>>Lotus 22

Lotus 22

Lotus 22
Overview
Manufacturer	Team Lotus
Production	1962-1965
Body and chassis
Class	Formula Junior
Body style	Open wheel
Powertrain
Engine	1098 cc Cosworth Mk.IV, Mk.XI
Chronology
Predecessor	Lotus 20
Successor	Lotus 27

The Lotus 22 was a racing car built by Lotus cars in 1962, and a total of 77 cars were built. It was developed from the 1962 Lotus 20, with the major differences that it had disk brakes all round, had a top link and the 'rubber donut' to the rear suspension, and had a dry sump engine that was canted over to lower the centre of gravity.

The 22 is a single seat race car primarily for the Formula Junior series and most had a 1098 cc Cosworth Mk.IV or Mk.XI engine with about 100 hp (70 kW). However, seven of the Lotus 22's were built with the then newly introduced 1498 cc Lotus TwinCam engine (designed for Lotus Elan) for Formula Libre. The 22 was very successful and the works car driven by Peter Arundell won nearly 75% of the races for the FIA Formula Junior European championship in 1962. The car was also successful in 1963, the final year of FJr, and up against the new Lotus 27, a full monocoque car, the 22 won several races early in the season before the stiffness problems that plagued the 27 were solved.

The 22 chassis also later was reintroduced several times, although modified, as other "new" Lotus models becoming first the Lotus 31 F3 car in 1964 and then, most famously, the Lotus 51 in 1967, the first Formula Ford race car created for the Jim Russell racing school in England.

Also the Lotus 22 was the car from which the Lotus 23 was derived, being essentially a two-seat 22 widened in the middle but using the same front and rear suspension and gearbox as the 22. The 23's introduction at the Nürburgring 1000km in 1962 was made legendary by Jim Clark, who led many laps in the tiny 1,000-pound 23, with only a 1498 cc engine, against cars with many times the displacement, at one point leading by a minute or more in the wet.