Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => The Paddock => Topic started by: Swiftdriver on Thursday,January 09, 2014, 02:31:54 PM
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Can a person (Me) SAFELY fit in a racing Europa w a full cage ? I am 6'1" @210lbs. I see that I need 2" above my helmet to the top of cage- minimum. Any of you racers care to advise me before I jump in and start construction ? I bought an S-2 w/ a very bad frame and I know it will be a money pit. Thanks, Gregg
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I'm about the same size as you, and it's going to be a very tight fit. Especially with a helmet and 2" of required clearance. How you set up your seat will be very important, and you might find yourself needing to look at a formula car style seat to meet the safety requirements.
If your sanctioning body will let you drop the floor or perform other major body and/or chassis surgery then you have more options. One avenue I considered (when I was planning to cut mine up into a race car) was to replace the firewall, part of the floor and and create built-in side bolsters and then use a pour-in seat with a six point harness (like a formula car or sports racer). I did have to request specific permission and pre-approval from my sanctioning body in question, but they granted me a go-ahead subject inspection and final approval.
That said, if you end up deciding not to build a race car out of your shell, please drop me an email. I'd still like to build a racing Europa, but I've just decided mine is just a bit too nice to butcher. It's a complete, running S2 with only 23k mikes, but needing a full going over from age, garage malaise and dis-use.
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Hi there,
I am 6 feet high and with our sparco racing seat and the helmet does it fit perfectly well. But somebody any taller then me would have problems in our car.
I saw an Europa TC from Belgium (or France?) in Spa-Francorchamps. This Europa driver (Stephane Rion) cut a hole in the floor and did lower the seat through that hole. Here you can get an idea of that solution. http://www.racexpress.nl/index.php?nav=Artikel&nid=33560 (http://www.racexpress.nl/index.php?nav=Artikel&nid=33560) .
Best regards
Stefan
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Suggest you start with the assumption you won't fit and make some more space from the start.
I have a half-cage and as that means the seat can't go hard back against the firewall I found it tight (I'm shorter but long in the torso).
I have removed the seat sliders and lowered the (original) seat to the floor on fixed mounts (using aluminum brackets, should have used steel for another 5mm).
Starting from scratch I would change the pedals to a hanging set which should pick up perhaps 50mm.
Also look at a competition seat with minimal padding and strap yourself in tight.
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Hi Stephen,
this can be a nice and not too complicate solution: