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While Colin Chapman was happy that he had achieved highlyacceptable standards of accessibility and accommodation with thefinished bodyshell, he was disturbed to find so few proprietary enginescapable of endowing the finished car with the road-racing performancehe also required. Eventually he was able to prevail upon Leonard Lee,head of the Coventry Climax engine company, to enlarge the basic4-cylinder single overhead-camshaft FWA engine by combining theblock and cylinder bore of the FWB with the shorter-stroke of theFWA to displace 1216cc, thus placing the finished car within the up to1300cc category of International competition.Power output of this Coventry Climax ‘FWE’ – for ‘Elite’ – engine was amodest 75bhp, but in the sleek and lightweight glassfibre monocoquecar it was capable of prodigious race-winning performances withinits category.The original intention had been to enter a standard LotusElite in the 1957 Le Mans 24-Hour race, but in fact the first runningprototype was not available until the Geneva Salon of March, 1958.All glassfibre work to produce the original bodyshells was subcontractedby Lotus to external suppliers, the Bristol AeroplaneCompany eventually being commissioned to manufacture at the rateof 15-20 per week. Despite Colin Chapman’s reputation-coveringprotestations that he had only ever intended the new Elite to be aroad car, it was inevitable that Lotus aficionados would quickly beginto race them.Private owner Ian Walker won at Silverstone in the May meeting of 1958and when the youthful Jim Clark drove one against Colin Chapman inanother at Boxing Day Brands Hatch the engineer recognized latentpotential in the young Scottish sheep farmer...The 1959 Le Mans 24-Hour race saw Peter Lumsden/Peter Riley finisheighth overall and wining their class – with Jim Clark/Sir John Whitmore10th in another Elite - while in 1960 a pair of Elites co-driven by RogerMasson/Claude Laurent and John Wagstaff/Tony Marsh placed 1-2 inthe 1300cc category and 1-2 in the lucrative Index of Thermal Efficiencycompetition. In fact Lotus Elites won their class at Le Mans for thefollowing four years.A Series 2 model was developed with revised rear suspension mountingand improved suspension geometry and at the 1960 London MotorShow an Elite Special Equipment variant was launched with enhancedengine breathing, and some 83bhp. Continuing engine development ofthe Climax FWE finally saw it offering as much as 105bhp in showroomorder. Better headlamps, a heavy-duty battery – even a heater asstandard (!) – were also introduced as the ever-beautiful Lotus Elite ranon through its production life into 1963, when it was finally replaced bythe more economical-to-produce separate-chassis Lotus Elan.Today the revolutionary Lotus Elite is rightly revered as an innovativelandmark design in the finest Lotus tradition, immensely desirable, andan asset to the collection of any true Grand Touring car connoisseur. Inthe case of this unique 2-litre twin-cam engined LX, here indeed is a carwhich far transcends the ‘ordinary’ bounds of enthusiasm for the Lotusmarque alone...Should the vehicle remain in the EU, local import taxes of 5% will beapplied to the hammer price.£80,000 - 120,000€99,000 - 150,0005Motor Cars | 75