Frank, I hope this goes some way to helping you out. It is the draft of an article I have in preparation:
In writing about the Type 26R Elan, we have to issue a strict caveat that it is amazingly tricky to reach back over fifty years and record with any great accuracy precise details about these cars, around which a certain folklore has emerged, where fact has often been lost in stories, tales, misinformation and the fog and passage of time. I shall attempt to record, as correctly as I can, my understanding about the 26R as it pertained from its introduction in 1964 to final delivery in 1966. Once the car was delivered to the first owner, all manner of changes could and often were made to the cars, such that rarely did a standard, as factory prepared, 26R emerge for the first time on a track. Over the intervening years 26R clones have been produced by individuals or race workshops, often to very high standards. We refer to these generically as GTS cars. They are one reason for the increased values of Series 1 and 2 Elans, since they all remain eligible for current race series around the world. Unfortunately, a very small number of chancers attempt to pass off their GTS as the real thing. This is a problem that is not exclusive to Lotus race cars, other sporting marques have similar dilemmas. Sometimes the effects are felt wider, even ending up in legal battles fought in courts of law. Let us put these issues aside and concentrate on what we know about the 26R.
It took a while for the factory to realise that a racing Elan would sell. Colin Chapman apparently indicated that the Elan was never intended to go near a race track. But new owners thought otherwise and private racing teams saw the potential of the newly introduced Elan as a race tool during 1963, notably Graham Warner of the Chequered Flag team. The 1965 Lotus press release for the 26R S2, which was very similar to that used in January 1964 for the 26R S1, had this introduction: ?The standard Lotus Elan as produced by Lotus Cars Limited is a production high performance luxury sports car designed to give the owner value on a price/performance basis hitherto unequalled in the small capacity market. It is not suitable for racing. Many of our customers, however, like to take advantage of the outstanding performance, road holding and braking customary with our cars and use them for competition. Because of this, Lotus Components Limited, the company within the Lotus Group who build all Lotus racing cars, have produced a Lotus Elan competition model, the specification of which is listed below. This specification should however, be read in conjunction with the standard specification for the Lotus Elan as we have endeavoured to show here the major difference in the competition version.?
Chapman had bowed to the inevitable and sanctioned the 26R. Lotus Components first let it be known they would produce a Type 26R at the January 1964 Racing Car Show and the first press release was indeed dated January 1964, quoting a price then of ?1,645 ex works in component form. The first 26R was delivered to the customer on 25th February 1964, finished in Cirrus White and fitted with a 3.9:1 final drive and Hewland LSD. In early 1965 the Elan S2 road car was coming on line with added refinements. At the same time the S2 Elan 26R was worked up and shown at the 1965 Racing Car Show. The first one was delivered on the 5th May, coincidentally going to the same customer who had bought the first S1 26R.
The 26R Elans had many significant differences to the road cars and were in fact produced by Lotus Components on a separate line. Since Chapman was heavily involved with Team Lotus? Formula One and Indianapolis 500 efforts at this time, he felt supporting sports car racing was stretching things too much. Instead in 1964 Lotus heavily supported Ian Walker’s ?Gold Bug? Elan team, which built on the ground work carried out by Graham Warner and his Chequered Flag team during 1963. However, Ray Parsons, a Team Lotus mechanic, did compete in three races during 1965 in an S1 26R, registration HJH 171C, entered by Team Lotus Ltd. The first was in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood on 9th April. The second was the International Car Race Meeting at Crystal Palace on 7th June and the third was in Class C of the Redex Trophy at the Guards International meeting at Brands Hatch on 30th August 1965.
The production of 26Rs spanned both Series 1 and 2 Elans, being manufactured between 1964 and 1966. Unit numbers were recorded for the S1 as 26-R-# and for the S2 as 26-S2-#. Lotus Components built 52 26R S1 Elans and 49 26R S2 Elans. I am aware that there was duplication of Unit Numbers by the factory during the Series 2 run and we know which cars were so affected. It is my belief that this was nothing more sinister than either human error at the recording stage of those particular cars, or a reflection of mis-orders, or misunderstandings thereof. It should also be noted that the 26Rs were not built in sequential numbers; for example 26-R-5 was invoiced in the first month of production, as was 26-R-45.
Let?s now turn our attention to the specification of these cars. The lists here are not intended to be exhaustive or definitive, but they reflect the information put out by Lotus themselves at the time. Series 1: Engine - Cosworth Mk15 1594cc, 140bhp with twin Weber 40 DCOE2s and a Bendix electrical fuel pump. Stiffened chassis. Alloy drive casings. Competition wishbones. Rose jointed rear wishbones. Thicker antiroll bar. Magnesium hub carriers. Alloy front callipers, with special discs. 3.9 diff with 4.1 and 4.4 option. Alloy radiator. Rollover bar behind driver. Dunlop 550/13 R6 racing tyres fitted to especially designed full wheels. Lightweight body and bucket seat, black leather covered steering wheel, wider wheel arches. Most were fitted with the optional hard top.
Lessons learnt during the 1964 season led to the incorporation of improved equipment into the Series 2 for 1965: Engine - BRM type 84 phase III, 1594cc, 150bhp with twin Weber 45 DCOE13s, an electric fuel pump and a large bore four branch exhaust. Stiffened chassis. Alloy drive casings. Adjustable competition wishbones, rose jointed rears with a thicker antiroll bar. Roller spline driveshafts with UJ’s. Alloy front callipers with special discs. Dual master cylinders and brake balance bar. Same diff options as above. Larger alloy radiator. Diff oil cooler. Rollover bar behind driver. Varley battery. Headlamps under Perspex covers. Dunlop 600/13 R7 on cast magnesium ventilated wheels. Additionally an optional sump guard and larger capacity fuel tank were available.
The completed racing car weighed in at around 600 kg and were all made in right hand drive. During the 1964 season the 26R was fully homologated. Interestingly customers later worked out that the best engines had a Cosworth block and a BRM head.
Inevitably there was some crossover of specs, particularly between the late 1964 S1 and the earlier S2 cars. At some time during 1964 the body was changed from being narrow and fitted with standard front bumpers, to being wider, fitted with a smaller, shorter front bumper. Wheel arches were slightly flared to accommodate the wider tyres fitted. Small Perspex headlight covers, now known as Chinese covers, were fitted to S2 cars, though some S1 cars had larger covers over the usual headlight opening. Many owners fitted a scoop on the rear of the nearside sill to aid cooling to the diff. Some even ran with the boot lid slightly raised for the same reason.
Tim