Lotus Elan 26R

[briSk]

Who knows about these?

I love Elans. And I have seen 26Rs race (I like HSCC meetings) but i don;t really know much about them.

The Paul Matty one has BRM embossed on the cam cover. what involvement did BRM have?

I know race Cobras cost a lot but 26R elans all seem to be 8-10 times as much as an S1 road car. why?

[chevronb37]

There's an article in one of the mags (maybe MotorSport) with a 26R feature at the moment. Describes rebuilding one only for Jackie Oliver to smash it up again in testing for Goodwood Revival!

There was an amazing battle a few years ago between Sean Walker and Martin Stretton in "Gold Bug" Ian Walker Racing 26Rs at the Oulton park Gold Cup. One was a notchback style and one the fastback. There is on-board footage of that race on the British GTs in the 1960s DVD which may well be on YouTube if you search.

[briSk]

it's not octane or C&sc so i'll see if motorsport (if so that's fortuitous because i was just idily thinking about them!).

[GKP]

clicky

[chevronb37]

briSk said:

it's not octane or C&sc so i'll see if motorsport (if so that's fortuitous because i was just idily thinking about them!).

I think it's the latest MotorSport. The current copy is at my dad's house so cannot refer to it easily. Re BRM heads, I believe that they just used to use one of their heads in period, although I believe there is a BRM-engined and liveried car around. I saw it at last year's Cholmondeley Pageant of Power. Don't know more than that I'm afraid.

[briSk]

GKP said:

clicky

brilliant.

just copied that into an email so i can spend some time digesting it

this is the one matty has for sale i think:
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/pic/3952/Lotus-Elan...

[briSk]

aha!BRM thing:

"The Lotus twin-cam four cylinder engine was offered with a Cosworth or BRM tuning package. Interestingly customers later figured out that the engine work best with a Cosworth block and a BRM head."

Edited by briSk on Friday 21st May 13:32

[rossb]

pat thomas of kelsport / kelvedon lotus knows alot about these cars - was chatting to him the other day just sold one this year with mega provenance for big money - got another for sale as well - at a more affordable(!) 129k - re BRM thing - he is also flogging one of the 10 BRM cars

[Sam_68]

briSk said:

...26R elans all seem to be 8-10 times as much as an S1 road car. why?

Provenance, basically... if it's a genuine 26R, then it's rare and it will have a period race history, both of which add substantial value.

Having said which, to take a 'standard' Elan and turn it into a 26R replica of the same specificatioon as the most originals can be quite costly. All the parts are available, so it is perfectly possible to do this, but you won't see any change out of £50K, which starts to make the £150 value of a genuine car a little more understandable.

The guy who MOT's my Elan has a 26R, incidentally... 180bhp engine, fully developed for historic racing and, like most 'proper' race cars, pretty horrible to drive on the road by his own admission. I must admit I wouldn't be so impolite as to ask him whether it's genuine or a replica, but my impression is that it's the former.