He was born at Nansladron at St Ewe near St Austell in Cornwall , and was an only child. [1] His father was Edward Martin (born in 1843), the owner of Martin Brothers China Clay Merchants in St Austell, who lived at Treverbyn , and who also owned the Lee Moor porcelain factory in Plympton . Martin Brothers, founded in 1837, became part of English China Clays . His mother was Elizabeth Emily Birch (born in 1851 in Manchester), who had also been married previously to Walter Braithwaite who died, and she came from Salford , and her family were wealthy chalk and lime merchants; her father was William Singleton Birch, who had founded Singleton Birch , later run by his uncle Thomas Birch. His parents had married on 26 April 1877 at Lillington, Warwickshire ; he was baptised on 20 May 1878 at Lillington church. [2] He grew up in Knightsbridge . In 1891 he went to Eton College . In 1897 he went to Brasenose College, Oxford , where he was an enthusiast member of the
1974 Lotus tries to move upmarket with the front-engine, four-seat Elite hatchback. Although surprisingly practical and motivated by a DOHC 16-valve 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 140 hp in U.S. tune, the Elite is expensive and arguably overpriced at $16,300 ($70,000 in 2010). In a May 1975 feature, Patrick Bedard calls the Elite “a Mustang II taken to the very highest limits, just as it could be said that an Elan was a much-massaged MGB refined until it was an unmistakably pure sports car. The word will get out on the Elite. When it does, there will be another legend in the making.” Lotus has often been associated with being overpriced and in a way I believe that is why they did not continue to try and make a "everyday" driver or mass produce a "common" vehicle.
Arguably the most innovative team in Formula One history, Lotus established itself in the 1950s by building simple, lightweight sportscars with sublime handling. They stuck with that same philosophy as they became the dominant force in grand prix racing in the 1960s and 70s, and had many of racing’s greatest champions pilot their machines. "He was the computer. If the car wasn’t handling well on the Friday, he would go back to the garage and call the mechanics. By Saturday morning the car would be fantastic. Only Colin Chapman could do that. He was a genius.” - Emerson Fittipaldi Team founder Colin Chapman was an ingenious engineer who experimented with lightweight materials and relied heavily on his knowledge of aeronautical engineering, which he had gained while in the Royal Air Force. Lotus entered its first F1 race at Monaco in 1958, with Graham Hill and Cliff Allison driving. A victory of sorts came the following year with Stirling Moss in a customer Lotus, but
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