Five 26Rs to the fore in the Guards Trophy
Matthew Wrigley in a 26R
Stephen Reece and Nick Pancisi
Chapman soon recognised that a racing version of the Elan would be a popular addition to the Lotus range . He was quoted in period as saying that if people insisted on racing them , then they ’ d better do some proper development .
Sure enough , in 1964 the Type 26R was offered in kit form at just under £ 2000 . Notable enhancements over the road going version were lightweight competition specification wishbones , reinforced suspension points , sturdier anti roll bars , improved brakes and a 140bhp Cosworth tuned version of the twincam engine . More durable driveshafts
in replace of rubber joints and repositioned pedals were all part of what went into making the 26R a successful race car both nationally and internationally through the mid- 1960s .
The 26R soon proved very popular with privateers throughout Europe and were able to beat the Alfa Romeo Giulias in the 1600cc class . Drivers like Clark and Jackie Oliver were among those to take 26Rs to racing success .
However , Team Lotus was already busy across F1 , F2 and F3 single-seater programmes as well as Indy Cars and the team only briefly raced a 26R during the 1965 season . Instead
Lotus chose to support Ian Walker ’ s team which had been central to the development of the 26R and ran the hugely successful ‘ Gold Bug ’ versions .
Some research suggests that around 100 26Rs were built by Lotus Components in period although , inevitably , many early Elans were later converted into 26R specification for historic racing .
Now six decades on this weekend will pay tribute to an iconic sports car of the 1960s . The Elan and , more importantly , the Elan 26R live on as hugely popular race cars in historic racing and will feature prominently in Sunday ’ s Guards Trophy race .
The Series 3 Elan of Robert Rowe in Historic Road Sports
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