LOTUS ELITE PART 2

IN PART 1 YESTERDAY, we learned about the Lotus Elite’s innovative use of fiber-reinforced plastic in structural applications. Today, we’ll continue with R&T’s April 1963 evaluation of the Elite and David Phipps’ article on the car in Classic Car Profiles Volume 2.

Here’s David in March 1962, during one of two London/Geneva Elite drives. The car “showed its aerodynamic qualities by running through a snowstorm without letting a single flake fall on the windscreen.” Image by Priscilla Phipps in Classic Cars in Profile Volume 2.

A Fire Pump Makes the Big Time. R&T describes that the Elite’s engine is a single overhead camshaft 4-cylinder Coventry Climax FWE (as in “Feather Weight Elite”). Wikipedia notes that the all-aluminum FW engine “was developed in response to the government’s ambitious requisition outline asking for a portable fire pump that was capable of pumping double the amount of water specified in the previous outline, with half the weight.”

A Coventry Climax Godiva fire pump in a Green Goddess. Image by Kim Traynor from Wikipedia. 

R&T continued that the powerplant “was rapidly becoming the most popular engine for sports/racing cars, particularly the Lotus Eleven. Of 1216-cc displacement, it delivered 75 bhp at 6100 rpm with 70 lb-ft of torque at 3300 rpm.”

R&T’s Driving. “Threading our way through evening traffic,” R&T wrote in fetching the car (actually a pair of them), “the Elite seemed almost too small to be involved in this river of metal. The domestic cars alongside looked even larger than they usually do, and trucks gave us moments of panic as the rotating hub nuts flashed by at eye level.”

I’m reminded of my cross-country experience with a Moke. 

R&T continued, “Up onto the freeway and into the thinner, and faster moving traffic, the Elite’s sensitive rack and pinion steering made itself even more apparent than we had noticed at the start. Changing lanes took only the thought to accomplish. The approach of yon idiot needed only a touch on the brake pedal or a minute flick of the steering wheel to avoid danger, and we soon lost our early tendency to over-correct.” 

Accommodations. “Both driver and passenger,” R&T said, “have plenty of room, the seats are extremely comfortable and the controls really do fall readily to hand.” 

Not without a tradeoff, though. R&T continued, “As the weather was on the cold side, the lack of roll-down windows was not lamented. In more pleasant temperature zones, the need to remove the window from the door would prove a bother—but a door too thin to allow roll-down window mechanism is one of the penalties paid to get sufficient elbow room in a mighty small car. Removing the window takes only a matter of seconds—just a twist of the catch and out it comes, but the window is either all shut or all open [and stowed aft].” 

Performance Testing. R&T’s Elite pair had different gearboxes and associated ratios. The one shared with the MG-A had non-synchro 1st; the other had a German ZF all-synchro with closer-ratio gearing that “would bog down at the start, because with two men aboard the car simply would not spin its rear wheels. The BMC-equipped car, on the other hand, [with a shorter 1st] would break loose, allowing the engine to stay near its power peak and consequently allow a better start.” 

“All of the staff who drove both cars,” R&T reported, “still preferred the ZF-equipped car and would not consider the Elite without this unit installed.” 

Averse to double-clutching into 1st? They didn’t say. But the data panel reflects the preferred ZF-box results. 

A Resonant Tradeoff. Noteworthy is the Elite’s reported 32-38 mpg. However, a tradeoff of the car’s ultralight GRP multiple structures was their propensity to resonate: R&T wrote, “At a comfortable cruising speed, a drumming developed inside the cab that was extremely annoying. We changed speed and it diminished temporarily, only to return as the speed leveled off…. It would seem that a panel is a panel is a panel, whether steel or glass. but regardless of the reason and/or the attempted cure, the Elite drones on. The exhaust, even though rather lightly muffled, was not particularly obtrusive, but the panel resonance definitely was.” 

R&T’s Summary. “Looking back on our test of three years ago,” the magazine wrote, “we find that our opinion of the Elite hasn’t changed much. It’s still one of the best looking GT cars ever built, it still looks like a toy but doesn’t act like one, still stops on a dime and corners like a chased jack rabbit, is even more fun to drive with the ZF transmission, but still needs attention to the noise level (for touring) and price is high.”

R&T’s last word: “If you’re the type of driver who places pure enjoyment of driving above all else—drop into your neighborhood Lotus dealer and try one. This may very well be the car for you.” ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024