January
1967
LOTUS
EUROPA
A new Lotus mid-engined 1½ - litre
GT coupe has been announced in two forms, though with nearly identical 2-seater
glass-fibre bodywork. The P5 Europa road-going car, powered by an 82 b.h.p.
Renault 16 engine and driving through a Renault gearbox, is built with
left-hand drive and reserved for the French market for at least a year. The
Lotus 47 G.T. competition car, due to make its debut at Brands Hatch on Boxing
Day, is powered by a 160 b.h.p. fuel injected Lotus-Ford engine with dry sump
and drives through the Hewland 5-speed FT200 gearbox.
With
a purchase price of £2,600 in kit form (complete with engine) the Lotus 47 is
an expensive successor to the Seven as a clubman's competition machine, though
it cannot be used on the road-you would have to buy a Europa as well as to have
the same versatility! Like the Elan, both versions of the new model have one
piece unstressed bodywork dropped onto a steel backbone chassis. The seats are
fixed, as all the controls are adjustable for distance, and due to the side
curvature the side windows cannot be lowered ventilation is by means of facia
inlets, an outlet being located above the four-inch deep rear window. Whereas
the Europa has long fabricated radius arms locating the rear suspension, the 47
GT has fully adjustable layout similar to that of the 41 Formula 3 car with
short radius arms and top links attached to the backbone; fixed length
driveshafts with two .universal joints are common to both cars. The competition
car has similar styling but the body is about 50 lb. lighter (all-up weight is
approximately 11 cwt. at the kerb), partly due to colour impregnation saving
the weight of paint.
Seven
gallon fuel tanks are placed on the bulkheads on either side of the engine,
though the gallonage can be increased for long-distance Group 4 races for which
the car will be eligible by mid-summer; an initial production of 50 is
scheduled by the Spring. Both cars are mounted on 13 in. wheels, those on the
47 being mag-alloy with 7 in. section at the front, 10 in. section at the rear.
Powering the 47 is the Mark 13C Cosworth steel-crank engine with fuel
injection, developing 160 b.h.p. with standard valvegear. The engine has an
immediate potential of 180-185 b.h.p.
Unusual
in appearance, with rear side-panels mounted as fins, the Lotus 47 will
encounter stiff opposition from marques Chevron
and Ginetta on the club scene, from Porsche and Alfa Romeo in Group 4
internationals. We were not able to drive the prototype Europa when we visited
the spacious new Lotus factory in Norfolk as teething troubles were being
attended to, but at a price of NF 19,000 in France (about £1,300) it will be
challenging the Matra road cars. - M. L. C.