Banks S2 Race Car

[JR73]

Hi All,

New on here so apologies if the pics don’t work as I’m working from my phone whilst away on holiday!

Brief history if anyone’s interested...
My parents bought the car new in 1971 as a kit build from Lotus (I still have all the tags and receipts) it replaced a much loved S3 Lotus 7 that they had bought new in kit form in 1969.
I was transported home from the hospital in the Europa as a newborn baby(!) so it’s  fair to say I’ve  been around them all my life.
I staked my claim on it early on and after it was retired into the garage when I grew too big for my child seat that was wedged on top of the tunnel between the two seats I used to insist that it was rolled out so that I could clean it and generally explore it as a kid.

Many years later and whilst finishing my engineering degree at Uni (with a desire to go racing) it was time to revive the old girl! - Couldn’t  believe my luck when, during one of numerous visits to local classic car shows I met Richard Winter in one of his cars. Banks is 30 mins down the road from where I live and it wasn’t  long before I had bought one of his tubular chassis and work started...

After finishing Uni I ended up working at Banks for a few years and needless to say this definitely helped me decide on the final spec of my Europa.
Long story short; it ended up as a full Racer! - the championship that Richard and a few other guys competed in had various classes and the up to 1600cc class suited the cars well so that’s  what decided the engine - Vauxhall 1600 8 Valve (somewhat breathed upon) with a 5 speed box, class rules dictated a minimum weight of 640kgs and that was exactly what it weighed when finished! (Wet, with some fuel in the tank...)

I’ll just say it was competitive straight out of the box, first meeting was at the old Anglesey Circuit and I came away with a second in class with fastest lap outright from the first race along with first in class and second overall from the second race (time to retire hey?!) - The championship was effectively the old Modsports Championship that consisted of 6 classes A to F, A to C being silhouette cars with varying engine capacities and D to F were production based of varying capacities (I was in class E). Needless to say there were some well developed and very rapid cars out there so a lot of credit has to be given to the Banks Chassis and Suspension amongst other things.

A couple of years down the line and I had managed to avoid any major mishap but the thought of destroying something that I was so sentimentally attached to meant that I retired the Europa from competition and found something else to build and compete in that I was less attached to. (V8 Esprit as it happened - effectively a BIG Europa!)

I fitted a passenger seat and used it on track days until life and work got in the way a little and it sat in the garage for a year or two...

I’m currently installing the bare minimum required to make it road legal and hoping to have it out on the road again for the summer....

I still have all of the original parts that weren’t  used during the conversion - effectively the complete original rolling chassis along with the original interior, body panels etc etc.....you just never know....?!

Hope this wasn’t  too boring to read and there’s  years worth of nerdy stuff that I’ve  left out or forgotten (lucky you!), if you wanna know anything then just ask?!

Jon

[lotusfanatic]

Hello Jon,

 

I have no direct links to a Europa as a child, so being taken home from hospital in that very car is a great story! My earliest memory of Lotus was F1 in the early 70’s and a small purple Corgi / Matchbox Europa which was my favourite (as it was so different to most other cars!)
I look forward to seeing your progress as you make your car road legal.

Mark

[JR73]

Thanks, it won’t look much different tbh! - I have made a matching seat for the passenger side (moulded fibreglass bucket the same as the drivers that you probably can’t see in the pictures) to go with a four point harness, I’ve made a separate wiring loom for everything that wasn’t needed to go racing - so all the lights are now connected up and there are a couple of small (and basic!) clip in panels to hold any switches.

The rear calipers have always been the Banks Kit which uses Ford Sierra Cosworth calipers that quite handily have provision for a handbrake so all I have to do is connect it all up (took a while to locate my original handbrake pull after being stored away!)

There are a few other bits to do like mount and connect up an alternator as the racer didn’t need one - might make one concession to the Mrs and then fit a smaller battery and reduce the size of the battery box in the passenger footwell (intention was to ‘treat’ her to a nice pad on the top so she could stretch her legs!!!!lol but it really isn’t that practical for getting in and out!)

The idea is so I can remove all the road related stuff fairly quickly if I ever want/need to.

I had that very same Purple Matchbox car! - still got it too!

Pic of me washing the car a little time ago.... I definitely don’t have the hat anymore!!!!!

[lotusfanatic]

I’m looking forward to reading about your progress, your mrs will be very grateful if you provide room for her to get in/out and stretch her legs when in!

You should take a similar photo (with hat) washing the car!

Mark

[JR73]

Lol, the picture has already been done! - was even taken on the same driveway by the same person that took the original too!!!!! Didn’t have any brown clothing to wear, or a hat though........!!!
I will try to find it when I get home from hols...

My Mrs would use any excuse to stay out of it, the only experiences she’s ever had of it is as a passenger on a track day and she says I always drive too fast....... I know....!!!

[lotusfanatic]

 

[JR73]

Found a few more pics.
First one is from Anglesey (my first race meeting as a competitor - end of 2000), going into the second lap - how many Europas can you spot?!! (It was a full grid and every Europa competing has somehow been just about captured in this pic - even massively out of focus in the background!!).
Ian Wilson (also worked at Banks at that time) can be seen adjusting the length of the grass on the infield! - he won the championship outright that year in a similar Class E car.

Second pic is again Anglesey, same weekend. White Banks 47 had a 2.0 Vauxhall XE fitted with some fairly serious horsepower.

Third pic was taken on the first lap at Oulton Park (again, end of 2000) - desperately trying to make up as many places as possible whilst staying clear of everyone as is usual after the start!

Fourth and Fifth pics are from a track day at the new Anglesey circuit years later (2008) - Caterham was being both run in (it was new) and introduced to proper tarmac! My Mrs is looking at the 7’s engine trying to think of a reason why she doesn’t have to go back out as a passenger with me!!!

Sixth pic is a group shot of my favorites! 7 was freshly built and awaiting its Reg plates and finishing touches (correct wheels/tyres along with a geo), Europa is on its storage wheels (slicks need to be looked after!) and the Esprit was nearing completion (7 took less than a week to assemble vs 3 years on and off to build the Esprit! - I couldn’t wait!!)

[lotusfanatic]

Jon,

some great photos and the Europa survived intact... it’s not often that cars survive unscathed.
that last photo shows a very good selection of cars!

Mark

[Certified Lotus]

Hi John,    your opening story is the best I have read for a new member! Gotta love the Lotus from birth connection. More importantly you were able to keep the original Europa “in the family”. Looking forward to hearing more about your development of the car.

PS, both my sons have been exposed to many Lotus cars since birth. I can’t admit they were ever in a car seat in a Lotus (against the law here in the States) but they both have a huge amount of seat time and eventually driving time in Lotus cars.

[surfguitar58]

Wow! Great story and 

This forum hosts a range of expertise (with mine squarely in the neophyte end, but learning). Hoping you'll share your experience as a regular contributor, and as always, POST LOTS OF PICS!

On the subject of kids in cars, I put my sports car obsession on hold when my son was born and I had to drive him (in a rearward facing baby car seat in the passenger side) and my precious daughter (sitting on a boat cushion on the back shelf of my Alfa Spyder with a rope for a seatbelt) to daycare/school every morning. Thus began the dreaded Volvo years.

Tom

[BDA]

  Jon!!!

That is a great story. You have to have the record for the percentage of your life with a Europa connection!

Your car is certainly interesting and I, for one, am interested in your time with Richard! I have a lot of his parts on my car. I'm also interested in how Richard operates. For example, I heard once that Banks was basically a one man operation.

I see you've posted a few times already today so I hope that means you'll spend a lot more time with us in the future! Keep those pictures coming!

[JR73]

Luckily, I suppose, the laws were pretty slack here when I was a kid - Dad did at least as good of a job fixing my kids seat between the two main seats as Lotus did of fixing the other two in place! Don’t think much of it would pass any regs these days though...

I’m just very grateful that he wouldn’t give it up and saw just how much I loved the car!
It’s fair to say that I used to drive my parents mad with all things Lotus and Europas especially - pocket money was saved for anything I could find!!

It’s been few years since I was totally absorbed in all things Europa at Banks but if anyone has any questions then feel free to ask away - I might not be super quick to respond at all times but that’s more related to me trying to remember correctly?!
I still spot Europas that I recognize from my days at Banks, either full restorations, fresh builds or general servicing etc - standard or modified, we pretty much covered everything.

When I was there Richard employed around 8 people plus himself, I know things have changed since then and a few years ago when I last called in to buy something from him it appeared to just be Richard there on his own. If demand is still what it was when I was there then I don’t know how he manages to keep up, all of his stuff was made on site; chassis, suspension, brake kits, Twin link kits, interior trim, fuel tanks.... and he always has at least two interesting projects on the go!

Cheers for the replies.

[Bainford]

I was transported home from the hospital in the Europa as a newborn baby(!) so it’s fair to say I’ve been around them all my life.
I staked my claim on it early on and after it was retired into the garage when I grew too big for my child seat that was ‘wedged’ on top of the tunnel between the two seats I used to insist that it was rolled out so that I could clean it and generally explore it as a kid.

I love everything about this paragraph!!

Welcome to the forum, Jon. It's good to have you aboard. Enjoy. Cheers 

[Rosco5000]

Welcome to the forum, that is an amazing story.  That is a nice stable of cars you have there.  Very much a Lotus dream line up. 

I wasn't brought home from the hospital in a Lotus but shortly after about 2 my car seat was in the passenger side of my family's Elan and Mom daily drove it.  I remember my parents taking me to the local race track Westwood I would sit behind the passenger seat on a pillow.  Ah the days before strict safety laws.  Now I'm lucky if my wife even thinks the cars are safe enough for my kids to ride in them period, 1st world problems really, LOL.
Cheers,
Ross

[JR73]

Cheers Ross, It certainly didn’t do us any harm travelling around in them did it?! - probably cost us a fair bit financially since though by planting the seed that has us buying, running and maintaining the cars that we own and love!!!?

Dad used the Europa as his daily driver (his only car in fact) so just like you I have great memories of going to different places in it. Years later after he retired the Europa he kinda worked his way back up the car ladder and we had an Excel as a family car! Two adults and two teenagers travelled all around the uk in that quite happily. - still got that one in the family fleet! You’ve all probably got the idea that I come from a car and Lotus mad family (my brother is just as bad!).