Based upon the original 1200c.c. Ford Consul Cortina, the Lotus Cortina was developed by the Team Lotus Racing Car Racing Organisation for the Ford Motor Company with the desired target being a win in both the British and European Touring Car Championship. The result was, of course, a win in both of these championship events up against very stiff competition.

The car was delivered from the factory in the same configuration for all, ie., 2-Door Coupe painted white with a green flash following body contours along both sides and joining around the the rear panel, the grille blacked out and Lotus badge in the right upper quarter, quarter front bumpers, an interior of all black vinyl support-padded front buckets, bench rear seat, door trims, roof headlining, console and satin aluminim dasboard panel with white on black aircraft style instrumentation, and finished off with 3 spoke woodrim steering wheel and gear shift knob. The cars were fitted with aluminium door skins, boot lid and bonnet to keep the weight down as well as aluminium transmission components.

Considering any remaining examples of the car are now over 30 years old ( and there are quite a number still around, being desireable for both collectors, afficienados and historic racing buffs ) the prices for available cars vary from country to country, but the price for a good example in Australia would be in the range of $25K to $30K ( if you can find one !)

The first unit I can recall in Australia was Alan Moffatt's 1963 Series model being raced in the 1964
" Sandown 500 " ( a 500 mile endurance race ) and which seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on 3 wheels ( a particular trait of the car when pushed hard ), closely followed by Jim Mc Keown's car which was painted in the Neptune Racing Teams colours of dark blue with 2 white stripes longitudinally over the length of the car. Both cars were successful against the competition of the day.

Probably the most famous Lotus Cortina in Australia was that of Ian " Pete " Geoghegan, who was probably the most admired Australian driver of the period in touring cars, for his exploits in the Lotus Cortina, and when he became too large to fit into that car he moved on to a succession of Ford Mustangs, winning several Australian Touring Car Championships in the process. This particular Lotus Cortina was painted black in the " Total Oil " team colours of the day, and won most of its races but unfortunately finishing its days upside down on the railway sleeper fence at the now defunct Catalina Racing Circuit in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The turret of the car was squashed down to dashboard level and with Ian's bulk still contained in the car, to this day I am blessed if I know how they managed to get him out even though he was effectively uninjured. I would think that the car was probably rebuilt and continued to race with another owner. Comments please !!!

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