Pete05
Premium
- 7,059
- Melbourne, Australia
The Elfin 300 was originally designed for the US market as a competitor to the Lotus 23b and four Type 300 cars were manufactured during 1967. The first went to the US with a 1150 cc Holbay Ford, the second went to South Africa with it's 2-litre Climax an the other two cars remained in Australia with twin cam Ford engines.
All Type 300 cars broke lap records during their first season of racing. They paved the way for development of the 300B, 300C and the 1970 Australian Sports Car Championship winning Type 350.
Elfin chassis SS67-5 is powered by the actual Coventry Climax twin cam engine used to power Jim Clark's Lotus during the 1961 F1 season. This car was extensively modified and strengthened to take the FPF engine which was enlarged from 1.5-litres to the 2-litre short stroke specification. This car was exported to Garth McGillewie in South Africa, where it became the most successful sports car in the under 3-litre class. In 1968 and 1969, the car won outright 11 races from 11 starts, beating 5-litre Ford GT40s, 3-litre Porsche Carreras, Dino Ferraris and works Lotus.
Apparently Colin Chapman of Lotus protested the performance of the Elfin at a 3-hour International at the Cape Town circuit, Killarney, after it lapped the entire 3-litre field and set a lap record faster than David Piper's 4.4-litre Ferrari. The engine was checked and proved to be under 2-litres.
The car returned to Australia in 2002 in neglected disrepair but has since been subjected to a no-expense-spared restoration.
The drive is via a Hewland FT200 5 speed transaxle transmission.
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