The Road to Elite Enlightenment


On December 4th 2011, a 1974 Lotus Elite with a Chevy V8 engine competed in a 15 hour endurance event at Buttonwillow, California.

It didn’t do very well.

This is the story of our path. You can follow it if you like. Probably best if you don’t though.

Step 1. Buy a Lotus Elite.
Possibly the hardest part of the operation, as there are likely less than 100 of these fantastic machines in working order in the US. We found our car by advertising a second hand fridge on Craigslist, then asking the guys who showed up they have a Lotus Elite they’d like to swap for the fridge. We asked him to throw in a couple of hundred bucks.

Step 2. Bring the Elite home.
We found out that Colin, being his usual efficient self, used the drive shafts as the upper suspension elements. With the diff in the standard place for the Elite (the trunk), towing quickly resulted in two flat tires as they impinged on the incredibly sharp shock tower brackets.

Step 3. Look for the rear brakes.
We found them in the trunk. With the diff. On the diff actually. And they’re drums.

Step 4. Remove the Interior.
Everyone knows that to be competitive in a race you should make your car as light as possible by removing the creature comforts such as passenger seats and the air conditioning. The Elite was originally a luxury 2+2 as it rolled off the production line all those years ago, but Colin was alive at the time, and simplify and add lightness was still the rule in Hethel. Removing all the interior saved us about 10 pounds, but vastly reduced the amount of tan corduroy we see on a daily basis.

Step 5. Build a cage.
In fact, we didn’t build a cage. It’s far too difficult for a Joe Shmoe like you and me. We took it to an expert cage builder who scratched his head at the challenge of finding enough metal in the car to weld to. In the end he built a complete under floor chassis to hold the seat to the cage. In the event of a really big hit the fiberglass body may part company with the cage, but at least we’ll still be in the cage.

Step 6. Install the diff.
We set aside about 3 days for this task, not really because the diff is hard to install, but that with the drums on the diff you have to connect brake lines to the diff when the diff is in place. We could have saved about 2.5 of those days if had cut large holes in the fiberglass by the transmission tunnel to access the brake lines from the back seat. We did this after spending the 3 days installing the diff.

Step 7. Get the Chevy V8 running.
This is ridiculously easy provided you don’t have the distributor set 180 degrees out. You’ll know if you’ve done this because 8 foot flames out of the carburetor are not normal. Neither is blowing the breather out of the valve cover into your overhead florescent lights.
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Step 8. Go to the practice day on the Friday before the race.
A novice would think that the practice day is to tune up the performance of the car on track. It turns out that normal procedure is to hammer on the radiator fan shroud to try and reduce interference. Take the radiator out to have to hole you just made in it repaired. Bleed the brakes 9 times. Go out on track for ¼ of a lap and get towed in with an apparent fuel problem. Wonder what’s causing the blue smoke to come out of the exhaust but not have time to investigate it. Fail tech by putting the battery in the trunk, so that with a big rear end hit we have a heavy object to puncture the gas tank and a spark source to ignite it. Move the battery to the rear seat, and collapse in a heap from a 14 hour day working on the car.

Step 9. Line up for the start on Saturday.
Again a novice would think that this is to take part in the race. Instead this is so that we could get towed off after another ¼ of a lap with the fuel problem that we had the day before but didn’t solve. We installed an electric pump instead of the mechanical one and wondered why we still had a fuel problem. We replaced the inline fuel filter and wondered why we still had a fuel problem. We examined the interior of the carburetor and wondered why we still had a fuel problem. We found a kink in the fuel line right under the gas tank and knew why we had a fuel problem.

At last we got to run two laps of the track before getting black flagged for leaving blue smoke swath so bad we understood why James Bond liked Lotuses. Back to the pits we started taking the engine apart and wondered if we did anything bad to the internals when we spat flames out of the carburetor. Nah. That couldn’t be it.
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Actually…

Backfires (frontfires?) could have blown the intake gasket, letting oil into some of the cylinders. Good job it’s easy to take the intake manifold off a V8 and replace it. While we’re in the pits we drained the ½ gallon of gasoline in the trunk and tried and figure out where it’s coming from. We connected tubes to the breathers that vented into the trunk. Finally! The car was fixed and we could get back out on track. Shame that racing for the day stopped 6 hours ago.

Step 10. Go racing!
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Really! The car was ready and fun to drive! For two laps. Then we needed to change out the rear tires for smaller ones to stop them impinging on the subframe (see Step 2) we went back out but the car just got slower and slower…

The throttle cable was stretching due to a bad pull angle from the accelerator pedal. Another stop and an adjustment on the throttle made the car faster again, but it was a temporary fix as the cable started to fray in the sheath, making it stick.

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In the end the Chotus completed 60 laps over 2 days but it did come back from Buttonwillow in better condition than how it went. We can’t wait for Infineon

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By Steve Warwick
B-Team Racing
Photos by B-Team Racing and Vanhap Photography

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2014 Lotus Elite – A New British Expression of Exclusivity

Look up elegant in the dictionary and you’ll find variations on the following 1. dignified grace in appearance, movement, or behaviour, 2. superb taste in design, style and 3. something elegant; the ultimate refinement.

The ground-breaking new Elite is exactly that. It’s compact yet chic body is elegance incarnate. It’s not only exquisitely elegant, in keeping with Lotus’ core values, it’s a car of substance incorporating some of the very latest technological innovations Lotus has to offer. The slick retractable hard top and the optional use of hybrid technology with KERS are typical examples of Lotus tailoring technology to deliver perfect performance.

2014 Lotus Elite

Set for release in spring 2014, this is an innovative, exciting GT that will set a new benchmark in design, performance and emissions. And it’s not all about sleek lines and stunning bodywork with this particular 2+2, what hides beneath this shark like exterior perfectly does the aesthetics justice. A front-mid positioned 5.0 litre V8 engine delivering up to 620 PS meaning drivers can expect to go from 0-100 km/h in approximately 3.7 seconds.

2014 Lotus Elite

Dany Bahar, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus, said: “There’s no denying that the Elite is breathtakingly beautiful to look at but it’s so much more than that, it’s a car that over delivers in all other aspects as well. One could say it’s a car of perfect contradictions, it’s compact yet spacious, high performing yet low emitting, lightweight yet still reassuringly solid. It’s a car that we are exceptionally proud of at Lotus and we truly believe that there is nothing else like it out there both in terms of styling and performance.

2014 Lotus Elite

“Make no mistake, there’s a definite market requirement for the Elite – it’s the ultimate sports car feel with comfort and space. There will always be those who believe that Lotus should stick to small sports cars but we didn’t take the decision to design something like the Elite lightly, it’s based on months of careful research and planning. It’s worth noting that total 2+2 production represented over 20 per cent of Lotus build between 1948 and 1996 (pre small car platform) and 11 per cent over all, this sector has been very successful for us in the past and now the Elite raises the benchmark higher still.”

<a href=2014 Lotus Elite” width=”450″ height=”288″ />

The Elite will redefine “modern classic”.

Elite Specification

Layout 2+2 seater, front-mid-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine Petrol, hybrid optional
Hybrid technology Hybrid gearbox with integrated electric motors and KERS
Cylinder V8
Capacity 5.0 litre
Power/Torque 620 PS / 720 Nm
Rev limit 8,500 rpm
0-100 km/h 3.7 seconds
Top speed 315 km/h
CO2 approx (CO2/km) 215 g/km**
Weight 1,650 kg
Seats 2+2
Transmission Full Hybrid transmission
Drive RWD
Start of production Early 2014
Enters the market Spring 2014
Price indication Circa £115,000
**Using optional hybrid technology

2014 Lotus Elite

2014 Lotus Elite

The most beautiful cars of all time

Classic & Sports Car Magazine polled a jury of 20 top automotive designers to try and find the most beautiful car of all time. The power packed jury included several folks with strong Lotus connections such as Giorgetto Giugiaro (Esprit), Peter Stevens (Esprit S2), Julian Thompson (S1 Elise) and Steve Crijns (Lotus Design) along with industry stalwarts such as Gordon Murray, Ian Callum and Marcell Gandini. The Citroen DS was declared the eventual winner, but Lotus had not one but two separate entries in the top 10.

The Final Top 10
1. Citroën DS
2. Jaguar XK120
3. Ferrari 275GTB
4. Cord 810/812
5. Ferrari 250GT Lusso
6. Ferrari 250GT Short-wheelbase
7. Jaguar E-type
8. Lamborghini Miura
9. Lotus Elan
10. Lotus Elite (1957)

Lotus Elan

Lotus Elan (Best Lotus winner)
The original Lotus Elan is possibly one of the most iconic sportscars of all time. It encapsulated what a british roadster was all about and many would say that it is one of the best handling cars to come from Lotus. The ultimate compliment to the Elan was given by Mazda when it bought two of them for the design team that was developing the Mazda Miata. This particular Elan belongs to our own Joel Lipkin and was the “Best Lotus” winner at the 2006 Palo Alto British Car Meet.

Lotus Elite (1957)

1960 Lotus Elite (Type 14)
The Lotus Elite was the first production car with a fiberglass monocoque construction. The swoopy shape was styled by Peter Kirwan-Taylor who was actually an accountant by profession. The combination of low weight, good aerodynamics and innovative construction gave the Elite an impressive turn of speed leading to 6 class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans including winning the Index of Performance and the Index of Thermal Efficiency.

Full Press release

What’s the most beautiful car of all time? A multi-million pound Ferrari or the curvy Jaguar E-type perhaps? No, it is now officially Citroën’s humble DS, the car most famous for saving President De Gaulle from assassination.

That was the verdict when Classic & Sports Car magazine polled a jury of the world’s leading car designers to nominate the most gorgeous cars ever.

The 20-strong panel ranged from Car designer of the Century Giorgetto Giugiaro – the man behind the Maserati Bora, VW Golf, Fiat Panda and Lotus Esprit – to current Jaguar director of design Ian Callum, and each picked their top three beauties.

Although Ferrari secured the most votes as a marque, they were spread across nine different models, leaving the Citroën to scoop the honours as the single most beautiful classic.

The top 10

1. Citroën DS
2. Jaguar XK120
3. Ferrari 275GTB
4. Cord 810/812
5. Ferrari 250GT Lusso
6. Ferrari 250GT Short-wheelbase
7. Jaguar E-type
8. Lamborghini Miura
9. Lotus Elan
10. Lotus Elite (1957)

James Elliott, editor of Classic & Sports Car, said: “The Citroën is a benchmark design, but we were still astonished that it came out on top when you look at the sexiness – and values – of some of its rivals.

“Apart from the Mini, it’s by far the most affordable car to get any nominations at all, which probably means it’s a great investment!

“Petrolheads everywhere are forever arguing about the most beautiful cars and we hope that this will put an end to the debate once and for all, though we suspect that it might just be lighting a rocket under it. I don’t think anyone has ever asked this many great designers what their views are, so who better to pick the official winner… even if they all missed my favourite, the Alfa Romeo T33 Stradale?”

“It’s great to see the iconic DS getting such recognition amongst such an august group of car designers , and with the amazing news that a new DS range from Citroën will appear over the next few years, it’s clear we have lost none of our styling panache or instinct for innovation,” commented Citroën spokesperson Marc Raven on hearing the news.

What they said about the Citroën DS

  • Giorgetto Giugiaro: “The only example of a car really conceived ‘outside the box’. It is just impossible to imitate.”
  • Leonardo Fioravanti (former Pininfarina design chief and the man behind Ferrari’s Daytona, Dino and 308GTB): “A real road car that, at its time and perhaps still now, has represented the ‘dream’ in its extreme progress.”
  • Peter Stevens (British great responsible for the McLaren F1 and second-generation Lotus Esprit): “I have always considered the fact that this car was first drawn in 1955 to be extraordinary.”
  • Marcello Gandini (Bertone stalwart responsible for Lancia Stratos and Lamborghini Countach among many others): “At the time I think it was complete folly, madness from a business and industrial point of view… but it was a really innovative car in 1955. A few people may have thought of all those beautiful ideas, but it was real bravery to implement all of them in one car.”

About the Citroën DS

With its name derived from Déesse (French for Goddess), this innovative design was styled by Italian sculptor Flaminio Bertoni and launched in 1955.

The futuristic shape was an instant design classic and over the next 20 years more than 1.5 million cars were sold in a range of specifications.

But it wasn’t just the shape that revolutionised automotive design: the complex self-levelling suspension, plus powered steering, clutch and brakes were otherwordly compared to rival cars of the era.

While regarded today as a technical masterpiece – and a potential nightmare for the home mechanic – it was of pioneering construction for its day with unitary ‘tub’, bolt on panels and a plastic roof.

But the appeal of the DS is as much as a cultural icon as a car with a long list of celebrity owners and fans (Alec Guinness, Peter Cook and Will Self among them), plus regular appearances on film and in design museums and art galleries.

About Classic & Sports Car

Founded in 1982, Classic & Sports Car is the UK’s market-leading classic car magazine and Britain’s third best-selling motoring monthly.

The “most beautiful classics” feature coincides with an extensive redesign of the magazine and is accompanied by a free A2 poster featuring Lamborghini Miura and Jaguar E-type, plus the definitive buyers’ guide to the Citroën DS.

About the panel of designers

On their own designs:

  • Peter Stevens (McLaren F1): “I always intended that the design should be timeless rather than ‘of the minute’, and that is something that I would use as a measure of other designs.”
  • Ian Callum (Jaguar XF): “It is the biggest challenge I’ve faced, but I think we pulled it off. I don’t think people appreciate how well proportioned it is, given that it’s a five-seater.”
  • Gordon Murray (McLaren F1): “Designed as a road car, but went on to win Le Mans, which in my opinion is more difficult than F1.”
  • John Heffernan (Aston Martin Vantage): “When I borrowed one, it was much appreciated by ‘bikers of the Hells Angels persuasion, which I liked.”
  • Patrick Le Quément (Renault Twingo): “Some love it, some hated it. I wrote to the president of Renault and said: ‘I think you have to vote for instinctive design rather than extinctive marketing.’ He wrote back: ‘I agree.'”

And on other peoples’ cars:

  • Steve Crijns of Lotus on the Ford GT40: “It’s so sexy and has so much presence without really being aggressive.”
  • Paul Bracq, former head of design for both Mercedes and BMW, on the Aston Martin DB9: “It’s more beautiful than the current Ferraris. I don’t understand modern Ferrari design: the new California looks like a big VW Karmann-Ghia.”
  • Julian Thomson of Jaguar on the Lamborghini Gallardo: “I love the proportions… It’s a tiny modern interpretation of a supercar: things like the Bugatti Veyron are totally irrelevant to me.”
  • Martin Smith, executive design director of Ford of Europe on the Lamborghini Countach: “It was like a spaceship, something totally new combining smooth curves with geometric forms. I remember thinking ‘I’ll never be able to do something as good as that!'”
  • Ian Callum, Jaguar director of design, on the Ferrari 250GT Short-wheelbase: “A blend of beauty and aggression… I just drool over them, and I can draw them with my eyes closed.”
  • Marcello Gandini on the Cord 810/812: “It was an impressive design for the 1930s, with solutions that could be seen in cars of 20 years later.”
  • Tom Tjaarda, former head of Ghia’s studios, on the Jaguar E-type: “A gorgeous car. It looks narrow, like a woman in high heels. It doesn’t have the stance that cars have today.”

The jury

  • Adams, Dennis
  • Axe, Roy
  • Bracq, Paul
  • Callum, Ian
  • Carr, Russell
  • Crijns, Steve
  • Fioravanti, Leonardo
  • Gandini, Marcello
  • Giugiaro, Giorgetto
  • Heffernan, John
  • Karen, Tom
  • Le Quément, Patrick
  • Martin, Paulo
  • Murray, Gordon
  • Okuyama, Ken
  • Smith, Martin
  • Stevens, Peter
  • Thomson, Julian
  • Tjaarda, Tom
  • Winterbottom, Oliver

All the cars that received votes

  • Alfa Romeo Canguro
  • Aston Martin DB9
  • Audi A6
  • Bentley Continental GT
  • Bentley R-Type Continental
  • Bertone BAT 5
  • Bertone Marzal
  • BMW 328 Mille Miglia
  • Bugatti T41 Royale Coupé Napoleon
  • Bugatti T57SC Atlantic
  • Buick Riviera (1963-’65)
  • “Cadzilla”
  • Citroën ID/DS
  • Cord 810/812
  • Delage D8-120S
  • Ferrari 166 Barchetta
  • Ferrari 250GT Lusso
  • Ferrari 250GT swb
  • Ferrari 250GTO
  • Ferrari 275GTB
  • Ferrari 330 P3/4
  • Ferrari Dino 206S
  • Citroen DSFerrari Dino 246GT
  • Ferrari P6
  • Ford GT40
  • Hispano-Suiza H6 (Tulip Wood)
  • Jaguar E-type
  • Jaguar XJ6 S1
  • Jaguar XK120
  • Jaguar XKSS
  • Lagonda Rapide
  • Lamborghini Countach
  • Lamborghini Gallardo
  • Lamborghini Miura
  • Lancia Stratos
  • Lincoln Continental (1961)
  • Lotus Elan +2
  • Lotus Elan S3
  • Lotus Elite (1957)
  • Maserati Boomerang
  • Maserati Khamsin
  • Mercedes-Benz 500K
  • Mercedes-Benz Gullwing 300SL
  • Mini
  • Pagaso Z102 ‘Thrill’
  • Phantom Corsair
  • Triumph TR4

[via Jalopnik]