[philsmith]

Thought you might like to see the latest on my Lotus 30 for this years Bordeaux race.

Here is the body before all the cutouts and spoilers were done.
Also note the full interior.

Lots more mods have been done to the chassis since the last post as well, including a new motor, a shortened Champion, now it really runs well!

In the background are a couple of projects for the Turin meeting in May.

 

[howmet tx]

MMM... Tasty, Phil!

That sounds like a lot of power in there too. Any chance of a Phlip side view of the chassis?

Chappy coming up well on the inside too!

 

[dgersh]

Beautiful work as usual Phil! Now don't tell me you're going to dominate the Concours voting again!???

Even with a shortened motor, what kind of tires were you able to get under there...? especially with a Champion, you might have some traction problems if they're not too wide.

But I'm sure my K's powered Super Shells Lotus 30 will be jolly competitive....
cheers,
Don

 

[philsmith]

Here is a pic of the underside.
Also another Bordeaux project in the background, a Monogram Lola T70 with AMT chassis and Pitman power.
This should take full advantage of the magnatraction effect on Carrera track!

I got some decent sized tyres in, and I could actually have got some wider ones if I had wanted, in fact, I could easily have shortened the motor by another 1/16".
But too late now as I have built the chassis.

 

[ProfFate]

Hi Phil

Wow, you did something I never thought of doing to an AMT! I am impressed. I have about a dozen, never done that!

I assume the rules require some sort of vintage(date) componoent?

Interesting.

Fate

 

[philsmith]

Yea, everything must be pre '72.
and you are allowed to scratchbuild, as long as it is 'within the spirit', .... bit of a French thing really

But personally I think it should be pre '68 !

Don?

I have got that Pitman real lowdown, by running the Cox gear as a hypoid, the motor is nearly an 1/8" below the rear axle line, but it all seems to work ok.
And I have run it for at least 30 to 45 mins on the track with no problems.

 

[dgersh]

Perhaps Phil, but those are the rules we've used since the beginning, and in practice, it works out about the same. You should have the rules and invitation pretty soon. We've outlawed anglewinders this year, to eliminate that problem, so the main development from 68-72 can't be used. Otherwise, pretty much everything that was around in 72 had been developed in more or less rudimentary form by the end of 68, if I'm not mistaken. Actually, now that I think of it, if I remember right, it was originally used so that people could run their Carrera, Polistil and other Euro cars from the early 70s... even a 1/24 Circuit 24 F1! (actually a Stabo, I think).

Once again, "in the spirit" is the best way Samy and I could express what we wanted for this meeting, without using a lot of rules, tech inspections, etc. Not perfect, but nothing ever will be - and we're trying to appeal to the "uber club racer" that lurks in all of us, n'est ce pas?

That Lola T70 looks very nice too; this isn't such a new idea either Rocky: Bob Braverman did this a few times to Monogram chassis, putting in a DC196, although I don't think it was for magnatraction! Not for Atlas, I guess, but the spirit of Hagenbuch, Dobson, et al lurks here as well...

Phil, quick question on the bare white Lotus in first photo: seems to have fins at the front, was this a real thing or just big mold lines? Never seen this on a Lotus 30...
Don

 

[philsmith]

Here is a pic of the car I am modelling

The Lotus 30 was such a bad car, every picture you see of one has different spoilers and vents etc as people were trying to get the thing to work properly !!

I have now added the bump above the drivers feet.
BTW Don, both pictures above are the same car, top one is after and bottom one before. it is the stombecker body.
Supershells body is about 1/8" too narrow! and the best thing about the Lotus 30 is that it is a very wide car, so you may as well take advantage of it

I have a Nissan r381 I am doing with a Monogram chassis and Atlas motor, will post some pictures when it is more complete.

 

[howmet tx]

That's fascinating work Phil. I must admit I too was wondering about those 'moustache' spoilers. That tiny Champion motor is a neat trick, but looking again at my Classic 40, is that Strombecker shell a bit on the Vanquish side as well? I had to squeeze an S can into the Classic shell very tightly, and with no height clearance either!
Looking forward to seeing it all finished- and the Chappy 2 as well. Keep us all posted, please.

 

[philsmith]

Looks spot on when compared to the Model Cars Plans and wheelbase and track are exactly right when measured.
Although the Lotus 30 was low it was quite wide for it's era.

As to the real cars abysmal handling qualities, I remember as a lad seeing Jim Clark in one in the sixties at Brands Hatch. He lost it coming out of South Bank, right where I was standing, and put it into the bank, got out and gave it a good kicking !!

Then Chapman bought out the 40, Clark said it was the same as the 30 but with 10 more mistakes

 

[JohnP]

QUOTE I remember as a lad seeing Jim Clark in one in the sixties at Brands Hatch. He lost it coming out of South Bank, right where I was standing, and put it into the bank, got out and gave it a good kicking !!

I was at South Bank for the 1965 Race of Champions. Jim Clark was leading in his Lotus 33 but being chased down hard by Dan Gurney's Brabham. Clark's Lotus hit the bales at bottom bend (as it was then) and shot sky high before finally doing a belly-flop!

Spectacular stuff!

 

[philsmith]

Here's something else I've been working on,
a Le mans MGB droopsnoot

although I don't think I have got the headlamp cowls big enough, otherwise I think it's looking good.

 

[howmet tx]

It is, it is sir! Keep these coming, please. Lovely stuff! Any finished work we could see too?

 

[philsmith]

Now opened up the headlamps and looking much better, also got rid of the heavy trim lines along the sides.

Have a look through here for plenty of finished cars

pictures

 

[BEEJAY7]

Phil

Glad to see from your photo directory that you were at Le Mans last year.

I also have a pictire of the Hawiian Tropic girls.......Strange that!.

Very nice collection.

Regards

Alan

 

[ProfFate]

Hi Don

You are in charge of the rules in france? Wow!

the Spirit of Dobson, Wallingford et al. Dick Dobson Did design the AMT in 64 and they entered production in 65. Curiously, supplies were hit and miss, I never saw them on the shelf! I got my cars direct from Rockford Ill! A sort of early"grey market" .
But in 65, it was increasinly uncommon to see a pittman in anything. In my circles, the Atlas cars were considered obsolete on delivery in 65. I liked them on my Revell track, but most racing I knew of, especialy in the midwest, were on routed tracks! I should qualify, this was with the people I was chatting with at the time. It included Hagenbach. Anyway, The anglewinder came in in the fall of 67 in the midwest crowd I was dealing with. I will admit, at the time, I thought it was a stupid idea, until I tried it.
Anyway, in various club circles, I had seen people cludge pittmans into things, but never the Atlas! Why bother! At the time, there was no reason to fiddle with production cars because everyone was allowed to build. Hmmm. Course, I was always puzzled by Bob Schleicher's insistance at the time of "scratchbuilding" using Dynamic parts as well. NOW I understand, but I did not then.

Fate

 

[philsmith]

There are quite a few versions of the Atlas motor, the 1/24 ones seem to be the best.
Get a good one and you have a very good motor indeed!

At last years Bordeaux meeting my Paxton Turbine was plainly the fastest car there using a standard Atlas motor and chassis, and this against some quite exotic machinery, especially from the Italians!

I just picked one out for my Nissan R381 I am building and it really screams.

 

[howmet tx]

Thanks for all those pics, Phil. That'll keep me happy for days. Beautiful work!

 

[howmet tx]

Also, Phil....
What do you use to make all the suspension detail on your F1s? Is it ordinary piano wire, in which case how do you keep it from tarnishing?
Having trouble with the uprights on my M7A, but I'll get it eventually!

 

[philsmith]

Just piano wire, I thought piano wire did not tarnish easily.
That's the idea of it as it is used in pianos!

You must be getting ordinary mild steel wire?