Lotus Elan: How Fast Really?

[Jeff Short]

Originally Posted by LandQuail

The old-school thinking concerning motor racing "safety" was that you'd be better off thrown out of the vehicle than going with it wherever it was headed, which was almost always into something hard.

Of course, they did without rollover protection in those days, preferring to have thier skull crushed and/or be decapitated than have Nuvolari call them a pussy (or something.)

Those guys in racing during the early 20th century had balls. They survived WWI, and WWII, niether of which has ever been remembered for its excess of joy. After that, the general mindset was that if those damn Germans couldn't kill them, how in the hell could one tiny car deliver their coupé-de-gras? ((sic)and it's a double pun... you didn't think of it!).

But kill them the tiny cars did. I think that through the 50's into the 60's one driver in seven finished his gran prix season in a box. The press started calling racing a "blood sport," and there was great outcry and wailing from the public. As soon as people took a liking to a driver, he was killed. Except for Stirling Moss, who is either a Highlander or Dracula.

In the 70's, things started changing. Safety became as important as winning, and team owners didn't want to see their star driver in pieces strewn through the branches of trackside trees. Some of the romance was gone forever, but so was some of the horror. Take your pick, I guess.

There are still probably ways to off yourself in a F1 car today, but after driving one off the top of a tall building into a volcano, I can't think of any. Senna's death caused a re-design of most circuits so that there's nothing to hit, and chicanes everywhere keep speeds reasonable (not too many super-duper high speed corners anymore.)

And everybody existed in a safe, cosseting world from 1970 onward.

Except Colin Chapman, who by that time was clearly as mad as a hatter (in the best way possible.)
An inexperienced driver will cause major damage just getting into an Elan, and the consequences of even a child on a Vespa colliding with the car in a side impact don't bear thinking about...

Really, this is only a car in a loose sense. It's more like a shifter cart with bodywork.

What was the question again?

Good post, Frank Gardner's famous quote "I don't want to be the fastest driver, jsut the oldest." Of course half the time he was the fastest as well anyways. I spoke to Frank about 3 months ago at a family BBQ. My GF hadn't met him before and told him it was amazing his achievements in motorsport. In true Frank form his response was "What's amazing girl is i'm here to talk to you about it."

I uhave unlimited amounts of respect for all forms of race drivers from the 50's and 60's.

[NicFromLA]

^ That's why Olivier Gendebien is my hero.