Remembering Jim Clark
Take the speed of Senna, the wet weather prowess of Schumacher, the smoothness and mechanical sympathy of Prost, the versatility and enthusiasm of Andretti and the humility of a country boy and you’ve got the recipe for the greatest racing driver of the 1960s; indeed, perhaps the greatest racing driver ever. That driver was Jim […]
22 Years of the Elise – twice as good or just twice the price?
Evolution or revolution? A question that car makers have often wrestled with and most tend to sit on one side of the fence or the other. Companies like Porsche, Caterham and Morgan have chosen to refine the breed rather than constantly reinvent themselves. Then we have Lotus. A company that brought us ground effect, the […]
July Calendar Car – Lotus
Throughout July, lucky owners of a 2019 Influx Calendar enjoyed this incredibly rare Series 1 Elise 190, with a carbon-fibre body. The car was arranged by Elisa Artioli herself, as she came over to the UK to help us with the calendar shoot as well as enjoy a trip down memory Lane at the nearby […]
Elisa Artioli returns to the birthplace of the Lotus Elise
In the mid-’90s Lotus launched a car that turned the company around. A modestly-powered K-series sat behind the driver’s seat in a sub-tonne sports car, with a manual ‘box and rear wheel drive, all supported by a sublime aluminium chassis and a lightweight, curvaceous fibreglass suit, the Lotus type 111 gave the expectant Frankfurt crowds […]
Lotus’s forgotten wedges
Pop quiz: you have three seconds to name a wedge-shaped Lotus. Go! Okay, hands up who answered ‘Esprit’? Blimey, that’ll be all of you, then. Well, it is the obvious answer, isn’t it? But it wasn’t the first wedge-shaped Lotus. Nor even the second. Which leads nicely to another pop quiz: name the first wedge-shaped […]
Lotus “Elanbulance” – the Elan estate
The words ‘Lotus’ and ‘estate’ don’t really have any business being together in a headline. Lotus’s famous recipe of ‘simplify and add lightness’ doesn’t exactly fit with the idea of an estate body which encapsulates my own personal dietary motto of ‘complicate and add weight’. Nevertheless, it really did happen – the Lotus Elan estate […]
Matthew Oxley, serial Lotus owner and restorer, talks Esprit
Lotus cars have always been a passion of mine since the first time I saw my dad’s S1 Elan when I was just 5 years old, and of course like many men my age the passion reignited whilst watching The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to […]
Homage to the Lotus Esprit
It doesn’t even matter how long they take to get from 0-60mph. Or what their top speed is. Or how many cylinders the engine has. Or even where it is for that matter. Because certain vehicles, like the Lotus Esprit, harbour something far mightier than that. And that’s the power to stop people in their tracks.
It’s a force that can’t be explained by numbers. There’s no mathematical formula. It’s a conundrum that no mechanic can fix. That’s because there are no answers. A car either has it, or it doesn’t. Luckily, the Esprit has it – and then some.
Lotus wizardry – turning the average into the spectacular
Young people today would be forgiven for assuming Lotus is all about lightweight, mid-engined wedge-shaped sports cars. After all, when the current line-up consists of the Evora, Elise, and Exige, how could you possibly see Lotus going about work any differently? Could you really comprehend the existence of – for example – a Lotus Insignia? […]
Emerson Fittipaldi and the Lotus 72D
In 1972 F1 gained a new World Champion, one that was younger than any had been before. Emerson Fittipaldi, the wonder kid from Brazil, had won the most prestigious title in motorsport before he’d even reached his 26th birthday. Fittipaldi had come to the UK a few years earlier to learn his craft. Like many […]