Elegantly Elite

By Joe Lowrey
Published in ROAD TEST, August, 1974

The Lotus Elite is a true Lotus, designed to go astonishing fast on a moderate amount of power because it is light, well streamlined and a fine road holder.

For anyone who wants an expensive prestige car of high performance, but doesn't want to be accused of wasting materials and fuel, the new four-seat Lotus Elite is almost ideal. At a price above that of a Jaguar XJI2 sedan, Lotus offers you a car with 40 percent less material built into it, a 50 percent lower consumption of fuel, a truly striking appearance, and a top speed close to 130 mph.

Marketing their very first four-seater, after four years of preparation, Lotus has taken a big step up the price ladder. They have the prestige of having built the cars which won six Formula 1 road racing World Championships in 15 years; but they are still asking a lot of money for a four-cylinder 120.5 cu. in. car. Lotus hopes to sell most of their production capacity with a full package of air conditioning and other luxuries, but has a simplified version of this new car in reserve for less-profitable sale if necessary.

One could identify this new Elite as a larger descendant from the front-engined Elan line, of which 17,400 two-seat and 2+2 examples have been built. Lotus has not chosen the mid-engine layout of its race cars and the two-seat Europa as suiting a four-seat design.

Unusual shaping of this hatchback Lotus is the result of wind tunnel testing on models and then on full-size prototypes. Low air resistance without dangerous aerodynamic lift or sensitivity to cross-winds was obtained first, and stylists were then allowed to add decorative touches provided that streamlining wasn't impaired. Fastback shaping was tried, but it gave more air resistance, more lift at high speeds than Lotus would tolerate, and less headroom over the rear seat.

As a complete car driven to the wind tunnel under its own power for testing, the Elite is reckoned to have 20 square feet of frontal area and a drag coefficient of 0.30. That means only 41 horsepower is needed to overcome air resistance at 100 mph; fuel consumption at that speed is on the economical side of 20 mpg. Don't try to convince a cop that you were driving at 100 mph to save gas, though, in case he knows that at 60 mph you would have been getting over 30 mpg.

Apart from conspicuous shaping and careful choice of profiles for such items as windshield pillars, the Elite has one special aerodynamic feature. A very low air intake scoop under the front bumper acts as a spoiler, reducing drag by 10 percent as well as reducing both front-end lift and the effect of cross winds on stability. Air from this scoop flows up and back through a ducted radiator to emerge on top of the hood.

To carry their new four-seat body, Lotus has scaled up the forked backbone chassis layout which they first studied for a possible low-cost model. A central box-section from behind the transmission to ahead of the differential is tremendously deep, splitting into two Z-section members to encircle the rear differential. A longer forked section at the front is also of sheet steel folded into a Z, but has the top flange boxed for extra stiffness. Lotus builds its own frames without elaborate press tools and achieves 1800 Ib. ft. per degree torsional stiffness for low weight.

As on other Lotus models, the Elite has a fiberglass plastic body; safety laws dictate the use of some steel inside it. A strong firewall structure carries the hinges of two big doors, which have steel reinforcing beams inside them acting as mounts for power window lifts.. A steel roll bar provides high-strength mountings for anti-burst door locks. Center body pillars which conceal the roll bar are made wide, forming ventilation air outlets well away from the car's exhaust fumes.

There is considerable secrecy about just how Lotus molds the fiberglass body. Colin Chapman's ideal of just squirting plastic into a mold cannot yet have been achieved, but Lotus thinks they are well ahead of rivals. They do acknowledge that the sedan shell is formed from separate upper and lower halves: Also moulded blocks of polyurethane foam are incorporated in the body, presumably as a low-density filling between high-strength outer skins to produce stiffness for low weight. Directional laying-up of the glass fibres helps to provide strength where it is most needed; the steel frame within a resilient plastic body allows crash tests to be passed with only fractions of permitted steering column movement or door bending.

Power for the Elite comes from the a two-liter engine which Lotus has been supplying for the Jensen Healey. This a slant-Four is built from aluminium diecastings, has dohc driven by a cog-belt operating four valves per cylinder. For the US, two Zenith-Stromberg CD carburetors and an 8.4 to 1 compression ratio are specified. Truly central ignition in a combustion space without recesses lets clean air requirements be met without air injection, exhaust gas recirculation or catalysts. Mainly on account of different 26-66-66-26 camshafts, Lotus gets 155 horsepower for its own car as against the 140 horsepower they sell to Jensen Motors, still with good tractability.

Lotus couples its own five-speed transmission to this engine; fourth is direct and fifth is a synchromesh-engaged overdrive. At the 6500 rpm peak of the power curve, the five ratios give 37 mph, 59 mph, 86 mph, 119 mph and (downhill!) 149 mph - use of another 500 rpm beyond the peak of the power curve is permissible. The car is reckoned to achieve the permitted rpm on level road in fourth gear (128 mph) but to reach only 125 mph at 5500 rpm in fifth unless conditions are helpful.

Front suspension could be summarized as a conventional two-link design with coil springs. In fact, racing know-how has been applied to the geometry to ensure that nothing bends to upset the designed geometry. At the rear there is also a two-link system, not unlike the mid-engined Lotus

Europa two-seater in having the drive shafts act as the upper transverse links. Leading arms ensure very precise rear wheel alignment under cornering stress. As usual on a Lotus, springs appear to be flexible for a sports car, but are controlled by a front torsion bar and by very powerful telescopic shock absorbers.

Cast aluminum road wheels of 14 inch diameter and 7 inch rim width carry tires of 60 percent profile. Introduced by Dunlop especially for the Elite, these low-profile radials have steel wire bracing, behind a very bold tread channelled to minimize wet-weather aquaplaning problems of wide tires on a light car.

Front brake discs of 10.4 inch diameter are mounted on the hubs. Mounted in-board to save unsprung weight. the less heavily stressed rear brakes are of drum type. This also makes it easier to obtain a powerful parking brake. The steering gear is a rack-and-pinion located below the engine nose. and power assistance is likely to become available at a future date on this heaviest-yet Lotus model.

Interior design of the air-conditioned body is apparently the product of amicable disputation between Giugario of Ital Design as stylist, and Colin Chapman who insisted on race-worthy seats and control positions. There is indeed room for four average men to be reasonably comfort-

able. or using the long range of seat adjustment two exceptionally tall men can be at ease in the front. Headroom over the rear seats is limited. but width is ample and individual seats are shaped to keep passengers steady during fast cornering.

Federal bumper requirements will make the cars shipped to the US about 100 pounds heavier. The 18 gallon gas tank is close behind the rear seat, ahead of an open-top luggage trunk loaded through an opening rear window.

Under a lot of expensive gingerbread this is still a true Lotus. designed to go astonishingly fast on a moderate amount of power because it is light. well streamlined and a fine road holder. It really is a Lotus. The plant on an airfield outside Norwich machines engine blocks, fabricates chassis frames, molds and trims bodies, and really manufactures more car and buys less car from outside component makers than is usual today. The price tag on this car does worry me. No US figures were available yet, but in England it is priced above the Jaguar XJ12 sedan. In Britain a Porsche paying import duty is even costlier, but in most other places the rugged German car will be cheaper. Is Lotus quality of detail, certainly better now than in past years, yet worthy of such a price?