Cars - Lotus Elite

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	Cars - Lotus Elite

The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars.

1958

The first Elite was an ultra-light two-seater coupe, produced from 1957 to 1962.

The Elite's Lotus Type 14 most distinctive feature was its highly innovative fiberglass monocoque construction, in which a stressed-skin unibody replaced the previously separate frame and body components. Unlike the contemporaneous Chevrolet Corvette, which only used fiberglass for exterior bodywork, the Elite used this glass-reinforced plastic material for the entire load-bearing structure of the car. The Elite was possibly the first car made out of composites, and certainly one of the first automotive monocoques.

The resultant body was both lighter, stiffer, and provided better driver protection in the event of a crash. The weight savings allowed the Elite to achieve sports car performance from a 75 hp (55 kW) 1216 cc Coventry Climax engine. Climax powered Elite's won the "Index of Performance" six times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

Advanced aerodynamics also made a contribution, giving the car a very low drag coefficient of 0.29 — quite low even for modern cars. This accomplishment is all the more notable considering that the engineers did not enjoy the benefits of computer-aided design and wind tunnel testing. The original Elite drawings were by Peter Kirwin-Taylor. Frank Costin, future founder of Cosworth, at that time Chief Aerodynamic Engineer for the DeHaviland Aircraft Company, contributed to the final design.

Just over 1000 Elites were built.

1974

From 1974 to 1982, Lotus produced the considerably larger Type 75 and later Type 83 4-seat Elite II. Lotus's first saloon car was front engined with rear wheel drive. Like all production Lotus's the Elite II used fiberglass for the body shell mounted on an upgraded-to meet-Federal-collision-standards steel backbone chassis evolved from the Lotus Elan and Lotus Europa. It had 4-wheel independent suspension and used Lotus's all new all 907 4-valve DOHC aluminium engine; the first 4-valve per cylinder, 2 litre production engine. In both naturally aspirated and turbo versions the engine was the foundation for the Lotus Esprit powerplants. The Elite II was the basis for the Lotus Eclat, and later the Lotus Excel four seaters.

Elite Category:Sports cars

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Cars - Lotus Elite

1958

1974

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