ORANGE ZEST

This homologation special has been restored for a new life on the road in the Philippines, yet the compromises have been few

- James Elliott

The obvious question is whether it would have been easier to soup-up a stock Europa rather than streetify a 47. It’s a fair one, too, especially if you are unfamiliar with quite how different a Type 46 Lotus Europa and a Lotus 47 GT really are, the former being an appreciably edgy street racer with a dose of racecar-resembling masochism (the driver's footwell and pedal layout still perplex some, while rear visibility is not all it might be). Yet in all its various guises, the Lotus Europa — fixed window, longitudinally mounted Renault 16 four-pot engine - is a wonderful driving machine, a more focused evolution of the Elan, with the folded pressed-steel backbone chassis reversed and shortened to house the engine amidships and allow space for the wheels. A wonderful clubman’s car. Ron Hickman’s 47 GT, on the other hand, of which 55 are believed to have been built by Lotus Components to meet homologation, may share the silhouette that was derived from Lotus’s losing pitch for what was to become the Ford GT40, but underneath it is a full-on Group 4 racer.

The Type 47 has thinner, lighter GRP bodywork, initially bonded to its chassis, reducing the already lightweight 610kg Europa S1 (Type 46) to a flyweight 558kg. They use the same suspension system but in the racer it is uprated in every way: for example, the 47 GT's front wishbones are from a Type 41 single-seater, the rear (reversed bottom wishbone, top link and dual radius arms) is pure Lotus F2. Bits of 22/23 and 69 are in there, too. The wheels and tyres squeezed under the ‘arches are huge in comparison, they are in fact Countach-sized at the rear (6.00/12.00-13); the lack of bumpers and cooling vents on all but the earliest cars are other giveaways, but it is the performance that really leaves no room for doubt.