A few photos below of what was a very wet meeting for the Saturday but dried out mainly on the Sunday. The Sandown track in Melbourne is very patched and bumpy as no money has been spent on it for many years as they are planning to close it and turn it into a housing estate unfortunately. Many deep puddles on the straights when its wet which makes life interesting.
I decide a few months ago to retire from racing after 45 years of competition in my Elan so this was my last meeting Sad to stop but at 73 I have more projects than i have time for and if i am ever going to finish them plus continue to do the travelling I do I cant keep spending the time keeping a competition car in top condition. Plus my reactions are getting slower making driving an Elan on the limit no longer really possible meaning i have to slow down more than I like. However retirement from racing has created one more project which is to turn the Elan back into a full time road car. Not a lot required but replacing the springs for road versions and detuning the engine a little by fitting a different inlet cam are the main ones plus a lot of little other details like fitting road suitable brake pads and refitting the original glass rear screen replacing the plastic one
Understood, Rohan. Same age. I’m finding driving is ok at the moment, but the logistics and physical endurance of preparing, loading and unloading my 23 or Crossle are getting harder on my body. Once in the car, I’m still good, though. I know it won’t last forever.
We are all getting older. I started racing 30 plus years ago. Back then I was one of the youngest “vintage” racer. Unfortunately, I still feel like one of the younger ones.
Hopefully someone will step up with an Elan to keep Lotus represented in Group SB. I was heading there before I bought the 26R.
I popped out to SMP today to catch up with some old NSW SB mates, Steve Byrnes, Colin Wilson-Brown and Bill McGoffin. It was good to see a filled grid and close racing across the field.
Enjoy the Elan on the road Rohan, and please keep sharing your engine experiences.
Sad to stop but at 73 I have more projects than i have time for and if i am ever going to finish them plus continue to do the travelling I do I cant keep spending the time keeping a competition car in top condition. Plus my reactions are getting slower making driving an Elan on the limit no longer really possible meaning i have to slow down more than I like. However retirement from racing has created one more project which is to turn the Elan back into a full time road car. Not a lot required but replacing the springs for road versions and detuning the engine a little by fitting a different inlet cam are the main ones plus a lot of little other details like fitting road suitable brake pads and refitting the original glass rear screen replacing the plastic one
I managed to avoid them both