WOUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

General General Lotus Talk
1

Got my car all back togetrher with its new Lotus Motorsport clutch and everything was looking good for the Oulton race at the weekend. I had never done Oulton before, so booked myself onto the LoT track day there today as it was Open Pit Lane and I was also booked onto the Test Day on Friday.

Rolled up this morning, unloaded the car, did about an hour and ten minutes driving (over two sessions), was loving the track and starting to get to grips with it, when at about 7,500RPM in 6th gear, accelerating hard, KABOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM

My trusty old standard VHPD threw a rod.

It was quite scarey actually there is a big hole in the front of the engine, so all the oil sprayed over the exhaust and the whole car went up in flames. I was suprised that after only two or three seconds I couldn’t see in the cockpit and could hardly breath due to the oil smoke. THANK GOD, my fire extinguisher worked, covering me and the engine bay in foamy watery stuff, and putting the fire out.

I did manage to get out of the car pretty sharpish only to hear the fire marshal say “bloody hell mate, I aint seen one go up like that for a while”, yeah cheers bud!! lol

I actually thought the gearbox had gone bang, it wasn’t until I was back in the pits, that EVOSAL noticed the big hole in my block. To be honest I was relieved that it was only the engine.

Big thanks to all of the people that have offered me an engine for the weekend, EVOSAL, Steve Hibbert, Maddog, Simon Erland, Plans. But unfortunatly a load of the wiring has melted and I don’t want to just bodge it back together.

Will still be going along on Saturday, but just to help out and have a watch.

Ho Hum.

Sean…

2

Sean

Really sorry to hear this - can’t put the right words together.

Do you want to travel up on Friday & stay over Chez Pesky (Friday night is curry night in these parts!)? Bring the “missus” too if you want

3

bloody el!

Scarey stuff, glad you are ok.
Hope you get her sorted soon!

4

Flipping heck mate! (as strong as the censors will allow)

Glad yer fine though.

Ian

5

Glad the fire extinguisher worked Sean! if not it could have been ugly (like that Audi Elise or Honda 340R that burnt to a crisp).

And bugger about the wiring, it is reassuring that so many people offered help on loaning an engine!.

6

Friday night is curry night in these parts

Where’s this curry night happening?

Just got word that we’ve entered a pair of Porka 997’s and we’re up on Friday for a pre event test, so I’ll probably be stopping in a caravan at the circuit, looking for somewhere to escape to for food in the evening.

Lookin forward to this now, I’ll still be cheering on VVR even if I don’t find time to drop down and see you all.

Really sorry to hear about the car Sean, we had a Radical go up on us at Croft last weekend, broken oil fitting, lets hope thats the end of this seasons flames!

7

Sorry to hear that Sean. Really rotten luck. Your car has been a tale of inspiration since you first started the thread about the build. Your expertise gained has helped me on several occasions. (eg proalloy - who are now getting a few more orders as Steve Williams really likes their product)

I hope your new engine is soon going to be ready. Then you will have the power your setup deserves. Thank god for fire extinguishers that work!

8

thats bad luck fella. Will you be putting a Honda engine in to replace it or staying true to the K?

9

thats a proper shitter matey

mines got 48k on the clock now and I must admit I was tense initially at croft giving it some beans. Soon forgot and started enjoyin misen - I’m sure the time is nigh though

S

10

Thank god for fire extinguishers that work!

Amen to that!!!

Thanks guys for your posts and for the texts and calls I have had! At the end of the day, its only an engine, nobody died, although I was looking forward to the weekend.

I called Jane at AMOC and she has refunded me my race entry fees. Graham at Plans has managed to sell my testing spot for Friday. Mike (Evosal) even found someone today at Oulton who bought my pass off me for the afternoon. So financially it could of been worse.

I kind of have a plan for Donnington although in the three weeks between now and then I am working away for over a week, so I guess time will tell. Fingers crossed the wiring isn’t too bad!!

I’m still looking forward to Saturday! At the end of the day I had one of my best weekends last time at Silverstone helping Russ to his awesome victory, with some spannering assistance and various parts from my car. So I will pack my overalls, but fingers crossed I wont need them.

Cheers for the curry offer Rob, didn’t think you Northern puftas did hot food (apart from gravey!!) I’m only an hour or so south, so probably will just see you there on Saturday!!

Sean…

11

mines got 48k on the clock now

Mine had only done about 16,000 from new I reckon. WIth oil and filter changes after every 500 - 1000 miles. However it did live within an inch of the limiter at all times!!

12

Very bad luck - any plans for the grenaded engine - rebuild as a spare or is it just junk?

13

mines got 48k on the clock now

Mine had only done about 16,000 from new I reckon. WIth oil and filter changes after every 500 - 1000 miles. However it did live within an inch of the limiter at all times!!

I know mate - you took me out round croft b4 your radical changes. Brakes were still the most impressive I ever experienced!

14

It was quite scarey

That�s got to be the understatement of the bloody year !!!

Glad to hear you came out from it ok though, and best of luck getting the car up and running again .

David

PS. Didn�t something like this happen to the VVR car a while back ?

15

Once again this reminds me why I wear nomex on trackdays despite the fact that I am slower than a slow thing.

Imagine a spark landing on your lovely fleece jacket.

16

Once again this reminds me why I wear nomex on trackdays

Again I totally agree. I reckon it took me about 10 seconds to slow from 120ish to a standstill and get out of the car. That would give me 5 seconds of breathing space in my three layer suit and 10 seconds if I have my new nomex pants on. However without either, I reckon being on fire for those 10 seconds until I got out of the car would not have been a good thing!!! Thinking about it a bit more, it took about 10 seconds for the marshal to leg it over to me with the fire extinguisher (about 30 yds I reckon) so to be fair with all of my clobber on I would have been fine, without it I would be Kentucky Fried Chicken!!!

In reality though, my plumbed in fire extinguisher did its job, and its a good job as my race suit and fire proof pants were at home hanging in my wardrobe!!

Sean…

17

Where’s this curry night happening?

Hi James

Me & Mrs Pesky usually have a curry on a Friday night. You’re very welcome to pop over to our gaff (about 1 hour from Oulton), however, I think you’ll prefer to have a night out with Russ & Graeme They will be arriving at Oulton on Friday aft/evening, & staying over at the circuit in Graeme’s mobile home. I think they’re planning on going for a “Chinese” - place about 10 mins from the circuit.

Anyway mate, see ya soon

18

Glad you got out ok sean, hope you get the car back together sharpish.
See if you can shoe horn your v8 x5 engine in

Christian

19

Phew! What a scorcher! Glad you got out ok. Having followed the build posts, I’ve been keeping an eye on you all season. Hope all is restored soon.

20

Jeez Sean - really sorry to hear that.

Good luck with getting the car sorted for Donny.