1966 Lotus 23

https://straightspeedphoto.blogspot.com/2026/07/1966-lotus-23b.html

the Bahamas Speed Week at Nassau (end of the racing season grand party) was the brainchild of a sports car racer and seaplane fleet operator Sherman “Red” Crise, who realized the abandoned Windsor Field airstrip would make a great racetrack

Crise was an interesting figure. He cut his teeth as a page at the New York Stock Exchange while studying for an aeronautical engineering degree. After graduating, he invested his NYSE earnings in a chain of three garages in New York, where he soon also gained the racing bug. 

Surviving the Wall Street Crash of 1929 relatively unscathed, he went touring across Europe with an American racing team in 1930 and returned to the USA the following year to set up a seaplane base, which soon became very successful.

The racing bug was still there and Crise soon tapped into the burgeoning interest in midget racing by establishing a chain of dirt tracks, which prospered from 1938 to 1942, when the USA entered World War Two. 

Crise - already a pilot - was swift to sign up and was assigned to the First Photographic Squadron, flying unarmed fighter planes on photographic missions, before transferring to Air Transport Command as a Captain. 

Towards the end of the war he was forced to bale out over China and suffered a broken neck, eventually being repatriated to Miami to recuperate. From his hospital bed he then dreamed up his next venture - the Miami Beach Marine Basin - which lasted a year until being destroyed by fire. 

During this period, Crise and his wife would often take yacht trips out to the Bahamas and it was during one of these visits to New Providence Island, home to the capital Nassau, that Red first spotted the open expanses of asphalt that made up the abandoned Windsor Airport. An idea soon formed in his head...

https://www.racingcircuits.info/north-america/the-bahamas/nassau-windsor-field.html

Invitations were sent out to the competitors of the SCCA at the end of the 1954 season, anticipating the first Speed Week from 6-12 December. 

When confirmed entries were slow in coming through, Red Crise put out feelers with the local car dealers and soon there were almost 100 unofficial enquiries for starting positions.

 The addition of a bike race also helped to ensure the event would have a decent chance of success and, bit by bit, a good entry was finally obtained.

https://www.racingcircuits.info/north-america/the-bahamas/nassau-windsor-field.html

In 1954, the Nassau Trophy Road Races were born on the Windsor Field circuit, with Masten Gregory taking victory in a Ferrari 375 MM. The following year it was Phil Hill’s turn, behind the wheel of the Ferrari 857 S, while in 1956 Stirling Moss triumphed in a Maserati 300S.

The track saw the greatest names of the era pass through, including Alfonso de Portago, Carroll Shelby, Dan Gurney, A.J. Foyt, brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez, and Innes Ireland, alongside cars that would go down in history: the Lotus 19, the Scarab Chevrolet, and the Chaparral 2A of Hap Sharp and Roger Penske, which dominated in 1964 and 1965.

https://automedia.revsinstitute.org/sun-sand-and-speed-an-atmospheric-look-at-the-1955-bahamas-speed-week

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1366716045583488&set=pcb.1366716208916805

In August 1942, the British govt started a (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF at Nassau Airport to train general reconnaissance crews using the North American Mitchell and Consolidated Liberators.

(Why train in the Bahamas? Far from the European theater of war?)

In December 1942, the airport was named Windsor Field (after the Duke of Windsor, who had taken up regular residency on the island after abdicating as the King of the United Kingdom.) and became a Royal Air Force (RAF) station.

The OTU returned to the UK in September 1945 and was disbanded.

Invitations were sent out to the competitors of the SCCA at the end of the 1954 season, anticipating the first Speed Week from 6-12 December. When confirmed entries were slow in coming through, Red Crise put out feelers with the local car dealers and soon there were almost 100 unofficial enquiries for starting positions. The addition of a bike race also helped to ensure the event would have a decent chance of success and, bit by bit, a good entry was finally obtained. In June 1946, the RAF withdrew from Windsor Field and it reverted to civilian use. 

In November 1957, Nassau International Airport at Windsor Field was brought into full operation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynden_Pindling_International_Airport

I have no idea what the license plate on this Lotus means... does anyone have a guess?

 

When you have to move long distance, don't have a big trailer, and are not going to leave your project Lotus behind

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=26123498550573144&set=gm.1516255923041035&idorvanity=269236484409658

Lotus, the little company with the most remarkable history of wins, races, drivers, and legendary competition - thank you Stephen!

Too damn many commercials in this video, too often, but damn, they sure did sum up the Lotus history better than any other video

Peter Hutton's colorful illustrations

https://www.thechicane.com/2011/05/17/the-art-of-peter-hutton/

'71 Lotus Europa S2 that was fixed up by the Overhaulin' tv show... only the 2nd car I've ever seen that was fixed up by the Overhaulin show

cutting every possible inch off every corner, Jim Clark driving the Lotus 25 took the pole, had the fastest lap, led every lap and won, the British GP, Aintree 1962

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10224214923641054&set=gm.2838462419680323&idorvanity=527146584145263

Naito Auto Engineering - Tokyo

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1199204025580882&set=pcb.1199204918914126

if this seems familiar, it's because I just learned of this family garage business last year https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/06/one-of-one-feature-documentary-filmed.html

rewatching the 2017 Scartlett Johansen movie Ghost In The Shell... and there's a couple cool cars in it, her character's partner's car is a Lotus type 82. Key point of info? Hollywood buys a lot of "salvage title" cars cheap to destroy on screen

The movie producers relied on Ash Thorp and Maciej Kuciara to augment the Lotus Esprit Type 82 for Batou. They looked great on screen but the cars were meant to be cheap and disposable.

https://www.movieinsider.com/photos/390692#google_vignette

https://artofgears.com/2021/05/14/the-cars-of-ghost-in-the-shell/

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EOtherstuff/GhostintheShell-Movie.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/

to quote the Daily Timewaster, "The Art of Speed"

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227847660237132&set=a.1617402035143

this is not a Ferrari... it's a Lotus Emira

1962 Lotus Elite S2 (Type 14) had 1/4 built by Maximar, and 3/4s were built by Bristol Aircraft. About £100 was lost on every car, they were just too expensive to make, and that's why the Elan, returned to conventional construction.

It was very light, weighing just 630kg and utilized a 'monocoque' construction which meant there was no separate chassis and the body being load-bearing and, whilst this was becoming accepted practice, the Elite was the first time it had been attempted in fiberglass.

There were only two strips of steel in the car — a strip for the door hinges to attach to and a very small steel frame to which the engine and suspension were attached and, when combined with independent sporty suspension, a ZF gearbox, disc brakes, the Coventry Climax all-aluminum engine and a very low drag coefficient of just 0.29, it made for a great drivers' car.

The first 280 were built by Maximar prior to production transferring to Bristol Aircraft who built a further 750, however the Elite was very expensive to produce, especially the GRP monocoque which was extremely labor-intensive, and it's understood that they lost around £100 on every car with its successor, the Elan, returning to more conventional construction.

https://www.iconicauctioneers.com/1962-lotus-elite-rec13172-1-stoneleigh-0224

news to me, some cars that left the factory made of fiberglass that aren't Corvettes

The Lotus Elan, 1962-1999. The Lotus Esprit 1976-2004. The Lotus Elise, 1996-2021

The DeLorean, unknown to me, the stainless steel outer skin, are actually fixed to a fiberglass monocoque, which was then attached to a steel frame.

The Meyers Manx, won't surprise anyone to be made of fiberglass... but it simply hadn't occurred to me to think of it when discussing fiberglass sports cars. And it is. 

BMW Z1, 1989, 90 and 91surprises me. I haven't ever heard about it being made of fiberglass

Lancia Stratos, 1973-78 is another complete surprise. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/10-production-cars-that-left-the-factory-wearing-a-fiberglass-body/ar-AA1rvIME#

Also, Reliant Robin, Volvo P1900, the Marcos (Thanks to comments and emails for these!)

Goodwood's Festival of Speed began today, and runs through Sunday

the 2000 hp Lotus immediately crashed after a smoky launch. https://x.com/DanielFigueroaP/status/1811451266616139997

https://www.motor1.com/news/726308/lotus-evija-x-goodwood-crash/

https://www.goodwood.com/grr/event-coverage/festival-of-speed
https://x.com/hashtag/GoodwoodFoS?src=hashtag_click

if we only had a time machine

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160886017103908&set=gm.2285808058279098&idorvanity=527146584145263

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9571752&sid=be96e7ec1feced1bc3c2b0abce54acfc

great racing to start the days blogging, Goodwood's last race of the event where Alfas and Lotus Cortinas try to keep up with a pair of Galaxies, and for the first time, I see the course tow truck (Land Rover) in action

Lotus by Anstead, Button, and driven by Foust heading up Pike's Peak for the 101st Running June 25, 2023

Radford has been brought back to life, principally, by three men: Former F1 world champion Mr Button, who’ll do the development driving duties, TV presenter and car builder Ant Anstead and designer Mark Stubbs. The 62-2 will cost from around $400k and be offered in three ‘starter’ specs - Classic, Gold Leaf and JPS

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/radford-pikes-peak-edition-2023

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/retro/radford-type-62-2-jps-all-kinds-special

https://www.motor1.com/photo/7258369/radford-type-62-2-pikes-peak-edition/

interesting Lotus at the annual Coronado Main Street event