Tag Archives: Castle Combe

Project Sport 500 – Lotus Esprit Sport 350 No.26

When the Lotus Type 82 Esprit Turbo was introduced in April 1981 it had a new chassis which was built to accommodate a V8 or the hitherto ubiquitous 4 cylinder type 907/910 motors. It was not until two complete body restyles later that the V8 type 918 would finally see the light of day in the back of a Julian Thompson styled Esprit in 1996.

Lotus Esprit, Sport 350, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The Julian Thompson styled Esprit replaced the Peter Stevenson styled Esprit in 1993 alongside the new body came a redesigned interior and for the first time on an Esprit power steering.

Lotus Esprit, Sport 350, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The twin turbocharged all aluminium 918 V8 Esprits were restricted to 350 hp which was deemed the most that the Renault derived transmission and drive train could handle. In 1998 V8 Esprits were built to either luxury SE or sporty GT specification.

Lotus Esprit, Sport 350, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The ultimate incarnation of the Esprit was the Sport 350, such as the one seen here during last years Classic and Sports Car Action Day at Castle Combe. These models were built with AP racing brakes, stiffer suspension, revised electronic control unit (ECU) for the motor and a carbon fibre rear wing mounted on aluminium uprights. With 350 hp these cars can reach 100 mph from rest in just under 10 seconds.

Lotus Esprit, Sport 350, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Only 55 of an intended production run of 50 Esprit Sport 350’s were built between 1999 and 2001, all bar 48 of them were painted silver, four were black, two white and one ice blue.
Lotus Esprit, Sport 350, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Rob the owner of Sport 350 No.26, also known as Project Sport 500, has upgraded this particular vehicle to produce 500 hp and “run right past 60 mph in (the) first of it’s six gears”. You can see some of the work Rob has undertaken to achieve this performance on this linked page.

Only 15 Sport 350’s remain in the UK according to Rob one of them is a right off in a salvage yard.

My thanks to Rob for his help with today’s post.

Thanks for joining me on this “Project Sport 500” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Basic Instinct Pretty Woman – Lotus X180 Esprit Turbo

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Having been taken over by General Motors in 1986 the future of Lotus Cars was more secure than at almost anytime in the manufacturers history. Prior to the take over Peter Stevens had been employed to revamp the sharp edged Giugiaro styled Lotus Esprit, which had been in production since since 1975, around the chassis of the existing Series 3 Esprit under the project name X180.

Lotus Esprit Turbo, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Despite the new body not varying by more than an inch in any dimension from the old one Stevens managed to transform the look of the Esprit by using rounded lines. Ironically despite the smoother shape the new X180 is has a marginally higher aerodynamic co efficient than it’s straight edged predecessor.

Lotus Esprit Turbo, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

15 months after Stevens started work on the X180 it was ready to be launched in October 1987 with the new body work being manufactured with the Lotus patended vacuum-assisted resin-injection (VARI) process.

Lotus Esprit Turbo, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Despite the similarity of the old and new bodies they could be easily distinguished by the new alloy wheels cast to a Lotus design by OZ. Esprit aficionados will notice that the front bumper / spoiler on this particular 1988 Esprit Turbo seen at last years Classic and Sports Car Action Day at Castle Combe dates from the final S4 Esprit incarnation which was restyled by Julian Thompson in 1993.

Lotus Esprit Turbo, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The X180 Esprit was powered by the same type 910 normally aspirated or turbocharged motors as it’s Esprit predecessors, with the 215 hp turbo motor the zero to 60 mph time was marginally reduced to 5.4 seconds from the previous 5.6 seconds and top speed was over 150 mph. The X180’s handling benefited from the improved torsional rigidity of the new body.

Lotus Esprit Turbo, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Record Esprit sales of 1058 units in 1988 would not be bettered despite the cars appearance in high profile films that included Pretty Woman 1990 and Basic Instinct 1992, and a sting of lesser films including The Rookie 1990, Taking Care Of Business 1990 and the Bond spoof If Looks Could Kill / Teen Agent 1991.

Thanks for joining me on this “Basic Instinct Pretty Woman” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Imperial Green – Lotus T104 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton

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In 1990 Britain and Germany’s GM divisions launched a new Q car that could blow the contemporary Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4 performance model into the weeds. The new vehicle was known as the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton in the UK and Lotus Omega in the rest of Europe.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

Lotus project Type 104 was responsible for turning the 3 litre / 183 cui executive saloon, into a barnstormer which included a body kit that fed more air into the engine and two small louvered out lets on the bonnet hood.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The six cylinder motor was comprehensively revised; the swept volume was increased to 3.6 litres / 219 cui and twin Garret T25 turbochargers with a Behr water to air inter cooler were fitted to take the power up to 377 hp at 5200 rpm. Transmission came courtesy of the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the limited slip differential from the Australian Holden Commodore.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The performance figures included rest to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds with 100 mph being reached in 11.1 seconds and a controversial top speed of 176 mph, which made the car the worlds fastest four door saloon. There had been, unheeded, calls for GM to follow the lead of BMW and others to restrict the top speed to 155 mph.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

The suspension was also suitably modified for improved stability and handling to match the straight line performance of the car, standard Carlton / Omega Servotronic power assistance for the worm and roller steering was used as space and budgets precluded the development of rack and pinion steering.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Classic and Sports Car Action Day, Castle Combe

You could have your £48,000 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton or Lotus Omega any colour you liked so long as it was imperial green, which as can be seen looks black in any light other than direct sun light. Just 320 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton’s were built and 630 Lotus Omega’s.

Thanks for joining me on this “Imperial Green” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cruise Control & Central Locking – Lotus Type 89 Excel s.e.

Last Saturday I looked at the prototype 1982 Lotus Excel today I’m looking at a couple of Lotus Excel s.e. models built with in months of each other.

Lotus Excel s. e., Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Between 1982 and 1987 numerous modifications were carried out which included the introduction of a louvred bonnet with body shell coloured bumpers and rear spoiler in 1984.

Lotus Excel s. e., Family Clubs Day, Castle Combe

In 1985 the wider wheel arch profiles, larger boot aperture, VDO intrumentation, front fog lights were introduced with a 15 inch road wheel option were introduced.

Lotus Excel s. e., Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

For 1986 the s.e. option with raised engine compression and an adjustable steering column was announced.

Lotus Excel s. e., Family Clubs Day, Castle Combe

The S A Automatic option was launched for the 1987 model year with cruise control, central locking.

Lotus Excel s. e., Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

Of the 400 plus Excels known to be in the UK, only one was ever built to US specification, more than half are no longer on the road.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cruise Control & Central Locking” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Not A Bolt On – Lotus Turbo Esprit Type 82

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In 1979 Monaco based oil traders Essex Petrolium joined Martini as sponsors of the Team Lotus Formula One team, something that Martini were not too thrilled with as they decided not to pursue there sponsorship for a second year. For 1980 Essex became the teams primary sponsor which carried over into Lotus production car operations with the launch, at the Royal Albert Hall, of the Lotus Turbo Esprit as a limited edition Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit of which just 100 were built in 1980 and 1981.

Unlike the single carburetor bolt on turbo that Lotus dealers Bell & Colvill had been offering customers since 1978 the official Lotus Turbo Esprit was a substantial upgrade of the normally aspirated Lotus Esprit Type 79, which included a new chassis with a wider engine bay, new front suspension derived from the latest Lotus Elite, new rear suspension and a new 210 hp type 910 development of the 4 cylinder Type 907 motor with twin carburetors and Garrett T3 Turbocharger.

After the production run of 100 Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit’s had been completed a variation of the originals blue red and silver colour scheme was offered with red leather interior like the one seen above in the Paddock at Silverstone which features rare three piece Compomotive wheels as used by James Bond in the 1981 film “For Your Eyes Only“.

Most Turbo Esprit’s were supplied with one piece BBS wheels. The Turbo Esprit body work is differentiated from earlier Giorgetto Giugiaro designed Esprit body by the addition of a front below the bumper spoiler and side “skirts” with NACA air ducts for the engine bay.

The significance of the wider engine bay of the Turbo Esprit’s new chassis would not become clear until the launch of the V8 Esprit which although initially developed alongside it’s turbo sibling did not come to market until 1996 having been delayed by numerous other projects including Colin Chapman’s involvement with De Lorean.

Although well received by the press the Turbo Esprit failed to gain a substantial foot hold anticipated in the USA and the 846 examples built between 1980 and 1984 marked the beginning of a steady decline in the fortunes of Lotus Cars.

Thanks for joining me on this “Not A Bolt On” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Autumn Classic – Castle Combe

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Last Saturday morning I made my way to Castle Combe for the Autumn Classic meeting, regrettably the last but one racing meeting of the season, as you shall see I couldn’t make Sunday’s final Castle Combe meeting due to a commitment elsewhere.

This event marked the first visit by the Vintage Sports Car Club for thirty years. I followed the 1929 Dodge Brothers Senior above in through the gate.

In the paddock Sue Darbyshire was warming up her Morgan Super Sports for morning practice which qualified 6th for the VSCC Pre War Sports Cars race and in which she crossed the finish line of the race in 4th.

Out on the track practice for the Bernie’s V8 Historic V8 Racers Association race was well underway, the series caters for V8 powered cars racing on road legal treaded tyres. I was most pleasantly surprised to find one of less than 600 Maserati Bora’s built among the entries, Graham Burgess is seen above qualifying for 15th on the grid, he finished the race in 11th.

During the lunch break Julian Bronson demonstrated his 1960 Scarab Grand Prix car that was built, maintained and on occasion driven by Chuck Daigh for Woolworth heir Lance Reventlow. This is the third of the three open wheelers built and was raced by Chuck with a regular Offenhauser during 1961 in a couple of non championship Formula One races, with out the ill feted Desmodromic cylinder heads fitted to the first two cars.

After the success of the Spirit of the Sixties event held at Dyrham Park last year the Bristol Motor Club were invited to organise an Essence of Dyrham demonstration at Castle Combe last weekend, Martin Sheppard’s 1958 Stanguellini Formula Junior, was the only open wheeler to take part.

After the lunch break racing got under way in earnest with Chris Woodgate making the most of his pole position in his Aston Martin DB 3 to come home over thirty seconds to the good from Nicholas Ruddell in his #25 Aston Martin DB2/4, Nigel Batchellor seen in second place in the #36 DB 2/4 above dropped out, while Timothy Stamper lost 3rd place for several laps to Anne Reed before claiming back third spot on the podium in his #39 Aston Martin 2/4.

Anthony Reid stamped his authority on the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club Pre 1966 Jaguars race right from the word go, but there was plenty of action going on behind. Above John Burton in the #15 XK 120 carries evidence of cutting a chicane, John managed to hang on to 5th place eventually finishing 10 seconds ahead of Peter Dorlin’s #48 Mark 1 Saloon, after an entertaining battle Peter finished 1 place ahead of his brother Richard, in a Mk 2 Saloon.

The Big Healey Challenge race was interrupted by a pace car incident which virtually handed a one lap lead to forth place starter Anders Schildt from Sweden, but these classics still proved highly entertaining to watch as they grappled with Castle Combes notoriously undulating surface. Above Anders leads eventual third place finisher David Smithie who appeared to be closing Anders down for the lead until the pace car intervened effectively handing Schildt the John Gott Trophy on a plate.

If the Healey’s were struggling with Castle Combes undulations the Bernie’s V8’s fared little better as evidenced when a rear shock absorber failed on the #78 Dodge Challenger of Belgian Bert Smeets. The rare South African #6 Ford Capri Piranha of Andrew Haddon managed to lap the entire field in less than 40 minuets on his way to victory in a race which was also interrupted by a Safety Car period after an incident involving the series organisers Bernie Choodosh’s Chevrolet Corvette.

After lengthy repairs to the Castle Combe crash barrier the 50’s Inter Marque race provided plenty of thrills and spills. Nigel Webb just managed to keep his C-type Jaguar ahead of Nigel Bancrofts indecently quick Lotus Elite which was giving away over two litres / 122 cui in swept volume to the Jaguar. Webb came into hand over to Anthony Reid who regained the lead after the Elite’s mandatory pit stop and headed for his second trip to victory lane of the day. Bancroft who elected to drive solo finished second.

Tom McWhirter driving the unusual 6 wheel #23 Jaguar SS 100 is seen leading the opening lap of the the VSCC Pre War Sports Car race from the #21 HRG Andrew Mitchell and #29 Patrick Blakeney-Edwards Frazer Nash Owlette. Tom won the race by nearly 3 seconds from Andrew who in turn finished just over 16 and a half seconds ahead of Patrick.

The Twilight Challenge featured just seven starters but there were still battles aplenty thanks to the mandatory pit stop requirement. Tim Pearce claimed the victory in his Morgan Plus 8, the #73 Ford Falcon of Chris Clarkson above is hounded by the Jaguar E-Type of Alan Bull. Alan retired the Jaguar, while Chris and co driver Williams came home second 26 seconds adrift of the Morgan.

I hope it is not another 30 years before the VSCC returns to Castle Combe and that Bernies V8’s and twilight racing return early in the new year with bigger grids.

Full results for all last weekends races at Castle Combe can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Autumn Classic’ edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a 1954 Blue Flame powered sports car. Don’t forget to come back now !

2011 GALPOT Review #4 – Motor Sport

Today I am reviewing some of the competitive events covered on GALPOT over the past 12 months.

The GALPOT motor sport year started with the Cross Trophy a production car trial organized by the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club at the farm belonging to Duncan seen at the wheel of his air cooled chain driven GN in the photo above.

Above Bristol Pegasus Motor Club Vice President Richard Craddy presents yours truly with the Cross Trophy and Mug.

(Photo Courtesy Martin Baker)

I’m not to sure how I ended up competing in my land ladies 20 year old Volkswagen Passat but I am pleased I did, I got a welcome dose of beginners luck and ended up winning the event out right ! Unfortunately the Passat was replaced soon afterwards and I am not too sure how I’ll defend my trophy next year.

When I met ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell in the back of a bus on my way to Race Retro I became totally infected with his enthusiasm for Drag Racing, at the end of May I managed to catch up with Chris and his classic sling shot dragster Backdraft at Shakespeare County Raceway. Catching him popping a wheeley proved quite difficult so I am looking forward to catching him again next year.

I got to see several events at Castle Combe courtesy of Simon Lewis of Simon Lewis Transport Books including the Tour Britannia event which featured a cracking race between the front row starting ex New York cabbie Danny ‘spin and win’ Sullivan in his Porsche 911 RSR and the ex private airline pilot and Formula 5000 champion Ian Ashley who started on the back row of the grid in his Caterham Super 7. I still pinch myself when I am reminded the 1985 Indy 500 winner visited our local track this year !

A couple of weeks later I returned to reality with a bump when I entered a Kia Picanto in the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club Gymkhana held in the hills of the Welsh border just out side Chepstow. The little Picanto had a huge weight advantage over the Passat but had absolutely zero traction in the long grass. My run of novice success was over I came in 10th out of 11. But I still had fun sitting in the passenger seat of Alan’s Hawk HF3000 seen above which finished one place ahead of me.

At the end of July it was back to Castle Combe again courtesy of Simon Lewis for the Britcar 2 hour endurance race. What an experience it was with the early leaders eventually giving way to the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458 being shared by Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw who set a new record for most laps covered in a single race at Castle Combe. I believe this was also the first time I have seen a Ferrari win a race outright in person.

Three weeks later I was back at Castle Combe for the August Cup meeting which was overshadowed by the death of Pete O’Shea who suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his Formula Ford car. The meeting was hastily rescheduled after Peter had been taken away. A cracking weekends racing ensued as if to do the memory of Peter proud. There were several Caterham races featuring race long wheel to wheel battles through out, but it was the Formula Fords who celebrated their fallen comrades life with the most scintillating display of all as Rob Hall, seen leading above from Felix Fisher and eventual winner Ben Norton, were joined by Steven Jensen in an entertaining four way shoot out.

On another diversion this time twixt airport and home I managed to visit my local short track Mendips Raceway for the first ever, last time I saw anything like this was over 30 years ago and most entertaining it proved as the ever present short track conundrum about inside lane of inside lane was repeated again and again. Liam Rowe is seen getting airborne above going for the inside lane.

For my final two visits to Castle Combe this year I volunteered to be a marshal. At the Wessex Sprint I was assigned to the start line team responsible for ‘staging’ the cars. I loved every ultimately exhausting minute of it. Shame I only got to take photo’s during the occasional unscheduled breaks but if you love motor racing I can’t recommend marshaling highly enough as a great way of getting close to the action.

Over the August Bank Holiday I made it up to Oulton Park for the first time since the early 1990’s, the facilities and track have been considerably improved since my last visit but the circuit still has the same atmosphere. The feature race of the meeting was the Derek Bell Trophy race for the open wheelers dating from the 1970’s back to the late 1960’s. Michael Lyons in the Chevy powered F5000 #64 Lola T400 lead for most of the race but towards the end Richard Evans giving away a 3400 cc / 200 cui advantage managed to line Micheal up for a clean pass in his Formula Atlantic #54 March 79B a couple of laps from home and hold on to win the race.

I was a corner marshal for the Regency Laundry Pegasus Sprint during my last visit to Castle Combe for the year, again this proved to be a very entertaining way to get close to the action, the TVR’s seemed particularly difficult to drive, while ‘stood down’ from marshalling duties I managed to take a couple of photo’s of the cars in action of which, as a previous Volvo 144 owner, I found the example driven by John Dando particularly appealing.

So there it is my motor racing year started by winning a cup in a muddy field and ended as a corner worker in the sunshine at Castle Combe with all manner of entertainment in between. Life can’t get much better than this can it ?

My thanks to BPMC treasurer Martin Baker for the use of his photo.

Many thanks for joining me on this Motor Racing edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be reviewing the 2011 GALPOT Fridays. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

or

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !