Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
greg-bob-dance-clarks-lotus25

Jim Clark’s Cortina

Story and pictures by Greg Bray.

Last year Chris and I did our bi-annual trip back to the UK to see the family. As always it happened to be in the month of September (funny that) so I could go just up the road to the Goodwood Revival with my brother.

Luckily for us, on the Sunday I spotted Bob Dance the famous Lotus mechanic. Bob, now in his 80’s was in the pits working on Jim Clark’s Lotus 25 as he has done since the 1960’s. Bob was giving the car the once over in preparation for the period F1 race in the afternoon.

jim-clarks-cortinaThe Lotus 25 won easily against all the opposition of it’s era, as it did in the 1963 F1 season giving Clark his 1st World Championship.

The point of my story is whilst we were staying with our Welsh Lotus friend Andy, he did what he usually does and drove me through many muddy Welsh lanes to visit one of his many Lotus friends. This time not too far away from Cardiff we turned up at William’s property. William owns four Mk1 Lotus Cortina’s.

cortina-elan-rear-endThe pride and joy of his collection is Jim Clark’s very own early road Cortina. Oh, to be an enthusiast with pots of money. He has the detailed proof, and apparently the car cost him as much as a very good house.

The very interesting part of this car for me being an Elan enthusiast was that Bob Dance had worked on the car in it’s early days. He made a frame to hold the Elan diff, and fitted the whole Elan diff, drive-shafts, struts, discs and put them all in the back of this Cortina. Which would have made the handling of the car so much better with the Elan’s independent lightweight suspension. But with Clark’s excellent driving skills, he did very nicely with standard set-up on the track in his race Cortinas.

Also would you believe in this garage one of the other Cortinas had a “Best in Show” certificate, and the car had been restored by none other than our Derek Dean.

Qld Super Sprints – Round 1, 2016 Jumpers & Jazz Weekend Away

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

gold-rush-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022

Random images

IMG_6548 123_2360_IMG IMG_4818 121_2182_IMG 121_2138_IMG lw01ka1 IMG_4494 IMG_7082 IMG_6745 IMG_6665 P1020652 image_088 lot_030 IMG_6625 IMG_8917 IMG_3659 MG_4273 16_IMG_9590 IMG_2562 20160522_103418 _MG_9167 as Smart Object-1 IMG-0152 20161106_150016 20161106_083813 Pit-Crew Alex, Daniel, Clive & Barry Exige_pic3 Steve img_1574 IMG_6367 George-Rowes-Lotus11-2 Black-Dog-Racing-Javelin Margaret-Olleys-home Steve Keith 4.Reservation-Julies-at-Rectory Bright-sunny-Lotus-lovers Jeff-chasing-Clive Rob-Stevens- main-33 main-1 Early-morning-at-the-resort main-38 More-mountain-views-before-lunch-at-Canungra The-cool-Cats Matt Clive_Wade_Lotus_Elise main-48 main-11 IMG_4906 P1010419 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0001 lec_0192 P1080250 IMGP2258 IMG_5136 100_100 On_the_grid IMG_3935 P5250040 IMG_0930 IMG_8036 P9190113c1 P9190061c2 IMG_5125 IMG_7389 image_151 IMG_8489 IMG_8477 IMG_6392 20180916_072038 Lotus Crew The Big Guns Jason-and-Euan first-alight Sizing-up-the-competition img_2016 martin Matt-Plowman-a-little-loose-through-the-flip-flop Judges-nitpicking-for-Concours-d’Elegance main-6 Volvo-P1800 as driven by Roger Moore as Simon Templar in The Saint George-and-Garry _MG_1857 as Smart Object-1 AN5W4522 volvos Brewery-Mt Alford6_gw IMGP8651 Pushing-on-Trevor-Doyle The Loxtons IMG_9103 Russ-Carters-Lotus-Carlton-winner-of-Class-3-1975-1995 IMGP8302 George 2 MG_3909 Vyvyan in race gear Vyvyan main-62 IMAG5994 Door-Prize-Lucky-Rob-and-presenter-Shane

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios