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1961 Elite S1

Today we are talking about the beautiful Lotus Elite, manufactured from 1958-1963. The car you see in these pictures was acquired as a basket case, dissembled and incomplete by its current owners back in 1983. Over more than 17 years, this Elite was brought back to life and it has been fully restored to current racing configuration. In 2004 the car participated in its first Historic race and has also run in other vintage races since then. The car was also present for three years at the Wine Country Classic and in 2007 made its very first appearance at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

The Lotus Elite was the first road-worthy, real production closed automobile developed by Colin Chapman. The racing program was funded with the money earned by the company from their road cars which were a huge hit during those times. This racing Elite features a glassfibre monocoque that is comprised of eight box sections. For that decade, the car was both strong and light and it featured a 4-cylinder aluminum 1216 cc power unit thanks to Coventry Climax. The car was capable of doing the 0-60 mph sprint in about 12 seconds, onto a top speed of 115 mph, pretty impressive for the early 60s. The engine was linked to a 4-speed manual transmission and disc brakes were used for all four wheels for proper braking. The suspension of this Elite S1 was independent, a rarity in comparison to other cars back then.

1961 Elite S1

The first prototype was launched a year earlier than the production model at the Earls Court Auto Show. During its production years the Lotus Elite was manufactured in 1050 units and then it was replaced by another hit, the Elan model. Without any doubt, the Elise was a road worthy vehicle, but it also managed to grab a couple of class wins at the very demanding 24 Hours of LeMans, making it a suitable car for both road and racing environments.

The Lotus Elite is considered to be the first modern car from the British automaker with a curb weight of only about 1,300 lbs thanks to its fiberglass unit-body construction. The Elite’s entire structure was composed of fibrous material in comparison to the more popular fiberglass body-on-steel frame design of those days. The engine of the Elite was also something impressive. Manufactured by Coventry Climax, it was capable of outputting between 75 and 105 hp, depending on the tune. Although it was a very common single overhead cam conventional four cylinder power unit, it was capable of reaching very high horsepower levels in reference to its size. The 4-speed gearbox we mentioned before was made by both ZF and MG during the car’s lifespan.

The car was known for its very good handling capabilities thanks to its very modern suspension configuration, aside from the low curb weight. It had wishbones and coil springs in the front while at the back it sported a MacPherson-like strut, also known as the “Chapman strut”.

1961 Elite S1

Aside from all of these technical figures which are very impressive for a car made in the late 50s / early 60s, the Lotus Elite is even now considered to be a very beautiful car. With its long nose and the short tail lent made the tiny Elite look more like much bigger grand touring cars. The cabin of the car was very comfortable and airy and it sported pretty good materials along with the simple yet very intuitive switches. The very nice 3-spoke steering wheel had a light wood rim contrasting the simple dashboard.

Without any doubt it will remain in the history of automotive as being one of the best road cars of its period, combining great looks with high-performance engineering, all wrapped in a lightweight package that made the car very fast back then. Also impressive is the Elite’s 0.29 coefficient of drag which is a very impressive figure even in 2011, regardless to say that in 1957 it was unheard of.

Source: ConceptCarz.com

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