[robcall]

I found the overlay of the Elan and the +2 very interesting with the additional wheelbase of the +2 extending behind the front seats (without adding to the nose).
Yet both cars are beautifully proportioned.

[kwhittle]

A big thank you to all the members who were kind enough to enclose their images
Brilliant.
I have a few autosport road tests that I will upload.

Looking at the Sunbeam Alpine web site the other day (!), they had a very comprehensive list of all the past tests, click on one and it opened.
Should we have the same ??
Kevin

[trw99]

[For the sake of future searchers, this is a duplicate of my posting on this thread: lotuselan-plus2-f51/period-road-tests-the-t43730.html#p310444]

Kevin, there are some lurking around on this site, but nothing like the entirety.

Brooklands Books actually published five books of roadtests:

Lotus Elan 1962-1973
Lotus Elan Collection No 1
Lotus Elan Collection No 2
Lotus Elan Gold Portfolio 1962-1974
Lotus Elan Ultimate Portfolio 1962-1974

Additionally, uniquemotorbooks.com published a compendium of roadtests called Lotus Elan 1963-1973

Now, because I'm a nerdy anorak about these cars, I attach two spreadsheets for you. The first is a list of 145 roadtests by various magazines during the Elan and +2s production. The second is a list of some, but not all, post production road test, which I have in my collection.

Tim

[kwhittle]

Many thanks Tim
Much appreciated
Kevin

[theelanman]

I've got this one......
A 6 page pull out
Motor w/e 2 Sept 67

Elan plus A lot

My pic of the front page is too big to send straight from my phone.......I'll post it tomorrow....

[JonB]

The long and detailed Motor article has much to say of the Plus 2's handling.

They could be talking about a completely different car to mine (which handles like a cow). And I am not sure I want to try 120mph in it, as it feels quite fragile to me at motorway speeds.

[kwhittle]

I've got this one......
A 6 page pull out
Motor w/e 2 Sept 67

Elan plus A lot

My pic of the front page is too big to send straight from my phone.......I'll post it tomorrow....

Yes Please
Kevin

[mikealdren]

The long and detailed Motor article has much to say of the Plus 2's handling.

They could be talking about a completely different car to mine (which handles like a cow). And I am not sure I want to try 120mph in it, as it feels quite fragile to me at motorway speeds.

I suspect that you need to get the suspension set up correctly, mine's been off the road for a long time but when I used it regularly, it handled very well indeed and was fine on the motorway (5 speed helped a lot). However it wasn't very good at (indicated) 120mph; there was too much front end lift and the steering was rather light!

I'm rebuilding as a Zetec car and I'm going to put a lip spoiler to try to counter the front end lift.

[theelanman]

fyi

[rgh0]

The long and detailed Motor article has much to say of the Plus 2's handling.

They could be talking about a completely different car to mine (which handles like a cow). And I am not sure I want to try 120mph in it, as it feels quite fragile to me at motorway speeds.

Keep working on getting the suspension set up back to design. In that state it is totally stable and predictable. Then to take it to the next level to work well with modern grippy tyres you need to do some adjustments. What those are and how you do them is a long a complex topic and what you do depends on your view of originality versus your view of modern performance drive-ability .

cheers
Rohan

[vincereynard]

They could be talking about a completely different car to mine (which handles like a cow).

Make you mind up Jon. Is it a Pig or a Cow?

Interestingly if you compare images of early +2 (Motor 67 - which praised the high speed stability) the front is considerably lower than later tests that complained of it being twitchy, especially in side winds.

I know Lotus raised the nose, presumably by fitting longer springs, that may no help!

[Quart Meg Miles]

My 1973 S130 looked like the LH picture in1980 when I bought it. Perhaps the rubber mountings had compressed due to hard use in both cases.