scariest moment in a lotus ?

[Brian Skeoch]

Mine was a couple years driving to a British car show. I had a sharp turn that went from a 4 way stop. whenI pulled away and turned right the rear came around and I was facing a ditch. for some reason, I stood on the gas, touched the brake, turn the wheel left and the car camr back around for me and I was facing the right direction. I thought I was going over the edge.

and I dont even know how to drive very well.

It must have been all of those Rockford File episodes that I used to watch on tv as a kid.

what is your scaries monent ?

Brian

[TWO OLD ELANS]

1.) Thirty five years ago as a passenger in my 1966 S2 Elan with the top down at night on I-71 northbound, grabbing the wheel from my buddy as he was about to un-negotiate a fast sweeping right hand exit too quickly while I yelled .."brakes brakes, now,turn,TURN,you can do it," but he (we) was (were) just too drunk and he put it in the guardrail under late braking on loose gravel. We switched places and I drove home, undetected.
2.) Thirty years ago, driving my RHD just imported from England S3 Elan through rural southern Ohio when 16 year old Dixie Lee Swackhammer turned left into me in a Ford 150 pick up. (I'm not making it up)
3.) Last year at the local British Car Day. I had two old old Lotuses there and we had a tremendous long rain shower.
Luckily for me all three ended happily.
I can't wait to see how this thread subject progresses. Lotuses can be dangerous.

[nsxt2000]

I think I would have to say my scariest moment involving a Lotus was when I had to tell my wife that I had just bought an Elise...without discussing it with her...after she specifically said "don't even think about buying one of those".

Yea, that was pretty frightening - and the aftermath even worse - having to sell it to keep maritial harmony.
-Mike S.

[Kimbers]

Hitting a full grown Buck Deer in Thetford at 6am on a Saturday morning.

I was in the process of taking my fiance back to Liverpool and we were in a brand new M100 Elan with the top down. It was a lovely summers morning and I was doing......ahem.....miles per hour....lets call it 70 shall we?

Just driving into Thetford on Dual Carraigeway a deer just appeared on the road infront of me. I swerved to the outside lane and hejust kept coming so I swerved back into the inside and he doubled back.....BLAM!

I caught him just to the left of centre of the car. It sort of got hazy and I remember the seat belt sdoing their job and then opening my eyes a few seconds later (might have been temp knocked out) to hear this keening noise. I thought it was the deer till I remembered the Mrs in the seat next to me.

Thankfully there were no injuries (apart from the deer) and she looked fine to me......erm, until she turned round and half of her face/hair/shoulder was covered in blood, guts and fat.

Car was badly damaged but stood up suprisingly well! She dumped me shortly after....wonder why?:confused:

[Günter]

1.)long time ago, in a slippery wintertime, my clutch failed [spline spinned over and locket the friction plates in position] and therefore it was not possible to stop the car [even with clutch pedal pressed]. I pressed brake pedal but could not stop the power to the wheels. It endet in a 90degre turn [because the front wheel were locket by brake and the car stops in a fence... . (ok, was my fault ignition was still "on" and so the engine was running..)
2.)Hockenheim Easter Race'07, ...without Brakes

[Kimbers]

MJK Says:

All Early 70's Lotus's were tested by senior engineers driving over Europe and back.
It's 11.00 at night and 2 senior engineers were driving through the alps in Northern Italy...lets call them Mike Kimberley and Tony Rudd for the sake of annononymity...!

Now, the Europa Twin cam was virtually all new against the old Renualt engined Europa and this included better brakes and different suspension and new steering. Not having experienced the great new steering MJK takes over and Tony Rudd gets some sleep.

Imagine the peace and tranquility of a nice dark summers night, a gently winding Alp road, 5000 feet drop, lack of barriers (this was the early 70's) and unbeknownst to both Engineers the wrong steering ratio's.

Eager to get to his destination the driver (now MJK) put his foot down on the gently twisting road until at 70mph he came to a hairpin.................

Now those that know the frustration of a car that doesn't turn in to a corner as they want, can only imagine what was going through dads mind as he turned the wheel...and turned and turned and ........

Yep said car decided that, though great at gentle curves, when you wound the steering on there was less and less turning ratio. A minor but soon to be fatal mistake.

Tony Rudd woke up and looking directly at 5000 feet of empty space joined my dad screaming until the car stopped one wheel precariously in empty space. Now dad rarely talks about this incident, maybe because as chief Engineer, he really should have tested the steering, however, after plying him with a few (many) beers or a bottle of Cava, he may regale you with his story and he does a great impression of Tony Rudd's scream and may even mention the dry cleaning bill once they got to the guest house!

[Brian Skeoch]

I had an " episode " at Road Atlanta a few years ago. I was in my car doing some laps and just in front of me was the factory Exige. we came into tun 10 A and I was leaning on the car pretty good. I was reeling in the Exgige which was driven by LCU copr employee John Shephard.

coming out of turn 10 a he spun just in front of me and then he startd to go backwards. . I had to either go outside of him passing him in the back, or in front of him across his bow.

thankfully he stopped and I was able to get around him from the back. I still remember seeing his eyes when he was sideways.

I just thought I was going to T bone the factory exige.

Brian

[Autocross7]

The wife and I out took the Esprit out one night to meet some friends for dinner. On the way back to the house (a Thursday night), I decided to take a quick spin around the back side of the University of South Alabama as it is a short cut, but also has some really fun twisty roads.

Twisties run through, the inevidible corner stop had to be made... where there were a few people on the corner... a few rather attractive collage girls (as I am reminded from time to time).

Anyway, I had to stop for the corner as the light was red, and a rather... um... correctly put together girl stepped up to my open window, and said something like, "wow... that is a great car! I have never seen an Esprit in real life!"... and before I could reply in any form she hands me a paper with her apt# and phone# and says... "if you can come back later, you know, when you are alone, and give me a ride, I'll give you 'a ride'. Call me." and she walked away as the light had turned green

While the wife did not blame me exactly... she did point out several times that I did not say "no" either. Any attempt to point out that I did not get the chance was futile for about an hour... I was def. scared that this was never going to go away...

Cameron

[dpr59]

Letting my son have a drive.

Powerless in the passanger seat.
At 20yrs old he had an old 1.1L Pug 106 that he'd learned to drive in.

The acceleration from 40 under kickdown frightened the life out of him....:)

[Brian Skeoch]

a couple years ago at Road Atlanta I was pit crewing for the X180 R and was the fuel man. our driver at the time was Burt Levy. he comes down pit entry at full tilt but with no power. he is coasting down the pit lane with his head out of the window screaming " get a fking fire extinguisher " he is on fire.

he rolls into our pit stall and one of our crew guys goes to lift the deck lid up. the deriver yells " dont lift that up or it will make the fire worse "

so, the fire goes out, Jaime Goffaux the crew chief and engineer discovers a fuel line is cut in half and raw fuel was dumped all over the motor.

a new fuel line was put in and we pushed Burt off. he finished 6th I believe.

that was fun . just a tad bit scary.

Brian

[TWO OLD ELANS]

OH YEAH ! I forgot a big one, once again powerless in the passenger seat as dpr 59 put it.
One Sunday on my father's 75th birthday 7 years ago I let him drive around the local University of Cincinnati's parking lot in my '64 Elan. He hadn't driven in ten or fifteen years. Lots of high curbs and light poles with very tall concrete cylindrical bases.... he'd get to second gear and wrench the wheel to try and power slide???
Not too scary you think, except, he's blind. OH YEAH !

[Martin]

Like in the movie Scent of a Woman ?

[GregWO]

OH YEAH ! I forgot a big one, once again powerless in the passenger seat as dpr 59 put it.
One Sunday on my father's 75th birthday 7 years ago I let him drive around the local University of Cincinnati's parking lot in my '64 Elan. He hadn't driven in ten or fifteen years. Lots of high curbs and light poles with very tall concrete cylindrical bases.... he'd get to second gear and wrench the wheel to try and power slide???
Not too scary you think, except, he's blind. OH YEAH !

Thats scarry! reminds me of when my dad was teaching me to drive at the NKU parking lot....

Cincy huh? I'm right across the river in Northern Kentucky... Give me a shout if you want to meet up for a drive or B.S. Might be meeting up with an Esprit member from Lexington this weekend... Might be too messy for a drive but not to B.s. about cars and what not...

[USAndretti42]

I suppose my scariest moment was in my Elan back in 1975. There were several inches of snow on the roads and I was driving to work at the Browns Lane Jaguar factory. On the Allesley Old Road just before the roundabout with the Holyhead Road the road goes left and then right. Now the left-hand lane was clear of snow while the right-hand lane was still covered. Impatiently I pulled out to go past a bus. Then I realized I was heading for this "chicane" in the snow. Needn't have worried. Just kept my foot off the brakes and steered around the corners without any drama. That car was brilliant in the snow. But I was pretty convinced I was going to go straight on and smash up the car.

[WayneB]

About 7 years ago I was over at a friends garage, and he and his brother were showing me a 1965 all original Lotus Cortina (in great condition)he had bought at the Hershey Carslile Automobile flea market.

We yapped about the car for about an hour, and he said we should all go for a ride in it (suggesting I do the driving as I had a few Cortinas back in the day) . It had a great engine, and I went through the gears, wringing it out and I took it up to 100mph (to demonstrate it could do it with ease).:)

Now a curving downhill section of road was coming up so I braked and that was when I realised the throttle was stuck wide open!:eek:

After that things happened rather quickly, and I remember switching off the ignition ,and going from lock to lock after it got completely sideways and seeing the road alternately through both the side windows.

After we eventually came to a halt(unscathed), all my white faced friend could say was "I cant believe you saved that, I thought we were all dead", his brother actually said nothing (a first for him):icon19:

The car ran fine (after re-attaching the throttle return spring) and currently lives with it's new owner in England.

I love driving Lotus Cortinas.:)

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/SUNP0007.jpg

[Kylie]

I would love a Lotus Cortina, theres been a few for sale recently here and comanding 40-60K NZD which I guess is awesome if they are selling, but hard to find one for a bargain price anymore.

Scariest moment, would be doing a track day and finding what its like to do a spin in the P&J, was rather peeved off at myself for pushing for hard on hard old tyres. Also traveling around town on a two laned road and a lady in her Range rover didnt see me beside her and starting sneaking over into my lane, thankfully we were on the move and I anchored the brakes, left a few skid marks, put the air horns on her and I think she was quite relieved that it were a near miss. Otherwise pretty tame I think!! Touch wood (my head) :D

[WayneB]

Kylie, whats P&J?:confused:

The reason old Lotus Cortinas fetch strong money is Jim Clark.:)

http://website.webcenter.lycos.de/www.fomcc.de/images/cortina_jim_clark_1966.jpg

It got sold because it isnt pretty enough to live in the garage with the Italian cars.:p

P.S. I drive the Turbo Esprit like a little old lady on her way to church on sunday morning.:D:D:D

[Kylie]

Kylie, whats P&J?:confused:

The reason old Lotus Cortinas fetch strong money is Jim Clark.:)

http://website.webcenter.lycos.de/www.fomcc.de/images/cortina_jim_clark_1966.jpg

It got sold because it isnt pretty enough to live in the garage with the Italian cars.:p

P.S. I drive the Turbo Esprit like a little old lady on her way to church on sunday morning.:D:D:D Yeah right dont believe that hehe, you mean you scare little old ladys going to church :evil:
P&J = Pride and Joy :)

[exarkun1178]

ive had a couple of moments where i wiped my brow, though at this time the scariest moment ive had was lime rocks down hill at about 95mph... i was going faster then the guy in front, and as a result just past apex i had a decision to make, hit his bumper, or lift...... i lifted..... three full spins down the middle of the straight. never touching grass the whole time. that was fun.

[slipstream]

My scariest moment:

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/europa/europa_20040125_001.shtml

[exarkun1178]

My scariest moment:

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/europa/europa_20040125_001.shtml

that does look scary!

[WayneB]

It was wrecked on the first day you drove it after the restoration?:eek:

I feel for you mate, are you going to fix it up again?:confused:

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/europa/europa_20040125_001.jpg

[WayneB]

Brian, Burt Levy must carry some sort if curse.:(

He drove the 18 at Mosport about 7 years ago , and broke the gearbox.:mad:

I did get given a signed copy of the book he had at the time (Fabulous Trashwagon?), which I read the first two pages and then put it away (forever)

Never again.:eek:

[Brian Skeoch]

that sounds like BS Levy..

Brian

[Brian Skeoch]

this year he drove the X180 R on the last day of sprint races ( the Sunday morning final " and he put the car elbow deep in the turn 1 sand trap.

Brian