Tag Archives: Oulton

Two Tone Paint Standard – Lotus 36 Elan Sprint

It is well known in the motor trade that you know a model is coming to the end of it’s life when the limited editions and special paint jobs start appearing.

Falling Elan S4 sales and the suggestion that the Elan was falling behind the competition in a group test may have led Lotus Sales Director Graham Arnold suggesting that a revamped Elan be launched with a paint job derived from the Gold Leaf Team Lotus Grand Prix cars which were about to seal the teams forth World Constructors Championship in 1970.

The Elan Sprint was also given a new big valve head that is said to have been developed in just 10 days which boosted power from 115 to 125 hp. The Webber carburetors of Elan Sprint motor did not need the power bulge, required by the earlier S4 model Stromberg carburetors, in the bonnet / hood though early examples like the one seen here at Oulton Park are thought to have been fitted with bonnets from the previous S4 series to use up the surplus stock.

The badge on the wing celebrates World Constructors Championship victories in 1963, ’65, ’68 and ’70, this badge on the last Sprint models produced between November 1972 and May ’73 included a fifth 1972 championship victory.

It is suggested in some circles that the gold stripes between the two tone paintwork were applied to cover quality issues where the two colours meet, however the Gold Leaf Grand Prix cars on which the Elan Sprint paint scheme is based also featured a gold stripe twixt the red and white colours. Sprints could be ordered in single colours, at additional cost.

When Autocar tested the Elan Sprint in 1971 they liked the refinement, speed and handling but were not so keen on the ride, cramped cockpit or heating and ventilation.

It is thought 1353 Elan Sprints were built between January 1971 and March 1973 when Elan production ceased because the model did not meet new regulation requirements introduced for 1974 in US and European Markets.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Two Tone Paint Standard’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Hot V8 – Lotus 35 Martin #35/F/21

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The Lotus 35 was built for the 1965 season to compete in the second and third tier Formula 2, Formula 3 and Antipodean Tasman series fitted with motors 1 litre / 61 cui to 2.5 litre / 152 cui. 22 of these cars were built and fitted with a variety of 4 cylinder motors, chassis #18 apparently was even fitted with a 4.7 litre / 289 cui V8 and driven to a Formula A class victory at Willow Springs by Vernon Shields in 1968.

In 1966 new Formula One regulations came into effect allowing engine sizes up to 3 litres / 183 cui doubling the capacity of the previous regulations which had been in effect since 1961. Few teams were prepared for the new reglulations many teams resorted to using interim 2 litre / 122 cui motors until larger units like the Ford Cosworth DFV became more widely available in 1968. Former MG engineer turned engine tuner Ted Martin who had built heads for Ford based Formula Junior motors and a series of three valve heads for Ford motors used in Saloon car racing designed an unusually compact lightweight all aluminium V8 dry sump competition motor for the new Formula One regulations while working for GM in Canada in the early 1960’s.

Upon returning to the UK, having built his engine, Ted Martin asked his customer racing car entrant Charles Lucas if he could fit his new 3 litre V8 motor into a slightly damaged Lotus 35, chassis number 35/F/19, similar to the one seen here at Oulton Park which belongs to Allan Rennie, that the Lucas team had been running in South America for Piers Courage.

Roy Pike first drove the Lotus Martin, also known as the Lucas Martin at the time, prepared by Roy Thomas in a Formula Libre race at Mallory Park on Boxing Day 1966 and recorded a 3rd place in what proved to be the cars only competitive event. After the 295 hp car had impressed Dan Gurney, by matching his Eagle for top speed at Goodwood, Piers Courage qualified the Lotus Martin 14th for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in 1967 but a rocker bent while the engine was being warmed up before the race forcing a DNS.

A further test at Snetterton would be the cars last outing, after dusting Jackie Stewart driving an H16 powered BRM, Piers missed his breaking point and sent the car into the wall with the subsequent fire writing off the car. Piers Courage appears to have been unhurt in the incident but Charles Lucas called it a day and concentrated on building Titan racing cars from then on. Three more Martin V8 powered Formula Once cars were built by motor factor dealer AJ Pearce, during the week before their first event the unattended Pearce transporter burnt to the ground destroying two Pearce Martins, along with a Cooper Ferrari, before they ever turned a wheel in competition.

Allan Rennie started his recreation of the Lotus Martin after finding one of the V8’s under a dust sheet in a workshop in Horsham in 2003. The process of turning the motor into a runner involved spending a year getting a pair of cylinder heads up to scratch, preparing a new pair of cylinder blocks acquired from Ted Martins workshop, selecting the best four pairs of forked and blade rods from over 40 used ones, machining big end shells to match the rods, manufacturing a new set of pistons, the cylinder head volumes turned out to vary and to over come this each has a different thickness head gasket to balance the compression ratio, and machining new rocker shafts. Note the holes in the double skin chassis required for the removal of the spark plugs.

Two years after finding the motor Allan acquired the Lotus 35 chassis #35/F/21 and since 2003 Allan reckons he has spent over 5000 hours and enough money to buy a ready to go Ford Cosworth DFV powered Formula One racing car stripping everything down to the last rivet making all the necessary repairs using all of the usable original materials to put the engine and chassis back to together.

Allan’s five years of hard graft was rewarded with a debut win on 31st May 2009 in the Snetterton Guards Trophy meeting, despite ‘dire’ handling, possibly a result of a motor with 3 times the cui than originally intended, Allan found himself in the right place at the right time when the two leaders retired.

My thanks to Allan who’s Lotus 35 Martin website gives further first hand details and to Macca and everyone who posted information on The Nostalgia Forum Martin Engines thread.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Hot V8’ edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 – Ford Escort Mexico

Opel Manta i200

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With the Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz almost over, closing date for entries is this Sunday, it’s time to return to shake off the cobwebs and return to blogging about all things motoring. To start the New Years blogs I am looking at a hot version of the Opel Manta B the i200.

The second incarnation of the Opel Manta known as the ‘Opel Manta B’ was launched in 1975, and like its predecessor was based on the current model Opel Ascona saloon / sedan, the ‘B’ version of which was also used as a platform for the British range of GM products the Vauxhall Cavalier.

Confusingly for the automotive historian the Opel Manta ‘B’ and first generation Vauxhall Cavallier all featured a droop snoot nose while the saloon / sedan Ascona ‘B’ featured a common to period blunt nose.

In 1979 Opel started a rally competition program for both the Ascona and Manta models with the ‘400’ suffix added to competition variants of both models. This competition program led to several limited production runs of hot versions of the road going Manta’s being produced including i200 seen here which was manufactured in 1984.

‘i’ was a common suffix at the time usually signifying a vehicle fitted with a then less than common fuel injection system, while the i200 certainly had a 1979 cc / 120.7 cui overhead cam four cylinder motor tuned to produce 125 hp, the ‘i’ in i200 stands for the German tuning firm Irmscher who along with Cosworth were responsible for producing the competition versions of the Manta. Irmscher are credited with producing the body kit comprising rear spoiler and side skirts of the i200 model.

Of the 700 Opel Manta i200’s manufactured just 25 are thought to have been made in right hand drive form for the UK market most like this one in Arctic White with racing stripes as used in period by the Rothman’s cigarette brand which sponsored Opel’s competition program.

The Manta which was available in notch back as seen here or hatchback bore a passing resemblance to the larger contemporary Chevrolet Monza.

Thanks for joining me on this Irmscher edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

2011 GALPOT Review #3 – Motoring Events

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This week I am reviewing the GALPOT year 2011, on Monday I looked at some of the Museums I have visited and yesterday I looked at some of the Concours d’Elegance events covered on GALPOT thanks to Geoffrey Horton, today I am reviewing some the motoring events I have attended which includes any gathering short of a full blown racing.

By the end of January cabin fever was setting in and I leaped at the opportunity to go to my first Pistonheads Sunday Service which was convened at the BMW Plant car park just outside Oxford. I am not sure how many people attended but I was pleased to see several Bristol’s including this 405 Drophead.

April sees Bristol host it’s Annual Italian Auto Moto Festival a display of all things Italian on two and four wheels. Despite the presence of a fabulous array of red Friday cars the undoubted star of this years festival for me was the Cobra killing de Tomaso Mangusta.

I managed to make two trips to Silverstone this year the first for the Silverstone Classic Press Day which was a testing session with a veritable armada of Press Corps present. Star of the day was the Hesketh 308B the same chassis that James Hunt drove to Hesketh’s only Grand Prix victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1975.

Tony ‘Giraffe’ Gallagher from The Nostalgia Forum kindly organized a trip to CGA Engineering in Warrington where former Lotus employee Colin Bennett and his sons were workong wonders with racing cars spanning the late 1960’s to the early 1990’s including the Formula 2 spec March 71B chassis above decked out in Vick’s livery in tribute to Ronnie Peterson.

Thanks to the generosity of David Roots from the Bath & West Car Club I received an invitation to attend the Classic and Sports Car Action Day at Castle Combe. A tight schedule meant I focused my attention entirely on the vehicles in the car park including this Hillman Avenger Tiger Replica.

If your a fan of simple joys, it hard to believe that you will not leap at the chance to jump in the dinky little Morgan 3 Wheeler at some point in your life, I saw this one several times during the course of the year at, Silverstone, Goodwood and during several visits to the Morgan factory.

A hectic July weekend saw me pop into the Silverstone Classic for the first of the three days of entertainment, I probably saw more cars in action and photographed more than in any single day in my entire life that Friday. Among the many revelations was this Morgan Triumph SLR which I mistook for some unknown Italian exotica on the day, unfortunately all the action I saw was qualification sessions, I’ll try and make more time for the event in 2012. Many thanks to garyfrogeye amongst many others who helped me out by contacting Mr John Sprinzel who along with the recently departed Chris Lawrence was responsible for this masterpiece of British craftsmanship.

If I had my way every Wednesday I’d be up at the crack of dawn, sometimes earlier, and head 125 miles north to Mallory Park for the finest full English, breakfast, that money can buy and enjoy a veritable pot puree of vehicles being run in and tested around the track. Sadly this year I only made it the twice but it was worth it, where else could I see a vintage Riley being driven flat out next to a spec series Ford Ranger ?

Thanks to another tip from David Roots I made a, very long, diversion on my way from Bristol to the airport to the Haynes International Motor Museum to see the Rare Breeds show. I was not disappointed, I still have many of the vehicles I saw that day to blog about in the coming month. Above is a rotary 3 cylinder motor that tilts to engage the clutch of the Lafitte 5 CV.

Among many firsts in 2011 I managed a visit to the worlds first purpose built motor racing venue, Brooklands which dates to 1907 and sadly fell into disuse in 1939 with the onset of World War 2. I was there for the William Boddy Tribute Meeting to honor a journalist who was in part responsible for realizing my own passion for all things motoring and who did much to help save what is left of the Brooklands track today. One of the highlights of my motoring year was seeing a handful of cars from Brooklands heyday being driven over the crumbling but none the less hallowed concrete.

The day after Brooklands I visited Dyrham Park which used to be a Hill climb venue in the 1960’s where a demonstration of vehicles that were and would have been, entered in the original events took place. Unfortunately today’s safety requirements make it quite impossible for a modern competitive event to take place at Dyrham Park but it was wonderful to see so many cars being driven with a modicum of spirit up the hill.

Unfortunately my hard drive went on tilt after my visits to Brooklands and Dyrham Park so I will not be able to post any further images from these two events.

A couple of weeks ago I was near Manchester for a TNF meeting with my friend Tim who had never been to Oulton Park before, so we made the short diversion from a friends house and found a track day in progress, one of the star vehicles was this 130 hp Simca 1000 which once belonged to Frank Breidenstein – President of ”Simca Heckmotor (rear engine) Deutschland”.

My sincerest thanks to everyone who made these adventures and the blogs that came form them possible, not least Tim who is both a fountain of useful information and a handy map reader.

Thanks for joining me on this events edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me for a review of 2011’s racing action tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

MEBEA MIA ! – Reliant Fox

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The story of today’s pickup starts in 1960 when two Greek motorcycle assembly operations merged to form Μεσογειακαί Επιχειρήσεις Βιομηχανίας, Εμπορίου και Αντιπροσωπειών which translates to Mediterranean Enterprises for Industry, Commerce and Representations, known as MEBEA. MEBEA manufactured a variety of vehicles using mostly Zundapp motorcycle engines.

During the 1970’s MEBEA also manufactured glass fiber bodied Reliant vehicles under license. In 1979 the company developed its own pick up the Fox based on the Reliant Kitten chassis and running gear. In order to get the vehicle type approved for the Greek market it was deemed easier and possibly cheaper for Reliant to get the Fox type approved in the United Kingdom first.

It is thought around 3000 MEBEA Foxes were manufactured between 1979 and 1983 when changes in Greek laws stopped favoring vehicles like the Fox.

However that was not the end of Fox production, no sooner had MEBEA ceased production of the Fox in Greece than Reliant started to produce the Fox, powered by an all aluminium 848 cc / 52 cui 4 cylinder motor, for the British market.

This 1984 Fox, seen above at Oulton Park, is one of around 600 built between 1983 and 1990.

My thanks to L.S. Skartsis and G.A. Avramidis who’s excellent book “Made in Greece” Typorama, Patras, 2003 proved an invaluable reference source.

Thanks for joining me on this Greek odyssey edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Oulton

Two Tone Paint Standard – Lotus 36 Elan Sprint

Hot V8 – Lotus 35 Martin #35/F/21

Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 – Ford Escort Mexico

Opel Manta i200

2011 GALPOT Review #3 – Motoring Events

MEBEA MIA ! – Reliant Fox

Low Rider – Lotus 15