Lotus 25

Last updated

Lotus 25
1964 Lotus-Climax 25.jpg
Category Formula One
Constructor Team Lotus
Designer(s) Colin Chapman
Predecessor Lotus 21 / Lotus 24
Successor Lotus 33
Technical specifications
Chassis Aluminium monocoque
Suspension (front) Double wishbone, with inboard coilover spring/damper units.
Suspension (rear)Lower wishbone, top link and radius rod suspension, with outboard coilover spring/damper units.
Engine Coventry Climax FWMV, 1496cc, 90° V8
Naturally aspirated, mid-mounted
BRM P56, 1498 cc, 90° V8
Naturally aspirated, mid-mounted
Transmission ZF 5DS10 5-speed manual
Tyres Dunlop
Competition history
Notable entrants Team Lotus
Reg Parnell Racing
Brabham Racing Organisation
Notable drivers Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jim Clark
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Trevor Taylor
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mike Spence
Flag of New Zealand.svg Chris Amon
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mike Hailwood
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Richard Attwood
Debut 1962 Dutch Grand Prix
RacesWins Podiums Poles F/Laps
4914181418
Constructors' Championships2 (1963, 1965)
Drivers' Championships2 (1963, 1965)
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to
Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only.

The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. [1] It was a revolutionary design, 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. Its last World Championship win was at the 1965 French Grand Prix.

Contents

It was the first Formula One car to use Esso fuel.

History

Jim Clark at the 1964 Dutch Grand Prix. Clark at 1964 Dutch Grand Prix (5).jpg
Jim Clark at the 1964 Dutch Grand Prix.
Gerhard Mitter at the 1965 German Grand Prix. Mitter, Gerhard - Lotus1965.jpg
Gerhard Mitter at the 1965 German Grand Prix.
Richard Attwood in Reg Parnell Racing privately entered Lotus 25 at the 1965 German Grand Prix. 1965-07-30 Richard Attwood, Lotus-BRM.jpg
Richard Attwood in Reg Parnell Racing privately entered Lotus 25 at the 1965 German Grand Prix.

An early brainchild of Chapman's fertile mind, the original sketches for the car were made on napkins while Chapman discussed his idea while dining out with Frank Costin (designer of Vanwall, Lotus Mk.8, 9, 10, 11 and Lotus 16 bodies, later of Marcos fame). The unveiling of the 25 at Zandvoort in 1962 was a shock for the competition, and particularly for teams like Brabham and UDT/Laystall who had recently purchased 24s from Lotus, with the understanding that they would be "mechanically identical" to the works cars - Chapman reserved the right to alter the bodywork of the cars. [2]

The monocoque made the car more rigid and structurally stronger than typical F1 cars of the period. The 25 was three times stiffer than the interim 24, while the chassis weighed only half as much. [3] The car also was extremely low and narrow, with a frontal area of 8.0 ft², 0.74m² as compared to the normal 9.5 ft², 0.88 m2 [4] It was also envisaged to have a column gear lever, to keep the cockpit width to a minimum, although this was only experimental and discarded. To assist the low profile and low frontal area, the driver reclined sharply behind the wheel (an idea seen in the 18, and pioneered over a decade previously by Gustav Baumm at NSU [4] [5] ), leading to the nickname 'The Bathtub', while front coil/damper units were moved inboard (as in the 1948 Maserati). [6] The 25 was powered by the Mk.II 1496cc through to the Mk.5 1499cc versions of the Coventry Climax FWMV V8 in crossplane and flatplane formats. Later, Reg Parnell Racing in 1964 fitted BRM P56s of similar specification to their second-hand 25s.

Some privateers who had been buying Lotus chassis were disgruntled by the fact Chapman refused to provide them 25s. These teams, including Rob Walker Racing, were given Lotus 24s, while the works team had exclusive use of the 25 for Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor. When it first appeared at the Dutch Grand Prix, the futuristic 25 was inspected by John Cooper, who asked Chapman where he had put the frame tubes in the car.

Seven cars were built in total, numbered R1 to R7. Four cars - R1, R2, R3 and R5 - were written off (three of them by Trevor Taylor) in accidents between 1962 and 1966. The most successful was R4, which Clark drove to all seven of his World Championship wins in 1963. This car was later crashed by Richard Attwood then rebuilt as a Lotus 33 using a spare monocoque of that type and unofficially known as R13. [7]

Racing history

The car gave Clark his first World Championship Grand Prix victory, at Spa in 1962. He took another win in Britain and again in the USA, which put him in contention for the title, but while leading the final race in South Africa a much publicised engine seizure cost him the title to Graham Hill.

Clark gained his revenge the following year, taking his first World Championship in the 25, by winning 7 races, Belgium, France, Holland, Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Mexico. Lotus also won its first constructors' championship. Following the United States GP, a 25 was taken to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for evaluation, where they also trialled Lucas electronic ignition for Ford. [8] The results were encouraging enough for Colin Chapman to mount his ultimately successful challenge on the Indianapolis 500.

The 25 was again used during the 1964 season, winning a further three races in Clark's hands. At the final race in Mexico, just as in 1962, the Climax engine developed an oil leak and with literally a lap to run Clark coasted to a halt in sight of world championship victory, this time conceding to John Surtees. Despite the introduction of the Lotus 33 in 1964, the 25 was still used until well into the 1965 season, Clark taking the car's final win at the 1965 French Grand Prix.

In 1964, Reg Parnell Racing began racing the 25, using the BRM P56 V8 engine, with limited success. Chris Irwin placed Reg Parnell Racing's 25/33 hybrid 7th in its final World Championship race at the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix, scene of the model's debut five years earlier. [9]

World Championship results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearEntrantEngineDriver1234567891011Points1WCC
1962 Team Lotus Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 NED MON BEL FRA GBR GER ITA USA RSA 36 (38)2nd
Jim Clark 9Ret1Ret14Ret1Ret
Trevor Taylor 8Ret12Ret
1963 Team Lotus Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA USA MEX RSA 54 (74)1st
Jim Clark 8111121311
Trevor Taylor 6Ret1013Ret8RetRet8
Peter Arundell DNS3
Mike Spence 13
Pedro Rodríguez RetRet
Brabham Racing Organisation 2 Jack Brabham 9
1964 Team Lotus Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA MEX 37 (40)3rd
Jim Clark 411Ret1RetRet4
Peter Arundell 3394
Mike Spence 94
Gerhard Mitter 9
Reg Parnell Racing Chris Amon Ret
BRM P56 1.5 V8 DNQ5Ret10Ret11RetRet38th
Mike Hailwood 6128RetRet8Ret8Ret
Peter Revson DNS5
1965 Team Lotus Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 RSA MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 54 (58)61st
Jim Clark 1
Mike Spence 8
Gerhard Mitter Ret
Giacomo Russo Ret
Moises Solana 12Ret
Reg Parnell Racing BRM P56 1.5 V8 Tony Maggs 1128th
Richard Attwood Ret141312Ret6106
Mike Hailwood Ret
Innes Ireland 13RetRet10
Chris Amon RetRet
1966 Phil Hill Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 876th
Phil Hill DNS
1967 Reg Parnell Racing BRM P60 2.1 V8 RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX 0NC
Piers Courage Ret
Chris Irwin 7
Source: [10]
1 Points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six finishers at each round, but only the best placed car for each make was eligible to score points. In 1962 and 1966 only the best five results from the season were retained, and only the best six results for 1963, 1964 and 1965. In 1967 the best five results from the first six rounds and the best four results from the last five rounds were retained.
2 Jack Brabham raced the spare works Lotus after engine failure forced him to retire his own car.
3 Plans for Arundell to race the spare car were abandoned.
4 Clark swapped cars with Spence's Lotus 33 during the race following mechanical problems.
5 Revson tried out Hailwood's car in practice while the latter was away qualifying for the TT.
6 Total points scored by all Lotus-Climax cars, including 45 points scored by drivers of Lotus 33 variants.
7 Total points scored by all Lotus-Climax cars, including 8 points scored by drivers of Lotus 33 variants.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Clark</span> British racing driver

James Clark OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapolis 500, which he won in 1965. He was particularly associated with the Lotus marque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Chapman</span> English design engineer (1928–1982)

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coventry Climax</span> British forklift truck, fire pump, and speciality engine manufacturer

Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1964 Mexican Grand Prix</span> Motor car race

The 1964 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca in Mexico City on October 25, 1964. It was race 10 of 10 in both the 1964 World Championship of Drivers and the 1964 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

Michael Henderson Spence was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 37 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 8 September 1963. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 27 championship points. He also participated in numerous non-Championship Formula One races, as well as sports car racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piers Courage</span> British racing driver

Piers Raymond Courage was a British racing driver. He participated in 29 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 2 January 1967. He achieved two podium finishes, and scored 20 championship points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Attwood</span>

Richard James David "Dickie" Attwood is a British motor racing driver, from England. During his career he raced for the BRM, Lotus and Cooper Formula One teams. He competed in 17 World Championship Grands Prix, achieved one podium and scored a total of 11 championship points. He was also a successful sports car racing driver and won the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race, driving a Porsche 917, the first of Porsche's record 19 victories at the famous race.

British Racing Partnership (BRP) was a racing team, and latterly constructor, from the United Kingdom. It was established by Alfred Moss and Ken Gregory – Stirling Moss's father and former manager, respectively – in 1957 to run cars for Stirling, when not under contract with other firms, along with other up-and-coming drivers.

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. 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 1962 and 1978. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotus 49</span> Formula One racing car

The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s. It was one of the first F1 cars to use a stressed member engine combined with a monocoque to reduce weight, with other teams adopting the concept after its success. It also pioneered the use of aerofoils to generate downforce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotus 33</span> Formula One racing car

The Lotus 33 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Len Terry and built by Team Lotus. A development of the successful Lotus 25, in the hands of Jim Clark it won five World Championship Grands Prix in 1965, taking Clark to his second World Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotus 18</span>

The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One.

Eric Harrison Broadley MBE was a British entrepreneur, engineer, and founder and chief designer of Lola Cars, the motor racing manufacturer and engineering company. He was arguably one of the most influential automobile designers of the post-war period, and over the years Lola was involved with many high-profile projects in Formula One, IndyCar, and sports car racing. Broadley sold Lola to Martin Birrane in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lola Mk4</span>

The Lola Mk4 and the derivative Mk4A were Formula One racing cars constructed by the Lola company in 1962. They were designed by Lola founder, owner and Chief Designer Eric Broadley at the request of Reg Parnell, proprietor of the Bowmaker Racing Team. The Mk4 was the first design that Lola produced for the top tier of motorsport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eagle Mk1</span>

The Eagle Mk1, commonly referred to as the Eagle T1G, was a Formula One racing car, designed by Len Terry for Dan Gurney's Anglo American Racers team. The Eagle, introduced for the start of the 1966 Formula One season, is often regarded as being one of the most beautiful Grand Prix cars ever raced at the top levels of international motorsport. Initially appearing with a 2.7L Coventry Climax inline 4-cylinder engine, the car was designed around a 3.0L Gurney-Weslake V12 which was introduced after its first four races. In the hands of team boss Gurney, the Eagle-Weslake won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, making Dan Gurney only the second driver at the time, and one of only three to date, to win a Formula One Grand Prix in a car of their own construction. Excluding the Indianapolis 500, that win in Belgium still stands as the only win for a USA-built car as well as one of only two wins of an American-licensed constructor in Formula One. It was also the first win for an American constructor in a Grand Prix race since the Jimmy Murphy's triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BRM P261</span> 1960s British Formula One racing car

The BRM P261, also known as the BRM P61 Mark II, is a Formula One motor racing car, designed and built by the British Racing Motors team in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. The BRM P261 was introduced for the 1964 Formula One season, and its design was an evolution of Tony Rudd's one-off BRM P61 car of 1963. The P261 had a relatively long racing career; variants of the car were still being entered for Formula One World Championship Grands Prix as late as 1968. During the course of their front-line career, BRM P261s won six World Championship races, in the hands of works drivers Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, and finished second in both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings in 1964 and 1965. Stewart, Hill and Richard Attwood also used works P261s to compete in the Tasman Series in 1966. The BRMs dominated, with Stewart winning four, Hill two, and Attwood one of the 1966 Tasman Series' eight races. Stewart also won the title. The works-backed Reg Parnell Racing team returned in 1967 with Stewart and Attwood, where Stewart added another two wins to his tally. In terms of races won and total championship points scored, the P261 was the most successful car in BRM's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotus 24</span>

The Lotus 24 was a Formula One racing car designed by Team Lotus for the 1962 Formula One season. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT3</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT3 is a Formula One racing car. It was the first Formula One design to be produced by Motor Racing Developments for the Brabham Racing Organisation, and debuted at the 1962 German Grand Prix. The Brabham BT3 was the vehicle with which team owner – then two-time World Champion – Jack Brabham, became the first driver ever to score World Championship points in a car bearing his own name, at the 1962 United States Grand Prix. The following year Brabham also became the first driver ever to win a Formula One race at the wheel of an eponymous car, again driving the BT3, at the 1963 Solitude Grand Prix. The BT3 design was modified only slightly to form the Tasman Series-specification Brabham BT4 cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Crosthwaite</span> English race car designer and engineer

John Crosthwaite was an English race car designer and engineer, active in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BRM P57</span>

The BRM P57 was a Formula One racing car built to race in Formula One from 1962 to 1965.

References

Notes

  1. Automobile Year, No. 10, 1962-1963, Pages 198-199.
  2. Blunsden, John (July 1962). "Lotus "Ramlösa" - Segervagnen i Spa" [Lotus' Frameless: the Victory Machine at Spa]. Illustrerad Motor Sport (in Swedish). No. 7–8. Lerum, Sweden. pp. 6–7.
  3. Setright, L.J.K. "Lotus: The Golden Mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. The World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p.1230.
  4. 1 2 Setright, p.1230.
  5. Wikipedia, Lotus 18.
  6. "Chapman was not concerned to be original, merely to be thorough." Setright, p.1230.
  7. Nye, Doug (August 2013). "A whole bunch of trouble". Motor Sport magazine archive. p. 74. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  8. Super Street Cars, 9/81, p.34.
  9. "Dutch Grand Prix - Team Lotus return". Motor Sport magazine archive. July 1967. p. 28. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  10. "Lotus 25 car-by-car histories". OldRacingCars. Retrieved 23 January 2019.

Bibliography

  • Bamsey, Ian (1990). Lotus 25 Climax FWMV: A Technical Appraisal. Foulis motoring book series. Sparkford, Somerset, England; Newbury Park, CA, USA: Haynes Publishing. ISBN   0854298029.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Lotus 25 at Wikimedia Commons