Spa Summer Classic 2019 - 22 Elans taking part !

I’m very much looking forward to next weekend at Francorchamps for the Spa 3 Hour race (28, 29, 30th June) and associated shorter races: spasummerclassic.com/

I have just looked through the entry lists and noted 22 different Elans participating (including a +2).

I will looking around the paddock looking at all the secret tweeks (it will be too hot to wear my anorak though) that I might be able to incorporate on my GTS project.

Perhaps if anyone from the forum would like to meet up for a natter and a cold beer they can drop me a PM ?

Andrew

Tempting, but it’s a bit of a round trip.
Besides , I’ve cut all the holes and am fairly committed to the course I’ve chosen.

The build is coming on nicely. Just finished making up the hydraulics lines. Happy with the pedal box and the steering column. Tillett welded in.
Next bit is final body prep pre paint and get the loom made up.

Hi Andrew
Have a great weekend.
Try and check out which Elkans are real 26R’s and which are GTS cars.
I’d love to see some pics
Cheers
Dave

Hello Dave (and all reading!),

I will endeavour to take photos of all the cars as it will be an impressive turn out. I’ll try to look at the corresponding VIN numbers if I can for 26Rs as requested.

In particular, I will try to check out the other FAQs here:

  • dash pads
  • FIA legal single adj dampers and spring platforms
  • dynamos (FIA requirement) or alternators
  • plywood dashboards

I’ll draw up a little table for pm distribution to fellow anoraks but will skip the period things they apparently check for at Goodwood (non-PVC picnic sets, correct shade of roof lining, period correct wiper washer fluid colour etc).

Alloy gearbox casings.
Trouble is a lot of these cars got their passports up to 10 years ago and things have chnaged. Scrutineers on the day don’t check that much.

This will probably be only of interest to the racers, but perhaps you should know that an Elan won outright the Spa 3 hour Race…beating the Cobras!

In fact there were 3 Elans in the top 4, and the 2nd Elan finished only 8 seconds short of the 1st

Following on from the Spa Classic, 10 days ago…here is a summary of who did what (in terms of the Elans):

Spa Summer Classic 2019 - results of Elans taking part.pdf (321 KB)

Photos to follow…

Photo of the 3 Hour race winning Elan (Car N? 13 : Wilson/Pittard) prepared by Wolfe Racing:

Car N? 27: Barbot / Matos from Portugal. This car was the fastest Elan (by 5 hundreths of a second…) and finished just 8 seconds behind the leader shown above.

This Shapecraft (car N? 10) driven by Schryver/Schryver/Weller) was 4th O/A and was fastest on the Kemmel straight (for an Elan) at 218.2 kmh (136mph).

The very nicely prepared Adams/Griffin S2 (car N?42):

Bond / Gormly S2 26R (original) finished 12th O/A. Excellent preparation and I think my favourite colour!

Ex-Foitek 26R which has been beautifully restored by Gerry Wainwright Racing.

It is very positive that the HTP inspectors have understood that many Elans in period raced with major body modifications:




I dont think it raced originally with the firewall modification that has enabled the engine with TTR modern headers to be pushed back in the chassis by around 50mm to improve the balance :open_mouth:

cheers
Rohan

G’day Rohan

I had a long chat with Rob Wainwright who rebuilt this S1 R 22 for owner David Garrett. The body is apparently the original and the modifications seem to have happened later in 1967 (see Zurich Racing Car Show in November 1967 photo below):

photobucket.com/gallery/user/dg … NTY=/?ref=

Other cars in the paddock had a similar modification.

Personally I would like to applaud David Garrett for going to the trouble of getting this car so carefully restored. There are other photos of the car if you did around on this link: forums.autosport.com/topic/2043 … el-arches/

Really interesting data for a racer to see the variation in lap times and top speeds with tyres and racing series. On a fast circuit like Spa the big engine cars should blow away the Elans as they would be doing 250 kmh plus down the straight compared to the Elans 210kmh They would do that here in my class but i suspect the engine internals limits here allow the Panterras, Corvettes and Shelby Mustangs to get more than they can under FIA regs plus the lighter weights allowed in 26R replicas allow them to catch up with heavier big engine cars a bit in the corners and under brakes

cheers
Rohan

Its not the external body modifications I am commenting on as these happened in a very random pattern back in the day in the 60’s. The FIA replica regulations allow you to essentially copy any car of the period if you can convince the officials that the body external style existed based on historical race photos.

My comment was around modification of the internal firewall to enable the engine to be pushed back around 50 mm and the fitting of the modern TTR headers in a cut into the firewall which did not exist back in the 60’s as far as i am aware. None of the photos from the 60’s in the links provided appear to show these engine bay mods ?

cheers
Rohan

That looks suspiciously like TT himself in the photo?

Rohan

The firewall mod is intended to avoid a fire, as the engine IMHO on the Foitek car was not at all set back.

I can send you other “anorak photos” if you are interested.

I have just run the maths and assuming a 4.1 final drive / Avons, the Schryver Shapecraft pulled 8200 rpm on the straight. This was a bit faster than the other cars and requires a fearless run through the Raidillion…

Graeme

TT was at the track and full of energy.

The firewall mod is intended to get the weight back in the chassis and improve the handling. The “avoid a fire” excuse is what you tell the officials. To fit the TTR race exhaust I had to move my standard firewall S4 car engine forward and cock it to the carb side and drop it a little plus fit heat shielding due to the very close approach to the firewall. I wondered why it did not fit but now I know :laughing: I am not allowed to modify the standard body either externally or internally in my class. The cut out in the firewall allows the engine to be shifted back and enables the rear curve on the No 4 pipe to be where the firewall used to be. The gap between the rear of the cylinder head and the firewall is certainly smaller and the whole firewall may have been moved back for all I know. Getting at the two top bell housing bolts would be a challenge on this car.

All I know it is not an original 26R modification as far as i can tell. But what would i know compared to the “experts” in the FIA. Their relatively loose regulation in some areas such as allowing “replicas” but tight in others such as requiring round main caps even if you can make them out of steel now when they were cast iron back then is something only a body like the FIA could arrive at IMHO

In the end it does not really matter as long as everyone is playing by the same rules in the class but it does change the relative competitiveness of different car makes now versus then

cheers
Rohan

Hi, I am new to the forum (an Elan owner since March 1985).

I thought that I would add that David’s qualifying time for the Spa 3 hours was 2:52.674. This was only headed by 4 Cobras.

The same car has been the highest placed Elan in the Spa 6 hour race several times: last year finishing 7th (again)preceded only by the Ford GT 40s.

The attached link may be of interest - in car footage of David’s drive in the same Elan in the wet at the Silverstone classic

youtube.com/watch?v=DiUEoEVjhu0

Thanks