Lotus Elan 26R

How does one improve upon the Elite? By adding the one thing the Elite doesn't have, power. The Elan 26R was the racing version of the road Elan 26. Lotus put a 160bhp Ford Cosworth engine inside a great handling chassis, which gave it the grunt it needed to compete with the other bigger horsepower cars of its time. The racing version featured competition suspension, and bigger anti-roll bars. Light alloy calipers added, and chassis strengthened to make it tough enough to rub fenders with the big boys. With the added horsepower, the Elan 26R can now put up similar lap times to some of the front runners in this class. It will suffer on very long straights as its top speed is still limited, but its sweet handling means you will be carving through the field in the corners, and mistakes are easily corrected. - Jerry Chen