![]() But at the time, I felt it was the price you paid for getting something significantly better." We had several structural failures in those cars. In Dave Friedman's book "Indianapolis Memories 1961–1969", Dan Gurney is quoted as saying, "Did I think the Lotus way of doing things was good? No. The number of top drivers seriously injured or killed in Lotus machinery was considerable – notably Stirling Moss, Alan Stacey, Mike Taylor, Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Bobby Marshman, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson. While very innovative, Chapman also came under criticism for the structural fragility of his designs. However, in 1965, Clark dominated again, six wins in his Lotus 33 gave him the championship. The 1964 title was still for the taking by the time of the last race in Mexico but problems with Clark's Lotus and Hill's BRM gave it to Surtees in his Ferrari. In 1963, Clark drove the Lotus 25 to a remarkable seven wins in the season and won the World Championship. Jim Clark outside the Lotus garage at the Nürburgring in 1966 More racing success followed with the 26R, the racing version of the Elan, and in 1963 with the Lotus Cortina, which Jack Sears drove to the British Saloon Car Championship title, a feat repeated by Jim Clark in 1964 and Alan Mann in the 1965 European Touring car Championship. The road car business was doing well with the Lotus Seven and the Lotus Elite and this was followed by the Lotus Elan in 1962. There were successes in Formula Two and Formula Junior. A year earlier, Stirling Moss had recorded the first victory for a Lotus car at Monaco in his Lotus 18 entered by the independent Rob Walker Racing Team. The first Formula One victory for Team Lotus came when Innes Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix. By then, the company's success had caused it to expand to such an extent that it had to move to new premises at Cheshunt. In 1959 – by which time the Coventry Climax engines had been stretched to 2.5-litres inline with Formula rules – Chapman continued with front-engined F1 cars, but achieved little, so in 1960 Chapman switched to the milestone mid-engined Lotus 18. These were replaced later that year by Lotus 16s. The remarkable Coventry Climax-powered Type 14, the Lotus Cars production version of which was the original Lotus Elite, won six class victories, plus the "Index of Performance" several times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.Īs the Coventry Climax engines were enlarged in 1952 to 2.2-litres, Chapman decided to enter Grand Prix racing, running a pair of Lotus 12s at Monaco in 1958 for Graham Hill and Cliff Allison. Driving one in 1958, Allison won the F2 class in the International Trophy at Silverstone, beating Stuart Lewis-Evans's Cooper. The following year, the Lotus 12 appeared. Lotus Eleven cars for Le Mans 24 hours, 1956 Most of the cars entered that year were sports cars, and they included a large number of Lotus 11s, the definitive Coventry Climax-powered sports racer, led by the Team Lotus entries for Chapman, driven by Cliff Allison and Reg Bicknell. A new Formula Two regulation was announced for 1957, and in Britain, several organizers ran races for the new regulations during the course of 1956. Team Lotus was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954. Lotus achieved rapid success with the 1953 Mk 6 and the 1954 Mk 8 sports cars. In 2011, Team Lotus's iconic black-and-gold livery returned to F1 as the livery of the Lotus Renault GP team, sponsored by Lotus Cars, and in 2012 the team was re-branded completely as Lotus F1 Team.Ĭolin Chapman established Lotus Engineering Ltd in 1952 at Hornsey, UK. The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010 as Tony Fernandes's Lotus Racing team. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman, Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas. ![]() More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of the most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States between 19. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, Ind圜ar, and sports car racing. Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. Lotus as a Formula One chassis constructor Formula One World Championship career
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