on 4/1/01 5:06 PM, Mike Rosen at mikerosen@home.com wrote:
> A 750cc Lotus XI won the index
> of performance at LeMans...have you ever seen one? It's far faster when
> prepped as a 1500.
Well, actually they only made two 750 cc Lotus Elevens and the significant
one mentioned above was fitted with an 1100 cc FWA and shipped to the U.S.A.
in 1958. It was destroyed at Meadowdale (IL) in 1961. So, no you don't see
many.
On the other hand, I have a legit. FWB (1500) Lotus Eleven that ran Sebring
1957, 1958 & 1959. Yes, it wasn't very nice when I bought it in 1971, but I
eventually got it restored and running in 1997, just in time for the area
(Midwest) sanctioning bodies to eliminate the class for "historically
significant" cars to run in original configuration, replacing it with one
for newer cars. I hope that the irony is appropriate.
>
> There's a reason so few newly restored "little" cars come out to play compared
> with bigger, faster ones.
>
I also have a 1951 1300 cc 356 Porsche that is fun to run with groups that
cater to small bore cars, but genuinely unpleasant in places like the
Chicago Historics, where I'm classed with SWB Ferrari's and E Jags. As
assumed, I won't go back there. It isn't the blue flags -- it's the cars
that go by at 50+ mph faster than my car can go! If one of us screws up, I
could be dead.
Watching a SWB Ferrari sideways in my rear view mirror going into Canada
Corner with the 356, or hearing the second place (whatever it was 8 year
newer rear engined car) lock-up behind my overheating Eleven trying to stay
out of the way post-Kink, made me think seriously about in which groups I
should run my cars.
Sorry for rambling; just hoping to add a little different point of view with
a similar conclusion. Just let me know where I can run the Eleven in its
original configuation; it looks better that way....
Brett Johnson
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