Elfin Sports Cars

Infobox_Company
company_name = Elfin Sports Cars Pty Ltd
company_
company_slogan =
company_type = Private
foundation = 1957
location = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
key_people = None
num_employees =
parent = Walkinshaw Performance
industry = Automotive
products = Automobiles
homepage = [http://www.elfin.com.au/ www.elfin.com.au]

Elfin Sports Cars Pty Ltd is the current name of the car company which was founded by Garrie Cooper. It has been an Australian manufacturer of sports cars and motor racing cars since 1957.

Elfin Sports Cars is owned by British Racing Legend Tom Walkinshaw through his company Walkinshaw Performance which also owns Holden Special Vehicles [cite web
last = McGrath
first = McGrath
title = Elfin joins the HSV club
publisher = Carsguide.com.au
date = 2006-12-15
url = http://carsguide.news.com.au/story/0,20384,20931780-21822,00.html
accessdate = 2007-03-12] . It was previously owned by businessmen and historic racing enthusiasts Bill Hemming and Nick Kovatch (who remains as technical director) who purchased it in 1998.

The current manufacturer location is at Braeside, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

Elfin is the oldest continuous sports car maker in Australia and one of the most successful with 29 championships and major Grand Prix titles [cite web
last = Round
first = Jason
title = GOING FOR GOLD
publisher = HOT4s
url = http://www.hot4s.com.au/latestrides_elfin.php
accessdate = 2007-03-12] . The previous factory was located at Conmurra Avenue, Edwardstown in suburban Adelaide, South Australia.

History

The company was founded by Garrie Cooper (Adelaide 1935-25 April 1982), a successful championship driver and designer and builder of racing and sports/racing cars as Elfin Sports Car Company. In 1983, following the death of its founder, the firm was taken over by Tony Edmondson and Jon Porter who re-established the provision of parts and service to existing owners. [The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 1986, page 138]

There is a heritage centre dedicated to Elfin Sports Cars in Melbourne, Australia. The centre features around 12 vehicles on display.

Racing

Elfin won 29 championships and major titles including two Australian Drivers' Championships, four Australian Sports Car Championships, three Australian Tourist Trophies and four Formula Ford titles, the Singapore Grand Prix (1968) and twice won the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Drivers of Elfin cars included World Formula One Champion James Hunt and French Formula One driver, Didier Pironi. Others were Vern Schuppan, Larry Perkins, John Bowe, Frank Matich, Bob Jane, John Harvey, Allan Grice and Peter Manton.

Models

Current Vehicles

Elfin is currently producing two Chevrolet V8 powered sports cars: the MS8 Streamliner and the MS8 Clubman.

Historic Vehicles

The original company produced 248 racing and sports racing cars in 27 different models over a 25 year period.

The FF84, a Formula Ford racing car was produced in 1984 [The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 1986, page 138-139]

The Elfin 852, an Australian Formula 2 racing car, was launched in 1985.

A Formula Holden racing car, the Elfin FA891, was fielded in the 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship by Elfin Sports Cars.

A new generation Elfin Clubman Type 3 sports car was launched in 1998 with 50 produced, in 'turn key' form or as rolling chassis kits.

References

ee also

* Project Gotham Racing 3
* Australian Formula Two

External links

* [http://www.elfin.com.au/ Elfin Cars Pty Ltd]
* [http://autoweb.drive.com.au/cms/A_100943/newsarticle.html Introducing the Holden Elfin MS8 Clubman and MS8 Streamliner]
* [http://motormachinists.co.nz/brianax.htm Brian Ax with a profile of Elfin]
* [http://thomasr.org/blog/2007/07/elfin-video.html Video of Elfin Clubman and Streamliner MS8s]
* [http://www.autopics.com.au/cache/searchl-ncache0public_nameLIKE_elfin_name_0-0.html?cache=no Elfin racing images] Retrieved from Autopics on 14 August 2008