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Race
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Written by Thor Thorson
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
Frank Nichols’ first sports-racer was built in 1954, designed by Mike Chapman, competing immediately and successfully against the similar small-displacement Lotus sports-racers of Colin Chapman. Its success encouraged Nichols to emulate its design with the first few Elva live rear axle sports-racers. Mk II featured a De Dion rear axle. The Mk IV had fully independent suspension and was the first Elva with a tubular space frame. Nichols continued small-displacement sports-racer development with the Mk V, the ultimate front-engined drum-brake Elva sports-racer. Only 13 were built, but with power from the Coventry Climax FWB single overhead camshaft engine, they were the equal, if not the better, of Chapman’s Lotus 11 in England, Europe, and the United States.
Power is from a 1490 cc long stroke Coventry Climax FWB with dual Weber carburetors through a Taylor Race Engineering rib-case Sprite-type close ratio 4-speed gearbox. The engine was built in 2006, with an aluminum girdle plate to join the block and bearing towers for strength and reliability in its long stroke configuration. Rebuilt in 2007 by VDS engines with a re-engineered head, camshaft, and valves from Sid Hoole Racing, it has only four race weekends since.
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