Tag Archives: Lotus

Theme Lotus – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

On Friday I headed off under grey skies with friends, Tim, Pete and Dave to Goodwood House just outside Chichester for the Festival Of Speed.

The featured manufacturer this year was Lotus which was founded 60 years ago by Colin Chapman who’s cars not entirely uncoincidentally are currently also featured every Saturday here at GALPOT. Welcoming us on the way into Goodwood House was this 1967 AEC Swift based transporter used by Gold Leaf Team Lotus from 1967 to 1970 during which period team won two world drivers championships with Graham Hill(’68) and Jochen Rindt (’70) and two world constructors in the same years.

Gerry Judah’s art work on the lawn in front of Goodwood House featured no less than six cars five of them winners and a contemporary F1 car built in Enstone which I find as difficult to call a Lotus in the same way as I had trouble calling the Lotus 76 a John Player Special back in 1974.

In the paddock there were several cars I had heard of but never seen in the flesh including the six wheel, 4WD, 1982 Williams FW08B which was never raced thanks to a late call to ban more than four wheels from Formula Once cars with only two to be driven from the start of the 1983 season.

Of all the many stories of British grit in Grand Prix Racing perhaps none exemplifies how not to organise a team better than BRM which managed to organise the support in cash, kind and facilities from the British Motor Industry to make two of the most complex racing motors ever built. The first was a 1.5 litre / 91 cui supercharged V16 which comprised to 750 cc / 45.5 cui V8’s mounted back to back. The 500 hp motor, which could be taken up to 12,000 rpm, was more powerful than any of it’s contemporaries but the combination of organisational and design complexity did not result in a particularly reliable motor car. It did not win any championship Grand Prix, it was only entered in two but it did score championship points, and won a non championship 12 lap race at Goodwood. The most memorable thing about this vehicle is the sound it makes, utterly unmusical in comparison to a V8, and as harsh as granite, note two people in this photo are wearing ear defenders ! The smell of oil coming off it’s engine after the warming up session seen here was quite unforgetable too !

Amongst the sports cars this Maserati Tipo 151/3 is a 1980’s replica of one of three 151’s that were prepared for Le Mans in 1962 and then continually modified. The 151/3 seen here made of from orginal parts and fitted with the low Pierre Drogo body made from the same buck as the body made specially for the 1964 24 Hours at Le Mans where 151/3 was timed at 196 mph on the Mulsanne Straight, like the BRM P15 it suffered poor reliability and retired as it has had in ’62 and ’63.

Racing successfully against the original 151/3 were the Shelby American Cobra Coupé’s also known as the ‘Daytona’ Coupé. So far as I can tell this #12 car is chassis CSX2300 which scored a best 6th place finish at Daytona in 1965 with Ed Leslie and Allen Grant at the wheel, the cars next appearance was at Sebring where it carried the #12 with Leslie and Grant again driving finishing 13th.

Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt won the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours driving this Ford Mk IV, beating two Ferrari P4’s in the process thus avenging Enzo Ferrari’s last minuet refusal to sell out to Ford earlier in the decade.

The Matra 670 B with a long tail, by Matra standards, won Le Mans in 1973 with Henri Pescarolo and Gerrard Larrousse at the wheel, also beating a Ferrari this time a 312PB driven by Art Mezario and Carlos Pacé.

Above regular GALPOT contributor, through The Nostalgia Forum, Tony ‘Giraffe’ Gallagher happily accepts an invitation to sign 1980 IMSA Champion John Fitzpatrick’s programe.

Continuing the Diamond Jubilee celebrations this years Concours d’Elegance centered on numerous vehicles the Queen and other state dignitary’s have used, this De Haviland of Canada DHG – 1 Chipmunk was used by both HRH Prince Phillip and HRH Prince Charles for training purposes in the 1950’s and 60’s. Back in the day when I was a schoolboy and an RAF Cadet I went up in one of these on a couple of occasions, being handed the controls mid flight on one of them !

The De Macross GT1 appears to be constructed from a mix of Korean Finance, Canadian Manufacturing and US Roush Yates power and any number of styling queues taken from an equally diverse range of vehicles. The drivers name on the side of the car was none other than that of motorsports TV presenter Justin Bell.

Keeping folks entertained on two wheels were a number of youngsters who were doing things on motor bikes that I have only been able to aspire to dreaming of.

Sir Stirling Moss shares a little joke with former Jaguar works test driver and team mate Norman Dewis as they prepare for a quick blast up Goodwood’s hill climb.

Jackie Oliver drove a Gold Leaf Team Lotus 49B in 1968 here he is seen driving the 1967 Lotus 49 chassis R2, later renamed R11, that Jim Clark used to win the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix the first of 155 Grand Prix victories for the Ford Corworth DFV engine that powered it and the first of 12 for the Lotus 49 type.

Delivered nearly five years late and horrendously over budget the Eurofighter Typhoon made up for it with a simply stunning display of power, speed and maneuverability. With 40,000 lbs of thrust this plane can be flown like one of the better short nosed paper aeroplanes I used to make when I was a kid with the added bonus it does not crash when landing.

Paul Knapfield’s Ferrari 712 chassis #1010 haa a long story to tell suffice to say here that in period it has underwent two body upgrades from it’s original 512S spec and an engine upgrade to make it the Ferrari with the largest Ferrari motor ever raced. This car will be the subject of a blog in the fulness of time.

Le Mans 24 hours will be remembered this year as the first ever to be won by a hybrid diesel, the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässer and Benoit Tréluyer beat the the sister car of Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen, with a regular diesel coming in third. McNish is seen driving the e-tron quattro above which despite the stickers is not necessarily the car that crossed the line first at Le Mans.

The ‘Droop Snoot’ Vauxhall Firenza “Old Nail” belonging to Paul Chase-Gardener scored over 60 victories with Gerry Marshall at the wheel back in the 1970’s Gerry’s son Gregor, another contributor to GALPOT through The Nostalgia Forum, was scheduled to drive this car later in the weekend.

There were several Citroen DS3’s entered on the Goodwood Rally stage I believe this may have been the DS3 WRC example of Thierry Neuville, but I’ll happily take a second better informed opinion if you have one to add below.

One of the pleasant rewards for taking the time to walk to the top of the hill was finding this Skoda Octavia vRS, a car that might not ordinarily bring the phrase ‘psycho on tyres’ to mind however this one had it’s turbo 2 litre / 122cui engine uprated from 200 hp to 500 hp and along with a few other safety mods achieved 227.080 mph at Bonneville to claim the 2 litre production car class record with Richard Meaden at the wheel last year.

Four time World Drivers Champion Alain Prost was the honoured driver at Goodwood this year, though there were probably more vehicles present that were associated with Dan Gurney including the McLaren M6B, driven on this occasion by owner Andy Boone, which Dan modified so much it gained the ‘McLeagle’ sobriquet. Dan’s efforts were not enough to beat the Bruce and Denny show, Denny won the championship. Gurney’s best result with the car was a 4th place in the 1968 Can Am race at Riverside.

It’s always great to see and hear a little NASCAR action, Goodwood marked the first occasion on which I have seen a Camping World Truck Series (CWTS) truck in action, the #3 Chevrolet Silverado was driven by Austin Dillon to the Championship last season his brother Ty was scheduled to drive over weekend.

Largest vehicle on the track was the Race 2 Recovery MAN 8×8 Dakar support truck driven by Ben Gott. Race 2 Recovery plans to enter a team of Land Rovers in next years Dakar Rally all driven by injured soldiers. If you would like to help their cause you can find details on this Race2Recovery link.

All too soon after a pleasurably exhausting day wondering around the grounds of Goodwood House without having seen everything it was time to say a quick hello to a couple of friends and then rejoin my passengers for the two hour back to the future drive home, my nomination for top car in the car park award went to the DeLorean DMC-12 which was substantially re-engineered by Lotus founder Colin Chapman, prior to the commencement of production in 1981.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Theme Lotus’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Harald’s TOJ – Lotus Europa Turbo

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Today’s post is the last of the present series of Group 5 Lotus racing cars, featuring the unique Lotus Europa Turbo driven by Austrian Harald Ertl.

(Photographer / Copyright Holder Unknown, photo will be credited or removed by request.)

Harald Ertl was a motoring journalist and broadcaster and considered a ‘gentleman’ racer who in the late 1970’s reached Formula One where he raced with the Hesketh, Ensign and ATS teams.

Harald much more successful driving saloon / sedan cars being crowned Deutsche Rennsport Meister (German Racing Champion) in 1978 driving a BMW 320 Turbo.

In 1979 Harald was contracted to drive a Ford Capri for Zakspeed Racing and during this time it appears he took on the Lotus Europa Turbo project on his own initiative.

Unlike the Group 5 Ark Racing Lotus Elan and Morfe Racing Esprit of Richard Jenvey Harald’s Europa used a chassis from a TOJ sports car to which was attached a small piece of a Lotus Europa chassis in order to comply with the Group 5 unlimited lightening of the original chassis rule.

Harald fitted a Zakspeed Turbo motor sourced from the Zakspeed Capri programme and the semblance of a Lotus Europa body on steroids.

The Europa Turbo’s first race was the 1979 Nurburgring 1000 kms where the car entered by Zakspeed Racing qualified 19th a distant third in class and failed to finish after electrical problems.

The Europa started at least 4 more races in 1979 with Harald scoring a best 6th place finish in an Interserie race at Hockenheim where the car is probably seen in the photo above.

Mario Ketterer, entered by the Immo Klein Racing team, drove the Europa Turbo at its last ‘in period’ appearance in the DRM Nurburgring Super Sprint. Mario qualified 6th, Ertl was on pole, failed to finish. This unique car has been seen competing in historic events in recent years.

After scoring several class victories driving his Zakspeed Ford Capri in 1979 and 1980 Harald Ertl was killed in a plane crash piloted by his brother in law in 1982 aged 33.

Thanks for joining me on this “Harald’s TOJ” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Stunning Seicento – Tornado FIAT 600D GT Lotus Twin Cam

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Anyone one heading east along the A412 Uxbridge Road in to Rickmansworth would be forgiven for missing Fairway Tyres located in a building set back from the road with a forecourt.

It turns out this building is called Tornado House recalling Tornado Cars Ltd which once employed up to sixty people to manufacture around 600 sports cars from 1957 to 1964 that were marked under the Typhoon, Tempest, Thunderbolt and Talisman names.

Tornado went into liquidation in 1964 it would appear just after the introduction of a hot GT version of the FIAT 600D known as the Tornado FIAT 600D GT.

Around two and a half million FIAT (Seicento) 600D’s were manufactured between 1955 and 1969, powered by a water cooled straight 4 cylinder motor giving either 21 hp or 29 hp according to size, which lent itself to easy tuning with upgrades available from the likes of Carl Abarth.

The FIAT 600D, which sold for 590,000 lire new was also manufactured in Barcelona, Spain where it was marketed as the SEAT ( pronounced c @ ) 600, Kragujevac, in what is now Serbia where it was marketed as the Zastava 750.

As of 2011 it was thought only 65 road legal Seicento’s remain in the UK.

One of the Tornado FIAT 600D GT’s was acquired by David Render in 1965, readers, of the Lotus 76 and Lotus 77 posts, may remember that David was friends with Colin Chapman of Lotus Cars who suggested and arranged for Davids Tornado FIAT 600D to be fitted ….

… with a full blown Lotus Twin Cam motor normally found in the Lotus Cortina and Lotus Elan.

With over 100 hp on tap David’s little Tornado FIAT 600D GT became a pocket rocket…

with which he estimates he won over 50 trophies in the period he owned it. David’s car is seen here at the recent Middle Barton Garages silver jubilee celebration.

Please note Tornado Cars Ltd of Rickmansworth is not to be confused with Tornado Sports Cars of Kidderminster.

Thanks for joining me on this “Stunning Seicento” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me for Americana Thursday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Sunday Morning Lotus Hunting – Prescott

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Apologies to readers of the regular Tuesday MG blogs which will return next week. On Sunday I attended the Speed Hill Climb at Prescott in search of a couple of Lotus models for Saturdays Lotus blogs.

On arrival in the paddock I found much more than I bargained for, this GSM Delta Ford will feature in a forthcoming blog thanks to the owner Clive Scott who told me all about the car and his families involvement with it’s manufacture. Clive finished the day forth in a class of 15.

For a moment I thought this Ginetta G12 might be yet another car once owned by David Render, but Nick Stephens told me that this was not the case with his Ford Zetec powered example.

Derek Kessell has owned this Maguire Mini Cooper S for 24 years, it has never been raced and only ever used on hillclimbs. It was originally built with a Mini Clubman estate / station wagon body.

The tyres on Bill Chaplin’s Force Empire DS600 Suzuki show how tricky the conditions at Prescott were on Sunday Morning, full wets on the front and intermediates on the back, notice also a wild array of tweaked aerodynamic appendages that would not look out of place on a Formula One Car which helped Bill claim third fastest time in a class of 12.

Tina Hawkes driving her OMS Hornet Suzuki turned around her third fastest timed run in the lottery morning conditions, seen here, to a fastest time in class in the dry afternoon run.

Last week I received an e-mail from John Biggs owner of the Kayne Special III, above, asking if I could put him in touch with Colin Cooper who built the car. When I met John on Sunday he told me that Colin had come to visit Prescott on Saturday and that they had a long chat about the car.

I know this is not a property blog, BUT, Pardon Hill House just has to be one of the most desirable properties on the planet for any motorsport enthusiast. You can see the Prescott Hill Climb course right in front of you from the benches right outside the back gate. Here’s hoping my lottery numbers come up before it is too late !

In the wake of the successful Lotus 79 in 1978 almost all open wheel cars the following season were built to take advantage of ground effects with varying degrees of success. Future Ferrari and Mclaren F1 driver Stephan Johansson was one of several drivers who started the 1979 with a Chevron B47, quite possibly the one in the photo above, but switched before long to the more successful March chassis on his way to claiming 4th spot in the 1979 British Formula 3 championship. Chris Bentley Jones who drove the car on Sunday claimed third fastest time in class.

Sandra Tomlin, above, managed to avoid the wooden spoon in class and pip her son Oliver with whom she shares the wheel of the Pilbeam MP97 Judd.

I received a tip off last week that a couple of Lotus 51’s would be at Prescott like the won driven by Briony Serrell above, Brioney finished with 5th best time in a class of 13.

Martin Tippet’s Lotus 51 was suffering from electrical issues and he could only manage 8th best time in class.

My thanks to Les Buck who is seen driving his Lotus 61 above, finished forth in class, for tipping me off last week at Brooklands that this event was taking place.

The two rounds of the Midland Hillclimb Championship main event were convincingly dominated by championship leader Trevor Wills driving the #3 OMS CFO6 Powertec SBD seen above.

Finally just as I was leaving a couple of dozen Jaguar XK’s appeared, including this 1956 XK 140, fitted with easy to clean steel wheels, which reminded me that GALPOT regular Geoffrey Horton would soon be getting up to compete in a Concours event in California with his own example of the model.

Further information on the timing results for this event can be found on Roger Warren’s excellent Resultsman website.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sunday Morning Lotus Hunting” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an extraordinary FIAT 600. Don’t forget to come back now !

Dick Mayo Sprint – Castle Combe

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Another weekend another hectic schedule, on Saturday I spent the day marshaling at Castle Combe for the Dick Mayo Sprint run by the Bristol Motor Club (BMC), returning a favour when Zoe Tooth of the BMC kindly sat took the passenger seat when I tried to defend my Cross Trophy some months ago.

I was paired up with Richard, a new BMC member, to look after the marshals post on the inside of Old Paddock Bend on what turned out to be a windy but mercifully mostly dry day. Since I was the senior marshal on the post with a novice and there was only two of us, there was no opportunity to ‘stand down’ and take any photo’s of the on track action. During the lunch break, after a delicious sweet and sour pork with rice and chips, I managed to make a quick tour of the paddock to take a few snaps with my mobile phone.

Of the open wheelers only the Formula Ford spec #24 RAY GR095 of Paul Jevons was not covered against the elements, given that Pauls Ray was the only open wheeler running on treaded tyres, without any aerodynamic down force and probably the least horsepower it is perhaps not surprising he finished last in the F2 Racing Car Class.

Porsche Club GB were present in force at the Dick Mayo Sprint the stand out example of the marque being the #59 Porsche 914/6 belonging to Wayne Eason running a 3 litre / 183 cui flat 6 in the 161 to 205 bhp class, despite what ought to be superior handling of it’s mid engine layout Wayne’s 914/6 was beaten by the two rear engine 911 variants running in his class.

Amongst many Caterham 7’s and Lotus Elise variations the whistling supercharged, Lotus 2-Eleven track day car of fellow Bristol Pegasus Motor Club (BPMC) member James Spear stood out out as a novelty, James came third in the 12 strong Road Going Specialist Production Cars Class behind a Noble and a Westfield (Caterhan 7 look a like).

Running in the same class and coming 5th, as James, was yet another fellow BPMC member Julian West in his #132 GTD manufactured by GT Developments in Poole Dorset and not to be confused with the Tornado TSC GT40 replicas which are built in Kidderminster.

The Gold Leaf Team Lotus tribute liveried #143 Caterham 7 Roadsport, above, of Chris Bennet came in 5th in the smaller capacity Road Going Specialist Production Cars Class.

Porsche Club GB member Paul Kenelly ran his 1962 #148 Jaguar E-type coupé in the largest engine capacity class of the four Roadgoing Series Production classes finishing with the 9th best time from 10 in his class.

Terry Graves driving a Gould managed to record fastest time of the day, as the final runners came out rain made the track so damp the last competitor manged a time that was a full minute and more slower than the best time of the day, ironically by the time Richard and I had put our extinguishers out on the track ready for collection and jumped in his Subaru and returned to the paddock the sun was out and the track was dry ! Above the Morgan 3 wheeler drew a lot of attention in the paddock as it arrived to be put on show for the following days BMC Family Clubs Day, which I will feature next Sunday.

Thanks for joining me on this “Dick Mayo Sprint” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Double Twelve – Brooklands

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Last Sunday I was spoiled for choice of interesting events to attend and opted for going to Brooklands where the Double Twelve event was billed as the biggest motoring competition held at the World’s oldest circuit since 1939. Unfortunately I missed the speed trials which were held on Saturday but I did catch the Driving Concours on Sunday.

As ever, when I visit Brooklands,I probably learned more on Sunday than I had forgotten in a life time. Among many cars I had either never seen let alone heard of was this Hupmobile Eight in the car park.

This ALFA Romeo, looks like a anorexic “Montreal” but in fact is a 1968 “1750 Berlinetta” a road registered prototype driven here by Corrado Lopresto, one of several ALFA Romeo Prototypes present and one of numerous cars that had been brought over from Italy for the Double 12.

A Bristol powered AC Greyound cost 25% more than a Shelby American Cobra when it was manufactured, this 1963 example is one of 82 built between 1958 and 1964 and features a sunroof fitted new by the Allard Motor Company.

Martin Tinsley driving the 1932 2 litre Lagonda, above, demonstrates it’s impressive turning circle on one of the driving tests.

Another vehicle that had come all the way from Italy was the Mercedes 230, above, driven by Massimo Delbo who won the Mercedes Benz Pre and Post War Sports and Touring Cars class of the Driving Concours.

Looks like a Willy’s JEEP from the good ol’ USA and was billed as a WWII Jeep, but in fact this M201 was built under license by Hotchkiss Brandt in 1957 for a contract from the French Military. If you would like to own this vehicle it is the prize in a Raffle organised by the War and Peace Show more details on this link. I now have tickets to win a Morgan, a Triumph and a JEEP, one day I just have to get lucky !

The first time I took a photo of Les Buck’s Lotus 61 it was tipping down at Prescott the photo was so blurry all I could make out was that the car was yellow and green. Les told me he plans to be out at Prescott today so weather permitting I’ll have a second crack at getting a photo of the car in action.

With my recent run of Tuesday MG blogs it was a thrill and a surprise to stumble across the oldest MG known to exist this MG Super Sports dates back to 8th January 1925 and during the ’39-’45 war was converted to a hay-mower !

Restricted to a top speed of 15 mph, in order not to be categorised as a motor vehicle on British roads, the Sinclair C5 was a hybrid powered by an electric motor or pedal power. Despite being launched with the aid of Stirling Moss, in 1985, it was the object of much derision with a lamentable performance climbing hills. I suspect this model may have a turbo conversion with 24v electrics because it effortlessly whistled up the Test Hill without the aid of pedal power and appeared to be traveling well over 15 mph.

At the other end of power spectrum was the Rolls Royce Merlin / Meteor powered 27 litre / 1650 cui Handlye Special, built and driven by Robin Beech, which by virtue of laying a single 20 yard black stripe at the bottom of the Test Hill got my vote for the “Gettin’ a li’l Psycho on Tyres” award !

The ‘Deutsch Bonnet’ DB HBR5 Coupé belonging to Derek Fritz came third in it’s class of the Driving Concours event a car I shall cover in greater detail in a future Wednesday Continental Curiosity blog.

Overall winner of the Driving Concours was Andrew Hall in the 1935 Fraser Nash TT Replica, not to be confused with being a replica of a 1935 car, Andrew can be seen in the passenger seat receiving the trophy a Brooklands Screen mounted on hefty chunck of the Brooklands Track.

Thanks for joining me on this “Double Twelve” edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Jumping Coffee Cups ! – Lotus Esprit S1 Group 5

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When Richard Jenvey announced that he would be competing in the 2 litre / 122 cui division of the Group 5 World Manufacturers championship with a Lotus Esprit in 1978, such was my naivety that my heart leapt with joy at the prospect of the domination that BMW had enjoyed in this class with the brick like BMW 320i would at last be broken by a proper sports car.

Richard made a name for himself driving modified sports cars including a supercharged MG Midget in ’73 and a Lotus Elan from ’74 to ’75 winning the 1975 Modsports Championship. In 1975 Richard also started racing in the European Sports Car Championship with the unique Vogue 2 litre / 122 cui sports car a car he eventually bought, modified and sold to team mate David Mercer.

With a group of enthusiastic amateurs Richard set about building his Group 5 Lotus Esprit in 1978. The team retained most of the original Lotus backbone chassis and built a monocoque around it effectively turning the Lotus backbone chassis into a passenger.

Richard tells me that when the Lotus Sales Director approached Colin Chapman to support another team about building a similar car Colin Chapman hit the table so hard to emphasise a negative response that his coffee cup jumped off the desk. When the Sales Director made a second approach, on behalf of Richard, Colin appears to have learned a valuable lesson and relented agreeing to supply enough parts for Vegatune to build a 270 hp 2 litre / 122cui engine on favorable terms. Lotus also supplied an Esprit body shell with which to make the mould for the racers body. The original body shell was then sold on which helped cover ‘a fair fraction’ of the costs of building the car which ended up right on the minimum weight limit.

The Polaroof Morfe Racing Lotus Esprit first appeared at the Dijon 6 hours in April 1979 qualifying first in class ahead of a Fiat X1/9 and BMW 320i, but was the first of the three to retire from the race with engine maladies. At Silverstone, where the car is seen above, the Esprit qualified 3rd in class behind the debuting Lancia Beta Montecarlo turbo and an older BMW 320i. During the race Richard and David Mercer only had to finish to win the class but distributor problems saw the car retire.

Over the following two years Richards Lotus made at least seven further starts in World Championship and German Championship events recording a best 7th place finish in the 1981 German Championship round at Zolder. Once the engine was reliable little problems continued to beset the Esprit including seat padding slipping which caused Lawrie Hickman to inadvertently break the gear linkage in his efforts to avoid an accident at Dijon. On another occasion with in a couple of miles of the finish flag and a class victory at the Nurburgring, where the start money was always very generous, a loose alternator wire, combined with running with the headlights on, flattened the battery and officials prevented Richard from connecting the spare which the car carried.

Richard and Lawrie Hickman, who co drove Richards Lotus in 1981 agree that the Esprit was fabulous to drive but was underpowered against the factory turbocharged Group 5 cars running in the same class from Lancia, BMW and Ford which had over 600 hp available ! Interestingly as the Group 5 series was coming to an end Richard started building a turbocharged Group C car, which was never completed due to a late change in the regulations and Richard had plans to run the Lotus with the turbocharged motor from the Group C project before it was retired.

Unfortunately these plans also came to nought when a batch of faulty con rod bolts failed while the normally aspirated motor was being ‘run in’ during practice for the 1981 Silverstone 6 Hours, causing the team to miss the race and starting money. Even more importantly the engine failure also caused the team to miss collecting the ‘very generous’ start money at the Nurburgring two weeks later and so the Esprit retired without ever running with the more powerful motor.

Richard still owns the Esprit which he describes as being “spread around Shropshire”, he is currently engaged in re-accumulating all the parts in one place with a view to either selling it or building it for his son, Mike Jenvey, to race in classic events.

Regrettably, although the Esprit added welcome variety to the events in which it competed, the privateer Morfe Racing with Polaroof team, like the contemporary Janspeed Triumph Twin Turbo TR8 team did not have the level of backing to compete reliably let alone competitively against the works supported outfits of Lancia in the World Championship events which were joined by Ford in the German Championship events.

The photo’s show the Esprit’s official “roll out” to the raspberry patch in Richards garden and the remainder the Esprit’s British debut at Silverstone in 1979.

My thanks to Richard Jenvey who kindly answered my questions about the project, also to The Nostalgia Forum regulars Alan Raine, who suggested I get in touch with Richard, Tony “Giraffe” Gallagher who kindly passed on Lawrie Hickman’s observations, Norman Jones, fausto, Simon Hadfield, fatbaldbloke, Jesper O Hansen, Edward Fitzgerald, La Sarthe, Simon Lewis and Tony Kingston for their comments.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Jumping Coffee Cups !’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Lotus

Theme Lotus – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Harald’s TOJ – Lotus Europa Turbo

Stunning Seicento – Tornado FIAT 600D GT Lotus Twin Cam

Sunday Morning Lotus Hunting – Prescott

Dick Mayo Sprint – Castle Combe

Double Twelve – Brooklands