[Well, we didn’t exactly scoop Autoweek (in fact, we’re about 40 years too late), but here’s an insightful side-by-side comparison of the Alfa Sprint Zagato and the Lotus Elite, by AONE member Bob Russell, who owns and vintage races them both. —Ed.]
I thought it might be interesting to write down some of my impressions of two interesting cars of mine—my Alfa Sprint Zagato and my Lotus Elite Series I. I have competed in both cars in various vintage events, including the Pittsburgh Vintage GP and the Sprint Vintage GP at Mid Ohio, so I do have a fair amount of seat time in both cars. Without showing any favorites, I thought it might be fun to come up with some comments on each.
In many ways, the Lotus was a far superior car technologically, for its time, considering its completely new style of construction, superior aerodynamics, superb disc brakes, and very light weight. Unfortunately, Colin Chapman didn’t really pursue the areas of quality of assembly and reliability of components. They did win LeMans a few times with the Elite, which was quite an accomplishment considering the obstacles to be overcome. Unfortunately, the average owners and dealers had many problems to deal with, which contributed to the premature end of its production. The Elite is a car which grows on you as you become familiar with it. The lightness and the subtle feel of driving it really are impressive for a car forty years old. My Elite has full road/race equipment and interior—even a heater and dome light inside (that works—amazing!). My Elite has been quite reliable; however, it was a total ground-up restoration project that took two years. I’m sure that no factory-built Elite was ever made with the attention to detail of my car. Mine probably has more the build quality of a Porsche.
The Alfa appeals to me in a completely different way. I like the aspect of the Alfa history, the beautiful, tight Zagato design (one of their very best, in my opinion), the hand-crafted aluminum bodies (six per month), the race car crudeness, the sound, and the ability to fling it around and have it not bite you. The hemi engine with its Webers and aluminum sump producing that great sound and the smooth 5-speed transmission are very enjoyable. The SZ did very well in its racing career, which, no doubt, was helped by the fact that the SZ was purpose-built for racing, and that so many were in each race. The Elite really didn’t do that much racing on the continent in comparison to the SZ.
I think that making a comparison is very difficult, as they both were magnificent GT cars with their own very different personalities. I think that they very accurately reflect the differences in the Italian and English mentalities. The SZ feels robust and solid, while the Lotus seems delicate and more like a sure-footed cat. Both are much more race cars than road cars. The four-wheel disc brakes of the Elite are incredibly effective and inspire confidence, especially in a car as lightweight as the Elite. Although the three-shoe finned brakes of the SZ are classic and beautiful, sometimes I wish I had discs at the end of a long straight. All in all, each is very interesting and totally unique.
I’m lucky to be able to savor each one at different times. Certainly they are both beautiful examples of the late 50s and early 60s dual-purpose cars. Both cars are enjoyably noisy, although I wonder how it must have been in a 12- or 24-hour race (no wonder the older drivers have hearing aids). Oh, and by the way, I adjust pretty well to the switch from RHD to LHD—the only real issue is that sometimes I want to enter the driver’s seat from the wrong side in the Lotus.
