I joined the list because I am interested in the early history of Lotus
during the period 1948-1960.
I was one of the "band of helpers" that was attracted to work for Colin
free of charge in those days, in exchange for being part of the motor
racing scene and his meteoric rise within it.
I had first met Colin and Hazel as a passenger to Derek Wootton in
'mudplugging' trials in 1948, when Colin was competing in an Austin
Seven Special with a Rolls-Royce shaped radiator cowl, which later
became known as the Lotus Mark I, and later I helped Adam Currie to
assemble the Lotus IIIb in 1952 which was fitted with a linered down
Ford 1172cc engine for the new 1172 Formula, It was linered down to
1098cc to allow it to compete in 'Up to 1100cc' sports car races. This
car is now owned by Charles Levy at Boston, Mass.
Adam was to have had the first Mk VIII Lotus with the new Coventry
Climax engine, so it was logical that we would both join the gang who
helped build the first one from December 1953 to April 1954 when it took
part in its first race at Oulton Park. I started doing some engineering
drawings for Coin at the time, and continued doing so up to 1959, by
which time the works had moved to Cheshunt and they had their own
professional design staff. I was a frequently to be seen in the Lotus
pits at Grand Prix races where I acted as lap scorer.
I am currently writing a book about the time we built the first Mk VIII,
and would like help in locating Peter "Curly" Singleton, who was one of
the gang, and left soon afterwards for (I believe) Los Angeles. Can
anyone kelp?
I am now a member of the Historic Lotus Register (HLR) and am trying to
put right some of the errors which have been made in the early books of
that period, such as the identity of the first Mk VI Lotus in 1952, and
the story behind the first Mk VII in the same year which started life as
a Formula 2 single seater and became the Clairmonte Special sports car.
If the list would be interested to have a detailed account of the
'Forgotten Lotus' as I call it, I would he happy to send it in
instalments, it might even feature in the pages of one of the Lotus
Seven web sites?
I did own a Lotus Eleven of my own from 1956-58, and raced it on the
Continent. It is now owned by Bob Engberg in California.
Best wishes to you all for Christmas and 2002.
--
Peter Ross (now 72)
The Birches, Cuckoo Mills, FALMOUTH Cornwall UK TR11 4HZ
Tel. and FAX 01326 317789 (outside UK +44 1326 317789)
e-mail PeterRoss@CrystalEngineering.FSBusiness.co.uk
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