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Ronnie’s Rocket – Lotus Ford 72 E

Lotus went into the 1973 Formula One Championship season as World Champion Constructors with reigning World Drivers Champion Emerson Fittipaldi being joined by a new team mate 1971 Championship runner up Ronnie Peterson.

The team started the season with the same Lotus 72 D model as they had used through out 1972 albeit now running on Goodyear tyres in place of the previous seasons Firestones. Emerson started the season well with 2 wins and a 3rd place from his first 3 starts while Ronnie had only two retirements and an 11th place finish to show from the same three races.

At the non championship Race of Championship the Lotus 72 D were brought up to E specification which included mounting the rear wing above the oil tank further back from the rear wheels and a wider track for the wheels front and rear. I well remember seeing both of the new cars spectacularly bottoming out on their debut at Brands Hatch as they approached the fearsome off camber and steep drop to Paddock Bend sending a shower of sparks from under the cars.

Both cars retired from the Race of Champions but Emerson won the 1973 Spanish Grand Prix, his last in a Lotus, before scoring three further second place finishes and a third on his way to a distant 2nd place championship finish behind Jackie Stewart and his Tyrrell Ford 006 who had clocked up five wins and two seconds on his way to his third and final title.

Ronnie meanwhile scored his first four Grand Prix wins and two second place finishes on his way to third in the championship title, helping Lotus win their second consecutive constructors championship. For 1974 Jackie Stewart retired, Emerson moved to McLaren to drive the M23, based very much on the principles of the Lotus 72, and Ronnie was joined at Lotus by Belgian Jacky Ickx.

Lotus started the 1974 season with the 72 E for the first two championship races and then Ickx used a 72E at the non championship Race of Champions and won after pulling off a brilliant overtaking move on Niki Lauda in his Ferrari 312 B3 going into Paddock Bend right in front of my nose. If all had gone to plan this would have been the last ever race for the Lotus 72 which had been introduced in 1970.

The Lotus 76 was first raced in the 1976 South African Grand Prix where neither car finished, Ronnie qualified his 76 at the non championship International Trophy at Silverstone and again at the Spanish Grand Prix but getting the car to finish proved impossible and so the Lotus 72 E’s were wheeled out again for the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix where Ronnie won from third on the grid, Ronnie added to more victories to the Lotus 72 E’s tally during the season to finish a distant fifth in the Championship which was won by his former team mate Emerson Fittipaldi in his Lotus 72 copy the McLaren M23.

For 1975 the Lotus 72 E’s were wheeled out again as the Lotus 76 had been abandoned as a failure, it would take a full twelve months for Lotus to build a new challenger such was the lack of financial resources and Lotus commitment to road car and sundry other projects. Ronnie gamely struggled on scoring just three points paying finishes while Jacky Ickx quit the team before the seasons end having scored a single second place finish.

I believe the two cars seen here both belong to Classic Team Lotus with the #2 most likely being a replacement chassis for the wrecked Lotus 72/R5 driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in C spec to victory in the 1970 US Grand Prix and last used in E spec by Brian Henton in the 1975 US Grand Prix.

The #5 appears to be #72/R9 built new for the 1975 season and used exclusively by Ronnie Peterson who scored a best third place finish in the non championship 1975 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, and three further points paying finishes including a 5th place finish in the 1975 United States Grand Prix which would be the cars final appearance.

Fans of the Lotus 72 in the UK will be interested to know that there will be a 24 min documentary on the story behind the Lotus 72 on Motors TV in December, keep your eye out for it in the schedule. The films director Gary Crichter will also be releasing a full 90 min version with 60 mons of extra’s of the film on dvd in the near future. Keep your eye out on the www.lotus72dvd.com website for further announcements.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ronnie’s Rocket” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

April Fool ? – Lotus 72 B #72/R1

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On the 1st of April 1970 the press were invited to see the Lotus 72 for the first time. The clean wedge shape was a return to the theme from the 1968 Lotus 56 Indy Car and Lotus 58 Formula 2/Tasman car.

When the car was first tested by works drivers Jochen Rindt, John Miles and John Walkers driver Graham Hill they all reported the cars innovative front anti dive and rear anti squat suspension which aimed to reduced suspension travel under braking and acceleration was difficult to drive on the limit.

As a result of this Jochen Rindt got his 1970 championship campaign under way with a fortuitous win in Monaco driving an updated four year old design in the form of a Lotus 49 C.

At the 1970 Dutch Prix Lotus arrived with the second 72 chassis #72R2 updated to C-specification, with the anti dive and anti squat features of the suspension removed, for Jochen Rindt to drive which he found much more to his liking and proceeded a sting of four successive wins in Holland, France, Britain and Germany which gave Jochen what would become an unassailable lead in the World Championship.

Unfortunately during practice for the 1970 Italian GP when he was testing #72/R2 without any wings, under braking an inboard front brake shaft broke, sending the 28 year old Jochen into a crash barrier post with fatal results.

New team leader Emerson Fittipaldi won the last race of the 1970 season driving a new 72 C. Jochen Rindt became the only posthumous World Champion and Lotus won their 4th Constructors Championship. For 1971 the Lotus 72 C proved to be not quite so competitive against Jackie Stewart and the Tyrrell Team, but otus would bounce back with the upgraded Lotus 72 D in 1972.

Lotus 72 #72/R1 is the only remaining 1970 spec car left, it was the car shown to the press on April 1st 1970 and subsequently entered and raced for Jochen’s team mate John Miles in original and B spec with only the anti squat removed from the rear suspension. John’s best result was a 7th place finish in the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix.

The Lotus 72 spawned many successful imitations including the McLaren M16 multiple winning Indy car and the McLaren M23 multiple world championship winning Grand Prix car.

Today’s Grand Prix and Indy cars all fitted with side radiators in side pods can all be said to be descendants of the Lotus 72.

Note the cockpit surround of #72/R1 has a shallow perspex screen from a later post 1972 Lotus 72.

Thanks for joining me on this “April Fool ?” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Multi Formula Open Wheeler – Lotus 69

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For the 1970 season Lotus used the catch all Lotus 69 type number for cars designed, by Dave Baldwin, to compete in four different open wheel Formula.

Namely Formula Ford which used prescribed narrow tyres and 95 hp single carburetor Ford Kent 4 cylinder engines, Formula 3 which used heavily modified 1 litre / 61 cui production block 4 cylinder motors in 1970 and modified 1600 cc / 97.6 cui production block motors in 1971, Formula B with 1600cc / 97.6 cui motors tuned somewhere between Formula Ford and Formula 3, and finally Formula 2 which ran with the most powerful 200 plus hp 1600 cc / 97.6 cui motors with production blocks of which at least 5000 copies had been made.

Today’s featured car, seen at Dyrham Park and belonging to Tony Wallens, is a 1971 Formula 3 spec Lotus 69 with a modified 1600 cc / 97.6 cui production block motor, the space frame chassis is derived from the Lotus 59 open wheelers and it shares many components with it’s Lotus 69 siblings, although the Formula 2 Lotus 69 was built around a monocoque to meet the requirements for a bag fuel tank.

In 1971 Dave Walker flew and swept the board in his Gold Leaf Team Lotus 69 winning 25 races Formula 3 races from 32 starts.

Despite these successes, Emerson Fittipaldi also won three races in his Formula 2 Lotus 69, while in Formula Ford Stan Matthews placed forth in the 1971 British Oxygen Formula Ford championship with his 69, Lotus took the decision to withdraw from the customer racing car market and focus on works Formula 3, and Formula 1 efforts in 1972, Formula 2 and Formula 1 campaigns in 1973 and solely Formula One campaigns from 1974 on.

Thanks for joining me on this “Multi Formula Open Wheeler” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a day at the races. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cut and Bury – Lotus Ford 64

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After coming close to winning the 1968 Indianapolis 500 with the Pratt & Whitney gas turbine powered Lotus 56 driven by Joe Leonard the powers at Indianapolis decided to ban gas turbine power and all wheel drive for the 1969 season, but eventually relented and allowed all wheel drive vehicles that had wheels no more than 9″ wide all round. Rear wheel drive vehicles were allowed to go to 14″ wide wheels at the rear.

Colin Chapman rose to the challenge of building a car to the new regulations with the financial encouragement from Andy Granatelli’s STP Oil Treatment. The Lotus 64 was a new chassis which was powered by a 700hp turbocharged double overhead cam Ford V8 motor driving an all wheel drive system that was lifted from the Lotus 56 as indeed was much of the rest of the chassis.

In order to connect the motor to the mid mounted gearbox the motor had to be mounted backwards so the drive came from the front, as on the ill feted Lotus Ford 63 all wheel drive Grand Prix car.

Mario Andretti, Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt were lined up to drive the three team cars and a spare was built just in case of unforeseeable eventualities. Straight out of the box the cars were on the pace of the gas turbine Lotus 56 from the year before setting record speeds. However Mario Andretti’s car had a rear hub failure which sent him into the wall. Mario was lucky to get away with superficial burns to his face and after it was determined the failure was due to a design fault that could not be rectified in the available time frame the three Lotus 64’s were withdrawn from the race.

Mario jumped into the #2 Hawk Ford belonging to Granatelli and promptly qualified 2nd to AJ Foyt and then won the race after Lloyd Ruby was knocked out of contention by leaving the pits with his refueling hose still attached.

Andy Granatelli wanted to buy one of the remaining 64’s but when negotiations broke down Colin Chapman is alleged to have ordered the now engineless cars be returned to Hethel, Lotus home base, where he promised to take a hack saw to them personally cut them up and dig a whole and personally bury them. As it turned out all three cars were put in a shed.

Jochen Rindt’s #80 is seen above sans motor, this is the second of the three remaining 64’s to have emerged in recent years the other one has a correct Ford motor installed.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cut and Bury” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the first car to record a 200 mph average closed circuit lap during a race. Don’t forget to come back now !

OK, But Not Very Fast – Lotus 58

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The Lotus 58 was designed with de Dion suspension front and rear, in Colin Chapman’s eternal quest for more grip, to take part in Formula 2 races for the 1968 season.

Chapman’s original intention was for the 58 to be used as a development vehicle for the Lotus 57 Grand Prix car which was to have used a similar chassis but fitted with a larger Ford Cosworth 3 litre / 183 cui that powered the various iterations of the Lotus 49.

The Lotus 58 chassis and wedge shaped body closely resembles that of the Lotus 56 Indy challenger but is powered by a 225 hp four cylinder 1598 cc / 97.5 cui Ford Cosworth FVA motor which met the requirements of the second tier open wheel Formula 2 regulations.

The one and only Lotus 58 chassis was completed the day Jim Clark was killed at Hockenheim, his death along with that of Jim’s replacement Mike Spence at Indy in a Lotus 56 along with numerous crashes that befell Jackie Oliver in his Lotus 49’s meant that development of the Lotus 58 was pushed back until the end of 1968 when Lotus had to decide which cars to take to the Antipodes for the Tasman Series.

Graham Hill thoroughly tested the car with a Tasman Spec 2.5 litre / 152.5 cui Cosworth DFW motor and came to the conclusion that it was “OK, but not very fast”. It would appear the advantages of the de Dion suspension which keep the wheels vertical in the corners and thereby keep a larger tyre footprint on the ground were not obvious enough to pursue. The Lotus 58 was pushed aside never having raced in Formula 2 as originally intended, or in the Tasman series, while the similar Cosworth DFV powered Lotus 57 never even left the drawing board.

In 1998 two enthusiasts persuaded Colin’s son Clive Chapman to restore the Lotus 58 and he gave the task to former Hill and Clark engineer at Lotus Eddie Dennis. After some 1500 hours of work Dennis ran the car at the former works Lotus test track at Hethel before handing it over to the new owners Malcolm Ricketts and Don Hands.

Thanks for joining me on this “OK, But Not Very Fast” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Additions And Corrections – Ferrari 166MM #0040M

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Having run well over 50 consecutive Ferrari Friday blog’s I have to confess I have temporarily run out of Ferrari’s to write about, however while I find some more I will recover some of the vehicles that I first blogged about on the much missed rowdy.com website, adding additional information and corrections where ever applicable in the light of new sources of information.

Only 25 166 MM’s were commissioned by Enzo Ferrari to be built by Carrozzeria Touring who built the roadsters nick named Brachetta’s (small boat) using the patented Superleggra technique of fixing aluminium alloy panels directly to a tubular space frame.

The cars featured a 135 hp 1992cc / 121 cui V12 single overhead cam all alloy engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo. Each cylinder has a displacement of 166 cc / 10 cui from which the model derives its 166 name the MM comes from Mille Miglia, the name of a 1000 mile road race from Brescia to Rome and back which the 166 MM won in 1949.

The 166 in various guises put Ferrari on the the sports car map, a 166 S being driven to victory in the 1948 Milie Miglia by Clemente Biondetti and Giuseppe Navine. In 1949 Biondetti repeated the feat at the wheel of a 166 MM (chassis 0008M) he shared with Ettore Salani.

The same #0008M chassis was then entered by Lord Selsdon, for the 24 hour Le Mans race, who let his team mate Luigi Chinetti drive for an amazing 23 (twenty three) hours en route to victory. Another 166MM, chassis #0010, with Luigi Chinetti and Jean Lucas sharing the driving went on to win the 1949 Spa 24 hour race.

Today’s featured car chassis #0040M vehicle was driven by Luigi Villoresi and Pasquale Cassani finished 12th overall in the 1950 Targa Florio. Note, some sources using “Targa Florio: 20th Century Epic” by Pino Fondi as reference material suggest that Villoresi did not finish, this is probably because Fondi only lists the top ten finishers.

Several weeks later chassis #0040M was entered in the 1950 Mille Miglia for Aldo Bassi with Aldo Berardi in the co drivers seat. The car left the road in wet conditions and hit a tree outside Ponte San Marco, Bassi succumbed to his injuries later that day.

After repairs which included a replacement body, Touring body #3453, the car went to Portugal where Vasco Sameiro is known to have driven it to 9th place in a race at Vila Real on June 20th 1950. The car remained in Portugal changing hands at least twice before turning up in the UK in 1973.

Ferrari 166 MM #0040M has been owned by the Mason-Styrron family since 1989 who have used it in many classic competitions since. #0040M was restored by the Ferrari factory prior to it’s appearance at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of speed where the car is seen here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Additions and Corrections” editions of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

World Wide Racing – Lotus 56B R1

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The Lotus 56B is the Formula One version of the “Son of Silent Sam” Lotus 56 Indy challenger that came within a couple of laps of winning the 1968 Indianapolis 500 with Joe Leonard at the wheel.

This Formula One version of the Lotus 56 was a fresh chassis built with additional fuel capacity, it was unusual to make scheduled pits stops of fuel back during Grand Prix races in the 1970’s, and with additional wings front and rear to aid the considerable traction and handling advantages of the the all wheel drive transmission.

Just as at Indianapolis in 1968 the Pratt and Whitney STN6/76 had to be considerably detuned to meet the regulations which tried to keep it competitive with the 3 liter / 183 cui piston motors in use at the time.

56B R1 had four non-championship outings before taking part in three Grand Prix. The upshot was that the car was the class of the field in wet conditions, where it’s weight disadvantage was minimised but it struggled to make the top half of the grid in dry conditions.

Three drivers were given a shot in the car, Emerson Fittipaldi, Reine Wisell, and Dave Walker. Fittipaldi managed the cars only finish at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix where he qualified a lowly 18th on the grid and came home 8th well ahead of expectations for the car which was never to be seen in a Grand Prix again.

Regular followers of GALPOT maybe wondering why the car is painted Gold and Black instead of the by now traditional Red, White & Gold of the Gold Leaf Team Lotus.

In 1970 Jochen Rindt had been killed in an accident at Monza driving a Gold Leaf Team Lotus 72. Fearing legal repercussions from the notoriously slow and fickle Italian authorities investigating Rindt’s accident Colin Chapman took steps to avoid encumbrance or at worst arrest by opting to keep a low profile by entering just the one car in place of the usual two in the 1971 Italian Grand Prix.

To further keep the Italian authorities off his trail he entered the Lotus 56B under the World Wide Racing banner and had the car painted in Gold and Black, weather this was to obscurely promote the John Player Special brand which was owned by the same, Imperial, tobacco company as Gold Leaf remains unclear, though in 1972 Imperial switched the brand being promoted by Lotus to John Player Special whose black and gold colours are echoed on the current incarnation of Lotus on the Grand Prix grid.

Thanks for joining me on this “World Wide Racing” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: of

Ronnie’s Rocket – Lotus Ford 72 E

April Fool ? – Lotus 72 B #72/R1

Multi Formula Open Wheeler – Lotus 69

Cut and Bury – Lotus Ford 64

OK, But Not Very Fast – Lotus 58

Additions And Corrections – Ferrari 166MM #0040M

World Wide Racing – Lotus 56B R1