Lotus Racing Cars

The Lotus 12 was a Formula Two and Formula One racing car. Despite its engineering advances, the 12 was not a success in F1. In F2, the car won the class in the mixed F1/F2 1958 BRDC International Trophy.

The Lotus 16 was constructed to compete in both the Formula One and Formula Two categories, and was the first Lotus car to be constructed for Formula One competition.

Lotus 18 was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman’s early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars. The 18 was replaced by the 21 in F1.

The Lotus 21 had a tubular spaceframe structure skinned with fibreglass panels. Used by the works Lotus team, the 21 was the first works Lotus to win a Formula One Grand Prix

Despite some early success in non-Championship Grands Prix, it was eclipsed by the technically superior Lotus 25 and rarely featured in the points in World Championship races.

It was the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in Formula One. In the hands of Jim Clark it took 14 World Championship Grand Prix wins and propelled him to his 1963 World Championship title.

A development of the successful Lotus 25, in the hands of Jim Clark it won 5 World Championship Grands Prix in 1965, assisting Clark to his second World Championship.

The Lotus 43 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1966 season. Hampered by its heavy and unreliable BRM engine, it won only one race, the 1966 United States Grand Prix.

Designed around the Cosworth DFV engine and built for the 1967 season, the Lotus 49 won on debut. Graham Hill went on to win that year’s title and the car continued winning races until 1970.

The Lotus 63 was an experimental F1 car for the 1969 season. Like the Lotus 56 for the Indy 500 (and later F1), the 63 chassis was designed around a four wheel drive system. It was tested in a race in 1969.

Introduced partway through 1970 the 72 was immediately competitive. Rindt was almost certainly going to win the championship but was killed in a qualifying crash (becoming F1’s only posthumous champion).

The car was a stop-gap means to an end for Lotus after the failure of the Lotus 76 and the obsolescence of the Lotus 72. The 77 was slimmer and lighter than the the 72, with similarly powered Cosworth DFV.

Known as the “wing car”, the Lotus 78 raced in 1977 and 1978. This was the car that started the F1 ground effects era. The breakthrough was Chapmans insights on low drag air penetration.

The Lotus 79 was the first F1 car to take full advantage of ground effects aero, pioneered by the Lotus 78. The 79 was almost unbeatable during 1978, winning Lotus the drivers and constructors championship.

In 1979, the 79 was to be replaced by the Lotus 80. It was designed to take ground effects to the absolute max. It was not competitive and the Lotus 79 was modified and took over for the rest of the season. A setback.

The 87 continued to leverage ground effects and this time added a stiffer, carbon fiber and kevlar chassis. The car was not competitive enough to fight for victories, even though the drivers did get some points.

The 88 had a twin chassis, one inside the other. The inner chassis would hold the cockpit and would be independently sprung from the outer one. Other teams complained and the FIA banned the car.

Powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV the 91 was uncomplicated and was designed from scratch after Lotus had some bad years. The new car was the first Lotus chassis to use carbon brakes. The 91 was mostly competitive on ultra fast tracks.

The last Chapman era car. The 92 was used for the first part of the season. It was the last non-turbo car by Lotus (until the turbos were banned in 1990) and the first car to be fitted with active suspension.

The year that Lotus switched from Cosworth to Renault power (the first Lotus to use the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo). The 93T was replaced during the season with the Lotus 94T (Mansell drove it twice).

This car was used in the second part of the ’83 F1 season. Powered by the Renault Gordini EF1 V6 turbo engine it was moderately successful and was able to get third place in the 1983 European grand prix.

Built for the 1984 season, the 95T was powered by the Renault Gordini EF4 V6 turbo engine. The car was driven de Angelis and Mansell who were competitive in a season dominated by McLaren.

A development of the previous year’s 95T, the car was powered by the turbocharged 1.5-litre Renault EF15B V6 engine. The car was a success, taking 8 poles, (7 for Senna and 1 for de Angelis), and 3 wins.

A development of the previous year’s 97T, the car was raced by Ayrton Senna and Johnny Dumfries. The engine was a Renault EF15B turbocharged V6 engine (one of the most powerful in the sport ever).

John Player Special was replaced by Camel as title sponsor for 1987. The 99T was the second Lotus chassis to be fitted with electronic active suspension and won multiple races at the hands of Ayrton Senna.

Used during the 1988 F1 season the Lotus 100T was an updated version of the 99T below. Technically the car was virtually unchanged, except for redesigned nose and rear bodywork.

The Lotus 101 was Team Lotus’s entry for the 1989 Formula One season. While the team was optimistic the 101 was a poor racing car and was very underpowered compared to the Hondas of the era.

The Lotus 102 was a F1 car for use in the 1990 season. The 102 was an evolution of the Lotus 101 and would eventually go on to compete in 37 races spanning three seasons from 1990 until 1992.

The Lotus 107 was designed for the 1992 Formula One season, and used throughout most of 1992, 1993 and part of 1994, it brought in a final, short-lived period of competitiveness for the team in F1.

The Lotus 109 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus in the latter part of the 1994 Formula One season. It was designed by Chris Murphy who based the car on his Lotus 107 model.

Team Lotus F1 car, made for 2010 season. An average year in 2010 when it raced but it did show that it was faster than the other new teams of the same year which was a big win.

Team Lotus F1 car, made for 2011 season. 2011 saw the car abandon its Cosworth engine in favour of one developed by Renault. The T128 was faster than the Virgin cars and HRTs.

Lotus’s first Indycar was a development of the Formula 1 Lotus 25. It had a Ford V8 engine. Two 29s raced in the 1963 Indy 500, one finished second. The Lotus 29 dominated at Milwaukee later in ’63.

With experience under their belts and more time to prepare, the new-for-1964 Lotus 34 Ford looked set to finally take it all. While they didn’t win due to a failure, they get four USAC victories and two Indy 500 poles.

The 1965 Lotus 38 finally won the Indy 500 for Colin Chapman and Jim Clark after Clark had finished second in 1963 in the Lotus 29 and had retired after leading from pole in 1964 in the Lotus 34.

The Lotus 42B was originally designed as an Indianapolis car but would do most of its racing in F5000. A Ford V8 was fitted to the first Lotus 42, which Graham Hill raced at Indianapolis in 1967.

The all-new Indy racer was built around an aluminium monocoque chassis. The new Lotus was powered by a Pratt & Whitney turbine. At the end of the year, both turbine engines and four-wheel drive were outlawed.

Lotus retained much of the Lotus 56 chassis which had worked so well in 1968. A failure in one car lead to the cars being withdrawn from the race. Further controversy followed the remaining cars.

The Lotus type 96T was Team Lotus’s last Indycar. Despite the project’s promising beginnings, CART did not support a Works team and that meant no sponsorship and the end of the program.

The Lotus 27 was a Formula Junior version of the Lotus 25 Formula One car for the 1963 Formula Junior season. Its body was aluminium monocoque with steel bulkheads.

The Lotus 31 was a racing car produced by Lotus for the new 1-litre Formula 3 introduced in 1964, replacing the expensive Formula Junior. It had 97hp from a Ford engine.

The chassis of the 32 was an aluminium monocoque with steel front and rear bulkhead and centre section to bring it up to weight. Suspension followed the usual Lotus practice. Raced in F2 and Tasman Cup.

Colin Chapman decided that for 1964 Lotus needed a versatile single seater, based on the Lotus 25 and 33 F1 cars. The Lotus 35 was the result. It could accommodate a variety of engines and raced in F2, F3 and FB.

Used as a Tasman Cup formula car (it was originally designed for F1), the Type 39 was powered by a Coventry Climax 2.5 liter engine. It was good enough for Jim Clark to finish 3rd in the 1966 Tasman Series.

The 41 was a multi-purpose machine, racing in Formula Three, Formula Two and Formula B. It was a clean-sheet car and they created a very stiff and cleverly designed race car.

Formula two car built by Lotus. Unfortunately we could not find much public information about this car.

The Lotus 48 was a Formula 2 racing car designed by Colin Chapman. Bolted to the rear bulkhead was a steel tubular subframe, which housed the FVA engine and ZF gearbox.

Lotus built the Type 51, Type 51A and Type 51R during the 1967 and 1968 Formula Ford seasons. The Type 51 Series did very well in Formula Ford competition and this helped increase demand for the cars.

The Lotus 12 was a Formula Two and Formula One racing car. Despite its engineering advances, the 12 was not a success in F1. In F2, the car won the class in the mixed F1/F2 1958 BRDC International Trophy.

The Lotus 16 was constructed to compete in both the Formula One and Formula Two categories, and was the first Lotus car to be constructed for Formula One competition.

Lotus 18 was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman’s early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars.

Successor to the Lotus 18, the Lotus 20 was a Formula Junior car built for the 1961 season. The 20B was mostly the same as the 20, but with sway bar and stock inboard drum brakes in the rear.

The 22 is a single-seat race car primarily for the Formula Junior series and most had a 1,098 cc (67.0 cu in) Cosworth Mk.IV or Mk.XI engine with about 100 hp.

The Lotus 70 was a race car designed by Lotus for the Formula 5000 races. Originally designated the Lotus 68, the car was designed by Martin Waide and introduced at the end of the 1969 racing season.

The first F3 Lotus was the 31 which was basically a minor rework of the 1962 F Junior 22. In the year of Jackie Stewart and the Tyrrell-Coopers the 31 was very much an also ran with just one win.

There was no specific F3 model for 1965 but several teams modified the F2 Type 35 to F3 spec. The lack of any interest by Lotus showed and the there was only one win for Lotus.

The 41 was the result of a major rethink by Lotus. Results were at best reasonable. There were several victories in the season but once again Brabham was the leader by a mile and dominated.

Lotus took a 41C and modified the front suspension. In addition a dramatic (for the time) wedge shaped body was fitted. Only the one car was built and average performance meant Lotus moved to 59.

The Lotus 59 was a dual purpose F2/F3 spaceframe chassis. The car proved a success, its chunky body hampered it a little on fast circuits but it had a reputation for putting the power down very well.

Formula Ford, “the wedge”. The Lotus 61 was used all over Europe and America in Formula Ford. The car had Removable fiberglass nose, bellypan, and engine cover. It was moderately successful in Formula Ford.

The Lotus 69 was designed by Dave Baldwin for use in F2, F3, F Ford and FB/ Atlantic. The Novamotor twin-cam Ford powered car winning no less than 25 races out of 32 entered.

The 73 was the F3 answer to the F1 Championship winning 72. Built for use as a works car, it was designated a “John Player Special”. The car was ultimately too complex to be set up quickly for short F3 races.

The Texaco Stars were first shown to the public at the Belgian GP. The 16-valve racing version of the Lotus engine was developed by Novamotor (Gianni Pedrazzani) and it was claimed it would develop 275 bhp.

The first car designed and built by Colin Chapman in 1948 (while still a student at the University of London). Designed to compete as a trials car. Austin 7 chassis and running gear.

Improved on the Mark I. Austin 7 body and now with a Ford engine and transmission. Had a cigar-shaped body with a rounded nose. Designed to compete in Trials events, it also won its class at Silverstone.

Colin got serious by building a single-seater sports car. This was the first “Lotus” branded car and it marked a change of focus for Chapman who built the Mark III to focus on road racing rather than trials.

Chapman went back to focusing on trials for the Mark IV. Once again it was based on the Austin 7 chassis with a Ford 4 cylinder engine. Immediately successful it won its class on its first attempt.

Chapman’s first production race car. Essentially a kit car that customers would buy and add whatever engine and gearbox they wanted. This flexibility meant it could be used in a lot of race series’.

The Lotus Mark VIII car was Colin Chapman’s first fully enclosed aerodynamic design. It was a lightweight 1100 lbs powered by an 85 bhp engine and a maximum speed of 125 mph.

A total of about thirty of the Mark IX sports racing cars were produced in various forms, and these were successfully raced in both Europe and the US. It had a new chassis compared to the Mark VIII.

The Lotus Mark X was an aluminium-bodied sports racing car manufactured by Lotus Engineering Ltd. The X was almost identical to the Mark VIII but made use of the larger 2.0-litre Bristol engine.

The Lotus Eleven was a small displacement sports racer (750 – 1500 cc) made by Lotus in 1956. The car’s most notable race result was 7th overall at the 1956 Le Mans. A design update happened in 1957.

The later versions of the Lotus Eleven (built in 1958) were officially called Eleven Series 2, but were informally referred to as Lotus 13 because they were made between the 12 and 14 (13 was not used by Lotus).

The Lotus Elite was the first production street car. Like its siblings, the Elite was run in numerous formulae, with particular success at Le Mans and the Nürburgring. We are adding it here because it raced.

This Group 4 Lotus racer was a two-seater, front-engine, rear wheel drive sports racer with an aluminium body over a space frame configuration. It was an update of the Mark X, Climax 1.5 – 2.5 L.

The Lotus 17 was Chapman’s answer to the Lola Mk 1. It was essentially a smaller, even lighter, even more aerodynamic sports racer update of the Eleven which was being beaten by the Lola Mk I.

Lotus Elite road car built to win at Le Mans with a 2.0 L FPF engine. However, its Le Mans foray was ill-starred from the beginning. A number of issues lead to the Le Mans entry being cancelled.

Mid-engined larger displacement sports racer, “Monte Carlo”. The 19 and 19B were mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports racer with a fiberglass body over a space frame. The car raced in Group 4.

The Elan 26R was fully homologated racing version of Elan. The racing car weighed in at around 600 kg while the 1558 cc could produce anywhere between 160 and 175 bhp depending on state of tune.

Small displacement mid-engined sports racer. Nominally a two-seater, it was purpose-built for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962–1963. To comply with FIA, it had a regulation trunk space to the right-rear of the driver.

This was Chapman’s first attempt at a large displacement sports car. With a Ford small block V8 it races in both British and international races. Fun fact is that it was originally equipped with headlights and tail lights.

The Lotus 40 was a further development of the Lotus 30. Equipped with 15in wheels and vented disc brakes as well as a larger engine, the 40 was just as recalcitrant as the 30. Tough race car.

Racing version of Europa. The very first Type 47 was based on a modified Europa while all subsequent cars were produced entirely by Lotus Components rather than the main factory.

A tubular space framed Europa coupe with a 1990cc 220bhp Vauxhall based slant four engine and used double wishbone suspension at both front and rear. Only 2 built.

In 1990 Lotus needed a race program to promote the Esprit in the US market. To do this they upgraded an Esprit SE to race in the SCCA series. The new car, strictly race prepared, was called the Type 105.

The Lotus Esprit GT1 car was unveiled at the Paul Ricard circuit for the first race of the 1996 GT series. The new racer features the Lotus V8 engine, a new six-speed racing transmission. It raced in GT1 and GT2.

The Evora Cup race car was designed to offer a level of performance that would make it competitive in GT4 racing. The car was eligible to compete in a number of different national and international serie

The Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racecar has been developed from the award-winning Evora road car and is built to FIA regulations and safety standards.

In 2011 Lotus re envisioned their Evora into the GTE race car. It was made for outright endurance racing at events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The body is entirely new and constructed from carbon fiber.

Race car built for 24 Hours of LeMans. Lotus publicly announced its T128 programme on the weekend of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. It did not have much success in prototype racing.

The Type 125 Exos is the third of a batch of competition cars. The T125 is powered by a Cosworth 3.5 litre GP V8 engine producing 640bhp linked to a six-speed semi automatic gearbox with paddle shift.