Riviera MotorSports is proud to present the 1962 fully restored Lotus Official Elan 26R Rally Car. The image posted in the advert is for representation purpose only. Images, supporting documents and race history will be provided upon serious request.
The essential 1960s British sports car, the tiny Lotus Elan, remains a benchmark for handling. With its pop-up headlights, curved windshield, and roll-up windows, it was a symbol of Swinging London, immortalized in The Avengers television series. The Elan was built with a backbone frame and a fiberglass body, and had four-wheel independent suspension. Its Ford 1600-cc four-cylinder engine developed 105 hp and featured Lotus’s own twin-cam head, like the Lotus Cortina. Weighing only 1,420 pounds, early cars could do 0-60 mph in 7.1 seconds, with the quarter-mile in 15.7 seconds at 87 mph.

For Lotus the year 1962 was arguably the most important in the company's history. In short succession they launched the revolutionary monocoque 25 Grand Prix car and the equally ground-breaking 26 'Elan' road car. The former helped the British company to win its first Formula 1 championships while the Elan firmly established Lotus as a serious manufacturer of road cars. Additionally the specialist company introduced the 23 sports racer and a number of single seater machines. So company founder Colin Chapman could be excused for not building a competition version of the Elan. This however did not stop his customers from taking their road going Elans to the track.
During the 1964 season the Elan 26R was fully homologated. The completed racing car weighed in at around 600 kg while the 1558 cc could produce anywhere between 160 and 175 bhp depending on the state of tune. Its closest rival was the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ that also sported a potent 1.6 litre engine in a lightweight but slightly heavier package. In true David and Goliath fashion the racing Elan was also more than capable of taking much larger engined machines. This resulted in fascinating battles, which saw the Ferraris, Jaguars and Aston Martins rush away on the straights with the Elan hunting them down again on braking and through the corners. The most successful 26R driver was future Lotus F1 driver John Miles. In 1966 he used a Willment prepared example to win the Autosport Championship with 15 race wins.
Today the 26R is still very popular with historic racers who still regularly display the Elan's giant-killing skills.

For questions, images, supporting documents and race history please contact Marvin at 351 925 406 454.
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