>>Lotus 33

Lotus 33

Lotus 33

Category	Formula One
Constructor	Team Lotus
Designer(s)	Colin Chapman
Technical specifications
Chassis	Aluminium monocoque
Suspension (front)	Upper cantilever rocker arms and lower wishbones, with inboard mounted Armstrong coilover spring/dampers
Suspension (rear)	Upper transverse links and twin radius rods with reversed lower wishbone. Armstrong outboard coilover spring/dampers.
Engine	Coventry Climax FWMV 1,497 cc (91 cu in), or BRM P56 1,498 cc (91 cu in), or BRM P60 1,909 cc (116 cu in) V8 Naturally aspirated mid-mounted
Transmission	ZF 5-speed manual
Tyres	Dunlop
Competition history
Notable entrants	Team Lotus Reg Parnell Racing DW Racing Enterprises
Notable drivers	Jim Clark  Mike Spence  Walt Hansgen  Moisés Solana  Paul Hawkins  Bob Bondurant  Pedro Rodríguez  Peter Arundell  Geki  Graham Hill  Mike Fisher
Debut	1964 Aintree 200, Aintree.

The Lotus 33 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and built by Team Lotus. Its development was based on the earlier Lotus 25 model, taking the monocoque chassis design to new development heights. The 33 was again powered by the 1500 cc Climax engine. The 33 was almost identical to the 25, but had suspension designed around newer, wider tyres. The car was more rigid and was simpler to build than its predecessor.

Introduced for the 1965 season, Jim Clark took the 33 to victory in its first appearance at the South African Grand Prix before taking the car to four more wins to take his second world championship. Clark missed the Monaco Grand Prix (a race which he would never win) to race in the Indy 500, which he won.

Compared to the 25, the Climax engine had an increase in power (about 210 bhp (157 kW) - 220 bhp (164 kW) compared to the older Climaxes in the 25, which gave about 200 bhp). However the extra power sacrificed reliability, and Clark retired from the final 3 races of 1965, fortunately after he'd wrapped up the title. The 33 was pressed into service with a bored out 2 litre Climax V8 for the early races of 1966, until the 3 litre Lotus 43 was ready.

The 33 also met with success outside of the World Championship with Jim Clark winning the 1967 Tasman Series at the wheel of a Lotus 33 Climax.

A driveable, detailed virtual recreation of this famous Lotus model appeared around 2004 in the '1965 Mod' for the Grand Prix Legends pc-based F1 racing simulation.

>>Lotus 32

Lotus 32

The Lotus 32B, the one-off Tasman Series, 2.5 L variant of the Lotus 32

The Lotus 32 was a Formula 2 racing car built by Team Lotus in 1964. It was developed from the Lotus 27 Formula Junior model. Twelve cars were produced, but only four competed in the Ron Harris Team Lotus entrants (drivers Jim Clark and Mike Spence). Jim Clark drove the Lotus 32 to win the 1964 Formula 2 Championship. The whole new chassis of the 32 had aluminium monocoque with steel front and rear bulkhead and centre section to bring it up to weight. Suspension followed the usual Lotus practice; coil spring/damper units were mounted inboard at the front and outboard at the rear. The front wishbones were slightly wider-based while rear geometry had changed and there was full adjustability (unlike the Lotus 27). The Girling brakes were outboard all round.

The Lotus 32 Formula 2 car featured a Cosworth SCA 998 cc engine with twin 40DCM2 Weber carburettors, producing 115 bhp (86 kW) at 8700 rpm. The engine was canted over at an angle of 25 degrees in the chassis and was mated to a Hewland Mk IV five-speed gearbox.

At the end of the 1964 F2 season, Colin Chapman modified the car to a Lotus 32B (in picture). With a 2495 cc Climax engine, different suspension and wheels for Jim Clark to use in the 1965 Tasman Series, which he duly won. The car remained in New Zealand, being sold to Jim Palmer, who drove it to fourth in the following year's Tasman championship.

F2 races won: Pau Grand Prix - Eifelrennen Germany - Guards Trophy United Kingdom - Aintree 200 - Snetterton - Enna- Sicily

>>Lotus 30

Lotus 30

Lotus 30

Category	Group 4 Sports Car --see text
Constructor	Team Lotus
Designer(s)	Colin Chapman and Martin Wade
Technical specifications
Chassis	Steel Backbone
Suspension (front)	Double Wishbone, Outboard Coil/Spring Damper
Suspension (rear)	Double Wishbone, Outboard Coil/Spring Damper
Engine	Ford 4,727cc 289 cu in V8
Transmission	ZF 5 Speed Manual Synchromesh Limited Slip Differential
Competition history
Notable entrants	Team Lotus
Notable drivers	Jim Clark

The Lotus 30 was a racing automobile, Colin Chapman's first attempt at a large displacement sports car racing machine following the success of the smaller Lotus 19 and Lotus 23. In a way as a further development of the final Lotus 19 called Lotus 19B, which had a Ford V8 engine installed in place of Coventry Climax FPF, it was designed by Colin Chapman and Martin Wade, and built in 1964. Lotus 30 was raced in British races such as Guards Trophy, international races such as Nassau Speed Week that allowed FIA Group 4 "Sports Car" class of racing machines, and more importantly, in Can Am series. These were before the recognition and creation of Group 5, 6 and 7 categories by FIA in 1966. This explains why Lotus 30 and 40 (the latter was built in 1965) came originally equipped with headlights and a windshield wiper.

Notable were its curvaceous fibreglass body work and "pickle fork" backbone chassis first seen in the front engine Lotus Elan, in sharp contrast to Lotus 19's space frame design. On the 30, the layout was reversed and placed the engine behind the driver. Lotus engineer Len Terry was asked by Chapman to comment on the draft concept and considered it to be so flawed he refused to have anything to do with it. The Lotus 30 was powered by a 4.7 litre (289 c.i.) Ford V8 engine, the same type as used in the Ford GT40, mated to a 5 speed ZF syncromesh transaxle which was far more reliable than Colotti transaxle in 19B handling the V8 torque. It used 13 inch wheels and solid disc brakes on each wheel. The Lotus 30 was regarded as unsuccessful and / or dangerous but when everything was working and nothing broke the car was incredibly fast.

Lotus 30

The inherent flaws of the engineering became evident as horse power requirements and tire technology of the period evolved and pushed the original design past its intended limits. The problems were mainly related to the torsional rigidity of the backbone chassis and materials available at the time, all of which resulted in chassis and suspension failures.

Jim Clark laboured long with the car, and managed to prize some promising results with it before it was replaced with the Lotus 40. Equipped with 15in wheels and vented disc brakes as well as a larger engine, the 40 was just as recalcitrant as the 30. The most telling comment about these Lotus race cars was made by the American driver Richie Ginther. When asked what he thought of the new Lotus 40, Ginther, a lugubrious Californian, said, "Same as the 30 but with ten more mistakes".

The effort was not a total loss as this chassis type proved to be perfectly acceptable for the lower powered Lotus Europa and was with development used on the Esprit series cars.