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introduction
1968
- 1972
1973
- 1974
1975
- 1977
1978
- 1984
1985
- 1989
1990
- 2000
2001
- 2003
conclusion
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| I believe
it was '91 when I was at SCCA Nationals driving in A modified
with the rotary. Unlike Dmod, Amod allowed unlimited size wings.
I put a wing together out of aluminized 3/4" construction
foam which was 32 square feet in size. It also had substantial
side plates. Salina was quite windy that year as I launched the
car downwind at the start line. Turning roughly 90 degrees at
the far end, I had a cross wind which nearly tipped the car over.
As I turned toward the finish and into the wind, the wing disintegrated
just as I was approaching a worker station. The car bicycled
as it shed wing fragments, and the workers scattered! That's
the short version of the "Exploding Wing" story. |
|
Moving to Salt Lake City in 1982
put me in the Utah Region of SCCA which classified the Rotary
powered Seven in SCCA's A modified, the unlimited class, unless
ballasted up to 1500 lbs. The car was outclassed against the
blown winged bottle rockets in Amod so after a few years of struggling
I acquired a BDA, moving to Dmod with the rest of the Lotuses.
The BDA brought Judy her National Championship in '92, but it
was a mild 1600 and a bit low on power, so the YBM went into
the car next. With the
new engine and further chassis refinements, the car was unbeatable
on the track in '94. The only thing it could not beat was the
SCCA protest committee!
I don't like to get into the
protest thing. I built the car in good faith, the protester acted
in good faith, and the Solo board was misguided in its ruling.
We were all misguided by the ambiguous language in the Solo rule
book. The protest held at the time, but the rules which had been
vague were clarified to allow the car to compete the following
year.
|
1992 before Judy won the Solo II
National Championship |
Bear Hollow Hill Climb, 1992 |
I used
many different wing and spoiler configurations over the years
and this one (left and center) was welded to the top rear frame
tube. Note the severely shortened original Triumph steering rack.
Necessary with the long a-arms. |
|
Here we have the new pushrod
front end and the circle track midget open tube rear end. With
the YBM Cosworth offset under the hood, 10" and 14"
wheels, all the movable mechanicals in the passenger compartment,
the car at 1150 lbs became ferocious! I could change from Cosworth
to rotary power overnight.
The pictures with the teeth indicate
a large rear mounted radiator with an electric water pump and
electric fan. Cooling was no problem, but although I ran an alternator,
battery capacity was occasionally a problem.
|
University of Utah
March 1993
Alex Groves Photography |
Evanston, August 1993
Alex Groves Photography |
1994 |
| The
car was placed side-by-side with a stock Lotus in 1999 to insure
the frame was correct dimensionally. I still allowed for a 16"
engine setback and different suspension, but it looks correct
and still has some original Lotus content including Universal
Radiator frame pieces and Triumph uprights. Yes, the car had
a Universal Radiator frame which was welded vs. the more common
Arch Motors frames which were brazed. A very strong 220 hp rotary
is ready for the engine bay and fresh bright anodized aluminum
skin is ready to be riveted onto the frame. I still have the
bill of sale from Lotus, a 1967 California title, the Lotus chassis
tag and the Universal Radiator frame tag. |
|
ECTR 2000.
With the engine no longer offset,
bodywork back to stock dimensions, 8" and 10" wheels
and a restored passenger compartment. Not as quick.
|
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