Put a big V-8 into a small tubular frame with minimal body and up-to-date suspension, and what do you get? The Elfin MS8 Clubman. Very fast and equally at home on a track or the road, the Elfin provides massive acceleration and tremendous excitement.
What sort of performance? 0-60 mph in 4.0-4.2 seconds, and a top speed of over 185 mph. That only tells part of the story because you get massive acceleration at almost any speed in most gears.
More exciting than most supercars
Cars like the Elfin MS8 are much more exciting to drive than your ordinary fast car. Why? First, you’re out in the open and you can see just how fast you’re racing over the tarmac. Secondly, you get plenty of feedback of what is happening through your ears and hands and can see what is happening at the front wheels. And feel what is happening at the back wheels.
For those who want a more up-to-date look, Elfin Sports Cars has produced a model that is almost the same except for an all enclosed aerodynamic body – the MS8 Streamliner. So you take your pick and pay your money – and at present about half the customers choose each style.
So what is Elfin Sports Cars? It is a small Australian company producing less than 100 exciting cars a year, which started off producing a Lotus 7 look alike even to the green paintwork with a yellow stripe. And you can still buy the latest version of this Clubman - the Type 3 - now powered by a 1.6 liter twin-cam Toyota engine - at a very reasonable price.
The company has to battle with loads of regulations, unlike its counterparts in the UK, which has a single-vehicle approval system designed to help small firms making a few cars. Elfin has to meet all the Australia Design Rules, which includes computer simulation of a crash test. This is a complex and expensive business, so the fully-built up MS8s are not cheap – but they pack a massive punch.
Slim open-wheeled roadster or -
The Elfin MS8 is similar to the smaller and original Clubman, but is incredibly quick. It looks similar, with cycle fenders on the front and rear wheels, and a narrow body. Elfin got away from the wide, low front grille used by many makers of this type of car, and went for a taller, narrower grille. Also, slim pods each side of the main body are shaped to give a bit of downforce, a different look and housings for the twin exhaust systems.
- Or sleek Streamliner
As you can see, the MS8 gets a sleek slab-sided body, styled by GM’s Australian Holden outfit, with a wide low grille at the front. There are a pair of small lamps in the front grille and another pair in the front fenders.
The lines are classic – almost retro - with a dip down from the front to the rear fenders, but with a curved tail. Large air outlets behind the front wheels give the sides some shape. The tail is very short, with a large exhaust pipe each side.
Very small cars
These are very small cars, just 138 in (3,500 mm) long, weighing in at 2,313 lb (1,050 kg) despite having big 5.7 liter Chevy V-8s under the hoods driving through six-speed manual gearboxes to the rear wheels. This unique combination gives rip-snorting, hit-you-in-the-back acceleration with a power-to-weight ratio of 310 bhp per tonne, which is well in the supercar class.
In standard form the 5.7 liter Holden/Chevy engine gives 325 bhp, but a 400 bhp version is available, and for racing you can get much more. With 400 bhp, the power-to-weight ratio is an eye-popping 380 bhp per tonne.
Near racing suspension set-up
Elfin does things its own way, and makes its own tubular frames, which are designed to meet crash regulations. The suspension is typical of super sports cars with double wishbones of aerofoil section at the front and double wishbones at the rear. Racing type metal-to-metal Rose spherical joints are used at the pivots, and the aluminum uprights are to Elfin design. All the settings are adjustable, including the ride height and damper settings of the Koni dampers.
Unusually for such a small firm, Elfin makes its own brake calipers, which are machined from solid aluminum. These have 6 pistons at the front, and 4 at the rear. The MS8s come with 18-inch alloy wheels shod with 235/40 section tires, fairly modest for this amount of power.
Steering is by rack and pinion, and you adjust the seating position by moving the pedal box. To help control the beast, you get traction control and ABS, and to give Australians a chance of keeping their licences driving such a fast car while not exceeding speed limits you get cruise control.
Exciting trackday-road cars
The Elfin MS8s are clearly thoroughly exciting trackday/road cars, with masses of power at any speed you like. Like all cars of this type, you will need to be pretty agile to get in and out in a hurry, but that’s a small penalty to pay for such a super little powerhouse.
And if you find these a tad on the expensive side but like the idea, consider the Clubman Type 3. You can buy a kit for AUD 16,745 (about US$12,000) and a complete car for AUD 44,970 – that’s US$33,000.
