Words by Andrew Stevens, pictures by David Hopper

The Sporting Car Club recently held a Lotus themed night at their Adelaide clubhouse, with two of local legend David Tye’s cars on the stage and an entertaining talk followed by a question and answer session.

The S4 Elan drophead was built by David to GTS spec for FIA historic use in Europe, with a combination of Tony Thomson components and Craig Beck engine.  As a result, it’s left-hand drive with a full Safety Devices rollcage built in.

David brought it back from France when he decided to return to Australia, and has been using it in Sprints and events such as the MSCA 6 Hour Regularity Relay.  It has around 185hp at the wheels but David reports that it is very driveable. Interestingly, David gets it around Mallala in about 1:24, which is about the same as a well driven road-going Elise.

The Elan is always immaculately appointed, although entry and exit can be a bit of a challenge. David also has an almost identically liveried S4 as a road car, which is a regular at our monthly runs.

The 23B replica attracted lots of interest

The second car on display is David’s most recent acquisition, being a replica Lotus 23B, based on a New Zealand kit, and powered by an alloy blocked twin cam, mated to a Renault 5 speed box in lieu of the traditional Hewland.

According to David, the process started when he bought an alloy block in the US that was configured for dry sump, only to find that it didn’t really suit either the Elan or a Europa that he was “rescuing”. Casting around for a home for the block, he hit upon Leitch Motorsport in New Zealand, who do highly accurate Brabham BT21 replicas, a Lotus 7 replica, and a Lotus 23B replica. The plan was hatched to mate a 23B replica with the block.

23B replica build quality is excellent

With the help of the Umlauf family in the Adelaide Hills, the chassis was adapted for the Renault gearbox, and a number of other “enhancements” like deconflicting the steering wheel and brake pedal were implemented.  The base kit also needed some bodywork mods to ensure wheels cleared guards.

The result, in non-original but iconic Gulf Racing livery, is a credit to the builders and David’s vision, and simply a joy to drive on the one outing so far. It’s got plenty of grunt from the Graham Umlauf-built engine, and will now go through a sorting process before being given some competitive outings in David’s hands. Somewhere in the process, David even remembered to tell his long suffering wife Carole what he was up to.

If you like the idea of a 23B, but don’t want to go through the pain, there is a very nice one with a bit more history for sale in California for a mere USD $105,000.  Check out Racecarsdirect.com – 1963 Lotus 23B