Autocar 5 March 1970
Q-ROPA
By MAURICE A. SMITH, DFC
WHEN a prototype like GKN 47D is built, enthusiasts rejoice without necessarily asking the purpose of it. Enough that it was built. But, in fact, there are good business reasons for its existence; there is also a possibility of a successor and there are indirectly related GKN developments of great significance. Although this car is a Lotus/Rover/GKN/Vanwall special --a Q-ropa you might say, the important thing from the sponsors' point of view is that it contains a large number of components made by GKN companies. They list 28 separate classes of components, so in this context the car becomes both a test bed and an exciting mobile exhibition.
In mentioning related developments, we had in mind the announcement in October that GKN had acquired world manufacturing and marketing rights to the Ferguson Formula all-wheel control system. For this also, a number of shafts, joints, bearings and fasteners are involved, so the association is very good for Ferguson, who have badly needed such backing; for GKN business in the long term; and for people like us who have believed and written for several years past, that there should be an FF in every manufacturer's development section, and increasingly in ordinary people's garages. We have now driven a number of the larger Fords with full FF conversion, and generally have found them transformed in adhesion and handling. There is also, of course, the exotic Jensen FF about which we have written as often as we could get our hands on a car.
Returning to the GKN Lotus 47, we first tried it and described it last spring (AUTOCAR, 15 May), but it was not until the late autumn that we were able to borrow it for several days of normal use. Despite one or two inconveniences it is without doubt one of the most exciting and exhilarating little cars we have known. When you do happen on a few miles of traffic-free rolling road, it is sheer joy. Sustained fierce-smooth acceleration means that you always have as much speed between bends as you can use, and it is clear that the 47 will go around corners a lot quicker than most drivers would dare to attack them. What in a more ordinary sporting car would be a tight 40 mph corner seems to open up into a 60 mph bend, and you can pour the power on as soon as you can see your line out. The steering is unusually quick and precise so that the whole business of cornering does suggest "going round on rails" as the saying is.
Of course the suspension is pretty firm, but we never found it uncomfortable. At worst, there was a surfeit of thumping and clonking over the poorer sections of road. The back tyres, close to your outside ears, add some roar to the general sounds of power, but even when you are driving fast on the open road, you can still talk without raising your voice. It all adds up to a noise which is neither obtrusive nor irritating, but which you would prefer to be without.
Rover's 3 1/2-litre V8, as first installed, is not specially powerful, but of course it gives a very good power-to-weight ratio. It was untuned, but having a special exhaust system with less silencing and more direct breathing, it gave a little more power at the wheels than does a similar unit in the Rover 3500. The wide torque range and the complete absence of peakiness suit road driving well and make everything more relaxed.
Since the driver cannot hear much from the engine or gearbox, it is sometimes difficult to know which gear you are in. The ratios are very close and the pull in 4th or even 5th is so lusty that you would mistake either of them for third or even second. Mph per 1,000 rpm figures are:25 mph in 5th; 22 in 4th; 18 in 3rd; 14 in 2nd; 10 in 1st. Fifth is direct and should give 130 mph at maximum power (185 bhp net at 5200 rpm) and there is another 1,000 or more rpm to come.
If you do forget which gear you are in when loitering along in traffic, you may have to do some smart changing to sort them out. The interlock system makes you select in succession, i.e. you cannot skip
a gear up or down. Reverse and first opposite to each other on the left of the gate have a guard spring. Fifth is right and back nearest to the driver. The clutch on this car is heavy-probably 50 lb or more of push, and when you release it, it does not always come in as you expect. In fact there is the feel of a double engagement. On the other hand, it takes up very positively, and is really too harsh for ordinary traffic. The gears are all high for road work, so you need bottom to get away, and even this has to be treated with care to avoid stalling and judder, on the one hand, and excessive spin on the other. The considerable torque of the engine at low rpm obviously helps, because it allows you to bring the clutch in without roaring the engine and the car will still move away cleanly with very little risk of stalling, right down to 1,000 rpm. You can flick the gear lever across either one up or one down as quickly as you like, but this ZF box is always faster than the hand.
Although the car is labelled Europa, it has very little in common when you get down to details. It looks and is even lower, having virtually formula 1 Lotus suspension and an extra 10 in. of length for the Rover engine. The deck over the engine is higher than standard. Ground clearance is insufficient, and the turn drags across the smallest of ramps. No great harm seems to be done because the first points of contact are protruding bolts below the body sills and the glass-fibre under-tray.
Both interior trim and exterior finish are far above original Europa standards-the Europa S2 comes nearer-the car being by nature more of an executive than a competition special. Once you have threaded yourself under the steering wheel, the reclining hammock seat is splendidly comfortable, your whole spine, neck and head being supported. The screen base is low, and the short nose slopes away so you never need to crane your neck and the whole vista of the road spreads ahead as you rest in the seat. A single off-set wiper blade clears just about all the screen area that matters.
Far from relaxing your concentration as a driver, this reclining comfort seemed to take out tension and make total concentration that much easier. The shape of the top of the seat back and the position of the head cushion are all-important and one is led to deliberate on the inadequacies of ordinary short seat backs. Apart from the comfort, it gives a real feeling of security to be supported in this way.
No-one seems yet to have found the answer to reflections in a deep, curved and sloping screen of this kind. Most cars we have driven with similar screens have suffered, and this Lotus is quite bad at times. One good thing about this particular body is that, in spite of the slope of the screen, the glass is not too close to your head at the top, where 2 or 3 in. are deeply tinted Sundym fashion.
A pretty good fresh-air system is fitted, but in bright sunshine the interior is still like a hothouse, mainly because of the area of the screen. If you open a side window (they are electrically operated) you can increase the air circulation without draughts, but a lot of exhaust and petrol fumes find their way in as well, so there is no future in that. Even bigger air ducts and controlled outlets seem to be needed.
If we have been critical of detail, let us add now that this special Lotus is well on the way to being a well-built gentlemen's GT. There is no reason why a more domesticated clutch should not be fitted, and since there is no such thing as too much performance, let us have a tuned engine, fitted maybe with different cylinder heads. The potential is there as we know from the related units developed by Jack Brabham and others. The 180 mph speedometer would not then be such a show-off.
Ground clearance would certainly have to be increased by 2 or 3 in. and according to how this were done, it might make it easier to open the doors beside high curbs. Getting in and out is a bit of a problem, and since rain runs off the roof on to you or the seats when you open the doors, two more problems could possibly be solved together. A wrapover top to the doors and roof gutters, along the lines of those of the later GT 40s might do the trick. This would probably rule out the fitting of a small sunshine roof panel which would otherwise be an asset in hot weather.
It would be worthwhile trying to reduce rear tyre and suspension noises which are probably exaggerated by the sounding board effect of the rear bulkhead. Some minor rearrangements In the stowage areas should make it possible to carry one medium-sized suitcase. The existing carpeted compartment in front is not quite big enough, and there is no stowage space inside the car. Probably some of this is wishful thinking; even so, it will be surprising if more high quality, mid-engined "Gentlemen's" GT models do not appear in the next year or two. There is a limited but Important demand, with price not the all-important factor, provided the product is a thoroughbred, and has the right appeal. Those who drove Rover's own PB6 B experimental prototype saw much promise in it. France's angular little Matra 530A surprised us in the agreeable sense by its character and charm, and its good handling in spite of a modest mechanical spec. Agreed, mid-engined lay-outs are not the only solution, and, for example, we would be among the first to admit that there must still be bags of "stretch" in the conventionally disposed and still remarkable E-Type Jaguar. All the same, there are those who will tell you that there is that little something about the balance, adhesion and handling of mid-engined cars that make them "vary interestink and not at all stoopid".
| Cylinders | 8. in 90 deg vee |
| Main bearings | 5 |
| Cooling system | Water. pump. thermostat-twin radiators and electric fans |
| Bore | 88.9mm (3.50in.) |
| Stroke | 71.12mm (2.80in.) |
| Displacement | 3.531c.c. (216.5 cu.in.) |
| Valve gear | Overhead pushrods and rockers |
| Compression ratio | 10.5-to-1 |
| Carburettors | Twin SU type HD8 |
| Fuel pump-make type | AC mechanical |
| Oil filter | AC full-flow |
| Max. power | 185 bhp (net) at 5,200 rpm |
| Max. torque | 210 lb.ft. (net) at 5.200 rpm |
| Clutch | Vandervell/Borg and Beck twin plate with diaphragm spring |
| Gearbox | 5-speed ZF all-synchromesh |
| Gear ratios | Top 1.0: Fourth 1.12: Third 1.33: |
| Second 1.72: First 2.34; Reverse 2.30 | |
| Final drive | 2.79 to I |
| Construction | Steel backbone chassis with glass-fibre bodywork |
| Front | Double wishbones. coil springs, telescopic dampers. anti-roll bar |
| Rear | Double radius arms. transverse links, coil springs. telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar |
| Type | Rack and pinion |
| Wheel dia. | 14in. |
| Make and type | Girling disc front and rear |
| Servo | None |
| Dimensions | F 9.125 in. dia.: R 9.625 in. dia. |
| Type | Cast aluminium four-spoke centre lock 7.6in. wide rim | |
| Tyres | -make | Goodyear |
| -type | low profile 70 series radial ply, tubed. | |
| -size | 185-13in. |
| Battery | 12 volt 38 Ah |
| Alternator | Lucas 30 amp a.c. |
| Headlamps | Lucas sealed beam 120/90 watt (total) |
| Screen wipers | 2 speed |
| Safety belts | Full harness |
| Interior trim | Leather seats, pvc headlining |
| Floor covering | Carpet |
| Wheelbase | 7ft. 10in. (239cm) | |
| Track | -front | 4ft. 6in. (135cm) |
| -rear | 4ft. 3.26in. (130cm) | |
| Overall length. | 13ft. 4.5in. (408cm) | |
| Overall width. | 6ft. 4in. (162.5cm) | |
| Overall height. | 3ft. 4.8in. (104cm) | |
| (unladen) | ||
| Kerb weight (app) | 2,000 lb. (910kg) |
| 5th gear mph per 1,000 rpm | 25 |
| 4th gear mph per 1.000 rpm | 22 |
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