JOHN CHRISTIE’S LOTUS POSITION THE BIRTH OF A NEW NATIONAL HOT ROD

Following the debut of the first Vauxhall Tigra ‘A’s as National Hot Rod racers back in 2005 those cars quickly achieved a dominance that in the end almost equated to: get one or don’t bother racing.

They were never exactly a common car on the road and time soon consigned the shape to automotive history. So the hunt for a Tigra-beater has been on for a while now but the problem is the Tigra’s shape makes it the perfect Hot Rod under the current rules in terms of height and weight distribution.

There is also a school of thought that would like to have a return to the hatchback style of racing, and the Ford Fiesta (Autoxross) and Citroen DS3 (in development by Spedeworth Fabrications) are two examples of that.

But the CBM Ginetta G40R has clearly been a success and others are also still favouring the sportscar approach, an avenue being taken by John Christie