Lotus A Competition Survey of the Sports, GT and Touring Cars

Everyone knows the name of Lotus. Not many know of those special cars that made the name. This publication concentrates on the 'other' cars and ignores the single-seaters racing cars covered well in other books. Here there are those beautiful 'streamliners', the utilitarian 'mud pluggers cum circuit racers’ and the near exotic coupes, for Lotus was making its name before the formula cars. Recall the revolutionary trial cars of the late nineteen-forties and early fifties, the lookalike Mark 6 and its longlasting prodgeny, that motorcycle-on-four-wheels, the 7. Wonder at the early, smooth contoured 9, 10 and Eleven, followed by the ubiquitous Fifteen. Forget, perhaps, the 17 but return to the 19 Monte Carlo and the giant-killing 23 and 23B. Forget again the 30 and the 40, those ill-fated monsters which few people could tame but on no account be vague about the Elite, the Elan and the Europa in their various guises. Colin Chapman 'tripped the light fantastic' with those beautiful coupes. Conclude with the image of the late Jim Clark, and some of his friends, defeating America's might of Galaxie and Mustang with the box-like Lotus Cortina - delight in that very special three-wheeling memory. Here, probably for the first time, justice is given to those exciting and sometimes revolutionary cars which have played their part in creating the Lotus magic. This strongly illustrated history with picture research by Paul Skilleter continues the Chris Harvey 'competition' series started by Osprey Publishing's Jaguars in Competition.