Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
bbq-car-banner

How quickly it happens

By Andrew Row. Photos by Trapnell Creations and Bride Moran.

There were plenty of weekends where I would have joked about burning the bastard, but this weekend was different.

All issues solved with the car running cool and not a single misfire. Seems the car had other ideas on Bride’s second last run of the day.

With so many dropping out due to the rain the organisers were consolidating groups, so Bride and I were swapping in pit lane to get her lined up straight after my run with none of the usual looks over the car. Hindsight would show some oil (clean and new) on the ground that went unnoticed due to all the water puddles still in pit lane. A couple of laps in the engine blew up going into gumtree, one assumes a loss of oil pressure. The car has a full undertray which was probably holding plenty of oil, and an oil fire began. Bride was safely out of the car before the fire really took hold, but it was big enough that reaching back into the passenger footwell for the fire extinguisher seemed unwise with the wind and flame direction. Unsure how much impact a 1kg fire extinguisher was going to have on a tray full of oil. A more accessible fire extinguisher or plumbed system is perhaps a good idea.

Back at the pits we waited and watched the group all file back in from the red flag, with Bride not with them. Fortunately the Alpha lads came and let us know they saw the engine blow and she was safely out of the car, but the car was on fire. At least we knew she was safe.

The oil fire quickly burnt through fuel lines etc, and it very quickly became a fuel fire. There was a full blown fuel fire engulfing the car within the couple of minutes it took the fire marshals to arrive. Unfortunately fibreglass burns rapidly, and aluminium melts in a fuel fire. The car burnt to a bare chassis very quickly due to the unfortunate wind direction. Certainly makes me think about my Exige given it has a disturbingly similar fuel tank location etc.

Big thanks to all the Morgan Park staff and volunteers who fought the fire, help recover the car and go well above the call of duty in washing it down ready to be collected the following weekend.

Car is now stripped to a bare chassis, and the load of burnt and melted parts taken to the dump. Ready for a respray and a rebuild. Donor bike has been bought from Pickles auctions, Honda CBR1000RR with 8000km on the clock and 177hp.

Mt Glorious EMR – April 2022 ICC Motorkhana – May 5, 2022

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

kevs-banner

EMRs, Gallery 2022, Homepage

Kev’s Big Day Out

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

Random images

15-Seasoned-camper Ready for run 5 DS7_3404_full Shane-2 Russells-Elise-1 George-Rowes-Lotus11-4 21-Shane-coming-out-from-under-the-bridge 5-Allan-in-Lotus-51.jpg MG_8235 20160522_104652 MG_6329 10-Holden-model-of-yesteryear btiu-13 btiu-03 P1020854 005 IMG_4885 IMG_4406 Geoff in his HPE 20210912-Leyburn-B-2114-By-Trapnell-Creations IMG_3374 Greg-Chris-Bray Aston-Greensill-rocking-the-black-and-gold Lock-Load-Transport-QLD-teamed-up-with-TILTA-Trailers-to-display-their-wares Exige Bathurst gw_Rob & Matt Front face img_9455 Daryl Liam winning Leyburn 2016 ph Sunday breakfast at the Belle Vue Cafe Jazz concert at the Town Hall Peter Quinn The Pits Shane surveying the skid pan 20130511_101604 Derek-and-Wade-relaxing-in-between-drives IMG_4876 Derek_with_Mike_Kimberley Elise_through_The_Cutting_Bathurst_NSW IMG_0022 Arbarth img_1025 img_1098_2 Mar-main-36 IMG_7350 IMG_7351 IMG_5153 IMG_3641 DSC03827 IMG_7084 P5250041 IMG_6828 IMG_6746 image_224 image_134 image_103 IMG_3316 IMG_6228 IMG_3948 IMG_0971 IMG_4332 18e 36_MG_2621 P1060553 P1060263 Cane_field_run_2 Stepping-back-in-time Michael-Blessas Evans-record-breaking-Exige Some_of_the_Cars_2 3-Waiting-for-the-briefing Coffee-at-Rutherglen-2 Lunchtime-_Parking Red-hot-tyres-on-the-Green-Machine Martin Enjoying-morning-coffee-gw Peter tony-smiths-evora The-Gin-Still Darryl Wybe-Geertsmas-Lotus-Elite-runner-up-in-Class-1-1950-1962 IMG_6155 photo-12 joe's-1947-alfa-2 Loons Martins Finished Nose IMG_8207 Staging-Lights GT-Cortina-Mk2 in dock anglia IMAG6006 170730 SMM Dyno Chart View-from-the-school-pavilion la Ferrari vyv's-plus2-1 main-78 main-100 main-66

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios