John Davidsons Yellow, 1962, Lotus Elite, in the National Pit lane during qualifying for the RAC Tourist Trophy for Pre '63 GT Cars
The first generation of the Elite or Lotus Type 14 was a light weight two-seater coupé produced from 1957 to 1963. The car debuted at the 1957 London Motor Car Show, Earls Court bearing chassis number #1008.[3] The Elite had spent a year in development, aided by "carefully selected racing customers" before going on sale.[4] The Elite's most distinctive feature was its highly innovative fibreglass monocoque construction, in which a stressed-skin Glass reinforced plastic unibody replaced the previously separate chassis and body components. Unlike the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette, 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.[5] The first 250 body units were made by Maximar Mouldings at Pulborough, Sussex.[6] The body construction caused numerous early problems, until manufacture was handed over to Bristol Aeroplane Company.[4] 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 75 hp (56 kW) 1,216 cc ( L) Coventry Climax FWE all-aluminium Inline-four engine while returning a fuel consumption of 35 mpg‑imp ( L/100 km; 29 mpg‑US).[1] All production Elites were powered by the FWE engine, except for one that was fitted with the newly developed Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine. The FWE engine, derived from a water pump engine usually found bolted to a fire truck,[
Size: 5435px × 3738px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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