![Lotus-Elite-'60](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Lotus-Elite-%2760.jpg)
The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer
Lotus Cars
Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England which manufactures sports cars and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics.
Lotus was previously involved in Formula One r ...
. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second generation model (Type 75 and later Type 83) from 1974 until 1982. The Elite name was also applied to a concept vehicle unveiled in 2010.
Type 14 (1957–1963)
The first generation of the Elite or ''Lotus Type 14'' was a light weight two-seater
coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
produced from 1957 until 1963.
The car debuted at the 1957
London Motor Car Show, Earls Court bearing chassis number #1008. The Elite had spent a year in development, aided by "carefully selected racing customers" before going on sale.
[Setright, L. J. K., "Lotus: The Golden Mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p.1227.]
The Elite's most distinctive feature was its highly innovative
fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
monocoque
Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell".
First used for boats, ...
construction, in which a stressed-skin
Glass reinforced plastic
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
unibody replaced the previously separate chassis and body components. Unlike the contemporary
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive ...
, which used fibreglass for only exterior bodywork, the Elite used glass-reinforced plastic for the entire load-bearing structure of the car. A steel subframe for supporting the engine and front suspension was bonded into the front of the monocoque, as was a square-section windscreen-hoop that provided mounting points for door hinges, a jacking point for lifting the car and roll-over protection components. The first 250 body units were made by Maximar Mouldings at
Pulborough
Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–south ...
, Sussex. The body construction caused numerous early problems, until manufacture was handed over to
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...
.
The resultant body was lighter, stiffer, and provided better driver protection in the event of a crash. Still, a full understanding of the engineering qualities of fibreglass-reinforced plastic was still several years off and the suspension attachment points were regularly observed to pull out of the fibreglass structure. The weight savings allowed the Elite to achieve sports car like performance from a
Coventry Climax
Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer.
History
Pre WW1
The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocat ...
FWE all-aluminium
Inline-four engine
A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
while returning a fuel consumption of .
All production Elites were powered by the FWE engine, except for one that was fitted with the newly developed
Lotus-Ford Twin Cam
The Lotus-Ford Twin Cam is an inline-four petrol engine developed by Lotus for the 1962 Lotus Elan. A few early examples displaced 1.5 litres, but the majority were 1.55-litre (1557ml) engines. It used a Ford 116E iron cylinder block and a new ...
engine. The FWE engine was derived from a lightweight high-capacity water pump engine used for firefighting.
The car had independent suspension all round with transverse wishbones at the front and
Chapman strut
The Chapman strut is a design of independent rear suspension used for light cars, particularly sports and racing cars. It takes its name from, and is best known for its use by, Colin Chapman of Lotus.
The characteristic feature of the Chapman ...
s at the rear. The rear struts were so long, that they poked up in the back and the tops could be seen through the rear window.
The Series 2 cars, with Bristol-built bodies, had triangulated trailing radius arms for improved toe-in control. Girling disc brakes, usually without servo assistance, of diameter were used, inboard at the rear. When leaving the factory the Elite was originally fitted with
Pirelli Cinturato The Pirelli Cinturato is a Pirelli-developed car tyre that was the first example of a wrap-around radial tyre structure. It was used to good effect in motorsport, and most modern tyres are based upon the design. The five-times Formula One World C ...
155HR15 tyres.
Advanced
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
also contributed to the car's low
drag coefficient
In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equ ...
of
considering the engineers did not enjoy the benefits of
computer-aided design
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
or
wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
testing. The original Elite drawings were by Peter Kirwan-Taylor.
Frank Costin
Francis Albert Costin (8 June 1920 – 5 February 1995) was a British automotive engineer who advanced monocoque chassis design and was instrumental in adapting aircraft aerodynamic knowledge for automobile use.
Career
Costin was an engineer ...
(brother of Mike, one of the co founders of
Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
), at that time Chief
Aerodynamic
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
Engineer for the
de Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
Aircraft Company, contributed to the final design.
The SE was introduced in 1960 as a higher-performance variant, featuring twin SU carburettors and fabricated exhaust manifold resulting in engine power output increasing to ,
ZF gearboxes in place of the standard "cheap and nasty" MG ones,
Lucas PL700 headlamps, and a silver coloured roof. The Super 95 model
had a more powerful engine with raised compression ratio and a stronger camshaft with five bearings. A limited number of Super 100 and Super 105 cars were made with Weber carburettors, for racing use.
Among the Elite's few faults was a resonant vibration at 4,000 rpm (where few drivers remained, on either street or track) and poor quality control, handicapped by an overly low price (resulting in Lotus losing money on every car produced) and, "perhaps the greatest mistake of all", offering it as a kit (with a substantial reduction in price and
VAT
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...
), exactly the opposite of the ideal for a quality manufacturer.
Many drive-train parts were highly stressed and required re-greasing at frequent intervals.
When production ended in 1963, 1,030 cars had been built. Other sources indicate that 1,047 were produced.
A road car tested by ''
The Motor
''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine
''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republi ...
'' magazine in 1960 resulted in a top speed of and a 0– acceleration time of 11.4 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £1,966 including taxes.
Legacy
The ownership and history of the more than 1,000 Elites is maintained by the Lotus Elite World Register. There are several active clubs devoted to the Lotus Elite.
Motor sport
![Lotus Elite at Mallory Park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Lotus_Elite_at_Mallory_Park.JPG)
Like its siblings, the Elite was campaigned in numerous formulae, with particular success at Le Mans and the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
. The Elite won in its class six times at the 24 hour of
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
race as well as two ''Index of Thermal Efficiency'' wins. Les Leston, driving DAD10, and Graham Warner, driving LOV1, were noted UK Elite racers. In 1961,
David Hobbs fitted a Hobbs Mecha-Matic 4-speed automatic transmission to an Elite, and became almost unbeatable in two years' racing – he won 15 times from 18 starts.
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
driver
Leo Geoghegan
Leo Geoghegan (16 May 1936 - 2 March 2015) was an Australian former racing driver. He was the elder of two sons of former New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, both of whom become dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s. Whi ...
won the
1960 Australian GT Championship at the wheel of a Lotus Elite. After winning ''Index of Thermal Efficiency'' prize, Lotus decided to go for an outright win at Le Mans in 1960. They built a one-off Elite, called the LX, with a
FPF engine, larger wheels, and other modifications. In testing, it proved capable of a top speed of . Unfortunately, the lead driver withdrew the night before the race, so the car did not have a chance to prove itself in competition.
Types 75 and 83 (1974–1982)
From 1974 to 1982, Lotus produced the considerably larger four-seat ''Type 75'' and later ''Type 83'' Elite. With this design Lotus sought to position itself upmarket and move away from its kit-car past. The Elite was announced in May 1974. It replaced the ageing
Lotus Elan Plus 2.
The Elite has a
shooting brake
Shooting brake (sometimes mis-identified as "shooting break") is a car body style which originated in the 1890s as a horse-drawn wagon used to transport shooting parties with their equipment and game.
The first automotive shooting brakes were ...
body style, with a glass rear hatch opening into the luggage compartment. The Elite's fibreglass bodyshell was mounted on a steel
backbone chassis
Backbone tube chassis is a type of automobile construction chassis that is similar to the body-on-frame design. Instead of a two-dimensional ladder-type structure, it consists of a strong tubular backbone (usually rectangular in cross section) ...
evolved from the
Elan and
Europa
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europe
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Cliff ...
. It had 4-wheel
independent suspension
Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in w ...
using coil springs. The Elite was the first Lotus automobile to use the aluminium-
block
Block or blocked may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting
* W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...
4-valve,
DOHC
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion c ...
, four-cylinder
Type 907 engine that displaced and was rated at . With this engine the car does in 8.1 seconds and reaches a top speed of . (The 907 engine had previously been used in
Jensen-Healey
The Jensen-Healey is a British two-seater convertible sports car, produced by Jensen Motors Ltd. in West Bromwich, England from 1972 until 1976.
Launched in 1972 as a luxurious and convertible sports car, it was positioned in the market betwe ...
s.) The 907 engine ultimately became the foundation for the 2.0 L and 2.2 L
Esprit
Esprit or L'Esprit may refer to:
* the French for Spirit; as a loanword:
** Enthusiasm, intense interest or motivation
** Morale, motivation and readiness
** Geist "mind/spirit; intellect"
* Esprit (name), a given name and surname
* ''Esprit'' (m ...
power-plants, the naturally aspirated
912
Year 912 ( CMXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
__NOTOC__
Events By place Byzantine Empire
* May 11 – Emperor Leo VI (the Wise) dies after a 26-year reign in wh ...
and the turbocharged
910
Year 910 ( CMX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
__NOTOC__ Events By place Europe
* June 12 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under ...
. The Elite was fitted with a 4 or 5-speed manual transmission depending on the customer specifications. Beginning in January 1976, an automatic transmission was optional.
The Elite had a claimed drag co-efficient of 0.30 and at the time of launch, it was the world's most expensive four-cylinder car. The Elite's striking shape was designed by
Oliver Winterbottom
Oliver Carton Winterbottom (24 February 1944 – 6 November 2020) was a British automotive designer who designed cars for Lotus, Jaguar and TVR.
Early years
Winterbottom was born in Ashford, Kent. His father was born in Oldham, Lancashire ...
. He is quoted as saying that the basic chassis and suspension layout were designed by
Colin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars.
In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman ...
, making the Elite and its sister design the
Eclat the last Lotus road cars to have significant design input from Chapman himself.
The Elite was available in four main variations, set apart by equipment levels: 501, 502, 503, and later on 504. A few 505 level “Super Eight” versions with heavy body modifications and V-8 engines were built in 1974 only.
* 501 - "Base" version.
* 502 - Added air-conditioning to the base model.
* 503 - Added air-conditioning and power-steering.
* 504 - Added air-conditioning, power-steering and automatic transmission.
* 505 - Completely revised body, with a V-8 powerplant.
The Elite was the basis for the
Eclat, and the later
Excel
ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...
2+2 coupés.
Although larger and more luxurious than previous Lotus road cars, the Elite and Éclat are relatively light, with kerb weights not much over .
In 1980 the Type 75 was replaced by the Type 83, also called the Elite Mark 2.
[The Lotus Elite Mark 2 Type 83 Sports Car, www.sportscar2.com]
Retrieved 19 February 2017 This version received a larger Lotus 912 engine.
[ The chassis was now galvanised steel and the five speed BMC gearbox was replaced by a Getrag Type 265 unit.][ The vacuum-operated headlights of the earlier model were replaced with electrically operated units and the Elite was now fitted with a front spoiler, a new rear bumper and brake lights from the ]Rover SD1
The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produced ...
.[
File:Lotus-elite S2 002.jpg, 1978 Lotus Elite S2 (Type 75)
File:Lotus-elite S2.2 002.jpg, 1981 Lotus Elite S2.2 (Type 83)
]
Elite concept
On 20 September 2010, Lotus unveiled photos of an Elite concept that was exhibited at the 2010 Paris Motor Show
The 2010 Paris Motor Show took place from 2 October to 17 October 2010, in Paris expo Porte de Versailles.
For 2010, the theme of the special exhibition was "The Incredible Collection 2: automobile manufacturers collections and museums."
Introdu ...
. The car was expected to go into production in 2014.
The car was to feature a 5.0-litre V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
sourced from Lexus, rated at . The car would have a front-mid engine layout to distribute weight evenly at all four wheels. An optional hybrid kinetic-energy recovery system would augment the V8 by feeding electricity generated by braking to motors in the transmission. The 0– time was reported to be as low as 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of .
The car had a 2+2
Two Two (투투) was a Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern ...
body style and was to be marketed as a grand tourer.
The Elite project was cancelled in July 2012 after a take over of Lotus' then parent company Proton
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...
by DRB-Hicom
DRB-HICOM Berhad () is one of Malaysia's leading corporations, involved in the automotive manufacturing, assembly and distribution industry through its involvement in the passenger car and four wheel drive vehicle market segment, the national t ...
which initiated a new cost effective business plan.
Notes
External links
Lotus type 14 Elite research and early history of company surrounding restoration of EB-1468
*
{{Lotus
Elite
In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
Grand tourers
Cars introduced in 1957
24 Hours of Le Mans race cars
1960s cars
1970s cars
1980s cars
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Coupés