Chapman hedged his bets for Sebring in 1957. The four car [Lotus 11] team included two wide chassis cars and two conventional ones. The scuttle arrangement had been altered to allow the doors to be longer front to back. The two wide cars were sold to private parties prior to the race, but still carried the words Team Lotus on their cowls.

The Sebring Team Lotus entries closely resembled the 1956 Le Mans cars, but the windscreens were lower and not as V shaped and there were no driving lights. The most significant mechanical improvement was the replacement of the odd-ball common float SU carburetor system (with the single float chamber mounted to the chassis, not the engine) by twin sand-cast Weber 40 DCO3s. Three of these Elevens had FWA Coventry Climax engines, while the fourth had an FWB. Two of the FWA cars were in standard British Racing Green livery with yellow highlights and the third, the wide chassis car entered by the Puerto Rico Auto Club, was red. The second wide chassis car with British registration number XAR 11 resplendent in American colors, white with blue stripes, was owned and driven by Charles Moran, Jr. The [Doc] Wyllies were to co-drive.

At scruitineering the conventional width chassis cars passed the cockpit width part of the test with the explanation that the compartment went beyond the chassis and could be measured by the distance between the doors. Unfortunately, apparently no one noticed the new rule about cockpit height and all four cars were found to be lacking. Some quick thinking saw to it that four triangular pieces of aluminum, two on the windscreen and two on the tail were added to each car making them comply to the letter, though not exactly the spirit, of the rule.

Race results showed a class win for one of the green cars and a dnf for the other. Also not finishing was the Moran car, but there are conflicting stories as to why. Jesse [Doc] Wyllie remembers that it ran out of fuel with Moran at the wheel. Trying to push the car back to the pit area at the 4+ mile track in the Florida heat, Moran became exhausted. Wyllie relieved him and pushed the car the rest of the way in. [See picture above] This driver change, not being in the pit lane, was illegal and the car was disqualified. The official record says timing gear failure. The Puerto Rico car soldiered on to a 32nd place finish, third in class.