Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

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Marcus
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Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Marcus »

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bash
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by bash »

Brilliantly engineering detailed that is sadly lacking these days, and, probably because Im an ex draughtsman, what wonderful diagrams. I would want a poster of the cutaway on my wall.
I wonder why excels went from the central bonnet vent of the elite to the two small outer vents and then back to central vents. My engineering head says they should have kept the central vent.
Great article dude.
Bash
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

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DavidOliver
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by DavidOliver »

I was fortunate to have met the Author Tony Curtis who was editor of Motor in 1974 and owned the Elite he reports on.
The technical description of development and particularly the very special suspension design I find easy to understand and shows how much racing experience was transferred to the Elite design. Particularly the reasoning for inboard rear brakes to take away hub rotation loads.
Also for those Elite owners who may think the front spoiler was a simple add-on, an item which easily got knocked off on high curbs, the data on front and rear lift loadings related to the front spoiler indicate directly the aerodynamic importance of the spoiler.
The reference to inbuilt safety features, not just door side beams, indicates in-depth safety design throughout the Elite.

I would like to have the Motor article reproduced and made available to Forum Members. Any suggestions from the committee?

A lot of the content is applicable to Eclat and Excel cars, not many modern cars have such engineering excellence in their designs, and if we come across someone (in a pub) poking a bit of fun at our 30 to 40 year old cars, they could be pleasantly surprised when the details of this Motor article is explained to them.

Thanks to marcus for recovering this article and posting it.

Dave the cog

Marcus
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Marcus »

Over the years I have collected (thank you eBay) a lot of articles on our cars, and I would love to share them on the Forum.

I am more than happy to scan them and publish them on the Forum - however, does anybody know if there is a copyright or similar issue (better to find out in advance) with publishing material which is years old and I actually own the magazines that I am copying.

I could then scan an article and aim to put it on the Forum every 1 or 2 weeks

Most of the magazines are just a little bigger than my A4 scanner, so the edges get missed off, which is a great pity.

When I scan them, I am using JPG images to put them on the Forum, I also scan them as a PDF @ 300 dpi. I am more than happy to forward these as an email attachment to anybody that would like a copy.

I am planning on attending the NEC Classic Car Restoration Show in March - on the assumption that we will have a stand there, perhaps a discussion on this matter?

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Lotus-e-Clan
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Lotus-e-Clan »

The substance of the article can be found reproduced in the book "Lotus elite & eclat 1974 -1981" published by Brooklands Books. ISBN 0 907 073 417

The book is entirely a compilation of magazine write-ups (UK and USA).
Worth having for all Elite owners.

It used to be listed by Club Lotus available to buy, but haven't looked recently to see if it's still listed. I bought my copy as soon as it was published around 1982 when I had the Elite 501 as a daily. - it's well thumbed too - a great resource.
Peter K

richardw
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by richardw »

Marcus wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 18:53
Over the years I have collected (thank you eBay) a lot of articles on our cars, and I would love to share them on the Forum.

I am more than happy to scan them and publish them on the Forum - however, does anybody know if there is a copyright or similar issue (better to find out in advance) with publishing material which is years old and I actually own the magazines that I am copying.

I could then scan an article and aim to put it on the Forum every 1 or 2 weeks

Most of the magazines are just a little bigger than my A4 scanner, so the edges get missed off, which is a great pity.

When I scan them, I am using JPG images to put them on the Forum, I also scan them as a PDF @ 300 dpi. I am more than happy to forward these as an email attachment to anybody that would like a copy.

I am planning on attending the NEC Classic Car Restoration Show in March - on the assumption that we will have a stand there, perhaps a discussion on this matter?
Hi Marcus,

My printer/scanner accepts pages the size you are scanning; in fact I think I have the Motor magazine itself. I have just had confirmation of our stand at the Restoration show (stand details to follow later this week). If you like, you could bring any oversize pages to the show and I could take them home, scan them and return them to you, and email you the scans which you could then post.

I did look into copyright issues a while ago. Although I didn’t get formal legal advice, as long as we are only publishing articles from a book/magazine etc and not the complete publication, it looks as though we are ok.

Cheers, Richard
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Tanz
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Tanz »

Lotus-e-Clan wrote:
Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:10
The substance of the article can be found reproduced in the book "Lotus elite & eclat 1974 -1981" published by Brooklands Books. ISBN 0 907 073 417

The book is entirely a compilation of magazine write-ups (UK and USA).
Worth having for all Elite owners.

It used to be listed by Club Lotus available to buy, but haven't looked recently to see if it's still listed. I bought my copy as soon as it was published around 1982 when I had the Elite 501 as a daily. - it's well thumbed too - a great resource.
Still there on page 2 https://www.clublotus.co.uk/books?p=2
Cheers, Phil
Never take life seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway!

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Lotus-e-Clan
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Lotus-e-Clan »

Hi Phil

Mine has a different cover, that's why I didn't spot it recently!

Otherwise, it must have the same content?

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Pete Boole
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Pete Boole »

Mine's exactly like yours Peter. Probably had it 20 years.

Pete

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Lotus-e-Clan
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Lotus-e-Clan »

Pete Boole wrote:
Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:37
Mine's exactly like yours Peter. Probably had it 20 years.

Pete
Yes it's great shot of a late Eclat too - almost Esprit-like from that angle. :)
Peter K

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DavidOliver
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by DavidOliver »

There is a later version of the Brooklands Publication titled Lotus and Eclat 1974-1982, there are 7 articles from Motor by Tony Curtis of the 29 articles in total. it seems the titles of each article vary between Brooklands publications.
I had forgatten I had the Marcos article. I do not remember when nor how I got my Brooklands edition.
The format of the Brooklands publications is very similar to the Road and Track publications, I wonder which is the opy.

Dave the cog.

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Alan_M
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Alan_M »

Marcus wrote:
Sat Jan 15, 2022 23:01
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All the images have gone :shock:

Pete Boole
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by Pete Boole »

They have for me too!

Pete

richardw
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Re: Lotus Elite launched to the world - Motor magazine 18 May 1974

Post by richardw »

Maybe Marcus’ cloud picture storage has expired - I can see the links are still there so not a problem on this board.

Cheers, Richard
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