Members Reports

BROOKLANDS EASTER CLASSIC GATHERING 16TH APRIL

By Warner Benton



As Trust members we took the Excel in via the Vickers Gate, free for members, following two Sunbeam Talbot 90s with a Daimler following us.   A yellow Elan parked under Concorde was seen as we entered.

We were parked in front of the “Tallboy” bomb, next to an Austin Metro, which subsequently got more attention than us and an enormous Cadillac de Ville beyond.   The Metro owner, Paul, explained he restored it as a feature on the Museum Secrets TV program.   A Film Star!

Strolling round the site we spotted a Lotus badge on a very low coupe which bore the name Nova on the back.   I guess it was an Esprit engine special.

An Esprit S2 with two pairs of skis mounted on the roof, Elan Coupes and convertibles totalling about eight were scattered throughout the site.

The most attention was given to a type 14 Elite in front of the Clubhouse.   This was said to be returned from the US and totally restored and upgraded to the twin Webber verson and is now RH drive!

Several Elises and Lotus 7s, an Exige and an Evora, as well as a Europa JPS were seen.   Such a lot of walking among 1000 or so cars on site.

BROOKLANDS BRITISH SPORTS CAR DAY  30TH APRIL

We took the Excel in the Campbell gate at about 10am following a line of Morgan +4s.  Again there was no Lotus Club grouping so we were on the finishing straight between a Morris Minor and a Jaguar XF, but an Elise S1 was behind us.   There was only about half the number of cars compared with last week but a huge number of MGs.   Intrestingly, a ‘30s MG PB Airline like Wayne Carini featured on his last week’s program, his own car restored for showing at Amelia Island, Florida.

Test Hill was a featured with modern cars, even Aston Martins, much less spectacular than a Frazer Nash, but something broke on the third run.   An S2 Elise was noticeably fast.

Other Lotus included three Evoras, one marked GT410.    Four Lotus Cortina 1 & 2, a Consul, Classic Capri was beautifully fitted with Lotus twin cam and sprayed off white with green stripes -  imitation the sincerest form of flattery!

A couple of Esprit S3 and an Exige and several Elise 1 & 2s and a JPS Europa were also evident.






LED headlamps

Update after fitting LED headlamps from PNM parts to my Elan +2

The headlamps were tried in the darkness of the Royal Oak car park during the April BBOA meet and seen to be much brighter and whiter.

As the units had been directly fitted without any mounting adjustment I felt that a check was needed.

I have now checked and found that the dipped beam cut-off is flat and seems to comply with the details laid out in the latest MOT documentation. The detail on the dipped beam is comprehensive giving various dimensions for beam spread and relationship to the height mounted in the vehicle.

There have been a number of changes to the MOT specifications over recent years mainly to do with the type of bulbs in use. The latest version published early 2022 should be used. It is specific to the use of HID and LED light sources.

Main beam diagrams given do not have specific details given in terms of beam pattern.

Subsequent night time driving has convinced me that these units are a significant benefit and represent good value

The car has passed the MOT test without any adjustment after fitting the LED units having simply exchanged the old classic units for the LEDs.

Ken Needham


Breakdown Safety


I incurred a breakdown recently that  set me thinking about the classic car safety.

It can happen at any time  in any vehicle but the situations can be very different.

7PM coming up to a busy "Y" junction I had the cough cough and no power, zero!

I was at a standstill for only a few minutes before the curses and yelling started when a friendly lad offered to assist with a push .

However it registered with me that several of the yells were calling for me to use the hazard lights.  I guess there are many people that believe that all vehicles have hazard lights .

Having been pushed to the side of the road 3 lanes wide,  it was amazing the number of times left lane users were caught out resulting in tyres screeching and horns blowing.

I had contacted the AA but there was a 2 hour wait suggested . I managed to get some assistance to  move the car to a side road to wait for the AA.

The point of all this is that it made me realise that some safety features would have considerably helped in what was an accident waiting to happen.

The fitting of hazard light facility would be quite straightforward and could be set up so that they would not detract from the Classic nature of the 50 year old car.

Also the availability of a warning triangle would have helped.   Being a low car does not help in these circumstances and I have now fitted an LED strip across the inside of the boot lid so that it can be raised to present a "high"level flashing warning as well as the  new hazard facility.

Having encountered a breakdown on a "smart" motorway in a modern vehicle,  with a dead engine in a standstill traffic jam , being able to turn on hazard lights definitely prevented several collisions once the jam started flowing again.

Ken Needham


MARK POWELL Sent these pix  of the Silverstone classic where about 25 Elans  were on show.