Talbot Sunbeam Lotus

It should have been a roaring success, but the ongoing fuel crisis hit demand for all large-engined cars and, despite a projected production run of 4100, time was called on the Sunbeam Lotus after 2308 were made.

[shafeeemamdee]

Love these cars! I'm a Coventry Boy so I'm proud of the Sunbeam lotus heritage. Des odell was in charge of the motorsport division in Coventry and he was looking for a competetive engine to challenge the Escort RS 2000's. They had a 2.0 litre Brm engine but it was too heavy to be competetive. He went to college in coventry with a friend who worked for Lotus. Lotus were ready to supply engines to Austin Healey but they went under. Des asked his friend to supply two engines. One in road going form and one in rally spec. The earlier engine produced 150 bhp in road form later uprated to 160bhp in the Mk2 spec. The rally engine produced 245bhp and stopped the reign of the escorts. They were also the last two wheel drive car to win the Lombard rac rally in 1983! Peugeot had taken over Talbot and chose the 205t16 as it's next project. The sunbeam story came to an end. They won the 1980 world rally championship with a relatively low budget compared to the teams racing. oh and @0.25 there were actually 2308 cars built like you said in your video description. Your figures are just entered incorrectly.