Few racing drivers are as inextricably linked to a single marque as Jim Clark is to Lotus, and the two cars you see here represent a period in which that partnership really hit its stride. During 1962 and ’63 – the year in which he won his first Formula 1 World Championship – Clark put more than 15,000 miles on the Elan and regularly drove it from the Cheshunt factory up to his family home in the Scottish Borders. The Lotus Cortina, meanwhile, carried him to the 1964 British Saloon Car Championship. Those were the days in which drivers and designers had to excel in more than one discipline: from tuned tin-tops and road cars to single-seaters, Clark and Lotus boss Colin Chapman could do little wrong.
Dario Franchitti has a deep understanding and appreciation for all of this. The eloquent Scot had a considerable motorsport career of his own, of course, highlighted by three victories in the Indianapolis 500 and four IndyCar Series titles. He retired following a horrific shunt at Houston in 2013 and, as he steps out of the Elan after a brisk run, it’s soon clear that he’s first and foremost a Clark fan. His interest was sparked while he was a young hot-shoe driving for Paul Stewart Racing in Formula Vauxhall Lotus.
‘In our house,
