This was the third on the classic cars that I drove on my day with Car Chase Heroes. Sadly the USB stick was not correctly located in the camera and so I have no film of my four laps at Bicester with the car. I only have the still photo shown here as a souvenir of my drive.
I have owned a Mk1 Cortina, although mine was a 1500cc estate version. I loved that car and it always drove well. In the end the engine was showing signs of wear and, as a family man by then with a new baby, I needed to be sure that the family car was reliable and so the Cortina was sold.
I accept that the Lotus version was a very different animal, but I really did not like it and, of the three cars that I drove over at Bicester, this was the only disappointment. I’m not sure why though. It was the second of my drives, following on from the DB5, so perhaps it suffered from the comparison. It just did not feel good to drive at all and I don’t think that I got the best out of it. I certainly did not enjoy the drive.
I think that my main problem was that I felt that I had failed to master the car; I had no confidence in it and that is very rare for me. I can get into pretty much any vehicle and feel comfortable driving it. All of the times that I have crossed the Atlantic, got through the formalities, jumped into a rental that I have never seen before and headed off into the traffic without a care. This Lotus Cortina I just could not get my head around and that bothers me still.
The DB5 and the E Type I felt perfectly at home in even if I was a tight fit in both, but this other icon of my youth fell a long way short. Such is life, at least I have got to have a go in one.
driverjohn 
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