Jim Clark is considered by many as the finest and most naturally gifted racing driver of all time. He won the F1 World Championship twice for Team Lotus in 1963 and in 1965. In total, he won 25 Grand Prix races and was the first Briton to win the Indianapolis 500. Clark won a third of all the F1 races he entered, as well as racing in other formulae such as F2, F3 and Touring Cars. Typically he would race in as many as three different categories per race meeting! How many of the current crop of F1 drivers would do that?

In tribute to Jim Clarks achievements, Lotus, in association with Classic Team Lotus, is producing the Clark Type 25 Elise SC, with a donation for each of these special cars sold going to the Jim Clark memorial fund. This Elise, initially limited to just 25 cars in the UK is now also available for a further 25 cars in the mainland European market. The decision to produce another 25 cars for the mainland European Market was driven by the high demand from dealers and customers from all over Europe.

The 25 has been the Type number of his 1963 Lotus F1 car and his number of F1 wins and has been authorised by the Clark family and coincides with the 40th anniversary of Jim Clarks death at Hockenheim in 1968.

Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus Plc comments, It is fitting that the latest version of our award winning Elise, the Clark Type 25 Elise SC, should celebrate the life of Jim Clark. Each owner of the Clark Type 25 Elise SC will be joining an unrivalled heritage that recognises motorsports greatest partnership, that of Lotus and Jim Clark.

The Clark Type 25 Elise SC draws upon many styling cues from the Type 25 Formula 1 car that Jim Clark raced to win the World Championship in 1963. The car, with a removable hard top as standard, is finished in British Racing Green with a yellow stripe along the centre and features high performance Lotus Sport wheels, finished in an historic black and silver design. The interior is inspired by the Team Lotus Formula 1 cars of the era, with black leather sports seats, trimmed with red leather and all finished off with a retro wooden gear knob.

The Elise SC is the most powerful production Elise ever produced and offers stunning performance. Power comes from a 1.8 litre non-intercooled, supercharged engine and uses intelligent cam switching technology, enabling the engine to switch to the high performance cam anywhere between 4000 and 6200 rpm. This clever feature gives the engine two characters, allowing the car to be driven economically or giving maximum performance for spirited driving.

The Elises light weight gives low CO2 emissions (202 g/km), great handling and affords phenomenal braking. Another benefit of the low weight is incredible acceleration, with the sprint to 100 km/h in only 4.6 seconds. The Elise SC accelerates on to a top speed of 238 km/h. Combined fuel consumption is 8.5 l/100 km.

All Lotus cars offer exceptional handling and the Elise is no exception. The chassis has a seriously light, stiff structure. Combining this technology with the fantastic Lotus ride and handling gives an inspiring driving experience and the mid-engined layout of the Lotus Elise offers fantastic balance and agility.

The Elise SC offers a few technological advances that Jim Clark may have found helpful in his Type 25. Coming as standard on the Elise is traction control, ABS and sequential shift lights, however all the driver aids are included to improve the driving experience and do not intervene unless really called upon.

The Clark Type 25 Elise SC is available for all countries in Europe and is on sale now. The car is priced very competitively at 44.100,– (+ local taxes). This price is representing a customer saving of 3.596,– (before tax). Please note: prices include transport, delivery, local taxes, and first service.