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My boyhood hero was Clarence
Heidgen, the local blacksmith, because he could always use fire
to make stuff. He was very patient with me when I would come
to his shop with little projects and I learned a lot from him.
Since I always liked to tinker with things, in later years the
Lotus became the natural object of this inclination.
The next twenty years were spent
tweaking the rotary engine and trying different chassis modifications.
The car has had 80", 88", and 90" wheelbases;
solid axle, de dion, independent and circle track rear ends;
locked, Salisbury, Hewland and Quaife differentials; Armstrong,
KYB, Koni, Spax, and Bilstein shocks; single and double wishbone,
rocker and pushrod front suspensions; narrow and wide tracks...
Once I acquired a heliarc and was able to make highly stressed
parts that wouldn't break, I couldn't be stopped. The car would
be small pile of tubes on the floor in November and race in March
with a new and different configuration. In retrospect, somebody
should have handcuffed me and put the car in a vault all those
years!
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