The Lotus 17 was a sports car racing model built by Lotus Cars in 1959. Designed by Len Terry, it was built in response to the Lola Mk1 which was dominant against the previous Lotus model, the 11. It was replaced in 1960 by the Lotus 19. The Lotus 17 was Chapman’s answer to the …
The Lotus 19 or Monte Carlo was a mid-engine sports-racing Car designed by Colin Chapman of Lotus and built from 1960 until 1963. The 19 was a widened (nominally two-place) version of the successful Formula One 18. The Lotus 19 The 19 was a mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports racer with a fiberglass body over …
The Lotus 22 was a racing car built by Lotus cars in 1962, and a total of 77 cars were built. It was developed from the 1962 Lotus 20, with the major differences that it had disk brakes all round, had a top link to the rear suspension, and had a dry sump engine that …
The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. It was a revolutionary design, the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in F1. An early brainchild of Chapman’s fertile mind, the original sketches for the car were made on napkins while Chapman discussed his idea while …
Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham 7 (or Seven), is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1968. A track-only Car, the SP/300.R, …
The history of the Lotus Cortina began in 1961. Colin Chapman had been wishing to build his own engines for Lotus, mainly because the Coventry Climax unit was so expensive. Colin Chapman’s chance came when he commissioned Harry Mundy (a close friend and designer of the Coventry Climax engine and technical editor for Autocar) to …
The Lotus Eleven was a racing car built in various versions by Lotus from 1956 until 1958. The later versions built in 1958 are sometimes referred to as Lotus 13, although this was not an official designation. In total, about 270 Elevens of all versions were built. The Lotus Eleven The Eleven was designed by …
The Lotus Elise is a two seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the English manufacturer Lotus Cars. The car has a hand-finished fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to …
The Series 1 was unable to be produced beyond the 2000 model production year due to new European regulations around crash sustainability, and so Lotus needed a development partner to meet the investment requirement. General Motors offered to partner/fund the project, in return for a badged and GM-engined version of the car for their European …
The Lotus Elise is a two seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the English manufacturer Lotus Cars. The car has a hand-finished fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to …