Did anyone's Elise catch fire on the A3 this morning?

[Dick Seaman]

Northbound side between Guildford and the M25 at about 10:45am. Police and fire brigade in attendance, plus one slightly bemused owner. Car was just a burnt out shell covered in foam when I drove past, but judging by the remains of the alloys I think it was an Elise.

[Scuffers]

Dick Seaman said:

Northbound side between Guildford and the M25 at about 10:45am. Police and fire brigade in attendance, plus one slightly bemused owner. Car was just a burnt out shell covered in foam when I drove past, but judging by the remains of the alloys I think it was an Elise.

ouch!

bad day for somebody then.....

[hueandcry71]

Wasnt Kovalainen by any chance?

[Monkey boy 1]

^^^^^^

[live ade]

Nah, HK would have put it out himself

[Bebee]

live ade said:

Nah, HK would have put it out himself

Eventually! was anyone else shouting at the screen, 'GET OUT OF THE CAR'!!! Those flames were getting higher and higher while he sat there, he must have been waiting for the pit to tell him to get out.

Anyway, not nice to hear of someone watching their car/loti go up in flames.

[hueandcry71]

Bebee said:

live ade said:

Nah, HK would have put it out himself

Eventually! was anyone else shouting at the screen, 'GET OUT OF THE CAR'!!! Those flames were getting higher and higher while he sat there, he must have been waiting for the pit to tell him to get out.

Anyway, not nice to hear of someone watching their car/loti go up in flames.

I cant believe the pit told him not to come in.

[Hedgerley]

If you heard his interview afterwards he explained it was his decision to stay out on the track. He was heading for the pits then realised it was a much bigger fire than he'd thought and decided it was to dangerous to head down the pit lane full of people.

[beak]

yep, see the thread on seloc.

[Exige77]

http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=280349

Always a sad sight

Ex77

[Dift]

The car was a fully rebuilt S1 running a 2.0t Audi engine. Iirc it has taken an age for it to get to a stage where the car was finished.
It is such a shame, as it was an amazing bit of kit with many bespoke parts.

[Scuffers]

wasn't it up for sale? (if it's the one I am thinking of?)

[GR4]

Has the Seloc thread gone? I can't see it.

[Exige77]

Yes It's gone.

I am sure there will be an insurance claim so maybe better.

Ex77

[Dift]

Scuffers said:

wasn't it up for sale? (if it's the one I am thinking of?)

I believe he was errring on the side of keeping it after falling in and out of love with it over the course of it's conversion and testing.

[Chris_S]

Sorry to hear someone's pride and joy go up in flames. Just a thought. You are much more at risk of this sort of thing happening to an Elise with a non factory engine (Honda, Audi or Duratec) installed by a 3rd party. Glad I stuck with Lotus factory SC'd Toyota!

Honda owners no need to attack. Just ignore me

[Chris_S]

Sorry to hear someone's pride and joy go up in flames. Just a thought. You are much more at risk of this sort of thing happening to an Elise with a non factory engine (Honda, Audi or Duratec) installed by a 3rd party. Glad I stuck with Lotus factory SC'd Toyota!

Honda owners no need to attack. Just ignore me

[Mark B]

Chris_S said:

Sorry to hear someone's pride and joy go up in flames. Just a thought. You are much more at risk of this sort of thing happening to an Elise with a non factory engine (Honda, Audi or Duratec) installed by a 3rd party. Glad I stuck with Lotus factory SC'd Toyota!

Honda owners no need to attack. Just ignore me

Why would you say that, if you don't mind me asking?

I have a self build Duratec, the fuel filter uses the standard connections and the fuel line goes to a standard Ford fuel rail....

Seems a strange thing to say, or are you not mechanically minded?

[Justin S]

I would expect there to be less chance of issues with an aftermarket installation, as most firms will put better heat insulation and upgrade or just renew many items in the engine bay. There was a case of a standard S1 going up too a week or so ago.............can't blame that on aftermarket stuff........

[Scuffers]

Justin S said:

I would expect there to be less chance of issues with an aftermarket installation, as most firms will put better heat insulation and upgrade or just renew many items in the engine bay. There was a case of a standard S1 going up too a week or so ago.............can't blame that on aftermarket stuff........

worth pointing out that most car fires are nothing to do with fuel per say, Oil fires are a way bigger problem.