Lotus 47

Can any one help complete the history of Lotus 47 No2.

It was originally a works Lotus team car driven by Jackie Oliver and John Miles. It was then sold to John Calvert who won several races at Croft with it.

Do you have any records of the races , lap times etc that he competed in. JC crashed the car at Silverstone and it was rebodied as Lotus 47 GT 78.

JC sold the car to another North Eastern Racer. It was then
owned by John Neale and now owned by Pat Thomas.

Any details would be welcome.

Was that one of the Gold Leaf cars from '68?
I think it was white when John Calvert had it. I remember it had air scoops on the roof ( a bit like De Udy T70 style). Not much help I'm afraid.

Was that the first one to be raced? (Boxing Day Brands 1967?) Plain white. Driver John Miles?

I saw Calvert race it a couple of times in 1969 at Croft. (It was indeed white, but had a turquoise/blue top half)

At the WD & HO Wills RAC Sports car champ. race on July 12/13, it wore race no. 29. 17th in heat 1 , 12th in heat 2. On aggregate, it was 15th overall

Found a photo in our archive within this thread.
http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?postid=469644#post469644

The photo I have of it in 1969 is without the scoops; so I presume that's post-rebuild.

My RAC championship records for Calvert have a a gap between the Touristt Trophy in June 1968, until the Martini Silverstone in May 1969 (where he had a light 'off' at Woodcote)

http://img24.exs.cx/img24/5381/13275.jpg

Not I think the same car - this one was road legal and road tested by triple C in 1967.

This was me Brands GP circuit March 1982 I made the air intakes on a spare engine cover - it made no difference to the performance !

why are there no 47's racing today? Would they be competitive to Chevron B8's?

Pat Thomas will be out next year

Originally posted by simon drabble
why are there no 47's racing today? Would they be competitive to Chevron B8's?

I think not, the B8 is a serious piece of kit, whilst the 47 seems limited by its rear suspension :cool:

I think, nearly half of the early 47 had problems with fire. So some were destroyed by that.
I remember the 47s at the Nürburgring, mainly the chris Barber team car, and at the 500kn race in sept. 67 the two 47s of Taylor and Hine were amongst the Alpine A 210 at the top of the grid. in the beginning of the race , they were very fast and batteling with the leading Alpine, unfortunately retiring later on.
at the 1000km race three month before, there was a 47 with Climax engine. it was dark blue with a white stripe. does anybody know something about this strange engined 47?

I think, mostly they had lotus twin cam engines, but i also saw a picture of a rather rotten car , which had a cosworth FVA under the bonnet.

John Calvert sold his car to someone in Sunderland -- I think ! Who also had a road going 47 ..... X-Flow engine with Renault gearbox.
I brought the car over here but has since been sold back to the UK -- chassis nuumber 55 I think which was supposedly one of the last built.

Biggest problem was the lack of brakes !

Calvert was at Crystal Palace 14th Sept 68 with a 47 - entered by Sunderland Racing Developments but in the programme colour is given as RED . - 8th in practcice but did not start. Would this be the No2 car or another?
RAP

Calvert bought the ex team car, which was chassisnumber 4, from the works in 1968. He had this accident at Silverstone. He hit another 47. The car was then rebuilt with a replacement chassis, #78. They soon found out that the car had lost its pace somehow. Maybe the opposition was better then, maybe the second chassis was too heavy, the body being taken from the S1A production line.
Now why are the 47s not being raced today. There is only one ore two cars race ready, #64 and #74. both in the US. Ed Mettelman reports that he is in the 26R range, but the Cevrons are faster. #68 from England and #27 from Australia will be running soon. These care have bigger (contemporary) engines, just as the Chevrons have. We will see what happens. It must be mentioned, that it is much easier to restore and maintain Chevrons. If you have a dammage on the later car, you just screw your chassis plate on a new bunch of tubes. The chassis of a 47 has to be replaced and the frame number goes with it. There is only a handfull of cars remaining with original chassis in place

JD
47GT-71

Johannes
You you saying that Calvert's car was Chassis 4, not 2 as per the original post by rbs? When was the Silverstone accident please?

The ex team car sold to J. Calvert was definitely #4. He purchased the car between the years 67/68.
The accident came on one of these Britisch print media trophy events that no foreigner can keep apart. I have been shown a picture, with the hedlamp surroundig hovering 4 jards in the air with the cars colliding underneath. Pat Thomas knows more about it.
I was thrilled to learn that J.Calvert had another car for private use. I reckoned that it must have been another replacement. Maybe it did end as such. The chassis number was 59F. Does anybody know more?
You will understand that I am above all interested in the history of the differnet chassis. It would be nice to trace them back.

JD

Originally posted by Johannes Ditz
Now why are the 47s not being raced today. There is only one ore two cars race ready, #64 and #74. both in the US. Ed Mettelman reports that he is in the 26R range, but the Cevrons are faster.
JD
47GT-71

Can you please explain the reference to 26R ?

the car that I bought -- supposedly ex Calvert road car was chassis number 55f ... from memory !

http://webhome.idirect.com/~rharring/img_2729.jpg

The reference to the Lotus 26R is made to compare their speeds. There are a couple of other 47's in North America, though I'm not sure if they get campaigned much.

Thatīs right, there are other 47s in America, but I am not sure if any other car except A.Bollingerīs #64 and E.Mettelmanīs # #74 has been raced in the last couple of years. Does anybody know where B.Colomīs #83 is now?
The statement about the cometitiveness of his car was made by owner/driver E. M. after his first outing at Lime Rock last year. Pictures under N. Chapman Racing on the web.
That is not a genuine 47, by the way, look where the driver sits!

JD

Tony,

congratulations, you bought a genuine 47, according to the production list. But I have another 47 road car to offer: Chassisnumber 54F

JD

Johannes
Do you know the chassis number of the car raced in the UK in 1968 by jazz muscician Chris Barber, usually driven by John Hine?
Thanks

Johannes,

Think the last 5 or so 47's where road cars ... I sold the car here in California and has since been sold back to the UK !

All I have left is the original steering wheel.

Tony

We have been trying to find a decent 47 for past two months without success to replace our 2 litre GTA .With papers.A B8 seems to be the car for tour espania and we need something different

Sorry, I have no clue what number Barberīs car had. It is very hard to get information about these very early cars. Nobody except one has publicly claimed the ownership of any car of the first 25 since the 47 homepage existed. Do they fear the sharp eye of the tax board?

Concerning the 47Fs, it is obvious that none of the last 15 cars were such cars, for the FIA had accepted the 47 as Group 4 car and there was no need for more supplementory vehicles. (What leads to the question of what a decent 47 is).
A perfect car for such a road event like Tour Auto or Tour Espana would be a 47F, from theory. It is a highly unservicable car though. If you hit something, it is all over. Better go for a nice (German engineering) Porsche Abarth Carrera or a 904 GTS.

Thanks-How do those Elans win? We have those fancy 4 cam cars,need a change

John,

47GT-54 is for sale, according to Europa Pin Board www.banks-europa.co.uk/pinboard

JD

Thanks for info.We will investigate.

Sorry,

what I stated above about the 47Fs is false: You could order 47Fs and get 47Fs if you wanted one. There where two of these cars among the last 15 manufactured.

JD

RAP

wanted to know which chassisnumber Chris Barberīs Polydor car had.
Car was 47GT-3.

Calvertīs crash with a sister car was 27.04.1968 at Playerīs Trophy, according to Martin Krejcj (www.wsrp.wz.cz) .

If people with additional information would please supply this fantastic site with more 47 details!

JD

Johannes
Many thanks
RAP

http:\\www.mditz.de/europa_3a.htm/47GT3.JPG
Chris Barbersīs car Nürburgring 1000 km Rennen 1968

http://www.bndlg.de/~mditz/47GT3.JPG

Great link and phtos Thanks

There is another 47 being restored in the UK as we speak - 47GT25 raced by Jim Morley in '68 (with a great deal of success). It'll be turning wheels next year (they all say that don't they!)

Chris Beadsmoore

47GT25

Does anyone have a photograph of the Team Elite 47 driven by David Preston at the Le Mans test Weekend in 1967? The car (same one?) retired in the race after 42 laps.

Fred

The 47 was a pure competition car based on the Europa but with a lighter chassis. The dry-sumped Lotus Cosworth 13C engine being coupled to a Hewland FT200 gearbox.
For Homologation into Group Four, Lotus had to lay down the parts for 50 cars. According to Anthony Pritchard there were approximately 30 cars constructed from this big parts bin!
John Miles gave the 47 its race debut on Boxing Day 1966 at Brands. Entered under the Lotus Components banner in white with a red stripe the cars picked up many class awards in 1967 including a 2 litre class win in the BOAC 500 at Brands.
Due to the inherent weakness in the lightweight chassis the 47A was developed with a strengthened chassis. In 1968 and the 'works' cars turned out in the ubiquitous GOLD LEAF colours.

The 47D was a one off built for GKN. The chassis was lengthened to accomodate the 3.5 litre Rover engine and this was coupled to a ZF 5 speed 'box. The engine was eventually increased to 4.4 litres which supposedly propelled the 47D to a speed of 180 mph!
Where is it now?

The 47D is owned by a friend of mine in the USA.

I reckon that there were two climax cars, the better known being the Ramsay/Julian Sutton car.
http://sportscarportugal.com.sapo.pt/VR_68_Lotus47.JPG
This is the only picture that I found on the web.
The car was heavily damaged during practice session for Villa Real Race 1968 but showed up at a domestic race later that year.

JD

Does anyone have information on a car with chassis number 47 GT 85 ?

How many cars so powered ?
Was it FPF or FWMV engines ??

Kevin Whittle

It was an FPF powered car.

phdm,

there is a genuine 47 with the production number 85, though it was not carrying a C13 engine nor a Hewland gear box.
I fancy!,
that Lotus had a contract with their sponsor to have a couple of GLTL cars on the Racing Car Show 08.01.1969 to 18.01.1969. So they build a car to join the then new Lotus 59. They then found out that they had not yet sold J.Oliverīs Racing car, so they took that one to the show instead. Both cars then soon where off for the Japanese distributor in Tokyo. Nice story, but is it true?

JD

I his book about Elite, Elan, Europa Chris Harvey describes a very special Europa on page 127. It is said to have been the shelved type 52, discovered behind a garage run by Rob Walker of Wiltshire. The car had a 47 chassis, 47 side windows but rubber bushed suspension and Cortina/ Renault drive train with a cable operated clutch.

Does anybody know if Rob Walker had this type 52 alongside with his 47F-62 or are the rumors about an existing 52 caused by a mixing up of the two types?

JD

RTH

Richard,

can you tell us a little bit more about RMP12F. Was it modified with B.Scottīs parts and did it get a "demon" engine as intended? Which colour did it have?

Regards
JD

http://img199.exs.cx/img199/4497/4723tz.jpg

At the time I worked on and drove the car it was owned by Nick Atkins 1979 - 1983. It was sold to someone in the north of England who repainted it in Gold leaf colours - although it was sold new as road going and I think then white. It featured in Carc & Car Conversions magazine in 1967 and was I think owned by one of the Vandervell family

I came across this add in Autosport (October 22, 1970) for a 47A.

It's registration is VRH 401J.

The add reads:

Autospeed Offer Lotus 47a - Fully detachable lightweight shell, whole car as new. One race only plus 200 road miles. Dry sump,twin cam, FT200, 8 1/2 in - 10 1/2 rims, 970 Dunlops. Nearest Ģ1,650, or would split.

Norman Bogg, 4 Mizzen Road, Hull. tel 28363; 854966.

Anyone know anything about this car?

On the point of Europas, can anyone tell me why they were frowned on somewhat in 70s Modsports/Prodsports. Was it because they were regarded as sportsracers ala Chevron B8, rather than pure modified road cars?? On this point, I also recall the Dave Bettinson Caterham/Lotus 7 being treated with some suspicion by the authorities, though it was allowed to race IIRC.

http://www.sportscarmarket.com/img/profiles/472/eng.jpg

It's the same car as the blue one 'above' (about 3 postings ago) ! It's amazing how these cars seem to 'change' over time!

There are people who now think that this is a genuine original Gold Leaf Team Lotus car (I've talked to one of them!)

Read the description - it's also become a 47A !

http://www.sportscarmarket.com/profiles/1996/December/English/index.html

Johannes - PLEASE publish your records and put everyone straight! It's a double edge sword this internet thing - something gets written down and it gets taken as the 'truth'........

Chris B

47GT25

Chris,

if you take a closer look you will detect that the chassis is still S1 stile. So may be it is not the 47A it is supposed to be.
I will nevertheless come up with a little registry on my site, albeit not with the indication of GTAs and GTFs. The definite list should be established by the Britons with good reason.

JD

47GT-71
www.johannesditz.de

I agree Johannes - if it IS GT48, then it ISN'T a 47A. So there is a mistake somewhere. I spoke to Nick Atkins a couple of days ago and his memories of the car are not that fond!

As far as the registry is concerned, we are working on it, but we will certainly compare notes with you before we write anything down!

CJB

47GT25

Hello everybody,

does anybody have any details about this mystery car?
http://www.bndlg.de/~mditz/47gtcbvs.jpg

JD

http://classicsportscar.com.sapo.pt/Lotus47_HAreias_NRedondo70.jpg

Would be nice to learn more about the Portuguese cars. This car was raced by Carlos Santos according to the source of this photo. Now, what about the driverīs first 47?
JD

Johannes.In future please DO NOT post any of my copyright photos without obtaining permission. I refer to the yellow 47 taken at Snetterton.

Johannes,

The road going 47 I had was the same colour as the yellow car photographed at Snetterton ..... this was the twin of the car raced by Sunderland racing team .... coincidence ?

Regards

Tony

Used to work on a 47 here in Kansas City in the late 60-early 70's. Owned by a nice guy out of Texas who's name escapes(James Harris?) me now but believe he sold the car to raise money to buy a small airport! Now here's the part where all the Brits cringe: it was painted like the American flag, red and white stripes down to the nose with the back half blue with white stars. Remember it as a nice little racer but being 6'4" I could never really get comfortable, bit lacking in the ventilation side, but then, the Midwest in summer will test any closed cockpit car.

Johannes,

The road going 47 I had was the same colour as the yellow car photographed at Snetterton ..... this was the twin of the car raced by Sunderland racing team .... coincidence ?

Regards

Tony

Your car had chassis 47GT-59, whereas the Sunderland race car had chassis #4, later CBU#78. The unknown car on the picture ( Soory ,Ted ) must have had a production number in the 20ies. So there is no special relationship

Johannes

ps (Ted and his company Ferret pictures keeps the by far most comprehensive and interesting array of 47 photoes, and one falls over them without knowledge every now and then.)

Where I can find Nick Atkins please ?
Regards

Hello, I spoke with www.classicscars.com and they have started a new database for Lotus 47, and next step is a book on this fabulous car.
Send your infos there with complet history, photos 300 DPI to make sure that the story is correct and that we avoid air cars.

Regards

pm me and I will give you Nick's details.

Rob Slotemaker used to run a 47 in Holland.
What happened to that car????

I remember going to Lisbon to have a look at a 47 at least 12-15 yrs ago, but I think it turned out to be one of the very few 62's (if I have the correct number). Anyone knows about that car?

http://www.bndlg.de/47gt14twen.jpg

Rob Slotemakers car was GT-14. She was destroyed and rebuilt with a new chassis-body-unit. She was later sold to Germany and is now in Japan, restored to GTA specifications

Ernesto Neves sold his Lotus 62 to Japan, she is now restored

http://www.bndlg.de/Ernesto Neves Lotus 62 sold to Japan_.jpg

http://www.bndlg.de/Dscf0072.jpg

JD

GT-14
http://www.bndlg.de/~mditz/47gt14twenss.jpg

There is a ROB SLOTEMAKER writing in the sideline

JD

Hello, I search for next book all details, location, period photos, previous owners of this fantastic racing car. Reward for good help

There is quite a lot of information on this old thread here:-

http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61667&page=3&highlight=Lotus+47

In fact, looking at that old thread, there is a basis for it being moved here, although someone needs to perhaps undertake a summary. I'm sure we have no problem, Olczyk, if you use any of this info. for your own website at
www.classicscars.com provided in the same way that our site is acknowledged on yours and it would be good if any info. obtained here for use in the forthcoming book makes mention of www.Ten-Tenths.com as a source.

I have a particular historic interest in the Lotus 47 since I saw its debut race at Brands Hatch on 27th December, 1966 (yes they raced in the winter in those days) where it won first time out, if I recall.

Any good photos ? please

I have a photo of one, painted like an American Flag, that sits on the showroom floor of Lotus SouthWest in Dallas, TX. It came that way to us from England in 1968. Now finding it is another matter......will post if successful.

Hi,

Does any of you knows the chassis number of the Lotus 47 used by Peter Jackson in the Vila Real and Montes Claros 1968 races in Portugal?
I think the car was the same he used that year in the Brands Hatch 6H, Nurburgring 1000 km and Spa 1000 km (entered by Julian Hasler) among other minor races.

thanks

Does any of you knows the chassis number of the Lotus 47 used by Peter Jackson in the Vila Real and Montes Claros 1968 races in Portugal?
I think the car was the same he used that year in the Brands Hatch 6H, Nurburgring 1000 km and Spa 1000 km (entered by Julian Hasler) among other minor races.

thanks

well, one year after I repeat the question... Nobody knows??

Regards
Luis

Looking for the owner of Chassis # 60. Was based in CA near Fresno/Modesto. Thanks