The 1968 Lotus 56 Turbine Indy car, driven here by Parnelli Jones, as seen at the 2011 Goodwood Festival Of Speed. Lotus founder Colin Chapman is best remembered for having a lot of success…
The 1968 Lotus 56 Turbine Indy car, driven here by Parnelli Jones, as seen at the 2011 Goodwood Festival Of Speed. Lotus founder Colin Chapman is best remembered for having a lot of success…
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1968 Lotus 56 at the 2011 Goodwood Festival Of Sp…:
http://youtu.be/OKK6DMyhXmw
1968 Lotus 56. 4 wheel drive car. (not a “thrust” car)
Car #60 was driven to pole position by Joe Leonard.
Car #70 was piloted by Graham Hill (started 2nd)
Car #20 started 11th with Art Pollard..
Both the 20 and 60 car failed within seconds of each other with a broken
fuel pump drive 25 miles from the finish (Leonard was leading).
The 70 car with Hill lost a wheel just past the 1/2 way point.
For all the rage the turbines were, an overlooked detail of the race was
that Bobby Unser’s win was the first for a turbocharged engine at the
Speedway.
The last detail; There was #40 wedge turbine entered for Jim Clark but he
died 7 weeks before the 500. His replacement, Mike Spence was killed in a
practice crash in the car.
7 drivers in the field either had won, or went on to win Indianapolis
500’s. (Hill, Andretti, Foyt, Al Unser Sr, Bobby Unser, Rutherford, and
Johncock).
3 drivers either had or went on to win World Driving Championships (Hill,
Rindt, Andretti).
In the video above, at the start, you can see Andy Granatelli, the
mastermind of the turbines at Indy leaning in to give Damon Hill final
instructions.
I very vividly recall seeing him do the same with Damon’s father.
a slice of french cheese with wheels
Interesting they raced a Lotus 56B in F1 for a few races.
I prefer the Lotus F1 behind hehe
So cool!
That’s not an F1 car. That’s an Indy car. Look how much offset it has in
the suspension.
I always thought the back of that car had a slight overhang on the deck
like a small flat spoiler and some recessing of the square back
cap…………it looks different than when I remembered it back in the
late 60’s ………….is that original?
No that was the Indy Lotus/Ford.
Oh……it does produce thrust, I thought the power was connected to a some
kind of drive shaft that spun the wheels
Looks like a coffin on wheels!
Four wheel drive?
Actually, Tony Chapman was best remembered for killing a lot of drivers.
Sorry, Lotus 38, not 39. Typing in the dark…
I meant the green/yellow Lotus behind. That’s a F1 car.
Yes, gas turbine powered 4-wheel drive Type 56 (1968).
I’d be slightly terrified with a turbine behind me head^^,
So cool? Just try to lay your balls on that huge blowing exhaust and then
tell me if it’s still COOL 😉
I know, that’s what I was talking about. That’s an Indy car, too. Probably
a Lotus 39 with the Ford 4-cam. You can tell it’s an Indy car right off
because in some bits you can see the front suspension offset; the arms are
a lot longer on the right than they are on the left, moving the car’s
weight to the left to improve handling on an oval. F1 cars even back then
didn’t run ovals, so F1 cars had symmetrical suspension geometry. Of all
top-level formula cars, only Indy cars ran offset like that.
Chapman’s designs where light fast and sometimes too fragile…………
Take a look at the last frame, it seems to show a slightly dished rear end.