FORD LOTUS-CORTINA

When the Lotus-Cortina (or Ford Cortina-developed-by-Lotus as Ford preferred to call it) was originally introduced in 1963 it offered a pretty exotic specification for a road car. Since then there have been many changes, each one bringing the car back nearer to standard. Strangely enough the more standard the car has become the better it has behaved as a road machine, and the latest version on the Mk.II Cortina chassis is undoubtedly quite the best Lotus-Cortina to be built.

The first Lotus-Cortina had many light alloy body panels, a revised facia, new seats, greatly revised suspension, with trailing arm and coil spring rear end, and, of course, the twin-cam engine with close ratio gearbox. Over the years it lost many of these parts, reverting to the normal steel body panels, leaf spring rear suspension, a less closely ratioed box and so on. Now, the new model is made entirely at Dagenham, and Lotus do not have a gand in building the car, which greatly simplifies production as far as Ford is concerned.

The new Cortina was designed with the Lotus version in mind so that relatively few modifications have been necessary. In fact one could almost say that the Lotus-Cortina is a Cortina GT with a twin-cam engine and not be far off the mark. The interior of the car is exactly the same, with the same facia and the same seats as the GT. Externally the car is also difficult to distinguish from normal GTs, but the black mesh radiator grille of the old Lotus-Cortina is retained and Lotus badges are fitted to the rear of the body sides. Whereas the earlier Lotus could only be obtained in white with a green stripe, the new model is available in any of the Ford colours. Naturally many people will still plump for a white car, and a green stripe is available, but the new body styling does not really lend itself to the stripe, which cannot follow the body contours as on the Mk.I Lotus-Cortina. In actual fact Ford has not given any method of designating between the new and old Cortina, so we will call the Mks.I and II. "Sidewinder" stripes with the name "Ford" can also be specified to be fitted along the lower body sill.

Engine
The twin-cam engine is supplied in slightly more powerful form than on the Mk.I as the previously optional special equipment engine is now standard equipment. This engine gives 115 b.h.p. (gross), 109 b.h.p. (net) at 6,000 r.p.m. compared with the 105 b.h.p. (net) at 5,500 rpm of the previous engine. Ford have done some development work on the engine in their own engine development department, whereas on the Mk.I the engines were supplied and developed by Lotus. Most of the modifications are aimed at reliability and refinement and especially noise level. The typical Weber carburettor roar has been silenced to a great extent by a new air cleaner, an enormous device which straddles the cam covers and makes plug removal rather difficult. However, the lower noise level will be much appreciated by all but the boy racer element. The engine feels quite smooth and refined and it starts well, even on cold days, with two or three pumps of the throttle pedal and the choke can be ignored. It warms up quite quickly and idles evenly at about 800 r.p.m., although our test car developed an exhaust leak which made the idling rather rough and also affected performance. We took a set of performance figures with the car in this state and they were rather poor and Ford submitted another car which gave much better results. On the ordinary Cortina GT we achieved a 0-60 m.p.h. time of 14.8sec. and 0-80 in 30.5sec., while on the Lotus-Cortina we reached 60 in 10.8sec. and 80 in 20.1sec., which is, of course, a useful improvement, especially at the higher speeds. However, the cars are not directly comparable because they have different gearbox and final drive ratios and the Lotus version is fitted with a distributor cut-out which shorts the ignition at 6,500 r.p.m., whereas we were revving the pushrod GT engine to 7,000 r.p.m.! The acceleration figures are affected quite noticeably by this cut-out as the engine cuts at 38 m.p.h. in first, 55 in second and 78 in third; if the engine could be revved slightly higher to encompass 40, 60 and 80 in these gears the acceleration figures would be improved somewhat. But as the twin-cam tends to break its crank if revved over 7,000 r.p.m. for long periods in standard form, the cut-out is justified. Strangely enough the performance of the latest Lotus-Cortina is very similar to the early model we tested in January 1964 which gave a 0-60 m.p.h. time 11.1sec. and a 0-80 of 19.8sec., although the gear ratios were vastly different.

Ford claims a top speed of 108 m.p.h. for the new Lotus-Cortina, but we failed to reach this, putting in a two-way average of 103 m.p.h. To achieve 108 m.p.h. the car would have to pull the full 6,500 r.p.m. in top but our rather new test car would not pull much more than 6,000 r.p.m. No doubt when it loosens up the performance will improve. The new engine struck as feeling slightly more refined than its predecessor, while oil consumption, which can be a problem on the twin-cam, was negligible as the engine only required a quart in over 1,500 miles.

Fuel Consumption
Despite a lot of hard driving the Lotus-Cortina returned a fuel consumption of 23.4 m.p.g. over a fairly high mileage, although this can be increased to below 20 m.p.g. if continuous high speeds are maintained. The normal 10-gallon fuel tank is retained, which means that the range of the Lotus-Cortina is not much over 200 miles. We feel that this type of car, which is likely to be used for long distance Continental travel, should be able to go at least 300 miles on a full tank of fuel.

Transmission
In our test of the Cortina GT when it was introduced last October, we criticised the gear ratios, as we felt that second gear was far too low. Early this year Ford introduced a higher second gear for the GT and for the Corsair 2000E and this uprated gear is also fitted to the Lotus, although Ford have been strangely reticent about admitting the existence of the uprated gear. The early Lotus-Cortina used a modified Elan box with rather high ratios, which were not very suitable for road use, but since 1966 it has used the normal Ford box. The Lotus box is still available for competition use. The box has a very light, but slightly notchy, change which can be whipped form gear to gear very rapidly indeed, although lever travel is fairly long, while the diaphragm clutch is commendably light. There is a slight gear lever "zizz" at certain revs, but nothing to worry about. Using the gears to the full, the Lotus can be made to perform incredibly well, putting up the sort of average speeds which would make Mrs. Castle faint, yet doing so in perfect safety. Acceleration from a standstill is perhaps not exactly vivid, due mainly to the fact that you cannot spin the wheels in the dry, but once motoring in the 60-80 m.p.h. bracket the car really rockets along, while a cruising speed of 100 m.p.h. can be sustained for long periods without signs of stress. Our test car had the standard 3.77:1 axle, but numerous optional ones are available.

Handling
We criticised the early Lotus-Cortina for rather vague, fussy handling on the road, but the new model is a terrific improvement. Our test car was shod with Goodyear G800 radial tyres on the standard 5 1/2 in. rims which gave first class handling in the dry, although a great deal of circumspection was required in the wet as the lightly laden tail would flick out very easily. If you are quick with the opposite lock the situation can be saved but the Lotus-Cortina defintely needs treating with respect in the wet. Experiments with other tyres might well produce better results, but the main problem is the light weight of the car. In the dry when cornering at the limit the car understeers very strongly and the tail needs a great deal of provocation before letting go. Despite our reservations about the wet weather handling we rate the Lotus as an excellent handling car. It feels very safe, is not affected unduly by road surfaces, and tracks very straight at high speed, with little sign of wander except in strong crosswinds.

Steering
The recirculating ball steering has a higher ratio than on the GT version but is much the same in general feel. There is some sponginess and lack of precision in this type of steering, but it seems less inclined to transmit road shocks than rack and pinion and is generally satisfactory. Some of our staff commented unfavourably on the virtual complete lack of self-centring action, which means that the driver has to return the wheel to the straight ahead position after cornering instead of letting it spin through his fingers. The actual wheel, which is the same as that of the GT, will probably be replaced by most people with a less dished wooden type to give more arm room.

Ride and Comfort
The suspension of the Lotus-Cortina is slightly lower and stiffer than that of the GT but the resultant ride is very similar, giving a firm, pitch-free ride on all but the worst surfaces. With four people on board the car feels better than with only one or two, but we feel that a few drivers will complain about the riding qualities. Rear seat leg-room is only modest but the front seats are an improvement over those of the earlier Lotus-Cortina, although taller drivers will no doubt prefer more fore and aft adjustment and a reclining backrest.

Brakes
The brakes are the same as those of the new GT, with 9.6in. discs at the front and 9in. drums at the rear, but the Lotus has a vacuum servo which reduces pedal pressures to a very low level, giving the car very impressive braking from high speeds. The rear brakes can lock up and cause the wheels to judder but slight easing of the pedal pressure stops this quickly. The pedals are well placed for heel and toe changes, but the organ-type throttle pedal of our test car fell off, leaving us only the shaft to depress! The umbrella handbrake is retained in the Lotus-Cortina for some unearthly reason; we would have thought a fly-off central handbrake would be much more appropriate, although the central luggage locker takes that space at present.

Interior
As already mentioned the interior of the Lotus-Cortina is virtually identical to that of the GT, the only real differences being the fitting of a 140 m.p.h. speedometer and an 8,000 r.p.m. tachometer for obvious reasons. The car is well instrumented by any standards and the layout of the minor controls is quite satisfactory.

The latest expression of the Lotus-Cortina theme is probably less exciting to the enthusiast than the original Chapman idea, but as a sensible road car it far outreaches any of its predecessors - we predict a great future for it.

PERFORMANCE

Acceleration through gears:
0-30: 3.8 sec.
0-40: 5.8 sec.
0-50: 7.6 sec.
0-60: 10.8 sec.
0-70: 14.6 sec.
0-80: 20.1 sec.
0-90: 30.1 sec.
Standing start 1/4 mile: 17.6 sec.

Maximum speeds in the gears (6,500 r.p.m.):
First: 38 m.p.h.
Second: 55 m.p.h.
Third: 78 m.p.h.
Top: (6,200 r.p.m.) 103 m.p.h.

Overall fuel consumption:
Average: 23.4 m.p.g.
Range: 20-27 m.p.g.