This brief video is fully focused on a Lotus Elan Type 26R (or simply called Elan 26R) I recorded during the 2022 and 2023 Bernina Gran Turismo, an event born in 2014 with the aim of keep the memory of the legendary Bernina hillclimb race of 1929 and 1930 alive. It's held on the beautiful Bernina Pass in Switzerland, on a section of the original route specifically closed to traffic, with the hilclimb course starting from La Rösa (1,871 m above sea level) and ending up on the actual Bernina Pass (2,328 m) after a total of 5.9 km.
The Elan was a tiny, lightweight road car that brought all of designer Colin Chapman’s racing lessons to the street and it was Lotus's first road car to use a steel backbone chassis with a fibreglass body. It was introduced in 1962 and it was immediately, widely admired and praised by customers and reviewers, noted for its exceptional handling, roadholding, steering, acceleration, braking and comfort. But it was also Lotus's first car that wasn't designed with racing in mind.
Nevertheless, because owners assumed that all Lotus cars were designed for racing, it soon found its way onto the track with privateers modifying them to make them more focused for track use. But the results showed that the road-legal Elan was unsuitable for racing. Lotus resisted modifying the car to make it more suitable for racing but eventually created a racing version of the Elan, called Type 26R and which was offered at £1995 in kit form. During the 1964 season the Elan 26R was fully homologated. The completed racing car weighed in at around 600 kg. It was powered by a 1,558 cc DOHC four-cylinder engine (called "Lotus TwinCam" which was based on the Ford Kent Pre-Crossflow four-cylinder 1,498 cc engine) tuned by Cosworth and which was able to produce more than 160hp. The little cars turned out to be giant killers, and Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Sir John Whitmore were very successful racing them.
Although the little 26R was developed more for track use, its lightness and powerful 1.6 Cosworth engine make it perfect for hillclimb courses!
#BerninaGranTurismo #LotusElan #LotusElan26R
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Subscribe to my 2nd channel here: / @19bozzy92ndchannel
You can also find and follow me on:
- Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/19bozzy92/
- Facebook: / 19bozzy92yt
- Instagram: / ste19bozzy92
- Camcorder: Canon Legria GX10 + Zoom H5, Canon Legria HF G30 + Canon DM-100
- Events: Bernina Gran Turismo 2022 & 2023
- Where: Berninapass, Switzerland
Link To My Channel: / 19bozzy92
THANKS FOR WATCHING AND SUBSCRIBE!!!