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Not to be sold in the U.S., but when it comes -fro^ Colin Chapman it's worth knowlng about

BY TONY HOGG

//-.lotNctDENTAL wrrH rul irrtroduction of the new Lotus fronr its conception to the appearance of the finished product f Europa was an annouricernent to the effect that the car was a nlere 18 nronths. There are two reasons for this. The v positively will not be nrarketed in America. or even in first is that a snrall specialized company such as Lotus does England, for at least a year and that it is not a replacement not require a long development period. The second reason for the Elan. Inevitably, some examples may filter into Amer- was the necessity for the commencement of production to ica through privaie owners, but drastic ntodifications would coincide with the opening ol the new Lotus factory set in the be necessary to conrply with the safety regulations and the wilds ol . unifornr vehicle code before it could be licensed for use in Norfolk is an agricultural area 100 nriles northeast of the U.S. London and with the current labor shortage in England, Tlie object of the Europa, as its nanre implies, is to break Colin Chapnran undoubtedly went there in order to milk the through the barriers ol' the European Common Market, surrounding country ol its supply of local garage and farm comnrencing with France. France is a l'ertile but untilled nrachinery workers. In this way he has not only been able to nrarket and the first year's production. estimated obtain labor, but labor that has not been hardened b1' toit at 500 cars, will be shipped there. ln order to lessen the inr- in the autonrotive salt nrines of Coventry and Birmingham. port duty, Renault has cooperated by producing a specially At a tirne when Rootes is being swallowed whole by Chrlsler modified 78-bhp version ol the Renault l6 engine and trans- and Jaguar is slowly being ingested by BMC, it is a pleasure nrission which can be installed without any further modifica- to see a young, imaginative and enthusiastic compan) tl:at tion by Lotus. In conjunction with the Europa, a contpetition is expanding and thriving. versiol.r designated the Lotr.ls 47 will be run in suitable events The Europa is designed to give a performance sinrrlar lo and has in fact been run successfully at the Christnras rneet- the Elan, but at a price that is competitive r,"ith the \1CB. ing at Blands Hatch. To achieve this object without resources equiralent to lhose A surprising feature oi the Europa is that the time taken of the British Motor CorDoration has entailed a ccrrain

23 the mounts are designed to give as much freedom of morc_ Tv LOTT]S NUNOPA ment to the engine/transmission unit as possible, pro.,ll,:.it it is not lateral ntoventent. an At first'glance the system has rht, appearance of a swing axle layout, col but this is not the casc er all. lt is in fact quite similar to the layout used by Cf,".i.f., fro for the Corvette and later Corvairs, and it also U"u* *nl.' amount of compromise, simplification, and the use as resemblance dor of to the system by Jaguar. With rrr,, many production components as possib-le. However, people .favored mc it is still aboard there is considerable negative ut',h., an entirely original design, worthy of Colin Chapman, and rear, presumably to compensate for a rearward"u-b., bc: weight bias the it is another step forward toward the day when Lotus joins despite the fact that the car is very much mid_engined. uni the Big League of car manufacturers. The separate fiberglass body is rubber mounted and ir Re The basis of the Europa is a backbone frame similar to obviously has been the subject of serious wind tunnel tesrinr 8t that of the Elan. This frame, which is a box section and fab- in an attempt to lower drag to compensate io. tte finrii.jj ricated from l6-gauge sheet bc{ steel, is Y-shaped. The mid- power available. From the front the appearance is renrinis_ engine located the 60( is in fork and the front suspension is cent of the Elite and the whole body was designed arounrl mounted on a cross piece attached to the opposite end of the two standard Ford bumpers production Oofl to reduce cpsts. intr Y. The front suspension is by unequal length A-arms and Another cost saving feature is that the compound curved glass Gll ' the majority of the components come out of Triumph parts of the side windows is fixed, so that alternative arrangentcnrs 1 bins. The steering is by rack and pinion with an adjustable for ventilation have to be made. Air is taken into the ct.rrn_ diff telescopic steering column, which is another Triumph part partment in front which houses the spare wheel and .udiotur. tlSl somewhat modified. The suspension uses conventional coil and part of it passes through the radiator, which is mounrc(l 8p8 spring/shock absorber units. on the right side. The flow is assisted by a thermostaticallv The rear suspension is considerably more of( complicated and controlled fan and the air is exhausted into the right whce,l int is obviously a Colin Chapman product. The major com- arch. dyn ponents are very Iong box section radius arms pivoted at the An additional fan in the compartment is used ro pressunzc the Y frame almost at the division of the Y. The radius arns are a plenum chamber from which the air passes to cool air vcnrs attached at the other end !t( to a downward extension of the in the cockpit or through the heater. The air from the irr_ hub carriers at a point beneath the Polr level of the wheel rims. terior is exhausted through a vent above the rear winclon. lr Coil spring suspension units are attached at the same point The comfort of the seating position is worth the contor- c|ll| with their opposite ends secured to a detachable box section tions necessary to get in. The seats are steeply reclined antl passing Eun crossmember over the transmission. Long lower separated by the wide central frame member, as in thQ Elan. pod links are pivoted plate from a bolted to the back of the trans- The windshield also seems to be more horizontal than vcrri- corl mission case the and upper Iinks are the fixedJength drive- cal and it is swept by a single heavy-duty wiper. The scats Fon shafts which joints. each incorporate two universal are fixed and provision is made for adjustment of the pedals Hcn this rather All is tricky work because it means that the and steering column, but as both these operations requirc ;r llccl lateral loads pass to the engine/transmission unit and from wrench some inconvenience would be experienced by, say, a thc there to the frame through the flexible mountings. Therefore, husband and wife who were of considerablv different sizcs. |!lSl

The 1470-cc Renault 16 engine and gearbox as modified for use in . Twincam Lotus-Ford engine in Lotus 47. Two small luggage compartments are provided, one in front The front suspension d and another over the transmission . is. sim.ilar layout to the Europa at the rear of the engine but it has been made -in compartment. adustabre to. tii" i*.t car. In the rear, the long fabricated It The engine and transmission radius u.rns -norrnirhuu. feen discarded assembly was designed for the jn favor of a system that incorporui.. front-drive Renault l6 and it is reversed radius rods, for the Lotus. Un_ sing^le top links, and Iower A-aims. doubtedly this unit appealed to Chapman, rne nxeo-rength drive- because it is of shafts of rhe Europa have been o modern design with such features as alloy replaced bf sliafts wirh con_ construction, 5_ ventional U-joints outboard and rubber bearing crank and wedge-shaped combustion Ooulttnuts inboard. chambers. For The b.rakes are Cirling discs all around LS the Europa, Renault i;ri;; of tn. 1.oni7 modifies the engine and the conrplete rear disc/drum arrangement units are delivered with no further work of the Europa. ihe Oody is the required, by same except that, in normal competition lt Renault's l2-month warranty. The "ou"."i fashion, it seems to bore and stroke are j6 x have sprouted louvres and vents c for a capacity in odd praces and the interior 9l -T of 1470 cc and the peak power has trim is reduced to a minimum. d been increased from 58 bhp net at 5000 rp- to 7g bhp net at At the Christmas meeting Brands i- 6000 rpm. This has been accomplished at Hatch, one car led by increasing the from start to finish and the second 'rtalled d compression ratio to 10.25:1, *f,icn on the increasing the diameter of the line and was penalized one "u., ;. intake valves, altering minute for'a push start, worked the valve timing and using a 2_barrel its way up into second place. ;s carburetor with 26-mm With a power output of some venturis, 160 bhp from the jZ .s The all-indirect engine, the Lotus should be a transmission remains the same but the demon on the circuits, but t- differential is changed give wiih the FIA getting more and to a ratio of 3.56 instead of the more stuffy over homologation, standard 3.77. one wonderi when the neces_ On Dunlop Sp-41 tires of 155_13, the car is sary 50 d geared will be built. to give 17.95 mph per 1000 rpm and with a rev limit Arrangements of 6500, for marketing the Lotus 47 have not been the maximum speed is about l15 mph and the speeds announced and price in the gears g0 no has been set for the Europa. The are 33, 53, and mph. Because of good aero_ price France dynami"s in is not an accurate guide because it is the and light weight, the cai should be able to reach result of an.extremely E the involved calculation, which takes into maximum it is geared for but will probably not accelerate account various s quickly different taxes and transportation charges as as the Elan in the initial stages due to its lower - power. that would not be applicable to the American market. How_ ever, pure guesswork points to a pOE price in I.n to promote the Europa, a competition America, when _order version or if the Europa is offered for sale, of about called the Lotus 47 is to be run ln' 1967. A feature $3000. .t of the The Europa is aimed at a younger group Europa is that there is sufficient room age than the EIan in the engine com- and to some extent it can be considered I partment to accommodate is a iqplacement flor almost any engine/transmission the Lotus 7. Therefore the price i- combination, and the 47 powered has been kjpt as low as is by a iOOO_cc Cosworth possible, even this has s Ford with Tecalemit-Jackson if meant sacrificing comiort and con_ fuel injection coupled to a venience to sheer performance. s Hewland 5-speed transmission. The engine installation has However, we feel confident in predicting a necessitated some modification to the cliassis that this new A in the area of Lotus model will be the engine compartment well received by ttre yoinger generation but the essential backbone system is of sports_car i. retained. drivers, even if it doejnl reieive-the all_impor_ tant Ralph Nader seal of ' approval. Gt

Ingress isn't easy, but worth it once you,re in the seat. Rear luggage compartment is located behind Renault engine.

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Europa as it appeared on stand at London Racing Car Show.

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