1984 Lotus Active Suspension Esprit
To many, this car needs no introduction. The Active Suspension
Esprit as driven and tested by Nigel Mansell. This car started life as 001 pre production
Lotus Essex Esprit dry sump car . The car was lent to The Delorean Motor companies
Managing Director before being returned to Lotus to be registered and used by Lotus
Engineering to become The Active Suspension Esprit. The development was for Active Suspension for the Lotus F1 Team .This makes this car very
unique for a couple of reasons. Not only was the cars the first pre production sought
after Essex Esprit (with Essex Cam Covers) it is also the very well documented and
only Active Suspension Esprit Development car.
All the above information verified by a certificate of
provenance and a letter from Lotus Cars.
Essex cars have been trading hands for over £100,000 in
recent years without the history and low mileage of this car.
The Story…
After engineering had finished with the development of this
car it was left at the grounds of Lotus behind Hanger 4 to be ignored and
walked by every day. A member of staff was instructed to have the car crushed
but thankfully a senior engineer moved the car around and hid it from view.
Knuckles wrapped each time it was found, but on continued the game of hide and
seek. Eventually the management thought it would be a good idea to put the car on
display at Lotus. After pulling it into the engineering work shop, new fuel
lines and battery were installed and miraculously it started. The car was
promptly cleaned up and put on display in the white building at Lotus cars. Lotus
carried on building around where the car was stored and it seemed it was
forever locked inside Lotus at the bottom of circular stairwell.
Fast forward many years and the fate of Lotus and its
finances were once again in the balance. After pestering the factory and the
powers that be I was contacted on a Friday afternoon asking if I would be interested
in purchasing the car. This was on the proviso that I paid for it that
afternoon on a debit card. Car duly paid for , it was then I was presented with
the prospect of removing the car through a set of double pedestrian doors. Risk
assessment written to please the H&S guys and the tasks started on a Saturday
morning to move it all of 25 ft. A rotisserie trolly was bolted to the hubs and
the car was moved through the doors on its side and safely onto a truck the other
side of the doors. A job that took 8 hours. Photos included as part of the history
of a new chapter in the Esprits life.
The car was acquired at the time (2016) to become part of a
larger collection of Lotus road and race cars being privately stored and
admired. As time passed I put some real thought into what to do with the car
next. Enquiries where made into re activating the suspension with one of the original
engineers. This was met with a very enthusiastic response that it could be done
after photos where sent back and forth. It was agreed first of all that the car
needed to running and working to achieve this. Subsequently I started removing bits
from the car but it was soon apparent it was a job to big for me and I certainly
wasn’t going to achieve much with the free time I had. It was sent to a Lotus
specialist who agreed to take on sympathetically restoring the car while keeping
the originality.
Like most old cars it presented better than what it actually
was. The cold winters when it was outside had not been kind to the wooden bulk
heads and many other components on the car. So it was decided to do the car properly
but keep the original paint with original sign writing still showing the brush
strokes of the artist brush and re- connollise the interior where Colin Chapman
and Nigel Mansell would have once sat. Remember this car has only covered 6500
miles so it needed to be saved and kept original as possible as it can only be original
once.
Engine and gearbox were removed and rebuilt. Carbs rebuilt.
New stainless steel fuel tank , new bulkheads, lights , wiring was fixed as
this was cut about at the factory (Lotus just had to get things done), new
alternator, tyres, windscreen, carpets, brakes , disc etc etc etc.
Having got this far it is now time for a change of direction
in my Lotus journey. Still lucky enough to own some Lotus cars but my interest
now has changed from road cars to race cars. Having started racing a Lotus 18 a
couple of seasons ago, this is where my interest and my funds lie. I love the
road cars but racing has truly taken over and I have another race car to
restore. There is only so much money to go round and that is where my priority is.
That brings along to why this car is for sale and the truth about the car. With
the car being arguably one of the most important Esprits built hopefully this
write up will put straight a lot of the comments I have read on the internet.
Supplied with the car are:
Photos of Extraction from Lotus
Certificate of Provence and Letter from Lotus
V5 Log Book showing Lotus as the previous owner plus me
Emails from the engineers who saved it confirming the story
and history
Marketing building sheet from factory
Numerous different press articles
Car Magazine article
Video available of on YouTube when the car was on Top Gear
with John Miles (ex F1 Lotus).
The car is available to view for sale in Norwich and I would
welcome part exchanges.
Any questions then
please don’t hesitate to contact Stuart on 07866 763635
Thanks for looking.