Lotus 20
The Lotus 20 was a Formula Junior racing car , built in 1961 by the British motorsport team Lotus .
Development history
The Lotus 20 was presented at the London Racing Car Show in 1961. Its GRP body, built by Williams & Pritchard, was slimmer and aerodynamically more favorable than that of its angular predecessor, the Lotus 18 . The front section in particular could be kept narrow because the tank was installed behind the driver's seat. The front tires were narrower than on the Lotus 18. The driver sat in a semi-reclined position. This seating position already corresponded to the almost lying position of the driver in the cockpit, which was later common.
The Lotus 20 initially had Alfin drum brakes on all four wheels, but in the "20 B" these were soon replaced by Girling disc brakes at the front and internal drum brakes at the rear. The standard engine was a Cosworth four-cylinder with an initially 997 cm³ displacement and 85 HP (63 kW) power, which was followed a short time later by one with 1098 cm³. This larger engine developed 100 hp (74 kW) and more with two Weber DCOE 40-2 carburettors. The first Lotus 20 had a four-speed gearbox based on Renault Dauphine, then a Hewland gearbox based on VW. The front wheels were suspended from double wishbones of unequal length, the rear wheels from lower wishbones and double longitudinal struts. The car had coil springs with internal shock absorbers all around.
Racing history
1961 won Kurt Ahrens sen. on a Lotus 20 at the International Motorway Spider Race on the Dresden Motorway Spider .
The Lotus 20, of which 118 were built, was a highly successful racing car. Many have been upgraded and rebuilt. Some were even used in Formula 1 in the hands of privateers until the mid-1960s .
literature
- David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
