THIS MONTH, October 2007, is a very special month for a very special motorcar that is celebrating its 50th birthday. It is Colin Chapman’s glorious Lotus Seven and it’s still going strong, though it no longer sports the famous Lotus badge. It’s made by Caterham cars today but there is no mistaking its Lotus heritage.

The first Lotus Seven prototype (chassis no 400) commenced manufacture at Seven Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, London NW8 on July 31,1957, and was purchased by Edward Lewis, proprietor of “Westover Shoes,” who raced it at the Brighton Speed Trials of 1957 and had the following specification: Coventry Climax FWA 1100cc engine, close ratio Austin A30 gearbox, de Dion rear suspension with a 4.5:1 final drive ratio, wishbone front suspension, four-branch exhaust manifold, Dunlop racing tyres and spare wheel.

The legendary Lotus 7.

The Seven was available to the general public soon after and was debuted at the Earls Court motor show in October of the same year. It was available in a do it yourself kit form that made it exempt from purchase tax – most Seven’s were sold this way. They didn’t come with assembly instructions either, as this would have nullified their tax exempt status.A crafty move by Colin Chapman and his lateral thinking solved this problem: he included disassembly instructions, as there was no rule covering this, so all the enthusiast had to do was follow these instructions in reverse. The government never caught on.

 From 1957 to 1973, Lotus produced Series One through Series Four. The Series One was an all-aluminium body of which 243 were made. According to the Lotus Heritage Register there are 121 known survivors – 38 in the UK and the remainder scattered around the globe. One known survivor is chassis no 438, which the late great Graham Hill drove to success at the 1959 Boxing Day Race at Brands Hatch. Series Two through Four were aluminium bodied with fibre glass noses and wings, and there were 2314 copies. 665 are known to have survived to this day, the Series Two being the most abundant. Impressive survival figures considering that the Lotus Seven is a road legal racecar and most of them have probably spent time on the racetrack. There are many variations of the Seven as they were all custom built – there are probably no two alike. Engine-wise particularly as there were 15 different engines used on the Lotus cars – Fords mostly.

On the race circuit the Lotus Seven started its own class that is still going to this day. The Seven is the ordinary man’s racecar and you can drive it home after the race. It’s a fun little racer, and hair-raising too as your bum is but a few inches from the ground. You can easily reach out and touch the asphalt with your hand as the car sits so low. Speedwise, it feels twice as fast as the actual speed.

As I said before, the Lotus car production ran until 1974. It was, however, slated for retirement in 1966 after Lotus moved to a new factory.  Graham Nearn of Caterham Cars effectively saved the Lotus Seven from oblivion by ordering a substantial quantity of cars, just when new factory car orders had dwindled. In 1967, Caterham Cars became the exclusive distributors for the Seven. Nearn propsed updating the Seven and received the personal approval of Colin Chapman to go ahead and do so. In 1968 a new Series Three Lotus Seven began production with an 85hp Ford Cortina engine and suspension units. In 1969, the Lotus Seven-SS was introduced with a Lotus twin-cam 1600cc, 115hp engine and a stronger chassis.

In 1973, the production rights of the Series Four Lotus Seven were sold to Caterham Cars, who have been responsible for the technical evolution of their version of the Seven over the past 34 years.

Today, Caterham cars are still going strong and are producing about 900 cars a year, with five models to choose from in the UK. Caterham opted to continue with the Series Three car that has been retained as the “Classic” model (Caterham Cars was instrumental in its original design). An improved model, the Roadsport, weighing around 1200lbs, with a stronger chassis and a de Dion rear suspension, as well as a five-speed transmission with four-wheel disc brakes, has been introduced. This model, with the 1600cc, 150hp Ford Sigma engine, will accelerate to 60mph in 5.0 seconds and has a top speed of about 122mph. It’s a little bigger than the Classic, both in width and length, making it suitable for drivers over 6’2". It comes fully equipped with a full windscreen, weather equipment and a heater. For the more courageous driver a Superlight model weighing around 1100lbs is also available, ostensibly for racing. With its six-speed transmission, acceleration times are quite impressive: 0-60 mph in less than four seconds for some versions of the Superlight. Engines ranging from 100hp to 250hp can be ordered with the appropriate model of the car, although enterprising owners have outfitted Lotus or Caterham Sevens with such outragia as V-8s, Mazda turbo three-chamber rotary engines, and different Cosworth power plants creating veritable missiles!

The CSR is top of the line, and unlike the other models does not come in kit form. It comes with either a 200bhp or 260bhp Cosworth Duratek engine and a superlight configuration if desired. Top speed on this baby is 155 mph and you can reach 60mph, if you’ve got the nerve, in a blistering 3.1 seconds. “Drive the CSR to a racetrack, slap on a helmet and remind yourself what its like to be alive,” a Sunday Times correspondent wrote after a few laps on the race track.

The fifth model is the Academy, which is essentially a Supersport with a roll cage attached. The package in the UK includes the following: A technical seminar with hints and tips on building the car from the kit (50-70 hours is about the time needed to assemble the car), a setup seminar to set the car up for racing once you have built it, an ARDS test to get your racing license, race registration and entry fees, a race clinic day at the track, four championship speed events and three championship circuit events. Unfortunately, this package is not available Stateside but the cars are.

The Lotus and Caterham Seven has provided unrivalled opportunities in motor sport, and has achieved it for more for a half century. Here’s wishing this great little race car many happy returns.

Happy Motoring

Happy Motoring.

You can contact Phil through Leo Lewis at leolewis12@yahoo.com
or PO Box 5691, Oxnard, CA 93031.