Official IsuzuWeb Member

The IsuzuWeb; Elan SCCA Calssification Effort

In the November 2001 issue of Resurgence, the continued efforts of the IsuzuWeb Car Club to get the 1989-94 Lotus Elan M100 was discussed, and specifically the statement issued to us by Steve Johnson, President and CEO of the Sports Car Club of America, in which he indicated that our next appropriate action in this matter was to bring our dissatisfaction with the actions of the Solo Event's Board in banning the Lotus Elan M100 from participation in Stock class SoloII autocross competition, and intentional misclassification by same of same in Street Prepared classes, to the attention of each of our SCCA Area Directors.


Our concerns with the actions of the SEB and specifically Howard Duncan who oversees the actions of the SEB, are as follows:


We ask each and every IsuzuWeb member, Isuzu enthusiast, and Lotus Elan enthusiast to print out the following letter and mail it to their SCCA Area Director:


We have placed this letter in Word Perfect and Microsoft Word formats:


We have provided the following list of SCCA Area Directors and ask that you locate your area director and mail the above letter to your director askig them to take action in this matter:





In the April 2001 issue of Resurgence, the 2001 classifications for Isuzu and Isuzu powered cars was discussed, and the glaring omission of the Lotus Elan M100 from Stock class racing, and gross misclassification of the Elan in A Street Prepared (running against Dodge Viper, Mazda RX-7, and other vehicles which seriously outgun the Elan). The omission of the Elan from Stock class was seen as effectively banning the car from racing Stock classes of Autocross. Well, the Solo Events Board went one step further this summer, placing the Elan M100 on an "Exclusion List" of cars that are not allowed to participate in Stock class autocross. The Elan M100 has been formally banned from Autocross competition.


This action has been orchestrated and executed by Howard Duncan who was reported to have been promoted out of the SEB to be director of Program Development, where, it was felt, he could interfere with and mismanage some other aspect of SCCA motorsports activities, and we Isuzu enthusiasts could look forward to more fair and impartial governance and decision making by the SEB. However, to our dismay, Howard Duncan continues to misinterpret and misapply the rules of autocross as he remains as the head of the SEB.


To recap, the efforts of the IsuzuWeb in getting all Isuzu cars classified for Solo II or autocross competition, we provided full vehicle specs for all Isuzu cars to the SEB and requested formal classification of Isuzu cars, Geo Storm and Spectrum, Asuna Sunfire, and Lotus Elan M100. All Isuzu cars and Geo Storm and Spectrum were accepted and classified. Asuna Sunfire fell under the equivalent model rule, meaning that though it is not listed by name, as the identical car to the Isuzu Impulse, it is eligible for competition in the same class as the Isuzu Impulse. The Lotus Elan M100 was flatly refused by the SEB, their claim that it was never sold in the United States of America and that all cars in the USA were private imports. We reviewed the rules and found that they state "A vehicle must have been produced in quantities of at least 1,000 in a 12 month period to be eligible for Stock Category". For Street Prepared classification, this sentence reads verbatim changing only the word "Stock" for the words "Street Prepared". We provided documentation directly from Lotus Cars USA Ltd., stating that their records show they produced and sold 3,855 Elans, with 1,286 in 1990 and 2,060 in 1991. Documentation from the US distributor of the car clearly showed the car not only qualified for classification, but in one year, doubled that minimum requirement. The SEB has refused to respond and has indicated their refusal to classify the car in their listing of the car on the "Exclusion List" in their August 2001 newsletter.


Repeated letters reaffirming that the Lotus Elan M100 does in fact meet the production requirements as stated in the rule book have been ignored. Meanwhile, the SEB has classified a number of cars that do not meet this very rule that they have twisted in their reasoning for refusal to classify the Lotus Elan M100. At this time, we believe the next appropriate action for the IsuzuWeb is to take two steps. First, to formally request, no, demand, the removal of vehicles which have been classified for autocross competition despite the fact that these cars do not meet the number requirement for classification and competition. The second is for each and every IsuzuWeb member to write to the SCCA and demand that the Lotus Elan M100 be classified, and classified correctly, in classes that it can race competitively.


The IsuzuWeb will file a request with the SCCA to declassify the following vehicles which the vehicle manufacturers themselves have indicated and reported annual numbers of less than 1,000 units in their reports to Ward's Automotive Index, the automotive industry year book:


We would ask that each and every IsuzuWeb member mail the enclosed letter found at the end of this page, to the SCCA at the address indicated to request that the SCCA classify and correctly classify the Lotus Elan M100 and also declassify the vehicles listed which do not qualify for competition because they do not meet the requirements that are being misinterpreted and misapplied to exclude the Lotus Elan M100 from competition.


Letter to the SCCA:

Download the above letter in a Word Perfect File.

Download the above letter in a Microsoft Word File.

Please mail a copy of this letter to the SCCA at the below address:



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