Lotus Cortina Mk1 ETCC Alan Mann Racing 1965

[JR98]

The history of the Cortina began in 1961, when Colin Chapman wished to build his own engines for Lotus, mainly because the Coventry Climax engines were so expensive. His chance came when he commissions Harry Mundy (Engine designer & AutoCar editor) to build a twin cam version of the Ford Kent engine.

The engine's first appearance was at the Nurburgring in a Lotus 23 driven by Jim Clark. As soon as it appeared in a production car (Lotus Elan) it was replaced with a larger 1.6L unit, in order to get closer to the 1.6 class.

During development Walter Hayes asked Chapman if he could fit the engine into 1,000 Ford saloons for Group 2 Homologation. Chapman quickly accepted and the engines were put into the Ford Cortina, resulting in the Lotus Cortina. Ford supplied the Cortina bodyshells and took care of marketing and selling while Lotus did mechanical and cosmetic changes to the car.

Major changes to the Cortina included installing the 1.6 110HP engine, a close ratio gearbox from the Elan, new suspension and lightweight panels for the doors, bonnet and boot. All the Lotus factory cars were painted 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 grille.

Interior modifications were limited to a centre console designed to accommodate the new gear lever position, different seats and the later style dashboard. A wood-rimmed steering wheel was fitted as standard.

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 differential 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 rear wheelarch down to chassis in the boot.

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 Cortina Lotus also gained Ford's new ventilation system which also included an update to the interior. The third and probably most important change came in 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 specialised but far more reliable and all the special parts were still available for competition as well as to members of the public.

Alan Mann Racing entered a Lotus Cortina in the European Touring Car Championship in 1964 and 1965 with great success, winning the Division 2 class in 1965. The car currently races in historic racing events across Europe.

Specifications:
Body Style: 2 Door Coupe
Length: 4267 mm
Width: 1664 mm
Height: 1397 mm
Wheelbase: 2490 mm
Engine: Lotus 1.6 Straight 4
Aspiration: Naturally Aspirated
Drivetrain: Front Engine Rear Wheel Drive
Power: 110 BHP
Torque: 110 FT-LBS
Weight: 905 KG
Transmission: 5 Speed Manual