The Brighton Speed Trials of September 7th. 1957 saw the arrival of a new British sportscar.

1957 was the year that Derek Ibbotson re-captured the Mile world record from the Australian, John Landy, in a time of 3m 57.2s, the Queen of England had been on the throne for just four years, a dog called Laika orbited the earth in a Russian 'Sputnik' and Harold MacMillan who had just become Prime Minister of Britain made his famous speech in which he said "We've never had it so good!" [He obviously new something!!]

Other British sports cars available at the time included: AC Ace, Aston Martin DB2/4, Austin Healey 100/6, Berkley B60 & B65, Buckler, Dellow, Fairthorpe Atom & Electron, Jaguar XK150, Jensen 541, MGA, Morgan 4/4 & Plus 4, Peerless, Triumph TR3A and Turner 960 Sports.

For the small car manufacturer, working from premises in Hornsey, to the north of London, the Mark VI, Lotus's first production car, had been very successful, both in terms of sales and competition results. By 1957 over one hundred had been made and the demand for cheap, light and competitive sportscars was as strong as ever. The 'VII' designation had been reserved for the Mark VI's replacement for some time but as most of the small factories resources had been taken up with the streamliner race cars and their success at Le Mans, it was quite a while before the Seven project finally appeared.

Colin Chapman had a customer for the first Lotus Seven even before it was designed! He was Edward Lewis, proprietor of "Westover Shoes", manufacturers of racing footwear, who was already a well-known Lotus racer. In 1953 he had competed in a Mark VI and in 1955 he drove a works-assisted Mark IX after which he considered a Mark XI but thought that he was getting a bit old for serious racing and was looking at creating a car of his own specification for hillclimbing.

The Edward Lewis Special was based on a Mark VI chassis with Mark IX running gear, de Dion rear end, 1100cc. Coventry Climax engine and drum brakes etc. with a Williams and Pritchard body of Lewis's own design. It first competed in the West Sussex Speed Trials on 14th. September 1956 and soon notched up several successes. Seeing the popularity of this sort of competitive motoring and the success that Lewis was having, Chapman decided that there was a potential market for a new production road/competion car, the long awaited successor to the Mark VI and a deal was struck with Lewis. Lewis's Lotus based Special in exchange for the prototype Lotus Seven. Lewis's car was duly delivered to the factory early in 1957 and languished there for quite a time under the watchful eye of Graham Hill. However, as it turned out Lewis had quite a wait before receiving his new car and so to keep him sweet he was lent a very quick works XI to compete in during the interim so he didn't mind too much.

According to the factory records, #400, the prototype supplied to Lewis was commenced on the 31st. of July and had the following specification. Coventry Climax FWA 1100cc engine, Close Ratio Austin A30 gearbox, de Dion rear suspension with 4.5:1 ratio, Wishbone front suspension, Four branch exhaust manifold, Dunlop racing tyres and Spare wheel. No date of delivery or collection is mentioned in the records but the first known of the car out of the factory was when it competed at the Brighton Speed Trails on September 7th. 1957 and knowing Lotus the car was probably collected on the morning of the event!

The exact class entered and place gained at this first meeting for the car are somewhat confused.

The "Official Programme 1/-" states that:-