The Anonymous Widower

A Late Flowering

I had thought that when I left Antwerp the roads would be a lot clearer than other Friday nights, when I’d done this trip.  They were but they were still crowded.

I should say that the main route from Antwerp to Ostend is to take the road to Gent and then the E40 motorway to Ostend. It is not as quick as it should be and sometimes is blocked either by accidents or just too much traffic.  So I prefer to take the E34 towards Brugge and then cut down the N44 at Maldegem.  It’s probably a few kilometres further, but on most days it is quicker and probably a lot safer.  When coming direct from Holland, I also cut across from Breda and through the Liefkenshoek tunnel.  That route is usually traffic-free as the tunnel costs five euro.

But within ten minutes of leaving my parking space near the station, I was on the E34 and heading towards Brugge.  The weather was good, so the top was down on the Lotus and I was enjoying the rather weak evening sunshine.  But the road was busy and it took me quite a few minutes to get out of the right-hand-lane with the trucks at a hundred or so kilometres per hour and into the left at a lot faster.

I often say that the Lotus Elan is the Second Best Car in the World. I did in this piece.

When you are in fast traffic it is in its element and it proves my description.

With the top down, the vision is superb in all directions and you’re never in danger of cutting anybody up, as you can use all three mirrors and even turn your head to check blind spots.  I don’t want a coming together at about a hundred miles per hour or more.  You don’t come out well.

When I made the left hand lane, it was either stick there with the mad Belgians in their BMWs, Mercedes and Porsches at speeds of over a hundred fifty kilometres per hour or tamely get stuck with the trucks.  I chose the mad Belgians!

But I did watch all the dials; turbo boost, temperature, oil, water and fuel.  They are so much more instructive than a set of anonymous lights, which generally go red for every sort of engine problem and then present you with a large bill for the technician to plug his computer into the one in your car.  Incidentally, the Lotus has its own engine management computer which is as old as the car.  Why can’t PCs last a bit longer?  I do wonder though what will happen when one of these computers needs replacing on a classic car in say thirty years time.

At speed with the top down, there is little wind noise in the Lotus.  There’s even less with the top up!  Could this be because the car is actually aerodynamically clean and doesn’t create all the vortices that occur on the average car, where interior space can’t be compromised for the dynamics and you tend to end up with all sorts of wings and spoilers.  Not that the interior space was minimised in the Lotus, but it was designed first and foremost as a fast and stable sports car.

And on the subject of interior space, the Lotus may be a very short car, but because it is front-wheel drive and it has been intelligently designed, it can pack a vast amount of luggage for such a small car.  All of the books, maps, tools and safety equipment actually fit in the space under the hood, which because it is manual doesn’t take up half the rear of the car and add significantly to the weight.  I can also get two soft cases and a Brompton bicycle in the boot.

I’ve tended to think lately that the cars acceleration is getting a lot slower than some of the modern BMWs and Mercedes, but on the road to Brugge, there are several sets of lights and she performed well.  Perhaps, they have a lot more power, but they also have a lot more weight.  Cars are getting obese like people!

At Maldegem, I slowed on the E44 and transferred to the main motorway before picking up pace again towards Ostend and Dunkirk.  The pace was less frenetic and the road was also a lot less busy, with a lot of British registered vehicles going towards the Channel Tunnel and the ferries.

But the car finally showed it’s superb design credentials in an unusual way.  There appeared to be very dark clouds over Dunkirk and it would have not been very prudent to raise the hood.  Luckily, there was a handy service area and I stopped, got out the car, lifted the cover for the hood, raised and clipped it into place and drove off, all in about twenty seconds.

Try doing that in anything with an electric hood.

August 8, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Antwerp, Brompton Bicycle, Lotus Elan