Making its debut in 1957, the Type 14 Elite was the first production sports car that Colin Chapman designed for Lotus Cars.

Lotus' design philosophy ran contrary to the prevailing norm, making their cars lighter, more aerodynamic and therefore more nimble, rather than increasing horsepower and weight, enabling Lotus cars to out-handle much more powerful vehicles on track.

It was very light, weighing just 630kg and utilised a 'monocoque' construction which meant there was no separate chassis with the body being load-bearing and whilst this was becoming accepted practice, the Elite was the first time it had been attempted in fibreglass.

There were only two strips of steel in the car — a strip for the door hinges to attach to and a very small steel frame to which the engine and suspension were attached and when combined with independent sports suspension, a ZF gearbox, disc brakes, the Coventry Climax all-aluminium engine and a very low drag coefficient of just 0.29, it made for a gre...