Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

https://grrc.goodwood.com/road/news/qa- ... hadnt-come

The whole thread is of interest but get this:

"Road cars you admire?

The purest new sports car for me is the Ferrari 458. And the best is the Porsche Cayman S. Among old cars, the (original) Lotus Elan is the ultimate, better than the F1. We tried to get its delicious steering feel in the F1 but we just missed it."

There is another programme that features him. It shows you his Elan and he uses it regularly. Im sure he made a comment about it being his daily drive
I could be wrong

Great quote. I think I'll spend more $$$ restoring my S1.

"Two Lotus elans". I wonder which ones? Which one was he driving in the show?


Greg Z

IIRC, one of his cars is a red S3 FHC.

Happy to be corrected if wrong .

Gordon Murray'isms:

In MotorSport, Gordon Murray was asked "It's your last drive. One car, one road. What and Where?" His reply "Lotus Elan, Scottish Highlands."

John Simister visited Gordon Murray for a Lotus-flavoured magazine feature (Evo, see below). He has a 1968 Elan S3 fhc in red as one of his many toys.

Gordon Murray published in Evo:

?For me as a driver there is nothing more satisfying than driving a well-balanced rear drive car with really good steering feel. I suppose my ultimate car for this experience is my 1968 Lotus Elan which has sublime steering and about 52% of its weight on the rear axle. The Elan's added bonus is that it sits on 155 wide tyres, opening up the possibility of safe 4-wheel drifts to all!"

And then in 2011 Jay Leno published this in The Sunday Times:

?I recently bought a Lotus Elan. I got it for two reasons. One, because Gordon Murray, the McLaren F1 and Rocket designer, always gushes about it, and it seemed to be the inspiration for his cars, so I wanted to find out what the fuss was all about. And two, because it was the inspiration for the Mazda MX-5. When you park the two side by side you see how much smaller the Lotus is, but you see the similarities as well.?

Tim

He looks like crap in that first picture!

His coupe was in Matty's last time I was there:



Apparantly he only likes the coupes as he thinks the soft top spoils the lines...

That looks remarkably like a S4 and not just the lamps.

Reviving a thread; I wonder if it would be possible to get an interview or article from Gordon Murray about keeping an Elan, two in his case, and what if any modifications he has made. All I could glean was stock tire size which he runs hard.

Old topic, new podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1505237625

Gordon came to UK to work for Chunky, but it didn't quite work out. Fab chat about Career, F2, Lotus, Elan's, Brabham etc.

Enjoy - I did.

If you're reasonably au fait with his early days, and just want to hear about his Lotus experiences then fast forward to 27.30.

Ralph.

I was fortunate enough to sit opposite Gordon on a train into Waterloo a few years back. Charming guy, didn't mind some idiot (me) asking him for his autograph. Took time to explain what he was up to and the projects he was working on. We even had some time talk about Lotus.

He gets 5 stars in my book.