Today’s car is a 1956 Lotus 11 owned by Douglas Shook, I photographed this car at Golden Cove the mostly British Cars and Coffee event that gathers on the 3rd Sunday of every month that is located at 31176 Hawthorne Blvd, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. The car is finished in the traditional Lotus BRG (British Racing Green) over a red vinyl interior and dashboard. It is powered by a 95 hp 1216cc, Coventry Climax FWE inline 4-cylinder with twin Weber 40 DCOE2 dual throat carburetors sitting on a pair of Derrington CC1100 intake manifolds mated to a 4-speed manual transmission equipped with close ratio gears. Slowing this beauty down are vented drum brakes, The front independent suspension swing axles w/coil-over-dampers. The rear suspension utilizing a solid rear axle and w/coil-over-dampers. To maintain the low profile and downward forces on the bonnet the engine and transmission were turned 15° to the left. The car was fitted with a replacement 1.2-liter Coventry Climax FWE. The FW designated stands for “Feather Weight”.
Engineered by Colin Chapman with a beautiful aerodynamic body designed by Frank Costin, The design and lightweight materials exemplifies the quote from Chapman, “Simplify, then add lightness”. In the September 1957 article of Road & Track features what is believed by Lotus historians to be this car, #234. Check out the September 1957 Road and Track article link at the end of the article. At the time of testing, #234 had a small displacement Ford engine installed. This car is known to have been the only Ford sidevalve (flathead) 1172 powered Lotus Eleven officially imported to the states by USA Lotus distributor, Jay Chamberlain, in Burbank, CA.
Approximately 270 Lotus 11 were produced from 1956 – 1958. While they were designed to be the single model for 1956 production, there were three versions available depending on what the customer wanted. The serious racer could choose the Le Mans edition with a choice of Coventry Climax engines, the Club version was still for race use but, had lesser racing requirements, while the Sports was mainly for road use and an occasional race. The MSRP was $3690.00 for the Sports model. The published top speed of 124 MPH with a 0-60 mph time of 7.9 Seconds.
The Eleven was serious contender winning a Index of Performance at Le Mans, class victories accumulated at Sebring and Le Mans with top named drivers such as Sir Sterling Moss, Innes Ireland, Mike Hawthorne, and Graham Hill. I like the look that the vertical stabilizer (headrest fairing) gives the car. What a rare motor sports car to take British car shows, vintage car races, Cars and Coffee events or just taking a leisurely drive? going the S’s in the Santa Monica Mountains. Thank you for riding along. Frank
