Lotus Set to Celebrate Elan 50^th Anniversary

The Lotus Elan is legendary for its light weight and simple, modern design elements. And this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Lotus plans to celebrate a half-century of Colin Chapman-inspired influence.

The 670kg sports car established Lotus as one of the premier performance manufacturers in the world in the early 1960s, birthing a design template that still exists today in the Mazda Miata, as well as the late MkI Toyota MR2, Honda S2000, and others.

The Elan was launched in October at the 1962 British Motorshow on the heels of Jaguar’s launch of the E-Type in 1961, and in the midst of the then-new AC Cobra.

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Coulthard and Mercedes Set Novel World Record

David Coulthard has set a world record—one that he says trumps his wins in F1 for pure excitement.

Driving the SLS AMG Roadster, pro golfer Jake Shepherd hit a golf ball as the Mercedes roared past. Traveling at 120 MPH, the ball fell into open-top roadster 275 meters later—the “farthest golf shot to be caught in a moving car, ever.”

Said Coulthard, "The only way to track the ball was to keep your eyes on it all the time: it's a real adrenaline rush but it's not the most comfortable thing to do because for a moment, you're not watching the road! I was as happy as I've ever been winning a Grand Prix because I was so surprised quite frankly that it went in, and went in so solidly!"

See it in action.

F1 Historic Grand Prix Announced as Circuit of the Americas Support

Formula 1 is set to return to the United States at the Circuit of the Americas, a 5.516 km course in Texas.

And now the Historic Grand Prix, consisting of 50 owner-drivers of vintage F1 machinery from 1966 to 1983, has been announced as the first support series for the international F1 brand.

Circuit Executive Vice President Bruce Knox explained the importance of the move. “Historic Grand Prix is a great compliment to the USGP as it allows our fans to see the technical and innovative progression of Formula 1 racing cars. Many of the HGP cars are legendary and include Mario Andretti’s Lotus 79 that won the 1978 World Driving Championship, Niki Lauda’s 1976 Ferrari 312-T2 that finished 2nd in 1976 and was part of his 1977 World Championship and Gilles Villeneuve’s 1980 Ferrari 312-T5. Historic Grand Prix is a series that was widely requested by our customers and we are pleased that it will be included as a USGP support race.”

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