aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
I drove a Lotus Elan today.
I went over to my friend Pete's shop to see if the crankshaft was ready for my racer (it wasn't). Anyway, when I pull in with my white Miata, I park next to a white Lotus Elan. Pete comes out, looks at the two white roadsters next to each other and says "Twins!". The original designer of the MX-5 was heavily influenced by the Elan and it's easy to see when the two are together.
Looking at the Elan, I realize how tiny and delicate it is compared to my MX-5. I had ridden in an Elan 2+2 coupe' once before, but never one of these little S2s.
"What's it like to drive?" I said.
"Do me a favor" Pete says. "I want to stay near the phone. I just tuned it up and I think it's OK. The keys are in it....take it for a spin and see if it feels OK to you? Then you'll know how it drives too."
"Ahh, OK!" I say. This isn't the first time I've driven something interesting at his shop. In the last year I've driven an MGB-GT, a wild, semi-racer 1380 Mini, a flat-rad Mog and others. Right now he's fixing a Turner that I hope to get a spin in, when it's done.
This Elan was a keen little job with 1700 cc, 16 valve, twin-cam, two big Webers, knock-off Panasport wheels and other cool stuff. It had high-lift cams and was slow under 2500 RPM but really jumped above 4000 RPM. Sort of like a Sprite on steriods. The pedals were way off for heel/toe and the brakes weren't the best either. The 4-speed shifter was OK, but not as good as the Miata or my Spridget.
But the thing really had *juice* when it came to acceleration. Much faster up to legal speeds than my "Hiroshimo Elan". This example had about 160 HP and weighed about 1400 lbs. Even with the goofy hood blister and the dorky window frames, this thing is Way Cool!
I want one.
I went over to my friend Pete's shop to see if the crankshaft was ready for my racer (it wasn't). Anyway, when I pull in with my white Miata, I park next to a white Lotus Elan. Pete comes out, looks at the two white roadsters next to each other and says "Twins!". The original designer of the MX-5 was heavily influenced by the Elan and it's easy to see when the two are together.
Looking at the Elan, I realize how tiny and delicate it is compared to my MX-5. I had ridden in an Elan 2+2 coupe' once before, but never one of these little S2s.
"What's it like to drive?" I said.
"Do me a favor" Pete says. "I want to stay near the phone. I just tuned it up and I think it's OK. The keys are in it....take it for a spin and see if it feels OK to you? Then you'll know how it drives too."
"Ahh, OK!" I say. This isn't the first time I've driven something interesting at his shop. In the last year I've driven an MGB-GT, a wild, semi-racer 1380 Mini, a flat-rad Mog and others. Right now he's fixing a Turner that I hope to get a spin in, when it's done.
This Elan was a keen little job with 1700 cc, 16 valve, twin-cam, two big Webers, knock-off Panasport wheels and other cool stuff. It had high-lift cams and was slow under 2500 RPM but really jumped above 4000 RPM. Sort of like a Sprite on steriods. The pedals were way off for heel/toe and the brakes weren't the best either. The 4-speed shifter was OK, but not as good as the Miata or my Spridget.
But the thing really had *juice* when it came to acceleration. Much faster up to legal speeds than my "Hiroshimo Elan". This example had about 160 HP and weighed about 1400 lbs. Even with the goofy hood blister and the dorky window frames, this thing is Way Cool!
I want one.