The
Lotus-Cortina was a high-performance
car, the result of collaboration between
Ford and
Lotus.
Mk1
The start of the Lotus Cortina story begins around 1961, when the
best of
Ford and
Lotus got together.
Colin Chapman had been looking to build his
own engines for Lotus for quite some time (mainly because the
Coventry Climax unit was so
expensive). Colin Chapman's chance came when he commissioned
Harry Mundy (close friend, designer of
the Coventry Climax engine and technical editor for The Autocar) to
design a twin-cam version of the Ford Kent engine. Most of the
development of the engine was done on the 997 cc and 1,340 cc
bottom end, but in 1962 Ford released the 116E five bearing 1,499
cc engine and work centered on this. It is worth noting at this
point what an important part
Keith
Duckworth, from
Cosworth had to play in
tuning of the engine.
The engine's 1st appearance was in 1962 at
the Nürburgring
in a Lotus 23 driven by the legend, Jim Clark. Almost as soon as the engine was
used in production cars (
Lotus Elan) it
was recalled and replaced with a larger capacity unit
(82.55 mm bore to give 1,558 cc). This was done to get the car
closer to the 1.6 litre capacity class in motorsport.
Whilst the engine was being developed
Walter Hayes (Ford) was on a major motorsport
drive and asked Colin Chapman if he would fit the engine to 1,000
Ford saloons for Group 2 homologation.
Colin Chapman quickly
accepted, although it must have been very busy in the Cheshunt
plant what
with the Elan about to be launched. The speed at which
things started moving is incredible by today's standards the Type
28 or Lotus-Cortina or Cortina-Lotus (as Ford liked to call it) was
born. Ford supplied the 2-door Cortina bodyshells and took care of
all the marketing and selling of the cars, whilst Lotus did all the
mechanical and cosmetic changes. The major changes involved
installing the 1,558 cc ( ) motor, together with the same close
ratio gearbox as the Elan. The rear suspension was drastically
altered and lightweight alloy panels were used for doors, bonnet
and boot. Also lightweight casing were fitted to gearbox and
differential. All the Lotus factory cars were white with a green
stripe (although Ford built some for racing in red, and one
customer had a dark blue stripe due to being superstitious about
green). The cars also received front quarter bumpers and round
Lotus badges were fitted to rear wings and to the right side of the
radiator panel (from the drivers position).
Interior mods were limited to a center console designed for the new
gear lever position, different seats and the later style dash
featuring tachometer, speedo, oil pressure, water temp and fuel
level. Rather special though was the good looking wood-rimmed
steering wheel.
The suspension changes to the car were quite extensive; the car
received shorter struts up front, forged track control arms and
5.5J by 13 steel wheel rims. The rear was even more radical with
vertical coil spring/dampers replacing the leaf springs and two
trailing arms with a A- bracket (which connected to the diff
housing and brackets near the trailing arm pivots) sorting out axle
location. To support this set up further braces were put behind the
rear seat and from the rearwheelarch down to chassis in the
boot.
The stiffening braces meant the spare wheel had to be moved from
the standard cortina's wheel well and was bolted to the left side
of the boot floor. The battery was also put in the boot behind the
right wheelarch, both of these changes made big improvements to
overall weight distribution. Another improvement the Lotus Cortina
gained was the new braking system ( front discs) which was built by
brake specialist
Girling, this system also
was fitted to Cortina GT's but without a servo which was fitted in
the Lotus Cortina engine bay. Firstly the engine's were built by J.
A
Prestwich of Tottenham and then Villiers of Wolverhampton this was
done until 1966 when Lotus moved to Hethel
in Norwich
where they had their own engine building facilities The Lotus
Cortina used a diaphragm-spring clutch whereas Ford fitted
coil-spring clutches to the rest of the range. The rest of
the gearbox was identical to the Lotus Elan. This led to a few
problems because the ultra-close gear ratios were perfect for the
race track or open road, but the clutch was given a hard time in
traffic, so the ratios were later changed. The early cars were very
popular and earned some rave reviews; one magazine described the
car as a tin-top version of a
Lotus 7. It
was THE car for many enthusiasts who before had to settle for a
Cortina GT or a
Mini-Cooper and it also
amazed a lot of the public who were used to overweight 'sports
cars' like the
Austin-Healey
3000. The launch was not perfect however, the car was too
specialist for some Ford dealerships who did not understand the
car; there are a few stories of incorrect parts being fitted at
services. There were a few teething problems reported by the first
batch of owners, (most of these problems show how quickly the car
was developed) some of the engines were down on power, the gear
ratios were too close and the worst problem was the diff housing
coming away from the casing. This problem was mainly caused by the
high loads put on the axle because of the A bracket it was an
integral part of the rear suspension. This was made even worse by
the fact any oil lost from the axle worked its way on to the bushes
of the A bracket. There were 4 main updates made to the Mk1 Lotus
during its production to solve some of these problems. The first
change was a swap to a two-piece prop shaft and the lighter alloy
transmission casing were changed for standard Ford items; this also
included swapping the ultra close ratio gears for Cortina GT gear
ratios, the main difference was 1st, 2nd and reverse were much
higher ratios. It was also around this time in 1964 that standard
panels were used rather than the light alloy ones. You could
however specify all the alloy items and ultra-close ratios when
buying new, and many people went for these options. The 2nd main
change came in late 1964 when the entire Cortina range had a
facelift which included a full width front grille and aeroflow
outlets in the rear quarters because the Lotus Cortinas also gained
Ford's new ventilation system which also included an update to the
interior. The third and probably most important change came mid
1965 when the Lotus rear suspension was changed for the leaf
springs and radius arms of the Cortina GT. This replaced all the
stiffening tubing as well. The last update also came in 1965 when
the rear drums were swapped for self adjusting items and also the
famous 2000E gearbox ratios were used. These lowered 1st and
reverse about halfway between the Cortina GT ratios and the ultra
close ratio box. All these changes made the cars less specialized
but far more reliable and all the special parts were still
available for competition as well as to members of the public. The
Lotus Cortina had by this time earned an awesome competition
reputation. It was also being made in left hand drive when
production finished around late 1966 and the Mk2 took over.
Mk2
Ford wanted to change a few things for the Mk2, the Mk1 had done
all and more than they could expect in competition, but the public
linked its competition wins with Lotus and its bad points with
Ford. Ford still wanted to build a mk2 Lotus and compete with it,
but Lotus were moving from Cheshunt to Hethel so it was a bad time
for them to build another model. Ford were also concerned with the
unreliability of the Lotus built cars. So a decision was made at
Ford that to continue with its competition drive and make the car
more cost effective they would make the car at Dagenham themselves,
alongside the other Cortinas. So the Mk2 had to be much easier to
build than the Mk1 so it could be done alongside Mk2 GT production,
just with a different engine and suspension. The Mk2 took a while
to appear, 1st appearing in 1967. The main difference being the
choice of colours and the lack of a stripe, although most had them
fitted at Ford dealers at extra cost. The only cosmetic changes
made was a black front grille, 5.5J x 13 steel wheels and lotus
badges on rear wings and by the rear number plate. The badge on the
front grille was an option at first. Unlike the Mk1 the Mk2 was
made in left hand drive from the start of production. The Mk2 Lotus
Cortinas also gained an improved and more powerful ( ) engine,
which used to be supplied as the special equipment engine optional
on Lotus Elan and the Lotus Cortina Mk1. The gearbox ratios
remained 2000E ones but the car now used the Mk2 GT remote-control
gearchange. The car also had a different final drive of 3.77:1
rather than 3.9:1. The Mk2 was a wider car than the Mk1 so although
they look the same the steel wheels had a different offset so as
not to upset the tracking, radial tyres were now standard. Another
attraction was the larger fuel tank used in the Mk2. The spare
wheel could now be mounted in its wheel well, but the battery
remained in the boot to aid weight distribution.
The only real difference to the engine bay was the air cleaner
mounted on top of the engine. The interior was almost identical to
a GT. The Mk2 did exactly what Ford wanted, it was far more
reliable whilst still quick enough to be used in competition, until
it handed over to the twin cam escorts. The car did have a few
updates but none as urgent as the Mk1's. Only a few months after
production started the lotus badge on the rear panel was canceled
and a new TWIN-CAM badge was fitted under the Cortina script on the
boot lid. The new combined clock and center console was fitted. In
late 1968 the entire Mk2 range had some cosmetic changes, for the
Lotus this meant that the 4 dials on top of the dash were brought
down and made part of the dash. An internal bonnet release and a
more conventional mounting for the handbrake were also phased in. A
new single-rail gearshift mechanism was used. The car stayed in
production until 1970.
Racing
To homologate the car for Group 2, 1000 were required to be built
in 1963, and the car was duly homologated in September 1963. In the
same month, in the car's first outing, in the Oulton Park Gold Cup,
the car finished 3rd and 4th behind two
Ford Galaxies, but beat the 3.8 litre
Jaguars which had been dominant in saloon car
racing for so long. Soon Ford were running cars in Britain, Europe,
and the USA, with Team Lotus running cars in Britain for Ford, and
Alan Mann Racing running cars in
Europe, also on behalf of Ford. Lotus-Cortinas turned out to be
able to beat most anything except the 7 litre V8 Ford Galaxies, and
later in the piece,
Ford
Mustangs.
In 1964 a Lotus-Cortina leading around a bend with its inside front
wheel in fresh air became a familiar sight, as the cars were set up
with soft rear suspension and a hard front end.
Jim Clark won the
British Saloon Car
Championship easily, in the USA Jackie Stewart and Mike
Beckwith won the Malboro 12-hour, and Alan Mann Racing also performed well in the
European Touring Car
Championship, including a 1-2 victory in the 'Motor' Six Hour
International Touring Car Race at Brands Hatch
. A Boreham-built car also won its class,
came 4th outright, and won the handicap section, in the 4000 mile
10-day Tour de France. Other Lotus-Cortina achievements included
the Austrian Saloon Car Championship, the South African National
Saloon Championship, the Swedish Ice Championship, and the Wills
Six-Hour in New Zealand.
1965 saw the Lotus-Cortina winning everything in sight, the car
being more competitive due to the increased reliability of the new
leaf spring rear end.
Sir John
Whitmore dominated and won the European Touring Car
Championship, Jack Sears won his class in the British Saloon Car
Championship (a Mustang won outright), Jackie Ickx won the Belgian
Saloon Car Championship, and a Lotus-Cortina won the New Zealand
Gold Star Saloon Car Championship. Other wins were the
Nürburgring Six-Hour race, the
Swedish National Track Championship, and the Snetterton 500.
In 1966 Team Lotus registered new cars for the new series of the
British Saloon Car Championship, which ran up to Group 5, as
regulations had been changed. Fuel-injection and dry sumping were
allowed, and with Lucas injection and tuning by
BRM, the engines could put out at 7750 rpm, increasing
their ability to stay with the Mustangs. The cars also had the
McPherson struts replaced with coil-springs and shockers and a
revised wishbone geometry. 8 class wins were racked up, many at the
hands of Jim Clark. In the European Touring Car Championship, Sir
John Whitmore pulled off another 4 wins, but that wasn't enough to
give him the title, as
Alfa Romeo had
been doing their homework with the
Giulia
GTA.
Lotus Cortina MK 1's are a consistent class winner in modern
Historic Touring Car racing throughout the world. The fastest
official recorded speed is 147 mph at Mount Panorama Bathurst in
Australia by Marc Ducquet.
Rallying
These days, the Lotus-Cortina is somewhat overshadowed by the
success of the
Ford Escort in rallying,
but it performed admirably in the mid 60's, which might be a bit
surprising given its reputation for unreliability. The first
Lotus-Cortina to be rallied was a half-baked Lotus-Cortina, a GT
with the Lotus engine, in the 1963 Spa-Sofia-Liege rally in
September, just to try out the engine, and driven by Henry Taylor
to 4th place. The first outing in a rally by a Lotus-Cortina proper
was in the 1963 RAC rally, campaigned again by Taylor, with
co-driver Brian Melia. It finished 6th somehow, in spite of its
A-bracket rear end needing constant attention. The A-bracket was
persevered with by
Vic Elford and
David Seigle-Morris for the 1964
Tour de France, a 10 day, event, as it was run completely on sealed
roads, unlike the rough
RAC Rally. Their
car came 4th outright in the Touring Car category, and first in the
Handicap category, in a mix of one-hour sprints,
hillclimbs, and mountain road rallying.Still,
the general dodginess of the A-bracket suspension meant that Ford
decided to replace it with the more conventional GT rear
suspension. This became available in June 1965, and while the car
still seemed to be afflicted with bad luck, a few victories were
racked up. Four of the newly updated cars competed in the Alpine
rally of July 1965, and Vic Elford's car led outright, all the way.
Well, until less than an hour from finishing, when a piece of the
distributor fell out and delayed the car 26 minutes. All four cars
retired from that year's RAC rally, which was severely
snow-affected. The first works victory came in December 1965, when
Roger Clark and Graham Robson won the
Welsh International.
Ford's bean counters pulled a few more tricks for 1966, managing to
homologate the car for Group 1, which requires 5000 cars to be
built. In the Monte Carlo rally Roger Clark finished 4th only to be
disqualified, and then Elford finished 1st in San Remo (Rally of
the Flowers), only to be disqualified as well. Elford came 2nd in
Tulip. Some luck went the other way when Bengt Soderstrom was named
victor of the Acropolis rally, after the 1st-placed Mini Cooper S
was disqualified. New cars were used for the French Alpine, where
Elford's engine blew up after leading, while Roger Clark finished
second. Clark was always competitive, but suffered with unreliable
cars, coming 3rd in the Canadian Shell 4000, 2nd in Greece, and 4th
in Poland. The Lotus-Cortina finally proved itself with an outright
win in the RAC rally. F1 World Champion Jim Clark crashed his
(twice), but Soderstrom saw his through to a 13 minute victory,
with Gunnar Palm. Other victories in 1966 were in the Geneva rally
by Staepelaere, and by Canadian Paul MacLellan in the Shell 4000. A
final win before the advent of the Mk. II was also pulled off by
Soderstrom in the snowy Swedish rally of February 1967.
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