Putting the case for the Type 14 Lotus Elite

THE LOTUS LANDMARKS cover story in Octane 195 was a thoroughly good read, although I was a little disappointed that the Type 14 Elite was not included. However, given your criterion of focusing on the ‘greatest hits’,

I can understand its omission.

To be fair to the Elite, it was an amazing leap of faith to use a GRP composite in a monocoque back in 1957. The Elite’s racing successes were formidable, with the exploits of Graham Warner (LOV 1) and Les Leston (DAD 10) in club racing being well known, not to mention an extraordinary number of wins in an Elite by John Wagstaff both at home and abroad.

At Le Mans there were six class wins for Elites between 1959 and 1964, including one at an average speed of over 99mph for the 24 hours, plus eighth overall on two occasions. Not bad for a car that is rated fragile and unreliable.

In the early 1960s, I would ‘pedal to the metal’ down to Goodwood with a chum in my MG TC to see the racing Elites in their early outings. On one occasion, as I pulled up to pay my 10-shilling entrance fee, the paint on the front brake drums of my TC briefly ignited with the accumulated stopping effort. I should explain that this was partly because most of the braking on a student-maintained TC was by the front brakes, as the rear brake shoes were invariably oil-soaked!

Watching the racing with some mates, we were all convinced that ‘fibreglass’ only had the strength of damp cardboard and that the Elites would fall apart after a few laps – but they did not. We had failed to factor in Chapman’s formidable engineering skill, such that the cars were strong as well as torsionally stiff. In fact, not only did they have a beautiful slippery shape, they were lightweight and went incredibly well on only 1200cc, such that their performance was more than a match for cars that greatly exceeded their capacity.

Today, Elites can be made as reliable and useable as any other classic sports car. The noisy interior can be tamed with modern sound insulation and a potentially troublesome rear suspension link can be replaced with a Rose-jointed wishbone, as was carried out on my 1962 Elite by Paul Matty following a failure. The picture [above] shows my Elite on the start line at Prescott; after the run up the hill, my very small passenger declared it was ‘like Alton Towers times two!’

The Elite has the most incredibly neutral handling, combined with astonishing road holding; there is a useful boot, it’s roomy inside, and mine is my everyday car until the winter months. It’s a great little GT. Austin Weltman, Gloucestershire