Elfin 400 and Lola T70 Baypark Raceway 1969

[AL the Jeepster]

Hi Steve, there is no shortage of documentation on the Elfin out there under Buchanan and Harvey ,maybe a bit hazy with subsequent owners. Harvey change the big block 396 to a 350

Hi all,
I was having a big nostalgia moment today & tripped over this forum...... what a great bit of kit & a lot of the fuzzy memories are flooding back.

Back in the mid 60's my brother (19yrs my senior) worked for Hamlin, Charles & Grant, later Hamlin & Charles(after Kerry's horrific accident) so I was a very lucky kid to sit in & in some cases get a ride in awesome cars.
The best sit'in was Jim Clark's Lotus & the wildest ride'in was Andy's Elfin tho the 250LM was a very close 2nd.
My brother, Graham had maintained both the 250LM & Elfin 400 but was lucky enough to spanner on Andrew Cowen's Rally Clubman GT + did the engine work for Colin Taylor's 1600 & 2lit BDA's.

Graham rebuilt the 396 out of the Elfin before it did a 2yr stint in Spinner Blacks Power Boat.

When I worked for Joseph Lucas Electrical I met & became good friends with Kerry Little when he had purchased the now rebuilt to 427B/B & installed it into his front engined VW beetle hotrod 'King Rat'.

I can see myself spending hour catching up/reading heaps on this site.

Congratulations on this amazing forum & thank everyone for doing a lot to preserve our motor racing history.

Cheers,

AL

[Rod Grimwood]

Al welcome, now straight into the memory banks.
Al was the engine put into 'Turtle'.

[AL the Jeepster]

Thanks Rod, I can't answer that as it had been several years between it reaching Kerry's hands.
My brother, Graham did the final rebuild & at some stage he fitted the huge port Ally heads + he refitted the IDF's.
I remember Graham telling me he pulled 550+ HP @6750 & 600ft/lb with the IDA's but Kerry had trouble keeping it in tune so changed it back to twin 750CFM spread bores & dropped 50HP when we fitted it in the beetle.

I got to ride in the Elfin on a test drive down Port Rd(outside Hamlin & Charles) and was the most amazing experience in a 10yr olds life tho the 250LM ride along with that screaming V12 was a very close 2nd.

Where is the Elfin now???
I remembered how beautiful the car looked without its body on, the tube frame was a work of art but I'm sure I saw the rolling chassis sitting in a Whitianga service station workshop while I was on holidays in the mid 70's......Looked really sad.

[John McKechnie]

Al- A friend of mine Murray has owned the Elfin for 25 plus years. He has it in his garage at his house and its in good hands.One day it will run again.I will see if he will let me take some pics to post here.
Hamlin and Charles did the 350 motor, 550 h.p., that went into Grady Thomsons Monaro in the mid 1970s .Basically same specs as McRaes motor.I now own this car-see Team Cambridge Monaro thread #461
Do you remember this car. It was Bronze at that time?

[Steve Holmes]

Hi all,
I was having a big nostalgia moment today & tripped over this forum...... what a great bit of kit & a lot of the fuzzy memories are flooding back.

Back in the mid 60's my brother (19yrs my senior) worked for Hamlin, Charles & Grant, later Hamlin & Charles(after Kerry's horrific accident) so I was a very lucky kid to sit in & in some cases get a ride in awesome cars.
The best sit'in was Jim Clark's Lotus & the wildest ride'in was Andy's Elfin tho the 250LM was a very close 2nd.
My brother, Graham had maintained both the 250LM & Elfin 400 but was lucky enough to spanner on Andrew Cowen's Rally Clubman GT + did the engine work for Colin Taylor's 1600 & 2lit BDA's.

Graham rebuilt the 396 out of the Elfin before it did a 2yr stint in Spinner Blacks Power Boat.

When I worked for Joseph Lucas Electrical I met & became good friends with Kerry Little when he had purchased the now rebuilt to 427B/B & installed it into his front engined VW beetle hotrod 'King Rat'.

I can see myself spending hour catching up/reading heaps on this site.

Congratulations on this amazing forum & thank everyone for doing a lot to preserve our motor racing history.

Cheers,

AL

Thats a pretty awesome first post Al! Welcome to the site. Andy Buchanan lives not too far from me, and he and I swap emails from time to time.

[AL the Jeepster]

Yeah John, I think I can recall the Monaro...... You have a nice project there.

If you can get some pic's of the Elfin I'd like to see it again.

[AL the Jeepster]

Thats a pretty awesome first post Al! Welcome to the site. Andy Buchanan lives not too far from me, and he and I swap emails from time to time.

Thanks Steve but they were great times to be a young kid & around awesome drivers'n'cars. It was amazing watching Andy Buchanan driving the Ferrari & Elfin around the tight Levin circuit.....he was an awesome peddler.
I'd like to see more pic's from that time in NZ motor sport...... in most cases the cars were built not bought, fantastic engineering going into sport cars, single seaters, sport sedans & club cars. Watching Dr Robbie rubbing 'Color me gone's" tyres down the side of Paul Fayes Mustang at Levin, Rod Coppins driving sideways everywhere in his mk2 327ci Zephyr with 8 exhaust pipes sticking out the bonnet & heaps of Lotus Seven's chasing the V8 sports cars.....

Congrates Steve on the awesome forum.... AL

[Oldfart]

Al, you need to do a lot of research on the forum. The photos you are looking for are here already!

[Perry Holland]

hi Al....spent a lot of time around Hamlin & Charles during this time what was your brothers surname ???