Lotus Elan F1 supercar, reportedly said that his only disappointment with the McLaren F1 was that he could not give it the perfect steering of the Lotus Elan. In 2004, "Sports Car International" named the Elan number six on the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s. The original version of the car was designed by Ron Hickman who also designed the first Lotus Europa as part of Lotus' GT40 project bid and made his fortune having designed the Black & Decker Workmate. Because of its successful design and rigorous attention to cost control on the body, chassis, engine and the
Lotus Europa number of Europas (and Elans) were produced bearing black-and-silver Lotus badges on the nose and steering wheel in place of the customary yellow-and-green ones. The official Lotus Cars website states these "black-badge" vehicles were to commemorate the death earlier in 1968 of Jim Clark, Lotus's champion Formula One driver, however this is debated by other sources. Contemporary road tests for the Europa S2 recorded a top speed around 120 mph (195 kph), 0-60 times of 9.3 secs, standing 1/4 mile times around 16.7 secs, and an overall fuel economy around 30 mpg (9.4 L/100 km). A small number of Series