“Listen to this……”  my friend held his phone to my ear.  The wailing of a thousand cats screeched into my ear.

 “Its unbearable, what is it?” I stammered.

“That is my latest toy”

We were approaching Goodwood racetrack for the first day of the festival of speed. My good friend and recently qualified race car driver grinned from ear to ear.

“That is a V12, 1.5 litre, air cooled, 2-stroke engine, made up from 6 Ariel Arrows motorcycle engines”

“Six two-stroke engines bolted together! What genius would even attempt that?”

The “Rotorvic” is a unique Lotus 23 that has not been seen on British motor racing circuits for over 40 years. Having bought the chassis from the Utah Lotus Museum, my friend then had to persuade the Donington Collection, a famous motor museum based at Donington Park, to allow him to re-fit the infamous engine and take the car back on the circuit. His efforts were rewarded and this unique car made its first UK run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2008.

Based upon the Lotus 23 that made its debut in 1962 in the hands of Jim Clark at the Nurburgring. The name for the car derives from the race team run by Bill Hill and Ron Marchant called Rotorvic Development Associates. It was built with a V12, 1.5 litre, air cooled, 2-stroke engine, made up from 6 Ariel Arrows motocycle engines. After a spectacularly unsuccessful racing career, the engine was put into the Donington collection and the rest of the car enjoyed a second and successful career as a sports racer called The Rawlson.

It is understood that the car was a “toy” project built up from within the Lotus works by a team headed by Ron Marchant. Colin Chapman would have been well aware of the car and its one off engine. It was thought that more power could be produced from the six high-revving two-cycle motors than with a conventional four cylinder engine. Starting in 1964/65 the car was track tested and run in competition with only limited success, as the complicated setup was difficult to control.

131 official Type 23s were built by Lotus from 1962 to 1966. But this one is a unique “special” on account of its unique Rotorvic Developments engine and spectacular rear bodywork, with its two large rear air scoops to cool the engine.

The car ran from 1964 with Bill Hill as its driver, but without any real success due to continual engine misfiring problems. It was entered for a number of races from 1965 onwards but there is no record of it ever having finished one of them. It is a brilliant example of British engineering ingenuity and innovation of the time. But in reality it was a glorious failure. Once the Formula 1 engine capacity moved from 1.5 litre to 3 litres from 1966 onwards, the rationale of the car disappeared anyway and there was little point in further engine development.

All those who saw it run remember it well on account of its ear shattering noise. That noise can be heard today for the first time since the mid 1960’s.

Following its appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2008 the car retired to the depths of the Norfolk countryside to continue the next phase of its development. This involves a complete redesign of the exhaust system. At the festival straight through pipes were employed as an expedient way to prepare the car for its first appearance, however being a two stroke engine it requires carefully thought out and designed expansion boxes to unlock the power of the two stroke engines. In its FoS configuration, and being generous, the engine was probably producing no more than 70 -80 BHP, with a properly tunes exhaust system power output in the region of 160 – 180 bhp should be achievable. It has been estimated that the theoretical maximum should be between 200- 220 bhp which would be a phenomenal and probably race winning configuration.

After a number of enquiries the project was pointed towards Professor Gordon Blairof Queens University Belfast, a world renowned authority on the design of 2-stroke engines and their exhaust systems. Prof Blair has very kindly offered his assistance to the development of the Rotorvic engine to a level unseen in its 1964 racing guise. The original exhaust system has been described as “next to useless” in terms of its tuning effect on power output. So Prof Blair has design an entirely new 6 expansion box system for the car. Work is currently underway in the workshops to fabricate this exhaust system. The biggest problem is fitting it all in through the rear chassis compartment and bodywork.

The intention is to compete the system in 2009 and for the car to make it first 2009 appearance in September/October. Some toy huh?

 www.rotorvic.co.uk