Typical British weather, motor racing Mecca of UK, an English man with huge passion for cars and racing, driving a car like Lotus in the middle of modern sports cars, talking about his glorious days of racing, bloody hell nothing gets better than this ! I became a big fan of you Ivan, keep mackling in Shed and driving cars ! Best regards
I never get tired of Ivan's 7. It was a picture of him in that car in Classic And Sportscar magazine a hundred years ago that made me decide to build a homemade 7 as much like that as I could. Just a super Boss little machine
This brought back the memories, I to briefly held a record at Brands in my mini back in 1961. I hadn't realised how much they'd straightend out paddock, in my day it was much sharper with a nasty adverse camber. We also took a completely different line round pilgrims we came out on the left of the track and crossed over to the right going down pilgrims drop to line up for bottom bend. All those modern cars are so much faster now, things have certainly improved over the last 60 years.
Enjoyed that immensely Ivan.. warms my heart to see you out there hammering away and I do hope all those other young ‘pups’, circulating about, realized and appreciated the Quality and History of that ‘old fella’ in the ‘little blue Loti’… Should add.. the video quality was Superb, congrats to all.. no shake, no wind noise etc… many Thanks for Posting and look forward to the next adventures of Ivan & John
This is wonderful beyond words. The backstory is everything. Thanks Ivan and it's also nice to see a Dare TZ on track, another great car from the brothers and sons behind the creation of Ginetta.
I helped a friend build a 7 replica with a Nissan SR20 turbo .. you might think the contrary looking at one, but a 7 pretty much has the aerodynamics of an outhouse - they hit a brick wall at about 150 kp/h , more power just gets you there quicker. I tell you what though, we always had big fat 8" rims and 245 section tyres, I don't fancy going at it with those cookie cutter wire rims he's got there
Ivan never talk’s about his racing career but If you’d like some history watch the Car and Classic channel interview of Ivan. Lyon’s tea sponsored him and he won his first 8 races. British Champion. He knows how to engineer a car and he knows how to race ‘em too. That’s a very rare combination.
From what I've read he's also quick driver of old racing Bugattis. There's a footage of him in the internet somewhere driving a Type 35 to win against Martin Stretton, who's driving absolutely balls-out in a rare Talbot 700 GP car.
Shame about the rain but after all driving fun is about being on the limit, whatever that might be. Thanks for the brief glimpse at last of your excellent photographer.
Very done Ivan even in the wet the lotus seven handles extremely well, great to be along for the ride (Only for a roof). Great content as usual keep up the good work.😉
I really enjoyed watching your video Ivan! Brings back memories when I had a Lancia, full throttle all of the time. Reved it up until it would almost blow up and then change gear and it would almost be at its max rev again. Unlike modern cars that of wich the engine cuts out if the reves are to high. We old blokes can hear when it is time to change gear, don't need a computer to let us know.
Does Ivan have a 1300 Escort these days? I've a soft spot for them as it's the first car I remember my mum and dad having when I was a kid. I found the channel through Dominic Chinea's RU-vid and have watched a lot of your content. Super interesting and inspiring 👍👍
Thank you for the ride along young man. Nice save on the first run. I really expected the car to be a bigger handful in the wet but watching your hands on the wheel you seemed quite relaxed and there was little twitching about. Glad to know I’m not the only one that misses fourth on the upshifts. I do that on occasions as well but I don’t have a good excuse as all my transmissions have a standard shift pattern. I’m envious that you have the opportunity to run on some really great tracks. I’d love to experience them with my Mg TD/c in dads car. He was a weekend club racer in California in the early 1950’s on road courses and in timed rally’s and hill climbs. Dad traded the car for a new AH 100M and cursed that car to no end. I found his TD/c quite by accident in Southern CA shortly after his passing. A six year ground up restoration took place and it has won awards at every car show it’s has attended. I’d like to get it on track just as a test and tune so I could relive some of his experiences. I also have a purpose built TD for fast road. Highly modified XPAG putting out close to 100hp. It’s a hoot to drive as it was meant to be. The sweet sound that emanates from her exhaust between 4500-6500rpm when she comes alive puts smiles on my face as I run down rural canyon roads. I have a friend that recently bought a very early baby blue Lotus Seven that would be a sister to yours don’t know the chassis number but will ask him when I see him at the next cars and coffee event. It was a barn find that had sat for many many years. Still, it is an untouched time capsule. He has own several Lotus’s and Caterham’s over the years and this has been his favorite.
Your good self and that old Lotus 7, Ivan, what a great combo, pity about the rain but you were going great. Sure the new stuff is fast but they're not half as classy as you mate.
Ivan will we see you in any competitions this season (2023)? It appears you have quite a few cars running tip top and am wondering if you enter anything in their respective classes? That lotus ever sound incredible when you get it wound up! I could feel it pulling from over here in Canada. Cheers!
Superb driving Ivan, that is one special lotus seven and in your hands it's pure grace under pressure from modern cars, I had an avo mk1 Mexico by the way.
Ivan if you are going to take the Lotus 7 out again, splash out for a decent set of road tyres and take the car out on the road and get used to the gearbox again. Then take us back to Brands and show us what the little Lotus can do, no t you cox we know you can do it all day long Ivan!
Hi Ivan we love your show nice to see you have taken on a young man in your workshop also the new camera lady from the Ukraine is doing a great job. Your show is popular amongst enthusiast’s here in Australia Cheers Jim Mc Donald
IVAN DRIVEING ON SKINNY TYRES IS AN ART . YOU DID BRILLIANT FOR THEM CONDITION. YOU DRIVE THAT TYP OF CAR . THATS WHY YOU INJOY IT SO MUCH . ITS MORE ABOUT YOUR SKILL THEN THE CAR . I LIKE . NOW GET LOST 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😊😊😊😊😊
A really good video sir, an interesting moment but you held it on the black stuff. I would like to see you on a dry day, should give those youngsters a run for their money.
Nice job of driving. Do you have problems with the drive shaft flange hitting the tunnel? My Seven S1 does when turning right under high load. When that would happen at the museum turn at Barber Motorsports Park it was time to unload the steering.
Well done Ivan, showing those young upstarters a few tricks! What’s the story about the perfect paint work on this lotus? I thought you would have kept the original paint? Is it the oldest lotus? Which other older ones do you know exist?
I’d love have seen you stick the little Coventry Climax engine in a Ford Pop or Morris Minor, just to say I saw you build the earliest British hot rod.
Have you seen the Triumph-approved Coventry Climax Herald conversions (from the original 1200 coupe models), done by Jack Brabham? Doubled the power and performance while reducing the weight. Always seemed like the perfect match. Coupes because of the better axle ratio among other things. Rare find today, or consider converting!
