Jack Holme must surely go down in the history of motor sport as one of the most remarkable gentlemen. Not only did he start motor racing at the age of 49 and then went on to develop and race one of the fastest Lotus Elans ever, he also built his own sports racing cars, the Ecosse with which he won the South African sports car championship in 1968.
The first Ecosse was built in 1966 out of Jack’s Formula Junior Lotus 18. This was the car with which Jack raced in the National championships in the early sixties with a 1220 cc. Climax engine. The Ecosse MKI, which was built around the 18 chassis, initially had a 1000 cc. Climax engine. In the one-litre class, the car proved to be not all that competitive, and Jack set about importing the very powerful one-litre Cosworth Ford SCA engine for the 1968 championship.
The Ecosse MK 1 was written off in the 1967 Springbok Series when Fred Cowell crashed during practice for L.M. three hours. Whilst Fred escaped with a broken leg the Ecosse was beyond repair. Jack scrapped the car and set about building a new car which would be powered by the one litre SCA. The Ecosse MK2 had an all-new chassis, was right hand drive with conventional Lotus/Brabham type suspension layout. However, the design was very good and functional and with a minimal amount of development and sorting needed Jack went on to win his class in every race of the championship and with it the national sports car championship in 1968 at the age of 56.
From 1969, the sports car championship was discontinued in South Africa. Jack kept the car for a while, racing it in selective Natal and Springbok series races before selling the car to Natalian John Rowe. By this time, the one-litre engine had been replaced by the trusty 1220 cc. Climax engine and then a 1,5 litre Lotus twin cam. It was at Goldfields in 1971 that Ecosse was crashed, which wrote off the original aluminium body. The body was replaced with a new, more updated design. This body still adorns the car today.
After several years in Zimbabwe, the Ecosse returned to South Africa and was raced by Ritchie Jute in historic racing. In 2010, Trans Africa Racing campaigned the car, participating in the Passion for Speed events.
