The back catalogue of the automotive industry is filled with examples of crosspollination. These products of tie-ins and collaborations between manufacturers, drivers and racing teams are sometimes successful, but more often not. Who could forget - or should that be remember? the lukewarm Healey Fiesta, Vauxhall Viva Brabham or, in later years, Fiat's decidedly lame Cinquecento Schumacher? Sometimes, however, the stars come into alignment, such as in 1967, when one of the world's best-handling sports cars was breathed on by one of Britain's greatest motorsport institutions. And what better moment to jump behind the wheel of a hugely rare Lotus Elan BRM than the 60th anniversaries of both Colin Chapman's seminal model and British Racing Motors' first and only F1 World Constructors' Championship?
Few cars need less of an introduction than Chapman's roadgoing masterpiece, the Lotus Elan. Better in every regard than the Type 14 Elite that it replaced, this glass fibre-bodied sports car with its separate backbone chassis is rightly regarded as the best of its breed of any generation. Its technical brilliance is only brought into sharper relief when you consider that it was launched in the same year as the rudimentary MGB and Triumph Spitfire, whose cart springs and heavy overhead-valve engines were hangovers from an earlier time. The Elan was - and is – simply in a different league.
Bu hikaye Classic & Sports Car dergisinin March 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Classic & Sports Car dergisinin March 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring