In 1961, Colin Chapman at Lotus was looking for a way to build his own engines for his cars to avoid the high costs associated with the Coventry Climax units they were built with. After developing a twin-cam version of the Ford Kent engine with Harry Mundy, Walter Hayes at Ford approached Chapman and asked if he could fit the engine they’d made to 1000 new Ford saloon models. And thus the Ford Lotus Cortina was born.
It’s quite fitting really that two such well known and loved names in British automotives should have united together on a car like this one. Whilst admittedly it pales in comparison to the uber fast speeds of modern performance cars, for a vintage British sports saloon of that time it was very impressive indeed.
The power on these two door models, weighing in at 904.9 kg - thus bringing it into Lotus’ design theory of ‘Simplify then add lightness’ - comes from a 1.6 Inline 4 engine, powering out 110 bhp. Behind the wheel of the Lotus Cortina, you could achieve top speeds of 104 mph, with acceleration from 0 - 60 mph in 11 seconds.
How do I book a Driving Experience?
You can buy a Ford Driving Experience in one of two ways. You may either buy a 10-month open gift certificate for one of our driving experience days or book straight onto an available day using our events calendar. Our Ford activities are generally available all year, so wherever you are in the UK, you should be able to find something suitable.
If no dates are available on the voucher page, please email or phone us and our customer service staff will provide you with the most up-to-date information. If you'd like to create a custom package, or if you'd want to turn one of our driving experiences into a group or corporate event, please visit our corporate days page and fill out our contact form.
If you purchase an open gift voucher for a Ford package, the voucher's normal validity term is 10 months. Please double-check this, as certain Ford coupons and special offers may have a shorter or longer validity period.
If you schedule a driving experience on a certain day, please keep in mind that you are making a reservation request, and the date and time you choose are still subject to availability.
We typically confirm reservations within 48 hours, however we ask that you wait until you get your final confirmation email before making any plans related to your booking request. The confirmation we give you when you submit a booking request is not the same as the receipt we send you.
When buying Ford driving experiences make sure that the driver fulfils all age, weight, height, and driving licence criteria. Because each driving experience has its own set of needs, please read the essential information carefully.
If an experience is exclusively for younger drivers, we will generally indicate it in the package name, although this is not always the case. If you arrange a driving experience and the driver does not satisfy the criteria on the day, it is doubtful that they will be allowed to drive the car; but, if space is available, they will be given a passenger trip.
Check out our junior driving adventures for some fantastic deals!
