium for this mounting ring, but that definitely would NOT be adding lightness.

2: The rings are then welded to the conical tubes.

3: The bucket and recessed area are scribed and trimmed.

These rings are then welded to the conical tubes (Photo 2) The bucket and recessed area on the clam are then scribed and trimmed VERY carefully to give an accurate join line ready to tack weld into place (Photo 3). The perimeter is then fully welded. (Photo 4).

5: The perimeter weld is dressed and filed.

The final stage is to dress and file finish this perimeter weld (Photo 5). A few moments studying this photo gives an indication of the patience and skill levels required to achieve this result on such a complexity of converging angles and compound curves.

6: A series of profile gauges were made.

Once the headlight buckets were completed the next major task was to fit the 5mm stainless wire edge around the perimeter of the clam. The major challenge with this task is to ensure the shape that has been so laboriously created, does not move when the wire edge is rolled in. This process cannot be done with the clam sitting on the chassis to maintain alignment but must be done upside down on the bench.

To ensure the true lines are maintained, a series of profile gauges were made so the shape can be continually checked during the process (Photo 6)

Once the clam is trimmed to its final shape around the front edge and wheel arches (including a 13mm allowance for rolling around the wire), the challenge is to then dress this 13mm edge at 90 degrees to the body, and maintain the consistency as it flows around the compound curves of the front and into the wheel arches. (Photo 7).

9: The edge is rolled with a nylon hammer.

The pre-bent wire is then placed into the corner and clamped in place with vice grips (Photo 8), while the edge is rolled over with a nylon-faced hammer and a sheathed steel dolly. (Photo 9).

The final dressing of the rolled wire edge is done with a modified vice-grip and sacrificial strips of aluminum to avoid gouging the edge.

When the wire edge is completed across the front and around both wheel arches, the clam is now fitted back to the chassis to mark the final trim line for the rear edge of the clam. Once this rear edge is trimmed and the wire rolled in, the temporary braces (Photo 10) are removed and the wire edge process is complete.

Part 5 – Chassis Restoration May 2021

The story continues from when we had progressed to the point where Ashton’s Eleven was now completely stripped down to the bare chassis.

After a thorough clean down and visual inspection, there were several issues that needed to be addressed
before the chassis was sent for sandblasting.

The first one to be rectified, had been identified earlier while dismantling the front suspension. We noticed some serious rub marks on one of the front chassis tubes where the coil spring shocker unit had been binding on the tube. When the new Spax Shocker Units and lower mounting brackets arrived from Mike Brotherwood, we trial fitted them to the chassis to adjust the clearance between the spring/shocker unit and the chassis. One of the new shocker brackets was machined 0.75mm oversize and would not fit through the rod end on the control arm (photo 1). This is an” L” shaped bracket, which was a challenge to set up in the lathe, but after several creative hours we achieved the correct tolerance.

Another problem we noticed when removing the original aluminium floor skin, was that the section of the chassis from the rear bulkhead back, had a 20mm kink (when viewed from above), in the lower chassis tubes (photo 2). The aluminium floor skin for this area had been trimmed to suit this misalignment (photo 3). As this appeared to be the original floor skin, this misalignment had obviously been there all along. We were able to realign this rear section that supports the rear bodywork, by setting the chassis up on the alignment bench and applying a load, to bring this section back into correct alignment.

There are two jacking points on the front of the chassis, and one of these had been highly loaded at some point in its life. The jacking point had deformed and crushed the chassis tube. The tube was repaired, and the jacking point straightened and re-welded.

We found some potentially serious safety issues on the chassis, where the roll bar mounting bolts had been overtightened and the bolts had started to pull through the tube. The tubes in this area of the chassis are of square section, so the tube was repaired, and crush tubes machined, (photo 4) and welded in position to provide a safer mounting system for the roll bar. The same tube damage had occurred at the exhaust mounting points, so these tubes were also repaired, and crush tubes inserted.

There are over 120 welds throughout the chassis, but there were only seven that showed stress cracking. These were meticulously cleaned and re-welded. One of these was a rear control arm mounting bracket which had a severe stress fracture (photo 5) and was at risk of detaching itself from the chassis.

The next challenge was to remove all the rivet tails that were now in the chassis tubes from when the rivets were removed from the aluminium skin. To facilitate this, holes were drilled in the tubes at strategic points to allow their removal. (photo 6). Once all debris was removed (to add lightness), (photo 7) these holes were then re-welded.

With all rectification work completed, the chassis was now ready to be sandblasted. Unfortunately, we had a delay in this process as there is only one company in the Brisbane area we trust to perform the task on a lightweight chassis, and of course they are always busy.

We had it booked to be done before Christmas but due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to do it before their 4-week shutdown. However, Peerless Sandblasting did an excellent job and we received the chassis back in mid-February, so it was well worth the wait.

The next step in the process was to have the chassis crack tested. This was carried out by IRIS NDT who came to our workshop and performed magnetic particle testing (photo 8).(This identified a further five cracks that were not visible to the naked eye. These additional cracks were then re-welded, and the chassis was now ready for painting.

This was carried out by our preferred Spray Painter, Old School Garage, who applied a premium grade epoxy primer, followed by Glasurit 2 pack high gloss, colour matched to the original acrylic used by the factory. (photos 9 & 10).

The final step in the chassis restoration was the weigh-in! Carefully suspended from our engine crane the digital scales showed 24.3kg. Now there’s a great example of lightweight engineering from Colin Chapman (photo 11).

A current delay we are experiencing, is the availability of the aluminium for the floor skin. After discussions with Ashton and Tony Galletly, the decision was taken to use a high strength material for this area. The ideal material is 2024 T3, an aircraft grade structural aluminium, however we have had difficulty sourcing this material at 1.6 mm thick in Australia.

It appears this is another material that is in short supply due to plant closures caused by the Pandemic, as there has been no stock in the country since late 2020. There is plenty of 0.4mm available which is the most popular for aircraft work.

We anticipate this will arrive in Australia in late May, and we can then resume work on the project, and get this iconic piece of Lotus history back on the road again and put a smile on Ashton’s face.

Lotus at the 2019 Australian GP

Early last year I was invited to exhibit my Flintstone Lotus 23B in a display of forty historic race cars at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Story by Peter Boel, Photos Ron Wilkin.

The participation included a ticket to the entire event for myself and 2 helpers. Also included was the offer of a drive on the GP circuit on the Sunday morning of the event.

I’d not been to the AGP for some years so it seemed the perfect opportunity to give the event another look. My friend Ron, a fellow racer from NZ, was keen to be one of my ‘helpers’ and his son who lives in Australia was going to join us. It’s a long drive from Brisbane to Melbourne and back, particularly towing my ‘toyhauler’, so an extra driver would make the journey a lot more comfortable. The annual Historic Race Meeting at Phillip Island is the weekend before the AGP and the event always has a large entry of fabulous race cars. So also entering this event made good sense given the long drive.

We chose to go south to Phillip Island via the Newel Highway with one overnight stop on the way. Despite some really terrible sections, the highway is generally quite a good drive but even so it was a hard slog with a big trailer on the back. The last time I’d taken this route was years ago on the way to the Australian Lotus Clubs get together in Adelaide. My memory of that drive was of cold frosty mornings and lush green countryside. This time it was really hot and the countryside for the entire trip was brown and barren. The drought had certainly taken a grip of the outback.

We arrived at Phillip Island Wednesday afternoon with practice planned for Thursday and the three day event starting with qualifying Friday morning. Typically, we weren’t allowed into the track on the Wednesday to unload so it was bedlam at the entry to the tunnel into the track on the Thursday morning and a mad scramble to get ready for the first practice session. However, once we got out on to the track it was a joy to drive on – fast and flowing – just the way I like it.

PI isn’t the top of my list of favourite tracks but it’s not too far down. The Group M and O race field had 33 entrants and I was generally running 8th or 9th in the races with a best time of 1m 40s – pretty happy with that.

Sadly I fell foul of the race officialdom. The red flag came out in the second lap of race 3 and the car in front of me jumped on the brakes leaving me no option but to pull out from close behind and just overtake him. Jumping on the brakes as well was certainly not an option. I immediately slowed down, in turn passed by the car I’d overtaken. However, the deed was done and I was summoned to face the CAMS marshals who fined me $200 and excluded me from the next race. The exclusion from a race effectively cost me another several hundred dollars when valuing track time against cost of participation. In what other amateur sport are you penalised many hundreds of dollars by a punitive officialdom for making a mistake? Not happy! Certainly won’t be going back to any Victorian events in the future. Their officials are mean.

So on to the AGP. The forty historic race cars were grouped on a grassy area just behind the grandstands fronting the main straight. We took it in turns to man the display giving each of us plenty of time to view the action from different parts of the circuit.

Albert Park isn’t really the greatest place to view the F1 spectacle but you get a great sense of the speed of these cars at points where you can get really close to the track. We ended up watching the race on a giant screen set up not far from our display area. Probably had a better view of the race from there while downing a few beers.

Originally the Sunday track outing to show off our cars was to be a gentle drive at under 100kmh behind a pace car with no overtaking. However, at the Sunday briefing we were told we could overtake but only on the straights. When we did get out on the track the pace car disappeared in a cloud of dust and was not seen again leaving us free to circulate the track as we liked at what was described later as a spirited display. I certainly made terminal speed in top at a few locations. The circuit is not the most exciting track I’ve driven on, but I was most surprised at how dirty and bumpy it was. I thought the F1 brigade expected better. Overall the historic display was a great success with thousands of enthusiasts coming by to talk to us about our cars.

We returned to Brisbane via the Hume and Pacific Highways, stopping overnight at my favourite Motto Farm motel in Raymond Terrace. Their free breakfast is hard to beat.

The historic display will happen again at this year’s AGP but without me. Been there done that.

[Show slideshow]

A Great Opportunity!

By Paul Crosby.

Barely 6 weeks into my Lotus ownership, and membership with LCQ, I responded to a request on the LCQ Facebook page for Lotus owners. The request came from an event organiser at Amberley Airforce Base. The event he was organizing was a private event for Airforce families, called Wings and Wheels, a combined Air and Car Show! It sounded like a great opportunity to me.

This event has been running for many years, and in its early days, it was only Defense force personnel with special or interesting cars that provided the Car Show component. However as this event has evolved, the opportunity for non military participants, such as myself, has arisen. Something my family and I are very grateful for, because we had a wonderful day.

The organisation took many weeks and even though the dedicated Airshow was ultimately cancelled for logistical reasons, we were still treated to take-off and landings by two A330 MRTT/KC30A’s and four F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jets. Two of the F/A-18F Super Hornet’s completed some low tight turns above the car show area, much to all attendees delight! There were quite a few faces displaying complete shock and awe as they heard and felt the incredible noise that these impressive machines make for the first time!

The car show component was incredibly diverse, there were super cars, like the 488 Pista, the 458 Specialè and three other Ferraris. There were two McLarens, a Ford GT40, a Lamborghini, a Bentley, a Rolls Royce Cullinan, some older 911s and the list goes on! There were movie cars including the Batmobile, the Monkees Car, the General Lee Dodge Charger from the Dukes of Hazard, Herbie, the two-door Ford Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch and many more. There were drag cars and EVs, race cars and vintage cars, too many to mention, suffice to say, there was something for everyone!

The day was a ‘Great Opportunity‘ to meet people and enjoy a pretty incredible private car show and military aircraft display, whilst raising money for Legacy. All of which would never have come into my life, without the ownership of my Lotus Elise Sport 220 and membership with LCQ.

Motorsport revs up help during drought

This article was posted in the Warwick Daily News on 19th September 2019.

Lotus Club member Geoff Noble presents $2750 to Rotary Club of Warwick Sunrise member Peter Rodeck for drought relief.

The Rotary Club of Warwick Sunrise was on hand to receive $2750 towards drought relief for the Rotary Drought Fund at the Queensland Super Sprints at Morgan Park at the weekend.

Lotus Club of Queensland member Geoff Noble said his club presented a cheque for $1000 to the drought appeal.

“At the start of the meeting, I said we would have a bucket to collect donations over the weekend. Drivers pay $100 deposit for a transponder for their vehicle for timing and the eight Lotus drivers gave their $100 refunds to the drought appeal,” he said.

In fact, $1750 was donated in the bucket and the Warwick and District Sporting Car Club is planning to add another $1000 to the fund to take it to $3750.

The Lotus Car Club of Queensland was at Stanthorpe for a weekend earlier this year and gave $1000 to help support farmers in the Stanthorpe area.

“That money helped bring the farm hands to town so they could do their laundry at the caravan parks. The politicians don’t seem to be doing much for the farmers so why can’t we come up with some money,” he said. “They will spend $2 million on fireworks at Riverfire in Brisbane, why couldn’t that money go for the farmers.”

Rotary Club of Warwick Sunrise member Peter Rodeck said the drought had not just been in the last few months.

“We have had below average rainfall for most of the past 10 years,” he said. “Some farmers have not even put a crop in the ground for the past two to three years. We have had less than 20mm rain in the past six months compared to the 200mm to 300mm we typically get.”

“Some farmers have not even put a crop in the ground for the past two to three years. We have had less than 20mm rain in the past six months compared to the 200mm to 300mm we typically get. The local Rotary Governor has set this fund up as he feels there are people missing out on the drought support,” Mr Rodeck said.

Historic Leyburn Sprints 2019

Words and pics by Shane Murphy.

This year’s event was a dual celebration, the 24th anniversary of the Sprints and the 70th anniversary of the Australian Grand Prix, run in 1949 on an ex war time airfield just outside the town of Leyburn.

With over 200 cars entered, 2019 was a fantastic affair with a vast and divergent range of competition cars, show cars and historic caravans.

A bit of history for the Murphy’s as well. In 1949 Jen’s dad and grandfather were present at the original Grand Prix, we still have a copy of the original program in our family archives. In 2000 we travelled to Leyburn, located the original airfield, which was not easy to locate, stumbling on the stone monument.

For a couple of years I have wanted to compete. This year the stars aligned and, encouraged by Phil Hart and Jason McGarry, I made the trek to the Southern Downs.

What a cracker of a weekend, the town of Leyburn (pronounced Leeburn) turned it on with huge crowds, plenty of sunshine, celebrities of the calibre of Kevin (Big Rev) Bartlett, Dick Johnson, John French, Colin Bond, Don Holland, Bob Holden, our own Paul Stokell mingling with the crowd and enjoying an adventure into grass roots competition. Queensland Rugby League great Shane Webcke was also a crowd favourite, gladly posing for pics and enjoying the vibe.

Phil and Gail Hart jumped the gun, arriving at Leyburn by 7.30 am on the Friday morning and pegged out a vast pit area for the troops to follow.

Our crew consisted of Phil and Gail Hart (Porsche GT3), Stephen Foss (Westfield XTR2), Rod and Narelle McCray (Porsche 911SC), Bruce and Gail Absolon (Porsche 911 Turbo S), Bob Hamilton (Ford XW Falcon GTHO), Paul and Louis Stokell (Lotus Exige), Jason McGarry (Caterham R300/420R) and Shane and Jen Murphy (Lotus Seven). A united nation of cars, British, German with a bit of Japanese Hayabusa mixed in for good value.

Scrutineering went well, but don’t mention the seat belts and all was cool, literally, until on Saturday morning Steve’s Westfield would not fire and despite a new battery, multiple attempts at fiddling with the wiring loom and other complexities, Steve never managed to get it started and sat out the event – a real bugger. Even Steve’s mother and brother, while offering all manner of sage advice could not coax the Westy into life.

Louis Stokell managed to collect five huge bags full of plastic bottles over the weekend, well on the way to purchasing his first Lamborghini. Well done Louis.

The Southern Downs is gripped by a severe drought, and the region is dry and dusty and looking pretty forlorn. Kangaroos were everywhere hunting out a feed; just ask Rod and Bruce who had to navigate a big Skippy who thought it would be fun to cross the track mid run – a couple of very close shaves.

The track is a lot of fun. Six corners, five of them right angle bends, the final corner being a big left hander sweeping onto the finish line. All you have to do is miss the big hay bales and all is good, and it was for our team, although throughout the weekend a few of the competitors sadly cleaned up the bales, resulting mainly with dented pride and bent mudguards.

Winners are grinners of course, and after seven runs, four on Saturday and three on Sunday, the scoreboard was very complimentary to our group.

Yours truly placed first in the Historic Racing and Sports Cars – Group O (non log book) with a blistering time of 55.832 seconds; Bob Hamilton finished ninth in class in his spectacular GTHO; Paul Stokell finished first in class and seventh outright; Rod McCray was third; Phil Hart and Bruce Absolon were first and second in the Modern Sports Car Class over 3,500 cc and Jason McGarry placed a brilliant second in the Modern Clubman class.

A great all-round weekend, highly recommended, lets get a big team of Lotus for 2020.

[Show slideshow]

Key Fob Fun & Games

If you own one of these you need to read this!

By John Barram.

The security system and key fob on the Series 1 Elise are generally considered to be not one of their finer points. They are now 20+ years old and are getting tired.

I have only ever had one key fob with my car and thoughts of getting another “just in case” have come to nought as I have been assured that it would be expensive by those who do electronic car keys.

Then, recently I lost my keys with the one and only electronic key fob. The actual key is a simple mechanical key, no problem for a competent locksmith. But the fob!!

This is a Lucas 5AS system also used in the MGF and a range of Rover cars not generally seen here. My original thoughts were to just ditch the system and run without a security system other than the key in the door. Or I could probably add some aftermarket system. But I soon found that this route was not going to be simple and electronics are not my strong point. I then looked at retaining the original system, getting an old key on Ebay and getting it synchronised with my car electronics. Plenty of problems there, starting with 20 year old components.

Then my Google work finally came up with the answer. Remote Key Ltd in the UK is run by Ian Jameson and caters to owners of these Lucas systems. Ian advised me that these systems run at two different frequencies, 315MHZ for cars in the UK and Australia and 433MHZ for cars to Europe. To be sure of what I had I needed to remove the instrument pack to access the 5AS module behind it and, sure enough, my Lucas module had a nice yellow Lotus sticker on it proclaiming that it was a 433 MHZ unit for Europe. My confidence was rising. This guy knew what he was talking about.

Remote Key manufacture completely new key fobs which they mail out along with a little programming plug. You simply plug the programmer into the standard 16 way OBD socket near the ECU in an S1 Elise and the car will then recognise the new fob. You pay 75.00 UK pounds for the fob and programmer then get 30.00 UK pounds refunded when you send the programmer back to them.

So I bought 2 fobs, it took my five minutes to do the programming, and the Elise is back on the road.

Articles

The End of the Road

MY20 Lotus Exige 410 Sport

LCA Bathurst Track Day 2020 from an LCQ Perspective.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 – New Front Clam

Part 4 – The New Clam continued

Part 5 – Chassis Restoration May 2021

Early last year I was invited to exhibit my Flintstone Lotus 23B in a display of forty historic race cars at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The Ro­tary Club of War­wick Sun­rise was on hand to re­ceive $2750 to­wards drought re­lief for the Ro­tary Drought Fund at the Queens­land Su­per Sprints at Mor­gan Park at the week­end.

This year’s event was a dual celebration, the 24th anniversary of the Sprints and the 70th anniversary of the Australian Grand Prix, run in 1949 on an ex war time airfield just outside the town of Leyburn.

If you own one of these you need to read this!

The Rotary Club of Warwick Sunrise was on hand to receive $2750 towards drought relief for the Rotary Drought Fund at the Queensland Super Sprints at Morgan Park at the weekend.