John Frayling, 1946-2021 Remembering the Lola, Lotus and Clan design genius

John Frayling, the sports and racing car designer who shaped Lolas and Lotuses before co-founding the Clan marque, has died aged 75. He was part of the design team that devised the groundbreaking glassfibre-monocoque Lotus Elite Type 14. Frayling’s alterations during its 1958-62 production run improved the Elite, but infuriated Colin Chapman.

As Elite production ended, Frayling accepted Eric Broadley’s offer of a design job at Lola, shaping a body for a new mid-engined racing car. The resulting Lola MKVI GT of 1963 drew on Frayling’s Lotus experience, pioneering an aluminium monocoque on the prototype and featuring doors that cut into the roof for ease of entry and exit in the pits. Only three were made, one Chevrolet-engined example winning at the 1963 Bahamas Speed Week. Although Le Mans performance with a Ford V8 was poor, it drew the attention of Ford itself, which developed its themes – including Frayling’s door design – into the GT40.

His 1965 follow-up, the T70 MKII Spyder, saw success either side of the Atlantic. Frayling was then lured back to Lotus to work on the Europa S1, its styling clearly evolved from Lola MKVI. He also designed a modern wedge-shaped, Hillman Imp-engined glassfibre monocoque successor to the long-lived Seven, but Chapman’s desire to move Lotus upmarket instead saw Frayling leave Hethel to co-found Clan and build its ‘new Seven’ as the Crusader. As well as styling the car, Frayling helped develop it into a surprisingly effective works race and rally car, with national-level rally, Modsports and GT wins to its name.