by Anthony Pritchard

Published 1987 by Patrick Stephens Ltd., England ISBN 0-85059-795-9

This volume is subtitled: Design - Development - Race Histories, and in it Pritchard makes the first model-by-model analysis since Smith of the sports racers.  A chapter covers the early cars, then one each for the Mark VIII through the Lotus 30 & 40.  True to its place in Lotus history the Eleven earns two chapters: the first for the 1956 year and the second for 1957-58.

The Design - Development portions of the chapters on the Eleven seem independently researched and are cogently written, but do not reveal anything new for someone who has read Smith.  The book includes useful appendices of contemporary road tests including three on the Eleven, and an analysis of Coventry Climax engines with a type-by-type FWx list from 1953 to 1965.   

Pritchard was an eyewitness to many of the races he lists, and his subjectivity occasionally peeks from between the lines with words like mediocre, fantastic and wild.  These glimpses enliven our understanding of some of the drivers and what they were able to do.  

The photos included are generally well reproduced and, except for the mislabeled one on page 84, well chosen.  This volume is now very scarce.  It is superior in detail on the Eleven, however, to Pritchard's 1990 book, Lotus -  All The Cars.

-- Jay Sloane