The Bourne supremacy: BRM’s Lotus Elan

By Greg MacLeman

| 25 Mar 2022

Classic & Sports Car – The Bourne supremacy: BRM’s Lotus Elan

The back catalogue of the automotive industry is filled with examples of cross-pollination. These products of tie-ins and collaborations between manufacturers, drivers and racing teams are sometimes successful, but more often not.

Who could forget – or should that be remember? – the lukewarm Healey Fiesta, Vauxhall Viva Brabham or, in later years, Fiat’s decidedly lame Cinquecento Schumacher?

Sometimes, however, the stars come into alignment, such as in 1967, when one of the world’s best-handling sports cars was breathed on by one of Britain’s greatest motorsport institutions.

And what better moment to jump behind the wheel of a hugely rare Lotus Elan BRM than the 60th anniversaries of both Colin Chapman’s seminal model and British Racing Motors’ first and only F1 World Constructors’ Championship?

The Lotus Elan has unrivalled balance

Few cars need less of an introduction than Chapman’s road-going masterpiece, the Lotus Elan.

Better in every regard than the Type 14 Elite that it replaced, this glassfibre-bodied sports car with its separate backbone chassis is rightly regarded as the best of its breed of any generation.

Its technical brilliance is only brought into sharper relief when you consider that it was launched in the same year as the rudimentary MGB and Triumph Spitfire, whose cart springs and heavy overhead-valve engines were hangovers from an earlier time. The Elan was – and is – simply in a different league.

A big part of that was the engine, a compact, potent and characterful mill that endowed the Elan with the performance to match its nimble chassis.

The Lotus Elan S3 boasts a glossy timber dashboard

A big part of that was the engine, a compact, potent and characterful mill that endowed the Elan with the performance to match its nimble chassis.

Designed for the new Lotus, Harry Mundy’s Twin Cam was a product of Ford’s humble 116E engine block and a cutting-edge twin-overhead-camshaft cylinder-head design that could be traced back to the engineer’s work on a stillborn project for Facel Vega to replace the Facellia’s troublesome Pont-à-Mousson ‘four’.

Not only was the Twin Cam cheaper to produce than the costly Coventry Climax unit it replaced, it was also more powerful, turning out a claimed 115bhp in Series 3 SE trim by the time ‘our’ Elan emerged from the factory.

‘Matched to the standard car’s luxuries, the BRM Elan offered an enticing blend of engaging performance and usability’

For all the Elan’s sporting prowess, it was never conceived as a competition car – but the rest of the world saw its potential.

From the moment of its arrival, Elans were campaigned in everything from club sprints and hillclimbs to autocross events, and there was a burgeoning aftermarket for making the car go faster.

Lotus itself eventually responded with the 26R, but that didn’t stop then Formula One and sports car racer Mike Spence, a recent arrival at BRM following Graham Hill’s departure for Team Lotus, from smelling an opportunity.

The BRM cylinder head gave 130bhp or 140bhp, depending on the camshafts

A relatively new Lotus dealer and former Cheshunt works driver, Spence was ideally placed to orchestrate the marriage of factory Elans and BRM-tuned engines, despite suffering a torrid season behind the wheel of a BRM-engined Lotus 25.

When it came to road cars, the Bourne-based team had a surprising wealth of experience and strong ties with Lotus, having supplied engines for both the 26R and Type 47 programmes, as well as building customer race units.

And the Elan’s availability in kit form, with the body arriving on one pallet and the engine on another, made it well suited to modification.

‘The Elan’s availability in kit form, with the body arriving on one pallet and the engine on another, made it well suited to modification’

The plan hatched by Spence and engineer Tony Rudd was simple: buy unpainted cars in kit form, ship the engines up to Lincolnshire and give them the go-faster treatment.

The already warm Twin Cam was then offered in two states of tune producing either 130bhp or 140bhp.

Pinning down official build figures for a car converted so infrequently is a tricky business, but it’s safe to assume that numbers didn’t break too far into double figures – if at all.

Dyno records suggest 21 BRM engines were built, though only around half as many were delivered as complete cars.

This Elan’s Dayglo Orange bumpers ape the F1 car’s distinctive mouth

Of that handful of rare machines, Iain Stowe’s 1968 example – chassis 006-02 – is a Ron Hickman-penned Type 36 fixed-head coupé, converted from the more desirable Special Equipment model at a premium of £125.

Sold to a gentleman in Lancashire, it was campaigned extensively in hillclimbs – as most were – making such an impression on its first owner that he kept it until 1987.

It must have impressed his nephew, too, because that’s who he eventually sold it to.

Despite diminutive external dimensions, the Elan fhc feels surprisingly roomy once you’re in

From the outside, it isn’t hard to see what drew them in.

Already an appealing shape, particularly in fixed-head form, the modified S3 Elan benefited from the striking paint job of Lustreen Green with Dayglo Orange bumpers, mimicking the iconic livery of the F1 team.

Matched to the standard car’s purposeful steel wheels, wooden dashboard and luxuries such as electric windows, the BRM offered an enticing blend of engaging performance and usability.

The coupé version of the Elan is a beautifully balanced shape, and preferred for competition

But when Stowe first clapped eyes on what would become his car, it was in a considerable state of disrepair having languished, unloved, for 20 years.

“The Elan was in remarkably original condition, but had led a hard life during its early years and an extended period in storage in Germany,” he recalls.

“There was accident damage to the rear of the bootlid that had been badly repaired, the body had been resprayed with an unattractive colour match and to a poor standard.

“The engine was leaking copious amounts of oil, the tachometer wasn’t functional and the heater was completely bunged up.”

All this classic’s details have been lovingly maintained

“A number of people had looked at the car and turned up their noses at it, not really believing that it was what it was supposed to be,” he continues.

“But I contacted Lotus and did a bit of homework, as you do, and discovered that it was completely genuine.

“The documents included things such as the test certificate, which showed the change of ownership: everything that you want to match or fall into place. So I decided to buy it.”

Badges celebrate the F1 success of Team Lotus (left); the mark of driver, dealer and innovator Mike Spence

Shortly after purchasing the car in 2010, following an extended stint in the Donington Collection, Stowe took the decision to restore the Lotus, starting with the body, which was carefully removed, sanded back and prepared for paint by Neil and Ken Myers before being sent to Alan Rigarlsford.

Now running Specialised Paintwork in Reading, Rigarlsford had headed the paint shop at Mike Spence Ltd back in 1967, and was the person responsible for finishing the car when new.

Incredibly, Neil even managed to turn up a 45-year-old can of the original Dockers paint used by the team in period, which, with the help of Dupont and a visit to see Spence’s H16-powered BRM at Donington, was closely matched using modern paints.

‘For all the Elan’s sporting prowess, it was never conceived as a competition car – but the rest of the world saw its potential’

Things didn’t go quite so smoothly when it came to the chassis, but for another timely stroke of luck.

“The bad news was that it had rotted out around the base of the front suspension,” explains Stowe.

“Fortunately, Tony Hills of Kelvedon Lotus was able to produce, from the depths of his workshop, an unused Lotus manufactured chassis in perfect condition. I’ve still got the original hanging in my garage!”

With the new chassis in place, the painstaking process of refurbishing and restoring the mechanical components got under way, with an overarching brief to only replace that which was absolutely necessary.

The discreet signature of BRM (left); chassis 006-02 was converted from the more desirable Special Equipment model

The strip-down provided a rare opportunity to closely examine the modifications that Spence and his team made to the car, which included Koni shock absorbers at the rear, each of which was carefully cleaned and refreshed before being refitted.

A taller 3.55:1 differential was also discovered in place of the Elan’s factory 3.54 item – confirmed as an original option by a handwritten note on the gearbox mounting to remind the constructor to fit the correct speedometer gear wheel, while the transmission itself was the standard close-ratio unit brought in for the Series 3.

Work then turned to the heart of the matter: the 1558cc BRM-tuned Twin Cam engine.

When BRM received these units in period, engineers skimmed 0.010in from the cylinder head face and a further 0.020in from the block itself, which provided a clue to this car’s oil leak.

Weighing just 696kg, the four-cylinder engine is plenty powerful

“At some point in the car’s life, the two alloy water-pump plates had been replaced,” explains Stowe.

“When the engine was hot the plates expanded more than the block, causing a significant leak in front of number one cylinder.

“The standard plates are designed to be slightly shorter than the block, so had to be skimmed to recreate the correct relationship.”

Making sure every detail is right inside this Lotus

Like every other BRM, Stowe’s car was separated at birth from its original engine, which was replaced with an already fettled unit – in this case fitted with CPL 2 camshafts giving 130bhp – although later research showed that the exchange engine eventually found its way into another BRM.

With a competition-spec LAA block rather than standard LBA item, Stowe suspects it may have been left over from the 26R contract.

Other modifications included uprated inlet valves, at 1.55in rather than the factory 1.52in.

During the restoration, Stowe took the opportunity to replace the valve seats with hardened versions suited to running unleaded fuel.

Enjoying this rare, BRM-fettled Elan around its spiritual home

The bottom end was also given a refresh with new piston rings, rod bearings, main bearings and core plugs.

Though BRM offered its own steel con rods – price on application, rather ominously – Stowe’s car features standard C-type rods.

These were balanced and polished, along with the crankshaft and flywheel with the whole assembly double-dowelled.

Spence’s death in 1968 brought production of these Elan BRMs to an end

Fire up the feisty ‘four’ with a tickle of the throttle and the straight pipe clears its throat ready for a full-blooded assault on the hallowed asphalt surrounding British Racing Motors’ historic home of Bourne, Lincolnshire.

It very quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary Elan.

The tuned Twin Cam really is a surprise package, somehow straddling the line between genuinely punchy performance over the factory motor while offering true usability.

‘The chorus of crackles and pops would seem obnoxious from anything else, but just feels right in the terrier-like Elan’

It’s perfectly suited to a car that has one foot in the paddock and the other in a public car park – docile enough around town, but leaping like a scalded cat on the open road.

It is a car that revels in being driven hard, too: the darty steering responds to even the slightest input, so throwing its minimal weight around and getting on the throttle early inspires much greater confidence.

Even without BRM’s pricey steel internals, the Twin Cam is safe to 7000rpm and it spins up eagerly.

Lift off and you’re rewarded with a chorus of crackles and pops from the exhaust that would seem obnoxious coming from anything else, but just feels right in the terrier like Elan.

It is thought that just 10 Lotus Elan BRMs were ever built

Some BRM conversions were fitted with ultra-close gear ratios, but the standard four-speed transmission in this car feels perfectly matched for sprightly back-road performance, not to mention being a real pleasure to use.

It’s best to double-declutch, or take your time if you don’t, but the action is as sweet as anything to come out of the 1960s.

Only the servo-assisted brakes take a bit of getting used to, with a slightly unnerving hesitation to the pedal that tricks you into getting on them a bit too hard.

Pulling up after an afternoon’s spirited driving and finally cutting off the electrifying ‘twink’, you can’t help but feel as if you’ve been let into a wonderful secret, shared with just a handful of other people around the world.

This rare classic Lotus certainly cuts a dash

That so few Elan BRMs were made ultimately comes down to Spence’s tragic death at Indianapolis in 1968, after which production ceased.

For those who didn’t mind getting their trousers oily – and many who bought Elans new did so in kit form to avoid Purchase Tax – the BRM modifications, though hugely successful, weren’t beyond being approximated at home.

And if you’re chasing performance today, you would get rather more change from a Elan Sprint.

Evocative and packed with history – and this Elan more than lives up to its prestigious breeding

Yet this car has a special appeal, from its purposeful stance to its playful nature.

Dripping with history, it’s a living, breathing link to the most glamorous period in motorsport.

It’s a car with all the effortless cool of Kate Eccles in the pits at Monza, or Jackie Stewart in his BRM P83 at Silverstone. As evocative as it is accomplished, this might just be the perfect Elan.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to Hall & Hall

Factfile

_{^{BRM Lotus Elan}}

Sold/number built 1967-’68/c10
Construction steel backbone chassis, glassfibre body
Engine iron-block, alloy-head, dohc 1558cc ‘four’, with twin Weber 40DCOE carburettors
Max power 130bhp @ 6500rpm
Max torque n/a
Transmission four-speed close-ratio manual, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by double wishbones rear struts, lower wishbones; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs, with servo
Length 12ft 1in (3689mm)
Width 4ft 8in (1422mm)
Height 3ft 10in (1175mm)
Wheelbase 7ft (2134mm)
Weight 1534Ib (696kg)
0-60mph 6.8 secs
Top speed 128mph
Mpg 28
Price new from £1525 (component form)
Price now £70,000*