Alpine video shoot at Bottom of page – 7 mins viewing time.
He absolutely loves to drive, and the more challenging the road, the better he likes it, and the elan certainly accommodates that driving passion more than any other car that he can think of. The elan Blog writer.
The passion for lotus began many, many decades ago, it was probably around the time the writer turned eighteen that he actually saw his first Lotus elan up close, hard to know what it was, but the passion and desire to own an elan one day was embedded in that moment in time.
But like most things we place on the “must have” list, the price at that time was simply unaffordable, no matter how many things were listed to sell off in order to raise the required funds, it all came to nought.
Time passed by, life became busy, finances were redirected towards other avenues, but the passion and desire for the elan lingered for many years.
A little over a decade later, an advert appeared in a weekend newspaper, yes, back then, it was the Saturday newspaper classifieds and car magazine adverts where the dream car was to be found…. Then one day, there it was, at an affordable price.
For Sale: Lotus Elan S2 DHC.
The elan was bought, trailered home, and the long hard painstaking slog began in order to rebuild an elan which had been raced, bastardised, neglected, it was the worst of the worst basket case, no question about that.
Four years later, it was rebuilt enough to register for the road… but it still had plenty of dramas and problems to fix and sort out.
That was circa mid 1980’s.
Thirty five years later, and with a lot of continuous adjusting, dismantling and rebuilding, fabricating, various mods and tricks, that elan desire and the brilliant drive just kept on getting better.
Some people restore a classic sports car then virtually wrap it in cotton wool, where it’s washed, wiped off with the chamois, polished every now and again, and maybe its taken out for a short drive somewhere, but not really enjoying the elan as intended.
This S2 elan was built to enjoy, the writer is definitely not one to miss out on the thrill of a great road drive, an exciting part of elan ownership, and always looking for an opportunity to take it out for a highly rewarding spirited drive.
The Lotus elan is absolutely designed and built to be driven – There’s no argument they are the most rewarding and fun sports cars to drive, with handling and performance that belies their fifty five year old design. Chapman was pure genius when it came to lightweight sports car design, accompanied by brilliant performance, and its been said before, the elan punches way above its weight.
The elan can make a bad driver look good, and a good driver look even better, there is one particular place where the elan shines and that is taking it for a blast on a challenging mountain road.
Below is a video of a small section of one of the best alpine drives in Australia, this particular mountain climb is about thirty five kilometres in length, but the entire GAR journey is 318KM from the north east rolling hills and plains, to the Gippsland coast of Vic.
If you live in Australia, and you own a; Lotus elan, Europa, Elise, Exige, Caterham, etc, etc, Then you have to put this journey on your “must do” drive list.
This particular alpine drive, on the right day, is truly fantastic – A series of video edits from the drive. (7 mins)
ETA at the top of the climb was about 8.30 AM. And after a short rest, decided to trundle down to the village below to enjoy a well earned coffee and something to eat before heading back home before the summer heat settled in for the day, and that is the reason for the early 5.30AM departure time.
If you are an early riser you will understand the beauty of an early Aussie summer morning , the crisp fresh mountain air, and unique forest aromas, that’s what a typical early summers morning is like in the Australian alpine regions.
Don’t think about – Just do it.
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