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Wind
Blocker For Lotus Elan S1 & S2.
Most classic British sports cars
built during the sixties and seventies were well known to deliver a true
"wind in the hair" motoring experience, it was all part of the sports
car mystique. But today, for some reason, we all expect to have a little
more comfort with our cars, and non-more so than with the classic élan.
I'm sure there are plenty of élan owners out there who's wives or
girlfriends complain about the wind buffeting in the élan cockpit, many
owners end up going for long drives by themselves for that very reason.
I am a long-term classic sports car driver having forty years of classic
motoring. And what a ball it's been too.
But, you know what, I too have begun to get a little
tired of being belted around the ears by the wind turbulence in the élan
S2 cockpit, so I started to investigate the world of wind blockers, now
as you know they don't make them for the élan, so we simply built a
prototype or experimental version just to see what would happen when we
mounted a wind blocker as shown in the following photographs. The
blocker could also be adapted to fit the S3 & S4 élan, depending
where fixing points can be located, and you would need to be mindful of
the soft top.
Elan S2.
Different Views Of The Wind
Blocker.
We estimate that the wind blocker has reduced cockpit
turbulence by as much as 80%, it is remarkably effective, if
the
wind blocker frame & mesh were 1.5 to 2 inches higher, the blocker
would almost eliminate cockpit turbulence. Yeah
I can hear the
purist's saying; softie, what's wrong with a bit of wind.... well, that
is the best part of the blocker, you get just
the right amount of
cockpit wind to make it nice while driving with the top off. See, the
older you get, the more cunning you get!
The mesh is very transparent, so you can
easily see through it with your rear vision
mirror.
Mild steel
metal brackets fastened to the rear bulkhead hold the blocker in place,
the angle bracket
attached to the blocker frame has a 5/16" rod
welded to it to allow rise & fall adjustments. The short bolt
through
the adjuster is a temporary fastener while knurled
thumbscrews are being machined up.
The Wind
Blocker Outcome.
I highly recommend the blocker
if you are tired of being buffeted by the wind. They are not hard to
fabricate, but you will
need metal fabricating as well as gas
welding and brazing skills, the blocker frame was built from lightweight
1/4 OD drawn
tubing, finished with black acrylic paint, the
woven mesh was hand sown on to the frame by my
wife.
While your here, ya gotta check out our
world class CV Drive
Shafts.
Oh, I
nearly forgot, here's the elan and my mate's nice MGB
parked outside the famous
Zirky's
at Mt Hotham on The Great Alpine Road, we had a
fantastic drive through the Alps,150 mile round trip on
awesome lotus roads. The trip was a good test run for the
wind blocker, and as I said before, it is a worthwhile
addition.
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