Lime Rock Historic Festival 2012

[xkfeng7]

[attachment=2]ktr_1b.jpg[/attachment]Dear W11 Members,
3 days after delivery of my new/old W11, I drove it to Lime Rock Park for their annual Historic Racing Festival.
The Lotus club was kind enough to let me park with them and participate in their parade laps (rather than being relegated to the Austin Healey group). It was a horrible 2 long days getting this W11 into safe driving condition. Just about every subsystem on the car was dangerous, broken, or near breaking (other than the engine). I don't know if this is attributable to the fact that it's a kit car, that it was built without much attention to detail, or if previous owners had questionable shops work on it. Anyway, it's drivable, reliable as I could make it in 2 days (still needs many parts replaced very soon such as the transmission ... which was reported to be in excellent condition by a shop that did the pre-purchase inspection).

There were quite a few real Elevens racing, and I've added some pictures of some interesting bits (no full shots as the web is full of great Eleven racing pics). I was primarily interested in roll bars, rear fairings, and underhood air management. As my W11 has the non-LeMans rear shell, I'm happy to see that all the Elevens that were racing at Lime Rock had add-on rear humps. I think I'll go with the Dzus method of attachment as shown on the silver car. I also included a picture of a lovely old Lotus 9, as this was the grandfather of the Eleven. It's clearly been thru a lot over the past 60 years, but still soldiers on at the races!

FWIW, I really enjoyed the 270 mile drive in my needy W11. Despite all the problems with it, it still handles really well compared to my well sorted XK120 OTS, and I believe that with enough time and money on each subsystem the W11 has huge potential to become a great track-day and short-distance touring car.

Anyway, I'm honored to be part of this crowd. Adam, Eric, you two seem to have achieved the ultimate (turning your W11's into real race cars), and I'll be stealing ideas from you as much as you let me.

John Feng
Boston, MA

[xkfeng7]

more pics

[erictharg]

Nice pics John. Always nice when the originals allow us to join them! First real run for mine was an 1100 mile round trip to the Angouleme Circuit Des Remparts. "Tiring" would be the summary, but you'll always have admirers wherever you go.
Look forward to following your car's evolution!

[xkfeng7]

E,
One disadvantage of the LHD car I have is that the parking brake handle encroaches on my usable seat space. I fit fine right now, but I think it could limit my choice of real seats that will fit. I'll look at relocating it inside the tunnel or to the off-side this winter.

I don't know what others are using for brakes, but I just ordered a set of Porterfield R-41 pads as I believe the existing pads are glazed from heat. The pedal is firm and consistent and it pulls up very straight so I think new pads/shoes will sort out my weak and smoking brakes.

I drove the car another 60 miles this weekend, and to my delight I actually think it's running reliably. Sure, there are a myriad of things I could and will do, but to get it to this point so quickly after it arrived is nice.

John

[erictharg]

Not sure on availability in the US, but I've run Mintex 1144 both on road and track (track days & racing) and found them great. Even the 1155 compound I run now for racing works well on the road. I only went to the 1155 for Spa. Not sure I even needed them. After a season my pads are not even half worn!

[Westfield 129]

The proper location for the hand brake on a Lotus 11 is beneath the passenger side dash, over the passengers legs. Mounting is the same as it is on the tunnel, but horizontal beneath the dash.

This requires welding two parallel square tubes in place to mount the brake lever, and a longer brake cable.

My original Lotus 7 Series 1 was RHD, and had the hand brake lever mounted horizontally beneath the dash, passenger side.

[xkfeng7]

Jan,
Great idea! I'll go investigate on some of the local real
Elevens.
John

[Westfield 129]

The investigation will have to be on your XI. Lotus 11s are all RHD, so the hand brake lever is on the left, under the dash, horizontally mounted.

Take the hand brake lever and place it beneath the dash so you can locate the two elements you will have to weld in beneath the scuttle floor, between the dash lower support and the firewall. Not too difficult, but you will probably have to remove the instrument panel and the scuttle floor. Consider a power riveter for the re assembly. Also, plan your rewiring at the same time, and your new dash panel. Use 1"X1" square tubing, or a steel plate. As I recall, my 7 had two square tubes for mounting the hand brake.

The problem is the routing of the cable, which has to go back into the tunnel. You don't want to bend the heavy conduit too much when you loop it around back to the tunnel from the right side.

This is a really useful modification, so if you do it, take lots of pictures, please.

The US press demo XI had the hand brake installed through the floor for more space, but this caused problems with ground clearance. Rubbing on a speed bump would cause the brake to tighten! I removed it prior to sending the car out for magazine tests, least someone hit the exposed mechanism hard and damage the floor.

[beng4]

Okay this is how the handbrake should be mounted. It is an absolute sod to reach when seated, so wont suit IVA so I have now removed for the moment and used a small trigger handbrake lever by the tunnel. On an Xi the cable runs down the LHS pod. I sourced my cable and lever via Mike brotherwood, Im not sure and nor was Mike of the origin of the original levers.

Ben

[sgrant]

My Caterham has the same arrangement (Caterhams built for racing always used to have under-dash handbrakes, I think so that in a side impact it wasn't where your thigh was about to be, plus obviously it's nice to just get it completely out of the way since it's not needed in a race car).

The lever that Mike Brotherwood sourced for you looks exactly like my Caterham one and I would guess that either Caterham, or one of their dealers (Redline are always very helpful) could source this for you.

stephen