Sandown Historic Racing

[rgh0]

A couple of shots of my Elan at the Sandown Historic Racing last weeked. Over 350 cars racing including a full grid of 40 Group S production sports cars.

cheers
Rohan

[trw99]

Well done Rohan, looks like you were out in front?

Nice pics and the car's looking good.

Tim

[rgh0]

I was running mid field about 20th. You dont see the, 3 litre Posche Carreras, 6 litre Panteras, 7 litre Covettes and 6 litre Shelbys out in front!
But I stay in front of most of the under 2 lire cars

cheers
Rohan

[Midlife]

Nice shots, photos like this help with set ups... A lotus looks right on the track. I notice your using wider tyres on the rear, did you need that with the increased bhp your running?

Weather looks better than here

Cheers

Doug

[rgh0]

Hi Doug

The tyres size differences are some perspective trick of the photos front and rear are both the same size and are 175 / 60 - 13 Yoko A032R on 5.5 inch wheels.

In interpreting the set up in the corners you need to understand a little more about how I am driving in each corner.

The first photo in the RH corner is the first corner in a sequence of 2. The second photo in the LH corner is the corner that follows closely on from the first and leads onto the main straight.

The quick way through this sequence is to brake deep into the first RH corner and take it a little slower and with a very late apex so you can stay to the right of the track to get the fastest run through the next LH corner onto the main straight. Both corners are similar sharp right angle turns taken in second gear at around 5000 rpm

Thus in the first photo the car is still a little nose down as I am just coming off the brakes. Roll is less as the driver is on the inside and weight of a driver in an Elan is significant. Speed is also a little lower and car is not really at the limit on the front tyres but the tail is a little lightly loaded and loose.

In the second corner the car is starting to accelerate through the apex as early as possible and is on the limit both front and rear and starting to drift aiming to hit the apex and continue to the outside of the track. Weight transfer is greater due to the car being more balanced front to rear and on the limit at both ends and also due to the driver being on the outside of the corner.

At least the above is the theory of what I am trying to do, how well I execute it is variable! In the first couple of races I drove poorly and the healy and porsche got past me despite the Ealn being capable of passing them down the straights with better acceleration and top speed. In the last race I got it right and stayed ahead of them.

cheers
Rohan

[Midlife]

Photos and the eye are misleading! the elan (and driver) did good to keep in front of that lot in the picture. Reading the theory though, I suspect this is one of your favourite set of bends(?). How do you get on with the A021Rs, do you use them for all weather conditions. I have some that I use as wets (and the odd auto test), mainly because crossply wets are not in my budget at the moment. I haven?t used the 21s in heavy water/rain, but I have heard that they displace water very well, so we shall see! Rgds Doug.

[rgh0]

Hi Doug

I normally have 2 sets of Yoko A032R's in use. One is an older worn set and one new set with full tread depth. The new set is used a my wets and the worn set as my dry weather tyres. Once the old set wears out the newer set is rotated to be the dry tyre and I buy a new set to use as wets.

With full tread depth they are OK wet tyres. The think tread blocks are really a bit large and the rubber a bit hard for them to be a fully effective competition wet tyre but we a limited in the tyres we can use in my class.

With Yoko A032R no longer available I will probably try Dunlop DZ03G once my current set wears out. These seem to be getting better reports than the Yoko A048 that have replaced the 32R's in Australia.

cheers
Rohan