We're working with the Barber Museum and Lotus owners to gather 12 of the most important Lotuses in North America for the Mitty. Some will be on display, some will be on track, and some of them will even be available for ride-along sessions on the infield.
We'll announce the cars for the display this week, but just for fun—what would you like to see from our featured marque at this year's Mitty event?
My obvious choices would the following:
US spec Elise - for bringing Lotus to the masses, with a reliable platform to boot.
Elan - The most beautiful Lotus to date, in my opinion, and it was ridiculously light.
The 7 - This is even more obvious
Lotus 11
Lotus 23B
Tom, which Lotuses? Lotus is a marque that has been extremely influential on several different levels.
Street cars? Sports racers? F1 cars?
I'd like to see an original Mk.6. I'd like to see a Mk.47. I'd love to see an 11 or a 23..and I'd pay money to see Graham Hill's 49B or one of Emmo's 72s. And as an American road racing fan, I'd genuflect in front of a Lotus 79 chassis, whether Mario drove it or not.
Of course, I don't know how many of those cars are actually in the US..maybe Andy can help, since he watches the "high-end" market in the US? If anyone has a rare Lotus model (or even one of their F1 cars) laying around, he should know where it might be..
friedgreencorrado wrote: Tom, *which* Lotuses? Lotus is a marque that has been extremely influential on several different levels. Street cars? Sports racers? F1 cars?
That is the question. Yes, yes, and yes.
We're looking for a nice mix of both production and race models, but the street cars are more likely to be out and about on the track. The more historically important cars will be on display in a special tent.
friedgreencorrado wrote: Of course, I don't know how many of those cars are actually in the US..maybe Andy can help, since he watches the "high-end" market in the US? If anyone has a rare Lotus model (or even one of their F1 cars) laying around, he should know where it might be..
We're well underway to making this happen. I'm curious how many of the choices listed here will match up with what we're able to bring to the Mitty. There are going to be some very, very special cars present.
Tom, make sure they bring their 26R.
Of all the Lotus available the 7 should be first and foremost.
Spawned it's own company (Caterham) and two books for the D.I.Y. crowd.
Everything else should fight it out for the rest of the spots
Y'know, Tom..I think I'll vote for the 26R as well.
And I guess I'm lucky..when I first started cornerworking for SCCA (mid 1980s), 11s and 23s were about half the early sports racer field at the vintage races. It'd still be cool to see these old friends again though.
I saw the new Lotus team had a 25 present when they revealed the new F1 car. Anything Jimmy drove would be cool. As would any Lotus F1 car. I know most of the HSR/SVRA guys like the naturally aspirated cars, but I thought there was at least one 93t running around in the US..
A nice, original Lotus 6, preferably with the Ford E93a side-valve engine but a Climax would be OK too.
The 6 was Colin's first "production" car.
The snap below shows a 6 that's not 100% original (but it's a very nice car).......anyway, it's all I could find in my collection right now.
There are already a few winning guesses...look for the final list on Friday. Perhaps it shows my age, but I had never heard of a Lotus 6 until this week.
26R looks unlikely, but fans of open-wheeled Lotuses should be thrilled.
Tom Heath wrote: There are already a few winning guesses...look for the final list on Friday. Perhaps it shows my age, but I had never heard of a Lotus 6 until this week. 26R looks unlikely, but fans of open-wheeled Lotuses should be thrilled.
I guess we'll just wait for Friday.
In the meantime, here's a Lotus open-wheeler...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxNQy7nVT2U
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the rest of the race on youtube, but I did find a Wikipedia link to the result:
Here are my preferences:
"street" cars:
Seven
The original Elite (type 14)
Original Elan
Europa
Lotus Cortina
Esprit (early or Peter Stevens)
Elan M100
Elise
Racers:
23B
25/33
49
72
79
56 (the Indy turbine wedge)
Yeah, I know that's 14, but how can I leave any out? If I had to ditch two, they would be the Cortina and the (cringe) 56.
Today's the day for an announcement. I hate to tease, but watch this space (and the Mitty page) for a list today!
Of course, in addition to the museum cars that will be at the Mitty, there are a ton of enthusiasts and racers with really cool Lotuses that will be there as well. What will you bring?
First car on the list for the Lotus display at the Mitty-
The Lotus 95T was an F1 car designed by Gérard Ducarouge for Team Lotus' use in the 1984 Formula One season. It was Lotus' first newly designed chassis since the Lotus 88. The car was powered by a Renault turbo V6 engine. Th e95T was the car Nigel mansel won his first pole position in and was raced in 1984 by Mansel and Elio de Angelis.
Tom; I expect you want special individual cars. The Prisonner series Lotus 7 was my introduction to the make.
http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/lotus7.htm
Find a series Lotus 7 Prisonner car since the original is gone and borrow the plates that were used in the tv show.
Cheers Ron
The Lotus Mark VI or Lotus 6 was built from 1952 to 1956 and was the first Lotus production model of sorts. The heart of the car was a fully stressed space frame. The 6 was sold as a kit, with the choice of engine and gearbox open to the wishes of the customer making it eligible for a wide number of differing racing series.
rconlon wrote: Tom; I expect you want special individual cars. The Prisonner series Lotus 7 was my introduction to the make. http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/lotus7.htm Find a series Lotus 7 Prisonner car since the original is gone and borrow the plates that were used in the tv show. Cheers Ron
That's a great story Ron! Thanks for the link.
I think we're more interested in the best example of a model than a particularly famous one. Of course, if something uniquely special becomes available, we'll find a space for it.
Any 7 owner/volunteers? Also would love to have a Birkin and a Caterham 7 as well.
A S4 Seven would be cool to see. I have always liked them.
Sad that Graham Nearn passed away last year.
I was trying to post them a little bit at a time, but the day is growing short. Here's the rest of the contenders coming from the Barber Museum.
The Lotus 11 was built between 1956 and 1958 and became one of Lotus’ most successful race car designs. Highlights include a class speed record of 143MPH set by Stirling Moss as well as class victories at Sebring and LeMans.
The Lotus 16 was the first car built by Lotus for Formula 1 competition. It was driven by Graham Hill and Innes Ireland in the 1958 Grand Prix season.
The Lotus 30, first built in 1964 was Lotus’ first and only Can-Am car. It is powered by a Ford V8 engine. Jim Clark raced one for in the series.
This basic chassis design went on in the Lotus Europa and the Lotus Esprit.
The Lotus 26R was a racing version of the Elan produced with lightweight, single skin fiberglass bodies and were built to accept wider magnesium wheels. Most 26R cars had their pop-up headlights replaced with the cowed lights.. They features racing rated suspension. The car was developed by team boss Ian Walker as and then constructed by Lotus. Jim Clark raced one in the opener to the Silverstone GP and won and the car was raced by many private teams including Stirling Moss’ SMART racing. A total of 97 cars were built between 1964-1966 and originally cost 1995 pounds.
"But that's not 12 cars!" you might exclaim.
Don't worry, we're still gathering a few so we can't announce them yet. We were hoping to finalize a few more attendees today, but circumstances won't allow it just yet.
Like Andy said, if you have (or know of) a great car that would belong in the company of these examples, drop us a line. There's always room for one more!
I had forgotten about the 30. Nice choice!
And the 95t as well! I actually attended the 84 Dallas GP, and remember Mansell trying to push the thing across the line. I'll try to see if I can still fit in that T-shirt..
Ooops! I forgot to mention, in Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix", Scott Stoddard's brother's car (the one he fires up on the estate to test his fitness) is a 16.
Hmm, I can't get the "insert image" icon to work, but here's the pic..
@ rsmith-
There's a different featured marque at the Mitty each year. The 2011 Mitty was a Mazda focused event. (They have a racing history too, you know.) Click here to see a quick recap of 2011.
The 2012 event will go back to a European focus.
Oh so many to choose from, but my list is:
7 11 22 23 26 26R 38 43 72 79 82 111
im gonna prepare my expensive slr for that 2012 event! lol
What’s your favorite British sports car?
Triumph
MG
Austin Healey
Aston Martin
Jensen / Jensen Healey
TVR
Morgan
Check back soon for the next poll. View all polls
Built for the true classic car enthusiast, each issue of
Classic Motorsports features profiles on popular as well as unknown classics, along with comparison tests, useful technical articles, buying guides, personality pieces and more. Learn more about us.
Try the next issue free or vist the site.
