Cirrus white 1963 Lotus Elan built to 26R GTS specification and was first out at Dijon in 2019 and then won the class at the 2022 Spa 3 Hour race
It needed quite a few jobs done (see below) to complete it and make it competitive in FIA Appendix K events

The newest inhabitant at Team Wolfitt Racing the day it arrived in The summer of 2018

So what started out in Summer 2018 as a purchase of a ready-to-go Lotus Elan 26R has turned into a fairly sizable improvement plan for the car. The car had clearly been put together quite quickly and had been intended to be used as an historic rally car but because we are only interested in FIA racing, there was rather more to do on the car than had originally been expected.

The following work had to be undertaken to convert/revert the car to 2019 FIA Appendix K historic race spec.

• Removed the exhaust silencer (for some reason a re-packable motorcycle one had been fitted which would have failed any noise testing immediately) and replaced with a full size box. We had to remove the ATL fuel tank and reinstate the glass fibre boot floor hump to fit the FIA specification unit. Also added additional boot stiffener to support the 60 litre tank which had been bolted to the thin boot floor; this would not have survived the rigours of racing let alone rallying.
• Changed the entire flywheel and clutch assembly to an FIA compliant one; the unit fitted was an AP multi plate clutch with a concentric hydraulic release, none of which is allowed.
• Refitted the iron gearbox case (the car had been fitted with a non-FIA compliant magnesium alloy one).
• Fitted the cage properly, some of the bolts were through the fibre glass and not through into the chassis so would have ripped out. Also several of the bolts were too short and did not pass through the entirety of the nut.
• Had the cage recertified - very naughty; the Safety Devices homologation sticker had been removed from another cage and put onto this cage - it wasn't even for this type of cage! Safety Devices were very helpful and were able to recertify the cage.
• Removed, shortened and refitted the door bars; they were mounted way too high in the door apertures and at a strange angle.
• Replaced the entire pedal box; I suspect the car had originally or been built as left hand drive because it had a left hand drive pedal box fitted into the right hand side foot well. This has the wrong pedal spacing and meant no gap between the clutch pedal and the transmission tunnel.
• Removed the passenger side seat frame; the car had been fitted with a very home-made tubular seat frame despite the fact that the floor is seat-ready and could have taken a seat bolted directly to it.
• Removed the twin fuel pump set up and fitted a single electronic unit; twin pumps used to be popular when pumps were mechanically triggered and used to fail quite regularly.
• Fitted a fuel pressure regulator; really important on any performance engine running on Weber carbs.
• Fitted shorter road springs; the ones fitted were fouling the tyres!
• Removed the period style bullet mirrors (truly useless in racing) and fitted larger door mirrors. Not quite the right period but actually useful.
• Removed the seat belts; they were single-seater ones and had been fitted with incorrect specification bolts and brackets on the crutch and lap straps.
• Removed and remounted the seat - it was set with a huge amount of recline; I guess that's just driver preference but I like to sit upright because it's more comfortable and quicker in the pit stop driver changes.
• Re routed the fuel pipe (oddly it actually ran through the car at the rear of the cabin) at both ends.
• Re-fitted the dual throttle cables; had not been done well enough and the angles were too tight on both cable runs.
• Removed the mechanical rev counter (which was actually a motorcycle one) and replaced it with a modern and more accurate electronic one.
• Fitted a new steering wheel; the one that came with the car was blue and the suede was very worn.
• Remounted the steering column; the crash-collapse mechanism was seized solid with dirt and corrosion and the column was not properly aligned.
• Moved (and rewired) the rear high intensity rain light.
• Removed high level brake light.
• Replaced the fuse box - it had been fitted with a used, older style euro fuse box which I really dislike because they can shake out and it also had its mounting flanges cut away so kept dislodging from the dashboard.
• Fitted an FIA compliant master switch - it only had a basic on/off power master which does not cut the engine and is not allowed. Also fixed a daft wiring fault where the voltage meter was allowing the engine to run on after the ignition was turned off.
• Changed to a correct spec Lucas 23D points distributor - it had a later type Lucas 45D dizzy which had been retro fitted with electronic ignition.
• Fire bottle needed a service and we had to remount all the extinguisher nozzles which had no brackets and were mounted and supported on the pipe only; again not allowed. Discovered later that the system is supposed to have 6 nozzles not 3 as had been fitted, additional ones fitted in accordance with fitting instructions.
• Fitted slide latch to the boot lid.
• Fitted 10mm wheel spacers at the rear (as per 26R spec)
• Fitted dash-top crash pad which is mandatory for FIA Elans
• Complete rewire - there were too many weird wiring challenges such as random headlight operation depending on what else was on when the ignition was turned on! Nearly all of it went in the bin and the loom has been hugely simplified.
• New engine mounts - the ones that were fitted failed at the first test session necessitating new race spec units being fitted.
• Fitted lightweight oil cooler hoses to replace the fitted steel swaged ones.
• Replaced damaged inboard UJ flange (there was a stress-fracture-inducing divot in one of them).
• Changed diff / final drive unit to lower ratio one following the Snetterton test session.
• Fitted diff cooler pipe (at Dijon) made from supermarket water bottles - since replaced with a properly fitted one.
• Fitted the the ultimate Mintex brake pads!

After the first event

• Replacement steering rack (the one fitted was actually bent and would not dynamically centre properly during the first race).
• Moved internal fire system trigger button away from the other switches!
• Changed the brake master cylinder pipes to hoses and modified bias bar position because it was impossible to set enough rear brake.
• Fitted new front hubs - existing ones both had spun their bearings at some point in the past and damaged the hubs.
• Fitted much larger, foam-filled fuel tank for endurance races.
• Removed sump to repair the sump oil plug area which had a porous weld and the wrong sump plug.

Later improvements

• Changed to new brake master cylinders after a failure at a Goodwood track day.
• Fitted larger fuel tank.

Racing Lotus Elan specification

A full spec, Series 1 Lotus Elan GTS (that's the FIA spec on the homologation forms) and is known as 26R spec in Lotus terms. It's an early car but I don't think much of its 1963 existents still persists in the current car; maybe the door handles and one window frame element!

Basically it's fully road registered and legal and has:

• 26R spec chassis and suspension - very much like a standard chassis but with strengthening gussets and fully rose jointed suspension.
• A super lightweight Series 1 26R body shell, roof and closing panels. The 26R has wheel arch flares.
• A 3/4 wooden dashboard as used in the series 1 26R.
• Removable steering wheel.
• 26R spec AP brake calipers with modern Mintex race pads.
• Knock-off, peg drive, 6J13 Magnesium wheels and magnesium final drive rear casing.
• Close ratio gearbox (iron main case since the FIA banned magnesium ones).
• Safety Devices cage.
• Tillet race seat with lightweight Schroth harness.
• Lightweight battery.
• Craig Beck built engine at c. 175 BHP with twin 45 DCOE webers.
• Heated windscreen; plastic side and rear screens.
• Alloy radiator and header tank with electric fan.
• Electrically triggered fire extinguisher.
• Long distance, foam filled fuel tank.
• Road legal lighting - headlights, turn indicators etc.

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