The 11 is astonishingly good for an old race car, although I'm not sure I'd like to run open webers these days. But I guess that's old age because at one time I'd have loved the intake roar and never thought about stones, grit or whatever going into the engine, or fuel spitting back and catching fire.... the Health and Safety culture has a lot to answer for !
And the Elite is simply gorgeous. I still think it is one of the nicest cars ever to grace British roads, it's one of those cars which look even better "in the plastic" as well. Very simple design but done ever so well. Although we're about the later cars here, I can heartily recommend Dennis Ortenburger's "The Original Lotus Elite" for anyone who's interested in these early cars. (I must admit to being a fan of his Lotus books, I've collected most of them over the years)
Brian