Chicane pg 1

Tuesday 25th June 2002

I recently met Andy Widnall of Spyder Engineering at the sports car show, held at the N..E.C. Andy was showing one of their latest Elan Plus Two chassis with Ford 16 valve Zetec power neatly installed into it. He suggested that the LDC could visit Spyder and try out their latest Elan Plus Two 2test car2. An offer too good to miss, we thought. Why not, it may be very interesting.

We arrived at the factory to be greeted by Andy who promptly showed us around, explained how Spyder has been building and developing chassis and suspension systems for nearly twenty years. There were various chassis in their recognisable orange colour and black where customers prefer and various Ford Zetec engines and gearboxes in different stages of build.

Andy was very enthusiastic and spent time with us explaining how he had come up with the idea of the 2modern2 Elan Plus Two. The concept behind it was to offer the enthusiast a proper classic Lotus but with reliable running gear. Next, we went outside to be shown around our test car. The afternoon's blast around the back lanes of Peterborough was about to start. Most striking at first glance was the latest metallic, silver-grey paint finish, new minilite wheels and tinted windows. It all looked very smart and impressive. Inside was still classic Lotus but with a new aluminium gear knob and handbrake on the centre tunnel. It started easily and tootled off down the road. All seemed well, then once on the main road I put my foot down and... my god, what a surprise! The roar and exhaust note was something else and it just kept accelerating. It sounded just fantastic and kept pulling evenly in every gear. In traffic and on country or very bumpy roads it behaved perfectly, easily cruising in 5th at 80 to 90 mph.

I once owned a twin cam 4 speed Plus Two and the memories came flooding back, but without the smell of petrol or the need to change up to a fifth gear that wasn't there! We drove the Elan all afternoon, gave it some real stick, ran it on many different roads and returned it back to Spyder having used any petrol. (Andy says it's good for 40 mpg.) We still had huge smiles on our faces!

If you would like your Plus Two to be more modern, with reliability, sound great, still turn heads and use it every day as your main car, then a Spyder Ford Zetec conversion is definitely worth pursuing. Andy will explain everything in detail, so give him a ring for more information.