Legacy Metrics

1963 Lotus Elan 26R

26/189racingUnited Kingdom

A Lotus Formula Junior with FIA papers (S5124) carrying a long competition history primarily in Sweden and Denmark, where it claimed the Swedish Championship. Fitted with a John Smurthwaite engine, Quaife gearbox internals, and built to Tony Thompson parts specification, the car wears classic Lotus green and yellow livery. Since 2013 it has continued in historic racing, recording victories in Masters and HSCC Classic K competition.

Ownership

  1. 2019-02-23Auction sale
  2. 2013 →Acquisition unknown
    Current vendor
    partial documentation

    Owner has campaigned the car in Masters and HSCC Classic K events, recording race wins in both series.

  3. Date unknown
    Swedish or Danish owner(s)
    partial documentation

    Car spent the majority of its history competing in Sweden and Denmark, winning the Swedish Championship during this period.

Competition

  1. Swedish Championship
    Swedish Championship
    Champion

    Car won the Swedish Championship during its Scandinavian competition history.

  2. Masters Historic Racing
    Masters Historic Racing
    Race win(s)

    At least one race victory recorded under current ownership from 2013 onwards.

  3. HSCC Classic K
    HSCC Classic K
    Race win(s)

    At least one race victory recorded under current ownership from 2013 onwards.

Maintenance & restoration

  1. Engine rebuild
    John Smurthwaite

    Engine built by John Smurthwaite to competition specification.

  2. Modification

    Gearbox fitted with Quaife internals; car built to Tony Thompson parts specification.

Are you the owner of this car?

This car's public record is built from its auction and competition history. Register your ownership and privately add your own records to make it a verified Legacy Metrics passport — provenance that backs your car's value at sale and gives your insurer evidence to price against. Roy reviews and verifies every registration personally.

Each chassis record is compiled from public auction archives and links to its source material. Ownership, competition and maintenance entries are extracted from those catalogue listings by an LLM, which can make mistakes — please contact us with any corrections. The summary is Legacy Metrics’ own writing; we do not reproduce catalogue text.

“Full” and “partial” documentation labels indicate how well each entry is corroborated in the underlying sources, not an audit of the car’s physical paperwork. Names of recent or living owners are withheld for privacy.