The Lotus 907 is an

inline-4 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 ...

automobile engine designed and manufactured by

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 ...

. Displacing , it is all-alloy, and features dual overhead camshafts (DOHC) and 16 valves. It developed approximately with dual side-draft

Dell'Orto Dell'Orto is an Italian company, headquartered in Cabiate, specialized in the construction of carburetors and electronic injection systems. The company was founded in 1933 as "Società anonima Gaetano Dell'Orto e figli" (Gaetano Dell’Orto and ...

carburetors A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...

in most markets and Zenith Stromberg carburetors for US cars. It was nicknamed "The Torqueless Wonder" for its lack of bottom end but good high end horsepower.

History

The Lotus 907 was the first production variant of the

Lotus 900 series The Lotus 900 series is a family of internal combustion engines designed and built by Lotus Cars of United Kingdom. Successor to the Lotus-Ford Twin Cam, the 900 was the first complete engine developed by Lotus. The engine was built from 1972 t ...

engine. The

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 ...

was the first production car to receive the 907. It is said that when

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

unveiled its new slant-four engine at the 1967

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

Motor Show An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists a ...

its bore centers were exactly the same as those proposed by Lotus.

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 ...

immediately negotiated a deal with Vauxhall to buy some of their cast-iron blocks so that development of Lotus' own aluminum cylinder head could be sped up to produce the 907 engine.

Applications

The Type 75

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

, Type 76

Lotus Eclat Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

, and Type 79 Series 1 and early Series 2

Lotus Esprit The Lotus Esprit is a British sports car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel factory in England between 1976 and 2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Background In 1970 Tony ...

, as well as the 1972-1976

were fitted with the 907 engine.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , last=Adcock , first=Ian , date=1 April 1995 , title=Lotus Heritage , publisher= Motorbooks International , isbn=978-1-85532-508-1 Lotus engines Gasoline engines by model Straight-four engines