{"id":1938,"date":"2013-05-17T16:35:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-17T14:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lotuscortinainfo.com\/?page_id=1938"},"modified":"2025-02-03T20:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T18:43:27","slug":"mk-1-american-race-cars","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.lotuscortinainfo.com\/?page_id=1938","title":{"rendered":"Mk 1 American Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

WORKS and NEAR WORKS CARS IN THE USA<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

This section is under construction. Please let me know if you spot any errors, or have any further information and \/or\u00a0 photos to add more content to this area<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

Considerable help in compiling this section has been given by two guys in the US; Don Gwynne from Texas and Ross Bremer from Florida. Both were racing Fords towards the end of the Mk 1 period.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Don ended up with the ex-works Charlie Barns Lotus Cortina in the late 1960s, but sold it in the 70s, something I think he regrets, although he \u00a0does race a Mk 1 Escort RS1600 today which softens the blow!.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Ross drove <\/i><\/b>Major Billy C. Turner’s Lotus Cortina in the 1967 Trans-Am 4 hour at Daytona and the Daytona 24 Hour in 1967, and found, bought and restored the same car in 1992. He still shows that car, and also races an ex-Alan Mann red and gold Mk 1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In<\/strong><\/em> general, the cars racing in the USA couldn’t be recognised by the registration number on the bonnet, so I’ve organised this section a little differently to the section on UK race cars. Each major race in which Lotus Cortinas were participating has been identified, and then each car entered identified by driver \/ team and race number, where known. This will allow photos or any other information to be slotted into the right area, building up a picture of each car \/ race circuit \/ driver.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Lotus Cortinas raced practically from the beginning in the USA, with Team Lotus bringing their ‘RUR’ cars over in the winter of 1963 for a full season of racing in the USRRC championships in 1964, along with a couple of non-championship races thrown in to ‘warm up’.<\/p>\n

The drivers were mainly the Brits, and the cars were all right hand drive. Whilst the cars acquitted themselves well in the under 2 litre class, they made little impact in the overall race, unlike in the UK in the same year.<\/p>\n

1965 was a very quiet year for the Lotus Cortina in the USA, although two non-championship high profile events were attended by Team Lotus, with good results.<\/p>\n

The bravery award must go to Buck Baker and Bob Tullius, who kicked off the 1965 season by running in the Daytona 2000kms race in the ‘Prototype GT’ class.<\/p>\n

In 1966, racing Lotus Cortinas really started in the USA with local drivers and 7 specially commissioned and supported Works cars. A new championship was started in 1966,\u00a0 the Trans-Am series, incorporating some of the previous non-championship events. Lotus Cortinas were present at all events except the first (as the cars hadn’t arrived!), and made a significant impact in the under 2 litre class.<\/p>\n

1967 continued the Trans-Am presence, although as the Porsche 911 and Alfa GTs had been homologated as saloon cars, as in Europe, the Lotus Cortina started to lose ground to these more powerful cars.<\/p>\n

Here’s a great film from the archives of Ken Anderson, who runs the website ‘The Garagista’ http:\/\/thegaragista.com\/ , a great site recording ‘stories and images of interesting cars and bikes along with random thoughts and coverage from various automotive events and races from around the world’. Ken is a confirmed Lotus nut, so the emphasis of his site is on one of the original Garagistas, Lotus.<\/p>\n

The film covers the 1964 Sebring race, focusing on the Lotus Cortinas of course.<\/p>\n