Talbot lotus sunbeam

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Discussion

LastPoster

2,390 posts

183 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
I think they may be AP 'forest' calipers. Their stopping ability (along with the very rapid acceleration of a 240 bhp Sunbeam) made my co-driver hurl into his closed face crash helmet on one very twisty SV years ago

Mark A S

1,836 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
LastPoster said:
I think they may be AP 'forest' calipers. Their stopping ability (along with the very rapid acceleration of a 240 bhp Sunbeam) made my co-driver hurl into his closed face crash helmet on one very twisty SV years ago
Looking again i think your correct, slightly smaller than the monte versions.

Ha, closed face helmet puking is not recommended. I was sick once whilst driving a stage due to an allergic reaction to pain killers [had cracked some ribs].
Fortunately i had an open face helmet on, as it was mostly water that re-appeared i even went to put the wipers on!

aeropilot

34,630 posts

227 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
Mark A S said:
LastPoster said:
I think they may be AP 'forest' calipers. Their stopping ability (along with the very rapid acceleration of a 240 bhp Sunbeam) made my co-driver hurl into his closed face crash helmet on one very twisty SV years ago
Looking again i think your correct, slightly smaller than the monte versions.
Yes, I believe they were the 'forest' calipers.

I'm not going to mention names, in this story, but back in 1989 when I went to visit Des O'Dell at Humber Road (prior to the Sunbeam-Lotus Owners Club being formed) one of the things he showed me when walking around the Comp Dept was the separate rack of works developed parts for the Sunbeam-Lotus. He had said that he intended to keep a pattern part of every PTS comp part developed for the car, which wouldn't be sold, so in the future any part could be remade from this archive pattern part. It was part of Des's passion for a car he pretty much 'gave birth to'.
Fast forward 2 years and I was trying to buy one of the works AP brake kits for mine, but they were NLA from PTS, and almost no PTS parts specialist had any either. I say almost no one, but I did one one well known parts supplier that said they had one in stock.
Great, made the journey to this place, paid the money and took my box of bits back to London. When sifting through the bits they all had a paper tag label tied to them with 'Pattern Part not for sale" written on them?
Sometime later when Des giving a lecture chat to SLOC members, in a private chat with him, he was telling about being stabbed in the back by a well known PTS dealer that had done a deal behind his back with the company to clear out all the old parts from Humber Road, which included all his stash of 'pattern parts'.....
I didn't have the heart to say, that I had unknowingly bought one of these a year beforehand......and it explained the mysterious label on my brake kit after buying it. He was so angry about his so-called friend that had done this.
Dear old Des, what a character, and loved his stories of his days in Aston Martin, and his GT40 days before joining Rootes Comp Dept.

Mark A S

1,836 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
aeropilot said:
Yes, I believe they were the 'forest' calipers.

I'm not going to mention names, in this story, but back in 1989 when I went to visit Des O'Dell at Humber Road (prior to the Sunbeam-Lotus Owners Club being formed) one of the things he showed me when walking around the Comp Dept was the separate rack of works developed parts for the Sunbeam-Lotus. He had said that he intended to keep a pattern part of every PTS comp part developed for the car, which wouldn't be sold, so in the future any part could be remade from this archive pattern part. It was part of Des's passion for a car he pretty much 'gave birth to'.
Fast forward 2 years and I was trying to buy one of the works AP brake kits for mine, but they were NLA from PTS, and almost no PTS parts specialist had any either. I say almost no one, but I did one one well known parts supplier that said they had one in stock.
Great, made the journey to this place, paid the money and took my box of bits back to London. When sifting through the bits they all had a paper tag label tied to them with 'Pattern Part not for sale" written on them?
Sometime later when Des giving a lecture chat to SLOC members, in a private chat with him, he was telling about being stabbed in the back by a well known PTS dealer that had done a deal behind his back with the company to clear out all the old parts from Humber Road, which included all his stash of 'pattern parts'.....
I didn't have the heart to say, that I had unknowingly bought one of these a year beforehand......and it explained the mysterious label on my brake kit after buying it. He was so angry about his so-called friend that had done this.
Dear old Des, what a character, and loved his stories of his days in Aston Martin, and his GT40 days before joining Rootes Comp Dept.
Great story. I never met Des sadly so am quite envious of your meeting with him. AS a Big Ford fan, i have always had the utmost respect for the works Sunbeam rally team etc, good times indeed smile

LastPoster

2,390 posts

183 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
The best Des tale I have heard was from one of his ‘Young Lions’ in the early days of the 205 challenge.

He took few of them on a factory tour of the production line at Coventry churning out 309s and asked them what it meant to them. They all gave worthy answers about representing the company and the workers whose livelihood depended on the motorsport dept being a success.

Des replied along the lines of “no, we can build them faster than you can crash them so don’t you worry about that “

aeropilot

34,630 posts

227 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
Mark A S said:
aeropilot said:
Yes, I believe they were the 'forest' calipers.

I'm not going to mention names, in this story, but back in 1989 when I went to visit Des O'Dell at Humber Road (prior to the Sunbeam-Lotus Owners Club being formed) one of the things he showed me when walking around the Comp Dept was the separate rack of works developed parts for the Sunbeam-Lotus. He had said that he intended to keep a pattern part of every PTS comp part developed for the car, which wouldn't be sold, so in the future any part could be remade from this archive pattern part. It was part of Des's passion for a car he pretty much 'gave birth to'.
Fast forward 2 years and I was trying to buy one of the works AP brake kits for mine, but they were NLA from PTS, and almost no PTS parts specialist had any either. I say almost no one, but I did one one well known parts supplier that said they had one in stock.
Great, made the journey to this place, paid the money and took my box of bits back to London. When sifting through the bits they all had a paper tag label tied to them with 'Pattern Part not for sale" written on them?
Sometime later when Des giving a lecture chat to SLOC members, in a private chat with him, he was telling about being stabbed in the back by a well known PTS dealer that had done a deal behind his back with the company to clear out all the old parts from Humber Road, which included all his stash of 'pattern parts'.....
I didn't have the heart to say, that I had unknowingly bought one of these a year beforehand......and it explained the mysterious label on my brake kit after buying it. He was so angry about his so-called friend that had done this.
Dear old Des, what a character, and loved his stories of his days in Aston Martin, and his GT40 days before joining Rootes Comp Dept.
Great story. I never met Des sadly so am quite envious of your meeting with him.
My car parked outside the Comp Dept at Humber Road back in Nov 1989, with Des O'Dell's 309GTi parked behind it.


5s Alive

1,827 posts

34 months

Thursday 30th March 2023
quotequote all
2172cc said:


My car with 15" Minilites....Escorts may command more money these days but think the Sunbeam shape still looks nicer
Lovely car! I always aspired to a Lotus Sunbeam but sadly couldn't afford one.
This was my hillclimb/sprint car 40 odd years ago.



A few others that set off my interest in them.





Mark A S

1,836 posts

188 months

Thursday 30th March 2023
quotequote all
5s Alive said:
Lovely car! I always aspired to a Lotus Sunbeam but sadly couldn't afford one.
This was my hillclimb/sprint car 40 odd years ago.



A few others that set off my interest in them.
Aha, the snackpots LS driven by Ian Crammond. I was only discussing this with 2172CC recently smile I competed against Ian back then a few times, i was in my black RS2000 X pack, ROW 10S.
Good times smile

aeropilot

34,630 posts

227 months

Thursday 30th March 2023
quotequote all
Mark A S said:
Aha, the snackpots LS driven by Ian Crammond. I was only discussing this with 2172CC recently smile I competed against Ian back then a few times, i was in my black RS2000 X pack, ROW 10S.
Good times smile
Goodwood back in the good old pre-Revival days smile

Did a fair few sprints in mine at Gooders



Used to compete with two other SLOC members on a regular basis, this was my good mate Steve's car.


2172cc

1,105 posts

97 months

Tuesday 4th April 2023
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This must be a young aeropilot then?

aeropilot

34,630 posts

227 months

Tuesday 4th April 2023
quotequote all
2172cc said:
This must be a young aeropilot then?
Where the hell did you get that from....?? yikes

Mark A S

1,836 posts

188 months

Wednesday 5th April 2023
quotequote all
2172cc said:
This must be a young aeropilot then?
Excellent smile Looks a bit high at the front there Aero, taking it in the woods were you wink

aeropilot

34,630 posts

227 months

Wednesday 5th April 2023
quotequote all
Mark A S said:
2172cc said:
This must be a young aeropilot then?
Excellent smile Looks a bit high at the front there Aero, taking it in the woods were you wink
Yeah, that's when it still had the forest springs on it, that were supplied new from PTS as tarmac springs......which clearly weren't.
I replaced them with a secondhand set of tarmac springs from a fellow SLOC club member that was also part of our 3 car SLOC Sprinting Team, when he bit the bullet and when over to a full coil-over setup as he was moving from sprinting to circuit racing.

2172cc

1,105 posts

97 months

Wednesday 5th April 2023
quotequote all

aeropilot

34,630 posts

227 months

Wednesday 5th April 2023
quotequote all
2172cc said:
Front number plate is incorrect size to the one fitted when new wink

Hol

8,419 posts

200 months

Thursday 6th April 2023
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2172cc said:
Hol said:
I hear that 101 is going to be in a Magazine feature soon. Classic hot hatches.
101?
Do you mean DAC 101Y or something else?
A bit late. But yes . DAC101Y.