The Lotus Mark VI is the first production car by

Lotus Cars Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...

. It was introduced by

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...

in 1952 after previously building multiple

trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, wh ...

and

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

cars. The heart of the Mark VI is a semi-

space frame In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure (Three-dimensional space, 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometry, geometric pattern. Space frames can ...

chassis. Rather than a complete car, it was available to the general public as kit, wherein the customer could install any preferred engine and

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

, making it eligible for a wider number of formulae.

Design

The Mark VI in many ways reflected Chapman's background in engineering: his designs resulted from a stress analysis of loads into the frame, they were extremely light (the 6' space frame weighed only 55 lbs (25 kg)), and the suspension incorporated the latest advances. The prototype chassis was built up by the Progress Chassis Company and the aluminium body was constructed by

panel beater Panel beater or panelbeater is a term used in some Commonwealth countries to describe a person who restores vehicle bodies back to their factory state after having been damaged (e.g., after being involved in a collision). In the United States an ...

s Williams and Prichard. (Both firms would later furnish bodies and chassis for subsequent models.) The cheap and easily available mechanical parts were sourced from the

Ford Prefect The Ford Prefect is a line of British cars which was produced by Ford UK between 1938 and 1961 as an upmarket version of the Ford Popular and Ford Anglia small family cars. It was introduced in October 1938 and remained in production until ...

. The Mark VI became a common sight on Britain's racetracks and was a frequent winner, beating many more powerful and expensive cars; it earned praise for its handling and acceleration.Setright, L.J.K, "Lotus: The golden mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p.1223. An important facet of the success of the kit was Chapman's offering a comprehensive package in the Mark VI, including most of the special parts needed, and not just the chassis. The Mark VI chassis came with mounting points for several different engines including the 1172 cc (71.5ci)

Ford 10 The Ford Model C Ten is a car that was built by Ford UK between 1934 and 1937. The Ten moniker signifies its 10 British fiscal horsepower. The car was also assembled in Spain (Barcelona) between 1934 and 1936. The German version produced in the ...

, the 1250 cc or 1500 cc MG TF, the 1500 cc (92 ci)

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

, and the exalted

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British manufacturer of forklift trucks, fire pumps, racing engines, and other speciality engines. History Pre WWI The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, a joint venture by Jens Stroyer and Pelham Lee. In 1 ...

. Standardized as far as possible for volume production, some units were customized per the owners wishes. Lotus even modified the owner's parts, if needed. The success of the Mark VI in competition and sales (100 built by 1955) established Chapman as a manufacturer of specialty cars.

Specifications

: Number built: approximately 110 : Weight:

Drivetrain

Engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

: Ford E93A straight 4 : Engine location: front, longitudinally mounted :

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

: 1172 cc / 71.5 in³ :

Valvetrain A valvetrain is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) into the combu ...

: 2 valves per cylinder, sidevalve : Fuel feed: SU carburettors : Aspiration: naturally aspirated :

Gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

: Ford 3-speed manual : Drive: rear wheel drive

Performance

: Power: 50 bhp / 37 kW at 5000 rpm : Torque: 77 Nm / 57 ft·lbf at 3000 rpm : BHP/litre: 43 bhp / litre (0.7 hp/ci) :

Power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement ...

: 0.12 bhp / kg : 0-60 mph: 15.0 s : Top speed:

References

Bibliography

* * William Taylor, ''The Lotus Book: The Complete History of Lotus Cars '' Coterie Press, Limited.1998, pp. 20–21. {{Lotus Seven Mark VI Sports cars Cars introduced in 1952 Open wheel cars