Ode to a '66 Elan

PostPost by: lotustony » Thu Feb 01, 2001 4:16 am

Mark Huffman ran his Elan at the SCCA Solo II National Championship event in
Kansas and won "A Street Prepared" by a good margin at 103.495 seconds
combined. That was pretty good time. That was faster than all the:

Vettes, RX-7s & Boxters in "Super stock"
S2000s, MR2s, & Boxters in "A Stock"
Miatas in "B Stock"
MR2s & 924s in "C Stock"
Neons in "D Stock "
Celicas in "E Stock"
Camaros in "F Stock"
Acuras in "G Stock"

The '66 Elan was ALSO faster than all the:

Vettes in "B Street Prepared"
Mazdas & Hondas in "C Street Prepared"
BMWS, Fiats, &Capris in "D Street Prepared"
M3s & Cameros in "E Street Prepared"
Sciroccos in "F Street Prepared"
Supras & AWD Talons in "Street Modified"
Imprezas & Neon ACRs in "Street Touring"

The '66 Elan was faster than ALL the cars in ALL the Stock, Super Stock,
Street Prepared, Street Modified and Street Touring classes! The only cars
faster than the '66 Elan were the full competition, non-streetable
hot-rodded classes and the '66 Elan even managed to beat all the Camaros &
Mustangs in "C Prepared"!

How about a standing ovation for a great '66 Lotus Elan and driver/developer
Mark Huffman.

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PostPost by: JohnIngham » Thu Feb 01, 2001 12:34 pm

This reminds me of an old friend in L.A. who used to marshal at SCCA events
in the early 60s. According to him, when the Elan entered it's first year of
racing it was in 'D' class, based on engine displacement, putting it among
the Triumphs and MGs. By the end of the season it had been moved to 'B' with
the Vettes and Cobras to make the racing a little more even.

Watching all this made him move from Abarths to an S2 Elan, bought in 67 and
still terrorising the back roads of town.

John



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PostPost by: "Michael Robertson&q » Thu Feb 01, 2001 5:32 pm

"Elton Clark" <***@***.***> wrote:


Do you have any idea what was done to this car to make it so fast? Could there
be some "cheaten"?.

--
Michael Robertson
Oceanside CA USA
64 Elan 1600
"Michael Robertson&q
 

PostPost by: lotustony » Thu Feb 01, 2001 8:05 pm

Michael Robertson wonders:



There has been some fantastic "development" poured into Elans for over 30
years by dozens of competitors but stringent tech inspection and the
scrutiny (!) by other entrants in the class keep them pretty honest.
Actually, Elans have ALWAYS run strong in the solos, there's nothing new
here.
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PostPost by: lotustony » Thu Feb 01, 2001 8:35 pm

Steve carped:



Yeah, well "Grassroots Motorsports" magazine finally published the stats in
the Jan issue.



Yeah but, little front wheel drive cars are allowed to run Formula One
motors, 12 inch slicks and "training wheels" . . . .didn't you know
that??

Didn't see any M100 entrants, afraid of that MGB I guess.

<-:

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PostPost by: ddddumas » Fri Feb 02, 2001 1:50 am

Didn't get to see that "Prepared" Elan romp, but its a great morale booster
for us all. Just looking at the picture you can see the wheels look a foot
deep. Knowing that there are Spyder frames with double A link suspensions
and 200 HP aluminum block Cosworth engines out there, anything is possible.
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PostPost by: jcocking » Fri Feb 02, 2001 2:03 pm

The key item, is the engine is protected in the prepared class. Talking to
Jay Mitchel who races with Mark on a regular basis told me Mark's car is
only putting out about 95 hp at the wheels. The key for solo like all road
races is not the height of the horsepower curve but the area under it. Yes,
the tires are large. I believe they are 225/45 by 13 inch on 9 inch wide
wheels. Jay runs an Europa at local, regional and national solo and spends
time with Mark. Last month at the local club, I spent several hours with
Jay discussing Mark's and Jay's cars and what happened at nationals.

jeff



-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.***
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 7:50 PM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] Ode to a '66 Elan


Didn't get to see that "Prepared" Elan romp, but its a great morale
booster
for us all. Just looking at the picture you can see the wheels look a
foot
deep. Knowing that there are Spyder frames with double A link suspensions
and 200 HP aluminum block Cosworth engines out there, anything is
possible.
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jcocking
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Joined: 06 Sep 2003

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