Lotus 38
The Lotus 38 was a monoposto racing car that the British motorsport team Lotus built in 1965.
It was the first mid-engined racing car to win the Indianapolis 500 mile races . Colin Chapman and Len Terry designed this completely new racing car that had nothing in common with the 29 and 34 types that were previously running in Indianapolis, except for the engine. The powerful Ford V8 engine, which developed almost 500 hp, was installed as a mid-engine and created excellent handling for the driver in the oval. In its original design, the 38 had an asymmetrical chassis. Because the Indianapolis Motor Speedway only has left turns and Terry wanted to take this into account. He experimented with wishbones of different lengths. What works in theory, however, does not have to lead to success on the racetrack. During the first training runs, the car had dangerous handling characteristics when exiting the bends and Terry switched the car to symmetrical suspensions. Although the Lotus 38 was considerably longer than the Formula 1 racing car of the time, it looked small and agile compared to the powerful USAC monoposto cars.
Eight Lotus 38s were built and most of them were used by the factory team. Two were given to the US racing drivers AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti .
In 1965, Jim Clark qualified the 38 for the front row and drove 190 laps of the 200-lap race. In the end there were only four other pilots left on the same lap as Clark, who celebrated a superior triumph. In 1966, Clark Graham Hill was narrowly beaten and in 1967 he retired early in the race after an engine failure.
The Lotus 38 was groundbreaking in US monoposto construction in the 1960s. All manufacturers adopted the mid-engine concept and by the end of the decade almost all racing cars in Indianapolis were similar to the Lotus 38. The 38 also had an impact on Lotus Formula 1 vehicles, as many components were adopted in the Lotus 49 .
literature
- Dave Friedmann: Indianapolis, Racing Memories 1961-1969 . Motorbooks, Osceola 1997, ISBN 0-7603-0142-5 .
