Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Portal
    • Join the Club
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Business Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Galleries
  • Magazine
  • Motorsport
    • DTC Live Results – October 2022
    • DTC Live Results – August 2022
    • DTC Live Results – July 2022
    • DTC Live Results – June 2022
  • Archives
Barry Ellis Hillclimb

My Lotus Story (well, part of it)

By Barry Ellis.

Born in Victoria, I did Civil/Structural Engineering at Swinburne Tech and have lived in lots of places around the world and worked almost everywhere.

I was always interested in motor racing, and very interested in Lotus in the 60s. It was great to see the Elans doing so well at Phillip Island. But then a few Europas arrived (Type 47s) and straight off the block they were doing much better than the very well sorted Elans. Wow, I had to have one! But very hard to get in Aus.

The Geoghegan Brothers brought in a small number of Europas and assembled them in Sydney. I first saw one at the Melbourne motor show in about 1970. I was driving a Rover 2000 at the time and the new Rovers and Europas were the same price; about $4700. Too much money for me. But then in 1975 a second hand one came on the market. It had a full race Ford Kent engine in it, was fairly rough around the edges, and the gear lever mechanism was broken out of the chassis. I paid the owner $2000, put my hand down through the hole in the chassis, could get a couple of gears, and drove it home.

It was VIN 54/1151, trans. No 00935. Quite a lot of work then followed: the fixing of the gear change mechanism, aligning of the rear wheels (they had lots of toe-out) and general work on the springs and shocks. Then, to do a little racing, I had to put in a roll bar. The full cage was not required in those days.

I had three cars at the time and was living in Newry, about 35km out of Sale. One day I was driving to work in the Europa on the road from Maffra to Sale, when a local cop in an unmarked car pulled out in front of me and accelerated away. I thought that it was all a bit of a laugh, and just followed along. I reckon that I was on about 1/4 throttle, but then got done for 225km/hr. That was the BAD, but I also got the GOOD.

Another town close by is Boisdale. There was (probably still is) an unmade hill climb there where I ran the Europa a few times. It had a great setup where you ran up the hill and then straight back to the start area. On one particular day I ran, got back to the start and was told that the timer didn’t work and that I should go again straight away. It took three or maybe four runs before I got a time. I don’t doubt that I got a bit quicker each run. I ended up with a time of 36.2 sec. The hill record at that time was 36.0 in a Formula 5000 and the fast, local hotted up, stripped out cars were doing about 38.5 odd.

Then I got my circuit license again and ran at Winton. Coming around the last corner (second corner now) at about 8000 rpm I broke a cam follower, then the timing chain, then coasted to the end, and had to trailer it home.

A long term friend who also had a Europa had put a Mazda 13B in his and whilst it was a bit big for the space it went very well. I ended up going for a standard Mazda 12A which fitted easily and still went very nicely.

But, then someone rang one night in 1979 and offered me a job in London. I was tired of working for Esso in Sale so I went, why not.

I sold the Europa for $4000 and expected that I’d soon pick up another when I got to the UK. But, there were so many other Lotus cars on the roads. And, over some time I owned: Esprit Series 1; Elan +2; Elite (1974); Eclat; Esprit Turbo; and then eventually, in my retired state, back to a Europa much like the one that I should never have sold in the first place.

But this Europa is another story, maybe for next time.

Twincam Tips Wondai Sprints 2018

Related Posts

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

plus2-banner

Articles, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Technical

Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane

helmet-banner

Articles, Homepage, Racing

$10 HEAD/$10 HELMET

Random images

img_1053
IMG_0561
Ploughman's Lunch
MG_7037
Sprints_Lakeside_Qld
Eleven2
F1000015
P1060093
P1060099
Derek_s_340R
IMG_0518
John_s_Seven
2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0067
Track-newbie-Mike-chatting-to-scrutineer-
Gathering-to-head-back-to-Canungra
main-3
main-34
Morning-Sunrise
GIC3
IMG_8453
nh01pb
0067
IMG_8059
IMG_6364
IMG_2989
P8310149
IMG_3982
P1050415
055_55
P1060262
P1060339
PICT7262
Jeff_Leigh_Norma_Peter_Daryl_Moira_Greg
08a
25c
28c
IMG_3706
IMG_8891
119_1955_IMG
IMG_0948
IMG_5029
IMG_3289
image_078
image_218
IMG_6742
IMG_4411
IMG_4379
122_2201_IMG
117_1748_IMG
IMG_3773
IMG_3782
113_1372_IMG
IMG_6515
Chris_and_Greg_Bray
CRW_6396_RJ
To_the_left_gentlemen
btiu-13
Daryl-Moira
Elise-vs-Exige
martin
2-Getting-a-sense-of-direction
concours-14
_MG_4775 as Smart Object-1
Kelly, speed demon
Shane surveying the skid pan
The Green Machine
vintage-royal-enfield-and-sidecar
the-dash
The flying Scotsmen
Chatting under the Elise wing
Mt-Cotton-Hillclimb-Sep17-07
gw_How low can you go_
DTC-009
George Row 2007 Lotus Elise - 2
Evans Wheels
Outright-winners-Paul-and-Kate
IMG_3344
221871599_231105778874252_2720472712768024505_n
The-new-two-wheel-toy
Stepping-back-in-time
IMG_4600
John and Debbie's Evora 1
The-Europas
Dick on the tools
IMG_20210711_084910
DSC_4143
Two in a Row
IMG_4364
Paintwork-on-restoration
Catch ups
Boy talk
diy-spitfire_
View-of-the-concours-display-from-the-hotel-roof
IMAG5923
mk1-lotus-cortina-3
Torana XU1
Hyundai Excel 1
IMAG5985
IMAG6190
IMAG6167

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