Lotus Elite

The first Elite or Lotus Type 14 was an ultra-light two-seater coupé, produced from 1957 to 1961.

Making its deubut at the 1956 London Motor Show, the 14 spent a year in development, aided by "carefully selected racing customers", before going on sale.

The Elite's most distinctive feature was its highly innovative fiberglass monocoque construction, in which a stressed-skin unibody replaced the previously separate chassis and body components. Unlike the contemporaneous Chevrolet Corvette, which used fiberglass for only exterior bodywork, the Elite also used this glass-reinforced plastic material for the entire load-bearing structure of the car, though the front of the monocoque incorporated a steel subframe supporting the engine and front suspension, and there was a hoop at the windscreen for mounting door hinges and jacking the car up. This body construction caused numerous early problems, until manufacture was handed over to Bristol Aeroplane Company.

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 all-aluminium I4 engine. Climax-powered Elites won their class six times at the 24 hour Le Mans race as well as two Index of Thermal Efficiency wins. The Elite was the first Lotus produced car to race in Australia and the original car to be raced in Australia is currently in boxes under re-furbishment.

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 remarkable considering the engineers did not enjoy the benefits of computer-aided design and wind tunnel testing. The original Elite drawings were by Peter Kirwan-Taylor. Frank Costin (brother of Mike, one of the co-founders of Cosworth), at that time Chief Aerodynamic Engineer for the de Havilland Aircraft Company, contributed to the final design.

Like her siblings, the 14 was run in numerous formulae, with particular success at Le Mans and the Nürburgring, and high (or higher) performance variants were produced, featuring ZF gearboxes in place of the "cheap and nasty MG" standard ones, as well as a Super 95 spec, with more horsepower.

Among its few faults was a resonant vibration at 4000 rpm (where few drivers remained, on either street or track)) and poor quality control, handicapped by overly low price (thus losing money on every copy) and, "[p]erhaps the greatest mistake of all", offering it as a kit, exactly the opposite of the ideal for a quality manufacturer.

When production ended in 1961, 998 had been built.