Ralf Emmerling sitting in his White, 1959, Elva MkV, waiting for the qualifying session of the Stirling Moss Trophy For pre '61 Sportscars.
Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va ("she goes"). On 21 June 1959, Arthur Tweedale and Bob Davis won the Marlboro Six Hour Endurance Race in Maryland driving the No. 37 Elva Mk IV Arthur Tweedale repeated the win in the Marlboro Six Hours in 1960. Teamed with Ed Costley he covered miles in an Elva Mk V sports car. This was the final iteration of the Elva front-engined sports racing car. The last Mk V chassis won a number of important races in the midwest driven by Dick Buedingen, including the 1961 Elkhart Lake 500 teamed with Carl Haas. At this time Elva Cars Limited was operating from premises at Sedlescombe Road North, Hastings, Sussex, England. Elva FJ 100 Elva-Climax Mk. III (Sebring 1958) Elva FJ 200 Elva produced a single-seater car for Formula Junior events, the FJ 100, initially supplied with a front-mounted 'A' series engine in a tubular steel chassis. "Elva Cars, Ltd., new Formula Junior powered by an untuned BMC 'A' Series 948cc engine. The price of this 970 lb. car is $2,725 in England. Wheelbase: 84", tread: 48", brake lining area: 163" sq. The 15" wheels are cast magnesium. Independent suspension front and rear with transverse wishbones, coil springs, and telescopic shock absorbers. The car is 12 feet, four inches long."[15] Bill de Selincourt won a race at Cadours, France, in an FJ on September 6, 1959.[16] Nichols switched to a two-stroke DKW engine supplied by Gerhard Mitter.[7] In 1959 Peter Arundell won the John Davy Trophy at the Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting driving an [17] "Orders poured in for the Elva but when the 1960 season commenced Lotus and Cooper had things under control and disillusioned Elva owners watched the rear-engined car disappearing round corners, knowing they had backed the wrong
Size: 5378px × 3557px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., 1220cc, 56, 61, 1959, 2019, car, cars, classic, company, competitors, drivers, elva, emmerling, frank, historic, manufacturing, mkv, moss, motosports, national, nichols, paddock, pre, rac, racing, ralf, silverstone, sports, sportscars, sportscars., stirling, trophy, white, woodcote
