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Which Kit
The following article featured in the January 1998 edition of Which Kit?
magazine and is reproduced by kind permission.
All text and images © Which Kit? 1998. All rights reserved
THOSE MORE SEASONED READERS amongst you may well remember one of Fipot's earlier titles in the form of the highly successful Peter Filby's Component Car. Thankfully, it was generally referred to as, simply. Component Car. and featured a bevy of writers and enthusiasts now spread far and wide throughout the motoring world. Our very own freelancer, Chris Rees, was a regular contributor whose work these days can be seen In everything from Fast Ford to Mini Magazine. Darren Styles went on to start World Sportscars and now produces most of the Renault UK in-house magazines as well as overseeing the typesetting of another world renowned title. Which Kit?\ Fiona Himsworth acted as Component Car's Northern Agent and remains involved in the kit car scene today as the wife of Steve, head honcho at YKC Engineering. One person you don't hear much about these days is Ray Diator, CC's chief exposer of the industry's dodgier operations. Only now do I feel I can reveal that Ray was in fact a total figment of Filby's imagination. Look at the name again and you have nothing more adventurous than... radiator! Last but not least on this list is Nick Evans, who held all manner of positions in CC, from Assistant Editor to Technical Assistant and finally Project Manager. Nick had got into the kit car scene like so many others, by building a Dutton Phaeton in the early 'eighties. There Then followed a VW based Avante before moving on to the project that really drew him into the Component Car fold. He was one of the very first people to build a Montage in the UK. The US based kit was originally VW based and imported by UVA, but Nick worked ceaselessly on the car to turn it into a true mid-engined supercar. Of course, UVA soon followed suit with Its own UVA M6GTR.
Having expended so much time, energy and cash into the Montage project. Nick then took some time off from kit car building to concentrate on the rest of his life. But the late 'eighties, early 'nineties finally saw a resurrection in the motoring theme with the ownership of a Lotus Excel SE, followed by an old shape Esprit Turbo. It was around 1993 that Nick finally felt like getting stuck into another project. By now a devoted Lotus enthusiast, he kept a look out for one of those classified ads that simply cannot be refused, and one eventually appeared in the form of an unfinished restoration project on a Lotus Europa. A measly £800 saw the boxes of bits heading Into his own single garage with the decaying bodyshell outside on the front lawn. As the sifting through began, the enormity of his purchase gradually dawned on him. Yup, there was an engine in there somewhere, but it was in a thousand bits. The boxes of parts also revealed more than just the single donor, with more parts for certain areas of the car than he actually needed. It was around this time, early 1994, that Banks Service Station (BSS) began getting some extremely favourable coverage of its Lotus Europa kits. Using so many original Europa parts that the cars were often externally indistinguishable from the originals gave the Banks products the rare accolade of being largely accepted within the Lotus hard-core. Indeed, when Lotus itself told Nick that Banks Service Station was really the leading Europa Specialist in the country, he immediately decided to deal with BSS rather than direct with Lotus. Even at this stage Nick was still thinking restoration rather than re-interpretation of the Europa theme. But that was all to change on his first visit to BSS's Lancashire base... Banks' head honcho, Richard Winter, had already been down to Nick's house to collect all the parts Nick had decided he had no use for in the restoration. On his first visit to BSS Nick crawled all over the company's Europa 47R replica. The more he looked the more he liked it - especially the fact that Banks had made great efforts to actually improve the car rather than simply replicate It -from the totally new rear suspension to the use of a Vauxhall 2-litre engine - it all seemed like a logical upgrade for the 31-year old design. Nick's mind was set, he would now build a Banks Europa. As it turned out, Nick's kit was one of the first component based car that Banks had supplied, all the others being full factory builds, many of which finding Japanese shores. First to arrive was the powder-coated and aluminium panelled chassis. The original Europa front suspension is retained. Being Triumph based, It's easy to source the refurbishment parts and absolutely everything throughout the car was either new of comprehensively rebuilt. At the back is Banks' own rear suspension - double wishbones, its own hub carriers, Avo coil-over dampers and largely Ford Sierra 4x4 donor components. Specially fabricated driveshafts mate the Ford parts to a Renault NG3 transaxle which is in-turn mounted onto the Vauxhall engine via a large adaptor plate. As for the 2-litre lump. Nick found a suitable engine which he had fully rebuilt to a fairly hairy specification. Complete with a Jenvey fuel injection system, the finished unit is said to be good for 200bhp, Wiring the MBE engine management loom into the Banks replacement Europa loom sounds like a job that would turn most enthusiasts into shivering wrecks. Nick, rather worryingly, loves wiring and set about the whole car's electrical system in minutest detail. Every wire had to be exactly the right length, with correctly soldered bullet connectors etc, etc.
Up front is another area of the car Nick is particularly pleased with. Since he wasn't now building a die-hard replica. Nick decided that the vented bonnet fitted to BSS's other model, the wide-arched Europa 62, would not only improve cooling but also help increase downforce at the front of the car-Europas always had a tendency to lift at speed and the GT40 style bonnet vent should theoretically help reduce this. The new bonnet meant a completely one-off radiator and housing which Nick set about with a vengeance. A modified Sherpa van rad was the starting point and was mounted on 16swg Duralium panelling (aerospec aluminium) with specially made and then anodised aluminium brackets. The whole thing Is designed to force all the incoming air through the rad rather than around it with the rad itself positioned at such an angle as to maximise its efficiency with the new bonnet vents. Indeed, with his local contacts in the aviation industry (working in airport security at Gatwick). Nick used all manner of neat bits and pieces that you normally wouldn't find, from aero-spec P-clips and fasteners to the Duralium panelli and more besides. The build was progressing slowly but meticulously - absolutely every last nut and bolt had to be perfect. Some rather tasty Superlite replica wheels from Performance Wheels shod with Michelin MX3 tyres finally saw the project rolling and time for the bodywork to be fitted. Nick had specified addition Kevlar lay-up in the bodyshell at potentially stressful areas and Banks also went on to prepare and spray the shell for him. The colour is Cirrus white with a Goodwood green stripe - exactly the colours used by the Team Elite group in the 'fifties. Both Nick and BSS were keen to fit the bodyshell up at their workshop, so Nick transported the rolling chassis up to them for the work to be carried out. Banks also hung the doors and other panels and took the opportunity of fitting a few other specialised parts such as the purpose made fuel tanks. So what is it about this Europa that makes it a 47R as opposed to any other sort of Europa? Banks can actually offer a variety of different body options, from the standard Lotus road-going shell right up to the wild wide-arched 62. The latter is a replica of two special Europas built by Lotus in the 1970s but never made available to the public. As they weren't officially offered by Lotus Nick opted for the 47 route. The Europa 47 was Lotus' official 'works' specification Europa which was available for public sale but the company soon found the fact that chassis and body were irrevocably bonded together didn't help when minor or major body repairs were required. As such the company developed the 47R which had a removable body rather than one bonded on to the chassis.
As for the external styling, the 47R is only slightly different to the normal road-going car. An extra side air vent in the rear buttress helped to cool the more powerful engines; the front and rear bumpers have gone and the width of the car over the front wheels is slightly wider to cope with the bigger wheel/tyre combinations. With the project back down in Surrey the build continued on with fitment of all the body accessories, completion of the engine bay, under-bonnet area and preparation for the interior. The latter was another job that Nick wanted BSS to complete so before the car went for it final visit up to Lancashire, Nick ensured that all electrics were working and that the car was essentially complete save for trimming and final suspension setting up. Almost before the project had started Nick had contacted Lotus with a very important request -would they mind if he fitted the Lotus badge and, more Importantly, the Lotus chassis plate? In truth, he could have probably gone ahead and done It without their OK and no-one would have been the wiser, but Nick was keen to have the official seal of approval, particularly as he was an active member of Club Lotus and wanted to take the car to the regular meets. It wasn't long after that he received Lotus' reply - the registration was his!
This seemingly remarkable bit of good news is perhaps explained by Lotus' own policy on component identification. Rather than having an official chassis plate, complete with various details of the car as you would have on most cars, Lotus simply used to issue all the various bits with part numbers, which in turn has made it very easy for Lotus owners to buy replacement chassis etc without jeopardising the identification of their cars. The fact that Nick's car was using a replacement chassis and body with. indeed, only minor components from the original car was of no great importance, especially since Lotus has also now given Banks Service Station the right to do so on its own cars. With the project albut complete. Nick sent the car back up to BSS for its final visit. The immaculate leather interior was installed, the suspension and engine were set-up and an MoT passed first time. With insurance through the owners' club at an embarrassingly cheap £143 fully comprehensive (limited mileage) and the registration endowing the car with road tax free status, the Europa is a remarkably cheap car to run. The car finally turned a wheel in anger in February '97 and since then has covered around 2000 dry miles. Asked what he enjoys most about the car. Nick cites the car's Italianesque driving position, the terrifically race-inspired engine note and the solid rattle-free ride. As we head for the photo location It's this last aspect of the car that also impresses us greatly. There are simply no rattles or bangs and the whole car feels terrifically tight and together. Also impressive is the Europa's ride quality - not at all the harsh, unforgiving ride I had expected. Of course, that's all helped by the solidity of the body/chassis combination as much as the suspension set-up, so this is an impressive performance.
As a final seal of approval Nick entered the car into a Club Lotus concours event at Castle Combe shortly after it was completed and walked off with a class win. Indeed, such is his enthusiasm for the marque that he's in the throes of trying to organise a specific Europa subdivision of Club Lotus. Going through the build process with Nick clearly shows his enthusiasm for the car being as much (if not more) in the construction as it is in the driving enjoyment. He admits he'd love to build another Banks Europa, putting in all the ideas he's had whilst building this car. The engine specification would be taken further, and no doubt the rest of the car would be as totally immaculate as his first effort. For the time being he'd like to extend his greatest thanks to Richard Winter at BSS and, most importantly, his long-suffering partner, Juliana, for always being there with cups of coffee. |
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