Attempting to build the fastest road legal Elan in the world

Attempting to build the fastest road legal Elan in the world

Author
Discussion

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

235 months

Thursday 29th December 2016
quotequote all
Well, there is no point in aiming low, is there? :-)

When I broke the car at the 1985 Street Racer Championships (cam follower exploded) it was running 168bhp at the wheels, which wasn't too shabby back then. I had nitrous on it as well but it was a crude setup compared to today's systems and it never worked properly (the 168bhp was without nitrous).

19 years later I finally got back into cars and decided to rebuild it. I dragged it out of the collapsing shed it was in and thought about what to do with it.



Shopping trolleys have more power so I looked into my options. Fitting EFI and and ECU might gain me another 20bhp or so for a lot of money so this wasn't really a starter. I wanted to keep it Ford based so that mods were kept to a minimum and finally settled on a Cosworth YB (bear in mind this is in early 2004). Started with a 400bhp lump from a right off but quickly revised my plans and, in discussion with my engine builder, Geoff Page, settled on a 520bhp with a pretty flat torque curve. The spec is as follows:

Sierra Cosworth 2000cc 4 cylinder engine:
Approx 520bhp on pump fuel
Ford Motorsport 200 block
Long studded (6)
Balanced knife-edged lightweight WRC crank
8.2:1 compression ratio
High pressure oil pump
Big winged WRC sump
Steel windage tray
Group A rods
Mahle pistons with R4 pockets
Group A ported and gas flowed 2WD head
Hydraulic lifters
WRC phase sensor
Escort WRC inlet manifold
Piper BD14 inlet and exhaust cams
Piper vernier cam pulleys
Piper valve springs
WRC steel head gasket
4WD exhaust manifold
Custom made 3” exhaust system (Primary Designs) Plasma coated by Zircotec
T4 RS500 turbo with 60 trim compressor housing and 360 degree bearing
.31 Actuator
8x Seimens injectors
Distributorless ignition system (camshaft pickup)
Wasted spark coil pack (Motorcraft) and high performance plug leads.
Big wing baffled alloy sump
4WD steel flywheel
Twin plate cerametallic Alcon clutch assembly
3 bar MAP

This was built in 2005 so is now pretty old hat but still ticks the power box for now. If I manage to transfer all the power to the tarmac then we will look at an upgrade.

The rest of the car has been modified to take into account the 400% power increase over standard.

Anti-lag system
Launch control
Traction control
ABS wheel sensors for above on all wheels
Custom made alloy radiator and intercooler.
Hi-Spec 4 pot alloy front calipers and larger diameter lightened grooved and drilled discs
Hi-Spec2 pot alloy rear calipers and drilled and lightened discs
All brake pipes replaced with copper hard lines and stainless braided Teflon flexible brake hose.
Elite il300 6 speed sequential gearbox fitted with full throttle pneumatic flappy paddle gear change system
Lightened propshaft
Sierra Cosworth 7.5” 3.85:1 rear diff fitted with Quaife ATB.
Custom made gun barrel drilled halfshafts.
Custom made rear hub assembly.
Lightened CV joints
Uprated chassis to beyond 26R specification (by Graham Hatherway Racing) to cope with up to 650bhp
Uprated (Tony Thompson Racing) Lotus Elan rear bottom wishbones modified for toe-in adjustability in-situ.
Custom made (GH Racing) rear top wishbones (“Rose Jointed”) and hub carriers
Custom made adjustable in-situ aluminium front top wishbones.
Spyder bottom front wishbones.
Alloy (Pace Products) front wheel hubs
Standard bushes in all suspension parts that haven’t been “Rose Jointed”.
Droop limiters all round in lieu of anti-roll bars
Fully bespoke B.A.D dampers and Eibach springs with tender springs on rear.
Rear dampers now inboard.
Standard steering rack but reconditioned and secured with solid mounts
Floor mounted brake-bias pedal box assembly.
No ICE
Carbon fibre seats (pair), dash, roof, boot lid and floor, bonnet, all interior panels, rear wheel tubs, floor and centre console
Standard doors but with carbon fibre skin, lightened and with Lexan windows
Custom quick release steering wheel with inbuilt switches and gauges
Full roll cage in T45
Full harness for track day and drag racing use.
11 litre foam filled alloy fuel tank.
Holley blue top lifter pump.
1.5l swirl tank
Pair of Bosch 044 MotorSports high pressure fuel pumps (205l/min @5bar)
High flow filter.
Aluminium dash 8 fuel lines.
Fuel pressure regulator
Hydraulic handbrake (road legal on this age of car)
Custom rear light clusters
Bodywork modified to accommodate 3-piece 15x8” alloys with 225/40/15 Michelin TB5 tyres (front) and 3-piece 15x10.5” alloys with 285/35/15 Micheloin TB5 tyres (rear).
Front splitter
Rear diffuser
Front and back bumpers moulded into bodywork
Underside smoothed
Lithium Ion battery.
No headlamps (daytime use only)
Lightweight 80amp alternator.
Component positions optimised to help in balancing car weight
Black paintwork

Most of the mods are hidden by the bodywork so I made a walkaround video prior to the body being fitted for the final time (the roll cage is welded in so the body is not now removable)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuy8O4SCW8E&t=...

The roll cage was a bit of a mission. I was initially intending on only fitting a roll over bar due to my weight reduction fetish. However, on doing a twist test we discovered that the chassis, although strengthened beyond the racing 26R spec, was very twisty and not capable of coping with 520+bhp, let alone any upgrades. So I decided to fit a full cage, almost a spaceframe by the time it was finished, but the car is now rigid. It is a bespoke cage as there is nothing available, apart from the totally inadequate (for my purposes) Safety Devices offering. It took us four weeks to design and build, with the first couple of days just discussing options. It is made from T45 which saved me around 13Kg.

The seat isn't being used, by the way :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgTrBIUYBlY

The cage extends though into the engine bay and connects to the chassis close to the front suspension uprights.

The cage was built in June 2015 and the car still had fibreglass floors, wheel tubs and interior panels. They have now all gone and been replaced with carbon fibre.

I will sort out some photos of the recent work. The plan is to get it fired up next year and sorted ready for serious use in 2018.




Edited by stevebroad on Thursday 29th December 23:53


Edited by stevebroad on Friday 6th January 21:51

StangGT

3,925 posts

268 months

Thursday 29th December 2016
quotequote all
Wow. Just wow.

Lots of pics please!

maxest

303 posts

217 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
That's cool

DoubleSix

11,691 posts

175 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
In

clarkmagpie

3,559 posts

194 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Settling in for this one smile

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
That sounds utterly frightening. This thread has legs!

Watching your video this is going to be seriously quick!

Edited by 0a on Friday 30th December 01:04

chuntington101

5,733 posts

235 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Sounds really interesting. Keep the info coming. Can't see the second vid for some reason...

kiethton

13,883 posts

179 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
chuntington101 said:
Sounds really interesting. Keep the info coming. Can't see the second vid for some reason...
Same here

Vaud

50,287 posts

154 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
kiethton said:
chuntington101 said:
Sounds really interesting. Keep the info coming. Can't see the second vid for some reason...
Same here
OP, the second youtube video is set to "private"

Scalino

121 posts

88 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
This sure sounds interestingclap

ALBA MELV

383 posts

155 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Just posting so I remember to come back to this when not at work and watch the videos.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

235 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Vaud said:
OP, the second youtube video is set to "private"
Not on purpose. Had a look but can't see a private flag to undo. Anyone know where I can find it?

B'stard Child

28,320 posts

245 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Been following this on my other favourite forum (the blue one) - nice to see it here but boy oh boy you've got a lot of back catalogue to catch up on biggrin

Enjoy it guys....

Justin S

3,637 posts

260 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Wife, get the kettle on. I have a damn good thread to read................

dom9

8,040 posts

208 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Wow! Looking forward to more pics!

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
More deets please

Evanivitch

19,802 posts

121 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Great build! Would you consider it more of a silhouette car now?

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

235 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Evanivitch said:
Great build! Would you consider it more of a silhouette car now?
Well, sort of. It is a bit like Trigger's broom.

Vaud

50,287 posts

154 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
stevebroad said:
Not on purpose. Had a look but can't see a private flag to undo. Anyone know where I can find it?
Log on to youtube.Go to the menu at the top left (the 3 horizontal stripes). Choose your library. When you find your video, select the down arrow there should be an option for "info and settings". In there you can change it to public/unlisted or private.

stevebroad

Original Poster:

442 posts

235 months

Friday 30th December 2016
quotequote all
Vaud said:
Log on to youtube.Go to the menu at the top left (the 3 horizontal stripes). Choose your library. When you find your video, select the down arrow there should be an option for "info and settings". In there you can change it to public/unlisted or private.
Cheers. Right, it says public now so please try again.