21 replies to this topic

[Gary C]

I've been asked by my friend Bob Dance, former Team Lotus Chief Mechanic, if anyone knows the whereabouts of the two 1966 Lotus Cortinas that he worked on. Registration numbers were PHK614D and PHK615D. Anyone know what happened to them and where they are now??

[D-Type]

Gary,

I think that it would be worth casting your net wider and also posting this query on Ten-tenths as they have a different set of core followers to here - more historic racers etc, fewer historians

[Felix]

The whereabouts of both cars are known, and one party close to PHK614D is rather surprised that Bob Dance is not aware of their locations...

[Gary C]

any more info then, Felix ??

[cedricselzer]

I am surprised that Bob Dance does not know the whereabouts of these 2 Lotus Cortinas. PHK614D is in my workshop. It is jointly owned by Jannie van Aswegan and me. I also know where PHK615D is, but I am not at liberty to say. Bob does know the owner.

[Patrick Fletcher]

OT but a Lotus Cortina question - did many race world wide in 1963/4 in white with a flash other than the factory green?
In NZ Paul Fahey had a blue flash, Kerry Grant's was black - with black roof [push-rod Willment] and from memory Marshall's was red, and Moffatt's had green.

[David McKinney]

Grant's was a Cortina GT, all white in its first race(s)
I'm pretty sure Fahey's flash started as green

[Gary C]

welcome Cedric !! Good to have you here! I had a nice chat with Marc at Mallory Park the other week, too. I'll pass your info on to Bob!

[Patrick Fletcher]

So was Sir Len Southward's the first fake Lotus Cortina in the world - had Lotus badges front, left and right by the time I saw it in 1964!
Ford Motor Company NZ said they imported four Lotus Cortinas for selected drivers- who got the other one? Or did they only bring in three and badged up the Southward car?

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Patrick Fletcher
Ford Motor Company NZ said they imported four Lotus Cortinas for selected drivers- who got the other one? Or did they only bring in three and badged up the Southward car?

I'd have to look that up

[275 GTB-4]

Originally posted by David McKinney

I'd have to look that up

http://www.southward.org.nz/

Ford Cortina Mk 1 GT 1963
Ford Motor Co, England
One of the great motoring successes of the 1960s, the Ford Cortina began its long production run in 1962 with the introduction of the Mk1 in three body styles and four different engine options. The GT came with a factory production 1498 cc sports engine. Lotus also produced a higher performance 1558 cc version. This exhibit was driven by Kerry Grant and Frank Hamlin in the six-hour 1963 Benson and Hedges 500. In the four-day running-in period prior to the race this car covered 4,800 miles.
4 cylinders, ohv, 1498 cc. Twin carbs, free-flow exhaust.

[David McKinney]

Continuing the off-threadity:
Lotus-Cortinas were raced in NZ in the 1963/64 season by Paul Fahey, Joe Hayes and Arthur Moffatt. Contemporary reports clearly state that the Wills 6hr Cortina GT was subsequently fitted with a 1650cc (pushrod) engine and raced by Kerry Grant but a check of photographs proves they were different cars. Presumably then this was indeed the fourth Lotus. Maybe I should have paid more attention to saloon racing at that time.
Five Lotus-Cortinas raced in the Wills 6hrs at the start of the 1964/65 season, and I don’t think any of them were cars that had raced in 1963/64.

[Gary C]

Cedric, have just passed on your info to Bob. He was very surprised to hear that you have 914!!

[Felix]

614

[xkssFrankOpalka]

2 Corinas were sent to the US to race, I remember them at Road America lifting thier inside front wheels, The Beatles were hot then, I let my hair grow out.

[David Shaw]

Originally posted by xkssFrankOpalka
2 Corinas were sent to the US to race, I remember them at Road America lifting thier inside front wheels, The Beatles were hot then, I let my hair grow out.

Quite possibly these two, one was driven by Allan Moffat.

http://members.tripo...1162548_web.jpg

[fattogatto]

I seem to remember Sir John Whitmore racing a Cortina-Lotus in the under 2 litre Trans AM against the likes of Horst Kwech (Alfa) and several BMWs. I believe these were the red with gold flash versions. This would have been around 1966-1967.

[D-Type]

I've nothing to add regarding PHK 614D and PHK 615 D, but it so happens that I'm reading Graham Robson's Ford in Touring Car racing. He describes how in 1963 to launch the Cortina in the USA Ford backed the entry of three BTCC Cortina GT's in the 1963 Marboro 12-hour race in Maryland. two were Willment white cars with triple red stripes (a broad one with a narrow one on each side) and the third was an Alan Manncar in red with gold roof and side flashes. As they had no experienced of pitstops in the short BTCC races they recruited a team of Nascar mechanics headed by John Holman who improved the time for a pitstop from about two minutes to 24 seconds.

Jack Sears and Bob Olthoff in a Willment car won by less than a car's length from Jimmy Blumer and Henry Taylor in the Alan Mann car with the third car finishing fourth behind a Falcon.

There's no other mention of British drivers competing in the states, but as the book focusses on Bitain and Europe that doesn't mean they didn't race there ....

The book has numerous photos of Mk 1 GT's and Lotuses and Mk 2 Lotuses cornering on three wheels although in the text Alan Mann claims his cars kept all four wheels on the road.

[Patrick Fletcher]

So sorry to keep OT but I will be quick - in Kiwi land Arthur Moffatt replaced original spec. 1558cc engine with the 1964cc Climax FPF from his Lotus 15 - for at least one Wigram meeting. Overheated and was no quicker - I think

[Patrick Fletcher]

Originally posted by cedricselzer
I am surprised that Bob Dance does not know the whereabouts of these 2 Lotus Cortinas. PHK614D is in my workshop. It is jointly owned by Jannie van Aswegan and me. I also know where PHK615D is, but I am not at liberty to say. Bob does know the owner.

To get this thread back on track - Cedric are the two team cars runners?

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Patrick Fletcher
So sorry to keep OT but I will be quick - in Kiwi land Arthur Moffatt replaced original spec. 1558cc engine with the 1964cc Climax FPF from his Lotus 15 - for at least one Wigram meeting. Overheated and was no quicker - I think

He ran it for the full season, in partnership with someone else (Jim Mullins?). But you're right, it was no quicker

[cedricselzer]

614 is about 90% completed. 615 is as the day it stopped racing.