Chassis No. 80/09

For as small as a firm Elva Cars Ltd. was, Frank Nichols' company collaborated with some of the finest automotive manufacturers in the world. Focused on designing and building lightweight cars, Elva (elle va, or "she goes" in French) produced both the Courier for the road and the Mark series for track use. Following a financial blip in 1961, Nichols placed Elva into voluntary receivership, sold the Courier design to Trojan Ltd., and reformed Elva focused solely on the Mark series sports racing cars. It would prove to be a wise decision. As is well known, Elva paired the Mk VII chassis with a Porsche Carrera four-cam engine in 1963, winning on debut at the SCCA's USRRC Road America 500. The orders flowed in and the next year there were seven Mk VIIs the USRRC grids. For 1965 Elva paired the new Mk 8 design with 2.0-liter BMW engines tuned by Nerus Engineering based on the 1.5-liter unit.

According to its factory build sheet, chassis number 80/09 was completed in green 23 July 1965. It was powered by a 2.0-liter BMW mated to a Hewland HD5 gearbox number 58 destined for the United States like so many other successful Mk 8s. Chassis 80/09 was delivered halfway through the 1964 USRRC race season to Peter Goetz, a Porsche Spyder and Elva Mk VII racer, who paired with George Wintersteen (a Corvette Grand sport racer of some repute) in that year's Road America 500 as start number 9 finishing 10th overall and 4th in their under 2.0-liter class. The next year the pair duplicated their efforts again, finishing 10th this time as start number 19. In 1967 the Elva Owners Registry records the car as sold back to Carl Haas and then a transfer to George Clarke that same year and then Norm Lawson in 1968, both of whom were based in California at the time. Dennis Maynard acquired the car in May of 1996 before joining the world-renowned sports racing collection of Dr. Julio Palmaz.

In recent years 80/09 was brought back to the UK by seasoned historic racer Roger Wills who tasked WDK Motorsport to restore the car and prepare for historic racing. In Wills' ownership it successfully competed across Europe with highlight results being a 2nd place finish in the Madgwick Cup at the 2011 Goodwood Revival. After sitting dormant for a number of years the car was purchased by the current owner who in turn had JRT (Jordan Racing) prepare and restore for the 2023 season where it was invited and competed at the Goodwood Members Meeting and the CER1 race with Peter Auto at Mugello. Following a year off in 2024, the car was again invited to Goodwood for the 2025 Members Meeting in the Gurney Cup where it is due to race this Spring ahead of it going to Villa d'Este. Additionally, for 2025 the Madgwick Cup at the Goodwood Revival caters for sports cars under three liters making this Mk 8 a competitive and eligible option for the race.